Long Bed vs Bigger Overhang - off - roading

SoonDockin wrote:
While your thinking long bed, consider dual rear wheels. Ups your payload quite a bit and adds some extra stabilization with the wider track.

Good point. I'm not the weight cops by any stretch and we were rockin' (literally and figuratively) a 4000-4500lb Arctic Fox on a short bed 3/4 ton for years. And I'd do it again. However if you're looking for a dedicated or mostly dedicated TC hauler for larger/heavier campers, the training wheels are a nice addition.
Again, you're not going to want to do any gnarly 4 wheelin that couldn't be accomplished by a dually, if you're hauling a 12' tall, 8' + wide, 2 ton box in your truck bed. (Although the srw would be more handy with camper unloaded and truck off wheelin with no camper in the back.)

While your thinking long bed, consider dual rear wheels. Ups your payload quite a bit and adds some extra stabilization with the wider track.

Thanks KD... Certainly more options with the long bed...

The difference in overhang between the 2 on short vs long bed is exactly the difference between the difference in the camper and truck bed dimensions. Or somewhere between 8"-13" depending on what brand of shortbed truck.

IMO, the rear overhang will generally not become an issue for length or breakover angle, before the terrain is arguably too rough for a pickup with 2 tons of high center of gravity load in the bed.
Unless you have some specific spatial limitations, and you have a blank slate for truck and camper, I'd say the longer the better. Every inch of space in a TC helps out IMO.

I would get the long bed truck for sure. It will give you a much greater choice in campers. It will also ride better and quite possibly have a larger fuel tank. If I had anything dragging on the back of my rig I would want it to be the truck frame, hitch, or bumper; not the camper. If you drag a camper rear off road it will likely do significant damage.

Thanks! Northern-lite advertises the 9-6 as the shortest overhang and it is but I think you're right - looking at the pictures there really isn't that much of a difference.....Thanks for the Bigfoot recommendation. I will check it out.

I think the overhang will be close to the same. The long bed should have an advantage on the road except the TC will be heavier since it is longer. You could also look at Bigfoot which is similar and who makes a short long bed model to reduce overhang in the 1500 series.