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.
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.
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.
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!
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Flypony-don’t wrench your should patting yourself on the back. You’ve just been lucky.
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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.
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.
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!
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!
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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.
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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
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I have the shorter bed F250 '07 diesel 6.0 crew with 200,000 miles on it. Love this truck and it hauls my 2 H GN just fine. I’m not sure I want to have another long be especially with the crew cab. I drive my truck as my main vehicle and parking it is bad enough.
I drive a Ram 2500 full quad with an 8’ bed. It’s a bitch to park in small spaces but it more than makes up for it as a hauler. I can fit 6 adults (though 5 is better) and plenty of room around the hitch to pack shavings or hay or whatever. Plus it’s great for lumber etc which fits no problems.
I have a v-shaped front also and has kept me from popping out the windows. I have a shortbed with a gooseneck but I only have a 2 hours and won’t get anything larger.
Long bed hands down, not just because of the possible window loss but because if you have a farm or end up with one, you NEED those 8’ for all the crap you will be hauling with it.
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Hear her, hear her!!! 
And thus endeth the lesson.
G.
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I have a short-bed (5-½ ft) 2011 Ford F150 with the Ecoboost (turbo 6) engine. I haul an Exiss gooseneck stock combo trailer for 2 big OTTBs. My truck handles it just fine. The turnover ball is replaced with a similar ball that is mounted in the same hole but extends the ball about 4" farther back. It’s really simple and made a huge difference. I have taken a window out of my last truck (also a SB F150) with a bigger gooseneck trailer and I won’t lie, I’m not the best backer-upper if I really have to maneuver but if I take it slow, I’'m fine.
I only have my truck—unless you count my John Deere—so I need to haul shavings, hay feed, groceries, plywood, you name it with my truck. I can’t imagine driving a long-bed truck around in these strip-mall centers and TINY LITTLE parking places for cars! Not only are the spaces smaller than they used to be, there is very little room between rows, which can make it a nightmare to turn something larger. My garage doors are also kind of low, so a F250 is too tall to get in, and my JD has the roll-bar down so that it can get in. So the F150 is awesome. I LOVE my truck!!
I have a long bed with the double crew cab and it is so freaking fabulous for anything horse/farm/towing related. We also drive it for family vacations because you can fit an amazing amount of crap in there.
It sucks to park. The turning radius is huge and it does not fit in a regularly sized space. Don’t even think about parallel parking unless you can find a double+ length spot.
Solution – we park far away with the rest of the huge awesome trucks. We have a club, you can join. You’ll find us far away from everything where our giant trucks can take up 2-3 spots in all their gargantuan glory. 
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Yup! I’ve got a friend who has a long bed F350 and a 6 horse GN who is absolutely amazing at maneuvering in and out of the tightest spot with it. Even she managed to pop her back window out once when she got into a real jam involving bad GPS directions and a dead end dirt road…
As others have mentioned I’d be more concerned with the height of newer trucks than a shorter bed.
All for a long bed. My tow vehicles are nothing but. I have a '08 6.4 CCLB (crew cab long bed) that’s been hauling my 1998 Featherlite 6H H2H for the past 6 years no issues. Some goosenecks have a more aerodynamic style gooseneck that might be more compatible with a short bed, but my big old square nose Featherlite would cave in a back window if a jack-knifed it, and I’ve had to do that quite frequently. I wouldn’t be too concerned with the height of the newer trucks. We have a 2017 F-250 (short bed) and had no issues when it was stock, leveled, though now it’s lifted and the AMP Research steps have come in handy. Good investment for anyone who has a leveled truck or wants some steps. I’ve had sets on vehicles for years with no issues- PM if you have any questions.
