Long bed vs. short bed

Also a long bed kind of guy here. Traded in my Ram megacab because despite loving the interior space and room the long bed was more important to me. Two kinds of truck owners and a rare third. Your either a fan or hater of the long bed truck and that rare one who could care less.

I totally understand the not fitting in the garage aspect but those who say they can't fit in a parking spot? Where did you learn to drive? If you can't back into the spot a short bed tuck won't fit either.

I had a shortbed once.....

My last 3 trucks all long beds, BTW all of them the same width and fit fine in parking spots. Yes, I park far away when we go to the store, not an issue I like the exercise.

I have an F350 CC long bed used to tow a 35' 5er. It is long. Parking can be a problem in some parking lots when the spaces are narrow and straight in rather than angled, or the lanes are narrow. And it can be an issue in some tight corners.

BUT. There are never any concerns about the 5er hitting the cab in tight back in turns. (Friend knocked out his back window with his 5er and short bed) And I love having the extra bed space in front of and behind the hitch for "stuff". In addition, I sometimes haul some 8' lumber or plywood or other items that are too long to lay flat in a short bed.

Personal choice. What works best for you the majority of the time?
There are viable options to both.

Bed length is just a personnel preference. I've owned several of both pulling heavy and lite GN/5th wheel/bumper pull trailers and carrying heavy truck campers.
I prefer a crew cab truck and I prefer to park the truck in my garage. For me that means a truck short bed.

Some folks with a short bed may use a manual or a auto sliding hitch.

Some folks with a short bed may use a Andersen hitch system or the same style Pullrite 2400 model.

And some folks use the Reese Sidewinder pin box with a regular 5th wheel hitch.

And some new gen 5th wheel trailers have a rounded/notched front corner profile made for short bed owners.

I down sized from a 350drw long box, to a 250srw. I notice the difference in the srw vs drw more than the box length

Long box trucks are nice for towing the fiver or when you have large loads like sheets of plywood etc. But a long box is harder to move around parking lots and other tight places.

I currently have a short box, and with my 30ft fiver I don't need a slider hitch. If I were to move a friend's fiver, I would likely need a sliding hitch. My point is that sometimes, you can get away with a short box, sometimes you need a sliding hitch. It all depends on how the hitch of the fifth wheel is configured, some project out front more than others.

How the truck is used daily made the decision for me. I need the extended cab (kids) and it was going to be a daily driver that had to fit in Wally World parking lots and in my garage at home. So extended cab short bed for me. And then I had the choice of a lower price manual slider with the worry of denting the back of the truck in a tight gas station lot or spending the money for the pullrite super glide with no worry's.
Short bed with superglide for me.

One of the more important thing is the wheelbase, the longer the better.

In the future with a 5r, a long bed will not need a sliding hitch, $$$$$.