Current fixation with short bed pickups
Current fixation with short bed pickups
SidecarFlip |
Jan 23 2017, 01:22 PM
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#1
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Group: Members Posts: 472 Joined: 15-October 16 Member No.: 9,221 Favorite Truck Camper(s): Forest River Palomino SS Type and Brand of Truck(s) Owned: 1997 Ford F350 4x4 LB SRW CC 7.3 diesel Type of Tiedowns used: HappyJac standard Truck and Camper Setup: 1997 Ford F350 4 door 4x4 Crew Cab 7.3 Diesel, Lance 915 loaded, 2015 Palomino SS1500 Loaded |
Cannot understand the current fixation with short and shorter bed pickup trucks. Fine for pulling a TT or even a 5er but no good for a TC. The current trend seems to be a short box with a huge cab (usually 4 doors). I think they look odd with no bed to speak of.
The shorter the bed, the shorter the TC, the less available space inside and typically, short bed pickups are also short on payload capacity as well. Finally, the short and shorter bed trucks usually are short on power, all negative impacts to hauling a TC with any substance. Myself, I'd never buy new unless it was an 8 foot bed and at the very least a 3/4 ton truck with a motor to match the payload capability. I consider 1/2 ton short bed pickup trucks to be a status symbol and grocery store hauler and not much else I realize the RV industry builds short box TC's but they are real tight inside for one and lack many features that long box campers have and secondly, most, if not all require extensive suspension modifications to their carry trucks to be able to even haul a camper. Seems counter productive to me.... I don't get it. |
Elkins45 |
Aug 24 2018, 12:03 PM
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#2
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Group: Members Posts: 6 Joined: 4-February 18 Member No.: 9,955 Favorite Truck Camper(s): ? Type and Brand of Truck(s) Owned: Nissan Titan Type of Tiedowns used: ? Truck and Camper Setup: None |
Why short bed trucks? The short answer is CAFE standards. If you want a full-sized sedan with a V8 then you have almost no choices and will pay a $1000 gas guzzler tax on the sticker.
Trucks are exempt for the car standards and have a much lower MPG threshold than cars do. There's a reason Cadillac started making the Escalade and it wasn't because they had a sudden longing to get into the truck business. It's because they needed a loophole so they could still make huge land boats. Same thing with these goofy looking trucks where the cab is longer than the bed. There's also some sort of obscure EPA rule regarding vehicle footprint I read an article about. I don't remember the details but the gist was that a standard cab truck somehow didn't earn enough (or maybe too many?) points on the formula to meet the rule so the extended cab trucks have a market advantage in terms of how many they must make for every single cab. Long story short: trucks are the new substitute for big cars. |
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