Truck bed size

[ChuckPK]

If you pull a 5.0TA with a 6 ft bed truck, will you still have room to put a truck tool box in the bed?

 

[davidmurphy02]

What truck are you looking at, is the bed length exactly 6 feet? Typically short bed half tons are in the 5-1/2' range, our Ram quad cab has a 6'4" bed which allows adequate room for a toolbox in front of the hitch rails. With a shorter bed I don't think you'd have room for a standard toolbox, but there are many toolbox options out there.

 

[ChuckPK]

What truck are you looking at, is the bed length exactly 6 feet? Typically short bed half tons are in the 5-1/2' range, our Ram quad cab has a 6'4" bed which allows adequate room for a toolbox in front of the hitch rails. With a shorter bed I don't think you'd have room for a standard toolbox, but there are many toolbox options out there.

Thanks for the nice pic and reply. I don't have the truck yet but was considering a Toyota Tundra and the short bed is 6.5 ft for the double cab and 5.5 for the crewmax cab.

 

[Ian and Sue]

Thanks for the nice pic and reply. I don't have the truck yet but was considering a Toyota Tundra and the short bed is 6.5 ft for the double cab and 5.5 for the crewmax cab.

I pull our 5.0 TA with a 2012 Tundra 4x4 4.6 l double cab 6.5 ft bed. It works great. We have the Anderson hitch and I carry a water tank and my Honda 3000is generator in front of the hitch no problem

 

[ChuckPK]

I pull our 5.0 TA with a 2012 Tundra 4x4 4.6 l double cab 6.5 ft bed. It works great. We have the Anderson hitch and I carry a water tank and my Honda 3000is generator in front of the hitch no problem

Thanks! My guess is the CrewMax with its' 5.5' bed would be tight (as far as putting a toolbox in front of the hitch).

 

[Ian and Sue]

Yes I think the foot is lost in the front of the bed not the back...so the 5.5 ft would end up with less space in front of the hitch.

 

[escape artist]

If you pull a 5.0TA with a 6 ft bed truck, will you still have room to put a truck tool box in the bed?

Hi: ChuckPK... A tool box is a subjective thing. My concern was room to leave my tri-fold tonneau on while towing. We did have a double cab Fronty with a 6'1" box and now have a Ram 1500 double cab with a 5'7" box. In both cases the tonneau can stay on while towing. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

 

[padlin]

If Ian can tell you the measurement between his hitch and the front wall of the bed you could make a good guess at the measurement for a 5.5, like he mentioned, the foot is lost in the front.

 

[GusGill]

Heads Up: Page 183 of the Toyota Tundra CrewMax owner manual states " CrewMax Models: Current fifth wheel trailer designs are not compatible with short bed."
This is a concern that the short bed of the truck might cause the front of the fifth wheel trailer to touch the truck's cab when backing up.
I have a Reece 5th Wheel Sliding hitch and don't find this to be a concern. I did have one shop decline to install it.

I doubt you'd have the space for a tool box but I haven't considered installing one.

 

[Jim Bennett]

I insisted on a 6.5' bed, as until now have never had anything shorter than 8'. This meant to go to a Super Cab, which was pretty near a must I had to buy a truck with the largest Ford EcoBoost, the 3.5L model. I installed a gooseneck mount and an Anderson Ultimate hitch. I also installed a Fold-a-Cover tonneau with their toolbox. I did not add a lift kit to the trailer either. Everything works just great.

Over three years of use now, with towing using up 2/3 of my kilometres towing the 5.0TA and a couple bumper pull work trailers, I am extremely happy. Other than regular service work and a couple recall items, I only had to install a throttle regulator and nothing else. Very happy to this point.

 

[Brian B-P]

Yes I think the foot is lost in the front of the bed not the back...so the 5.5 ft would end up with less space in front of the hitch.

Yes... in essentially all current pickups, the portion rearward from the axle is indentical (just as the portion from the front doors forward), regardless of box length. The cab and box lengths determine the wheelbase. So a 5.5' box has one foot less length from axle to cab (and one foot less wheelbase) than with the same cab and 6.5' box. On the other hand, you may mount the hitch further back (relative to the axle) with the shorter box to gain trailer-to-cab clearance, and so regain some box space in front of the hitch as well.

 

[Brian B-P]

Heads Up: Page 183 of the Toyota Tundra CrewMax owner manual states " CrewMax Models: Current fifth wheel trailer designs are not compatible with short bed."
This is a concern that the short bed of the truck might cause the front of the fifth wheel trailer to touch the truck's cab when backing up.

Yes, but Toyota is ignoring the existence of the Escape 5.0TA, which may not be unreasonable given that it is low production volume model and unique in its size among current production models in North America.

I have a Reece 5th Wheel Sliding hitch and don't find this to be a concern.

That works, but other 5.0TA owners with 5.5' boxes use fixed hitches without problems, by locating the pin far enough back.

 

[jnfrombigt]

57" bed. The Andersen hitch has been offset 4" to the rear. Bakflip calls this a "folding tool box". The rear face of the folding tool box is 15 1/4" from the bed front wall.

 

[ChuckPK]

Thanks!

Thanks to all for the informative replies.

 

[GeorgeDoesIt]

Heads Up: Page 183 of the Toyota Tundra CrewMax owner manual states " CrewMax Models: Current fifth wheel trailer designs are not compatible with short bed."
This is a concern that the short bed of the truck might cause the front of the fifth wheel trailer to touch the truck's cab when backing up.
I have a Reece 5th Wheel Sliding hitch and don't find this to be a concern. I did have one shop decline to install it.

I doubt you'd have the space for a tool box but I haven't considered installing one.

Im picking up my 5.0 TA around March, completion Date is Dec 10, 2019. I have a '19 GMC CANYON with a 5' 1" length bed. The truck is equipped with HD suspension and 20" wheels, the V6 develops 302HP and has an 8 speed automatic Transmission. I could not find anyone willing to install a hitch here in Dallas, Tx. When I call ETI, they put me in touch with their installer. He guaranteed an Andersen Hitch would fit, albeit there is no made to order kit yet. They will do a custom fit, and said they have done more than a dozen of these installs on the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. My truck is rated for 7700 lbs total gross weight. The new engines and trannys are very peppy and develop plenty of torque also.

 

[ChuckPK]

Im picking up my 5.0 TA around March, completion Date is Dec 10, 2019. I have a '19 GMC CANYON with a 5' 1" length bed. The truck is equipped with HD suspension and 20" wheels, the V6 develops 302HP and has an 8 speed automatic Transmission. I could not find anyone willing to install a hitch here in Dallas, Tx. When I call ETI, they put me in touch with their installer. He guaranteed an Andersen Hitch would fit, albeit there is no made to order kit yet. They will do a custom fit, and said they have done more than a dozen of these installs on the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. My truck is rated for 7700 lbs total gross weight. The new engines and trannys are very peppy and develop plenty of torque also.

The willingness to share and help on this forum is spectacular! What model of Andersen hitch did you decide on?

 

[jnfrombigt]

Im picking up my 5.0 TA around March, completion Date is Dec 10, 2019. I have a '19 GMC CANYON with a 5' 1" length bed. The truck is equipped with HD suspension and 20" wheels, the V6 develops 302HP and has an 8 speed automatic Transmission. I could not find anyone willing to install a hitch here in Dallas, Tx. When I call ETI, they put me in touch with their installer. He guaranteed an Andersen Hitch would fit, albeit there is no made to order kit yet. They will do a custom fit, and said they have done more than a dozen of these installs on the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. My truck is rated for 7700 lbs total gross weight. The new engines and trannys are very peppy and develop plenty of torque also.

George what I did was install a curt gooseneck hitch myself which I got off ebay for $177 USD and an Andersen hitch that I also got off ebay $525. Nothing was hard to install. I have Ram 1500 Ecodiesel 57" bed 240hp tow rated 7740 with max cargo1350.

 

[GeorgeDoesIt]

The willingness to share and help on this forum is spectacular! What model of Andersen hitch did you decide on?

I will let ETI’s hitch installers do all the engineering, I talked with their rep and was satisfied they know how to make it work, he was very confident that they can do it based on previous experience with the Canyon and 5.0 TA fifth wheel.

 

[GeorgeDoesIt]

George what I did was install a curt gooseneck hitch myself which I got off ebay for $177 USD and an Andersen hitch that I also got off ebay $525. Nothing was hard to install. I have Ram 1500 Ecodiesel 57" bed 240hp tow rated 7740 with max cargo1350.

JN, thanks for the tip, I will check and see about the gooseneck hitch, with Anderson install.
George B

 

[Jesse-ESC]

We are getting an Andersen hitch installed in our 2019 Ford Ranger by TradeMasters, just down the road from ETI. We stopped by right after ordering our 5.0TA. The sales rep came outside looked at our truck & had a tech mechanic look under the truck take measurements etc. and said no problem installing the rails and Andersen Hitch. They were very professional. Installation date October 22 and we pick up our 5.0TA in the new year. We are only a few hours away from ETI which made our ordering of the 5.0TA and the Andersen hitch very easy as we were able to visit both companies the same day. I’ll take some pictures after the hitch is installed.