Didn't know where else to post this so decided to do it here. I guess I must be the only person in the world who see's today's short beds as worthless! Can't carry a piece of plywood, drywall, 8' lumber, etc. with them and close the tailgate. Plus I will lose about 25 cu.ft of space that I cannot afford to lose on our annual trip. I've driven Ford trucks for nearly 60 years, started with an early '50's (F1?), '60's 3/4 ton, '70's Ranger (full size truck), then a string of F-150's, a 350 (5th wheel), 250 (large trailer), then back to my beloved F-150. Ever since the Lariat came out, all, including the Super Duty's have been Lariats with a Super Cab and an 8' bed. Now Ford has decided that I can no longer have the trucks I want, I either have to take a F-150 with short bed, crew cab or a work truck. No super cab, no 8' bed--NO NEW FORD TRUCK. I know I can spend an extra $10,000 for a Super Duty with a Super Cab, 8' bed, 4x4 that I have no use of, plus will not have any features available on the F-150 that I really like (e.g. shift on the console). Yes, I'm old, I guess my current 2020 F-150, Super Cab, 8' bed will have to last me the rest of my life. I'm pi...ed at Ford and have sent them a letter expressing that.

 

I don't think your a big enough market for the truck to be a worthwhile production vehicle or it would still be available.
At only 3 years old, ,keep it serviced and repaired.
It likely will be cheaper in the long term unless money is no object to you.
I have a 2018 and likely will never have a newer truck, now.
Good luck.

 

I agree, if the truck bed is not at least six foot long, it is worthless to me. Less than six foot truck bed, I might as well get a four door Bronco.

 

Once you come to terms with the fact that automakers serve the gubmint and not the consumer, life is better for you.

If the gubmint gets its say, Ford will sell Mach-Es and Lightnings for light duty offerings. The End.

 

I understand the need for an 8 ft bed, particularly for people in the trades and big time home DIYers, but my 5-1/2 ft bed is perfect for my use. For smaller home projects I've hauled many sheets of plywood and plenty of stick lumber the 7-1/2 miles from Home Depot to Home Ross and no issues. The truck fits nicely in my garage with enough room for me to walk around the back of it to get to my 3rd stall. A foot longer bed and the plywood would still stick out the back when hauling it but I'd have to open both garage doors to get to my 3rd stall; not something I'm game to do in the middle of the winter when it is -30F outside. An 8ft bed would have to sit outside the garage year-around, again not to my liking in the dead of winter.

 

I don’t understand why anyone would buy a truck with a bed shorter than 6” 6”. I get a crew cab with a 8’ box gets a little difficult to park, but any shorter the 6’ is useless to me. A suv or van makes far more sense than a pickup with a short box.

 

If you give it some thought, it's quite easy to understand why someone would choose a 5-1/2 ft bed truck over a van or SUV. Besides what I already mentioned; I'm not going to throw a gutted deer or hog in the back of a van or SUV, or the dirt and rock I use for my little landscaping projects; I know how that would go over with my wife 'cuz vans and SUVs used to be our primary vehicles. A short bed pickup makes sense for a LOT of people or you wouldn't see so many of them. The 6-1/2 foot box is the exception rather than the rule (let alone the extremely rare 8 ft bed) and most likely because it is just too long to be practical with a crew cab. New trucks are so comfortable riding that a lot of folks use their truck as their family vehicle as well as their weekender projects truck and they want to be able to keep it in their garage. Anything they could do with a 6-1/2 ft bed can be done with a 5-1/2 ft bed but not vice versa.

 

I bought a 21 Supercab 8' bed 4x4 HDPP Max towing and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer because as you know that combination is no longer possible.

 

Man do I ever feel you. Went from a 6.6 box to 5.5 with some misgivings, but figured I could put stuff in the crew cab. Ugh, 5.5 is TINY. I am regretting it. Def would prefer smaller cab, longer box. Its too hard to manoeuvre in the bush if the wheelbase gets too long which is why I want the smaller cab and midsize box.
I also hate how much these modern trucks draw down the battery. I cannot disable the exterior lights coming on every time I open the door 🫤

 

In forscan, see if your truck has the police mode option. Enabling the police mode eliminates the interior and exterior lighting turning on automatically.

 

Thx, yes I have heard of this, also called dark mode. There may even be a toggle available to turn it off. I need to research this again as camping season is coming!
I am a little concerned about using forscan lest I void my warranty.
Anyhow, will start a separate thread on that soon.

 

One of my first vehicles was a 1988 F150 regular cab, 8’ bed. I really liked that truck. But I never used the bed. It was a little on the long side for no reason. Or at least no reason that mattered to me.

Fast forward 20 years. I own a house and I needed a truck for yard and home projects. Ended up with a 2018 crew cab 5.5’ bed. It met my needs for everything except when camping where I needed a little more space.

Last month I picked up a ‘23 crew cab with a 6.5’ bed. I think this is just right for me at this point. In 10 years or so I’ll probably downsize to the 5.5’ bed again because I won’t need to haul so much **** when I’m camping.

 

Coolest feature of those short-bed trucks is that you can still haul plywood with the tailgate down. if you are a farmer or contractor that has to do it daily, well, Ford also sells trucks with an 8' bed for folks like you.

 

One of the problems with the F150 chassis, since 2004, has been the turning radius. I have a 157" WB crew cab 6.5' bed. The tuning radius is miserable, but I've gotten used to it. One of our work trucks was a 164" WB super cab with an 8' bed. That thing was like tuning a boat, and was difficult to park in most instances.

My truck before this was a Super Duty crew cab short bed. That thing would turn much more sharply than my F150 that's the same length. I blame it on the strut front suspension. My F150s in the '97-'03 era tuned much sharper, but they had torsion bars vs struts. I much preferred the torsion bar set up on F150s.

 

My on and off search took over 2 years until I found my 22 F150 Lariat Crew Cab with the 6.5 bed. I drove CC 80" bed Superdutys for the last 24 years so the parking / turning, etc. is not that big of a deal once you get used to it. And this truck is not my daily driver.

It's funny that JKBrad mentioned it but I think he is right. The Superduty coil sprung solid axle did seem to turn a little sharper than this F150.

The MAIN (and maybe only) selling point of the 5.5 bed is being able to park in a standard garage. I totally get that. But you are making a pretty big tradeoff every time you haul much of anything long or need more cubic feet. If I didn't have the garage space that I have I would settle for the 5.5 bed too. Parking under cover is high on my priority list. Midwestern thunderstorms can wreak havoc and it happens pretty often.

I am just glad we still have the bed length choice unlike the imports or the Ranger.