Long bed or short bed for GN?

[eosinophil]

I’m thinking of replacing my current truck. I have a 2006 F250 regular cab with the (horrors!) 6.0 liter diesel. While it only has around 60K miles, my needs have changed since I bought it and think a new (or new-to-me truck) would be more appropriate. Basically, my old needs were to haul maybe a couple horses at a time for riding away from home. Now, my needs need to include hauling everyone out at once in case of an emergency evacuation. A year ago i got a big trailer that fits everyone but didn’t upgrade the truck. The trailer worked great during our recent evacuation, but while the loads were (comfortably) within limits on the old truck, it was not as effortless for the old truck to haul as I’d like. So while the old truck is legal and “safe”, it’s not comfortable enough for nervous nelly me and so I’m looking to upgrade.

My backyard menagerie is elderly and retired - we only haul to the vet for (thank goodness!) rare emergencies or for emergency evacuation because of fire. For last month’s evacuation, we had to haul about thirty miles, primarily on large highways but with significant up / down grades.

I’m looking at new and slightly used trucks (2017-2019 F350s, if it matters. I’m open to suggestions for other brands, just most familiar with Fords). My current truck is a regular cab with an 8 foot bed. For the gooseneck, i’ve been told for turning that an 8 foot bed is better. But I don’t know how much better. There are advantages to getting a short bed - first, I’d get the extra space for stuff in the cab, and second, there are SO MANY more short beds around, i’m more likely to be able to find a good deal on a truck with the options I want in a short bed. Plus, if i sell it in a few years, I think the value will be better.

Separately, I’m worried that if i get a bigger cab plus a long bed, it’ll be too big to drive around my suburban area. I don’t use the truck much, usually less than 3k miles a year, so the “too big” issue isn’t a huge one. I do like an 8 foot bed to buy sheets of plywood. If my elderly but still-kicking-holes-in-the-stall mare would settle down, I could cut back on my plywood purchasing and the short bed would be easier to get!

TL;DR: GN with a short bed? how bad?

Thanks for the advice!

[Bluey]

There are short beds at 5 1/2’, not so short beds at 6 1/2’ and regular beds at 8’.

The 5 1/2’ is too short for a gn trailer.
The 6 1/2’ is what we have and is fine, on our F150, 4x4 crew cab.
You may want to consider the 6 1/2’.

[wsmoak]

The 8’ bed is ideal for the gooseneck, you can jack the truck around 90 degrees to the trailer and nothing bad happens. But it does make for a looooong truck if you get an extended or double cab.

I wasn’t able to find one last time around. (Okay, we found one but it was in Minnesota or something and had a snow plow attached.) So I have the 6’8" bed on an F250. It’s fine. Not ideal, you have to watch how sharp you turn. But most newer trailers have angled fronts, and it all works out.

Your next issue will be clearance between the truck bed and the bottom of the gooseneck, so be sure to check. Trailer manufacturers, it seems, have not gotten the memo on how tall the newer trucks are, especially if it’s 4WD!

(My next truck is going to be a plain white ‘work truck’ with an 8’ flat bed. THAT will fix the clearance problem. )

[soloudinhere]

I have a '18 F250 - same physical size as the F350 - with the 6’8" bed and it goes my gn just fine. I can get around past 45 degrees and have never made contact with my cab.

[exvet]

I vote long bed. It’s not worth the risk of the cab coming in contact with the trailer. My neighbor bought a truck with a 6.5 foot bed to haul his horse trailer, no problems but then his wife decided to lend it to a friend to haul their goose neck. It was returned with the back window broken/buckled. I have a long bed F350 crew cab that I used for hauling the goose neck I had for many years. There were many times I was grateful to have it due to the tight spots others put me in when hauling to a variety of shows and places to pick up/drop off horses. It was a long rig but it had a wonderful turning radius. Having said that I was forced to downsize a few years ago and sold the goose neck and ended up with a 2 horse tag along and acquired a short bed truck. I do appreciate the convenience of a much smaller rig. It suits my purposes now. I still have the long bed though and have STILL been grateful for it. The things you need a long bed for keeps coming across my radar and I have had many people borrow it for ‘that’ reason.

[NancyM]

Mine has a regular cab (NOT an extended cab), and an 8’ deck. I like the shorter wheelbase, handier through turns. I can and have used it as a daily driver. I also really like the flatdeck instead of a pick up box, this avoids any chance of the underside of the gooseneck hitting the top of the pick up box should you drive through or turn on uneven ground. The flatdeck is very handy for a number of farm uses, and if I do want sides on it, they just slide into the holes on the side of the deck. It is also often far cheaper to buy a “cab and chassis” truck rather than a pick up truck. If you are looking for a “used” truck to buy, one that has had a delivery box on it can be offered for sale as a “cab and chassis”. Then you just put a flatdeck on it, which is not expensive. Mine has the trailer hitch recessed into the deck, with a cover that slides into place over this. I bought mine new in 1997, a Dodge Ram 1 ton. Buying new in 1997, it was $$10,000 cheaper to buy the cab and chassis instead of the pick up. Best decision I ever made.

[Guilherme]

One of the great virtues of the gooseneck system is the ability to “jackknife” a trailer if you have to maneuver in restricted spaces. You surrender this capability with the short bed truck. You can get it back in some measure with an “extended” hitch ball. I’m not so sure I’d do that because if you are in that situation where you’re maneuvering in close quarters you’re putting stress on that extender in about every way except the way it was designed to take the stress (longitudinally). Is that a problem? Maybe. But if you don’t have to take that particular risk why do it?

If you keep your horses at home and to much of the routine stuff that people who do that do (haul hay, feed, fencing materials, building materials, rock, sand, mulch, etc.) then the long bed or flat bed is the way to go. Yes, it’s a disadvantage at the mall. If you’re going to mall plan for it (usually meaning be ready to park “remotely” and do some walking) or take the car.

For real ag/equine work the long bed is demonstrably superior.

G.

[Mango20]

I’ve done just fine with my 6.5’ bed and gooseneck for the past two years. My trailer does have a v-shaped front, though, so that keeps the corners away from the cab (since there are no corners at the front)

[SusanO]

I have friends with short beds and goosenecks that took out their back window. Maybe you won’t.

[Lucassb]

I have the long bed (with an extended cab) and personally FAR prefer it. As others have noted, it’s easier/safer in tight spots with the gooseneck, but mostly what I love is the capacity to load up the back (Tractor Supply, Lowes, the garden store…) But I don’t use it as a daily driver, and therefore don’t worry much about having to navigate city traffic, shopping mall parking lots and so on.

[CLB15]

Crew cab with standard (78" bed)- silverado 2500, here. Its my daily driver and I use it to tow a GN- the 2nd GN and 3rd horse trailer I’ve had since buying the truck. I’ve done some creative maneuvers but knock on wood, my back window has survived to see another day, but I definitely wouldn’t want to go with a short bed.

[Wanderosa]

I was under the impression that a GN + SB was not possible without an offset hitch? After my own horrendous experience with a 2006 Ford F-250 with the Navistar engine I will NEVER buy another Ford anything. Probably wouldn’t take one if it was offered to me free. The Cummins Diesel engine is close to bulletproof. Look into the Dodge 3500 duelly.

Additionally - I drove from Phoenix to LA a few years ago. We weren’t hauling a trailer. But if the mountain grades there are anything like where you are, you might consider getting the necessary endorsement on your license and getting up into a 550 or International.

[flypony74]

I’ve only owned crew cab short bed (6.5’ bed) 250/350 trucks, pulling multiple GN trailers extensively over the past 20 years. Despite having to maneuver into/out of a lot of tight spots over the years (inherent for anyone who hauls a lot to shows, lessons, vet, etc), I have never, ever contacted my trailer with my back window. I don’t have a funky offset hitch, just a standard B&W placed correctly over the axle. All boils down to proficient driving, knowing how your trailer responds to inputs, awareness of trailer relative to the truck, etc. Our truck is also a daily driver, and we haul all kinds of things in the bed (round bales, lumber, etc), and only on very rare occasions have I wished for a long bed, as the short bed has been totally sufficient for anything I need to haul. Most of my time I am thanking my lucky stars that I don’t have to park that long bed in a crowded parking lot!

[merrygoround]

Flypony-don’t wrench your should patting yourself on the back. You’ve just been lucky.

[Bluey]

@merrygoround

Flypony-don’t wrench your should patting yourself on the back. You’ve just been lucky.

Not the only lucky one, seems that everyone here must be that lucky also.
That is what many drive here and do fine, like we do.

[SUNKIST090888]

Long.

On the way back from a show a couple of years ago my friend was making a tight right turn out of a gas station with her short bed/GN combo and popped the back windshield.

[Punkie]

Definitely long. I have a 2018 Silverado 3500 dually with a crew cab and an 8 foot bed. Granted, I’m pulling a 6 horse head-to-head from Florida to Vermont and back, but it really makes for an easy and enjoyable drive. Plus I never have to worry about turns or getting into spaces that require me to put the truck at a funny angle. I’m able to get mine anywhere you could get the same truck with a 6 1/2 ft bed, I just spend a little extra time backing it in!

[PNWjumper]

Well, I will add that I punched out the back window of my long bed F350 several years ago. It was a new trailer and the Featherlite dealer swore up and down that I could fully jackknife the trailer without having it touch the windows. I opted to test that feature trying to get out of a tight spot at 2am at a horseshow. POP!

So just an FYI that getting a long bed is not enough to ensure that you never pop out a back window!

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

I have a GN and a short (5.5 ft) bed. I already had the truck when I bought the trailer. It never occurred to me that it would be a problem, and - you may find this hard to believe - the guy who sold me the trailer forgot to mention it.
You would not believe how easy it is to break out the back window and dent the cab with the trailer. You don’t have to be trying to back around a sharp angle. About 45 degrees will do it.
Friends with the 6.5 ft bed don’t seem to have this problem.

[tabula_rashah]

Long hands down. Besides that it’s easier to tow with you can actually haul a decent amount of hay, wood, etc in there. Driving something a bit bigger just takes practice- hey I have a 9’ flat bed dually with a full 4 door cab and I can even take that thing through drive-thrus with no problem. The only thing I’ve discovered that I can’t do with it is parking garages in the city lol