Pick-up Bed Length?

**MOzark** · 05-03-2021, 08:21 PM

Greetings all,

Long time camper and always in a tent but my wife and I are ready take the next step to a Solitude 310GK. As the proverbial saying goes "don't put the cart before the horse", I am currently looking to trade my F150 Lariat for an F250 6.7L 8-Cylinder Diesel. This should handle the load but I'm getting mixed advice on bed size? Would a 6'9" bed w/ a sliding hitch work or should I look for an 8' bed? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

**FT4NOW** · 05-03-2021, 08:27 PM

First, welcome to the forum.

Second, skip the 250 and get a 350, same unloaded ride.

Third, go for the long bed. No slider needed, no worry about tight turns, extra space and long beds usually have higher payloads compared to the short bed version. After having a long bed I couldn't go back to a short bed, too many advantages besides what I already listed.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

**GeoffnCheri** · 05-03-2021, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by MOzark

Greetings all,

Long time camper and always in a tent but my wife and I are ready take the next step to a Solitude 310GK. As the proverbial saying goes "don't put the cart before the horse", I am currently looking to trade my F150 Lariat for an F250 6.7L 8-Cylinder Diesel. This should handle the load... but I'm getting mixed advice on bed size? Would a 6'9" bed w/ a sliding hitch work or should I look for an 8' bed? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

As an 6.7L diesel F250 owner, a 310GK is not 3/4 ton territory.

**xrated** · 05-03-2021, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by MOzark

Greetings all,

Long time camper and always in a tent but my wife and I are ready take the next step to a Solitude 310GK. As the proverbial saying goes "don't put the cart before the horse", I am currently looking to trade my F150 Lariat for an F250 6.7L 8-Cylinder Diesel. This should handle the load but I'm getting mixed advice on bed size? Would a 6'9" bed w/ a sliding hitch work or should I look for an 8' bed? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

the F250 diesel is not near enough truck for a 310GK. Pin weight could be as high as 3000+ lbs, and the F250, at best might be in the 2500 lb of payload. Go straight for an F350 and get the extra 1000 lbs of payload.

**Jerryr** · 05-03-2021, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by GeoffnCheri

As an 6.7L diesel F250 owner, a 310GK is not 3/4 ton territory.

It will probably exceed even a 350 short bed diesel payload. I barely make payload with my 337RLS with my F350. My 337RLS pin weight is 2800-2900lbs loaded to travel, then you add my weight, wife's weight, 37 lbs for the Andersen hitch weight, 25 lb small dog and misc stuff we are right at the ~3500 lbs payload that our 350 has.

A 250 Diesel short bed will have payload in the range of 2100-2200 lbs. A 310GK will likely have a pin weight well exceeding 3,000 lbs loaded to travel. Then when you add weight of the hitch, passengers and cargo you will be at least 1,000-1,500 lbs over a F250 diesel payload.

With a short bed you will be able to make about a 70-75 degree turn before the trailer front cap gets close to the truck rear window. After 4 years we finally broke ours last month when my wife was driving and took a sharp right turn. That was a $600 mistake. If I could find a new 450 dually I would be in it now, but with the truck shortage there are none in Florida.

**Second Chance** · 05-03-2021, 09:56 PM

If you want some real-world numbers on the Solitude 310GK, ours puts 3,280 lbs. on the pin with empty waste tanks ready to travel (and that's with LiFePO4 batteries which weigh half as much as lead-acid batteries).

Rob

**WhittleBurner** · 05-04-2021, 08:04 AM

The long bed should ride a little better too.

**Captcolour** · 05-04-2021, 08:19 AM

As others have mentioned or alluded to, skip the F250 and skip the F350 SRW and at least do the F350 dually 8' bed or better yet the F450. Not only will your towing experience be a whole lot better, but you would be all set to upgrade to a larger 5th wheel later. You can only regret buying too little of a truck!

**John303** · 05-04-2021, 08:58 AM

Agree with the comments already made. We have a short bed ram and use an Andersen hitch which gives some additional clearance. If I could change one thing it would be the bed length to a long bed. This is what I daydream about… https://stretchmytruck.com/

**goducks14** · 05-04-2021, 09:20 AM

Go long bed. The extra room that you get between the hitch and the back of the cab is really nice. When we had our 5er and LB truck I could put a lot of stuff in front of the 5th hitch. I now have a TT but still use my 5th wheel Highway Products tool box.
https://www.highwayproducts.com/c/tr...ruck-tool-box/
As far as the F250 goes. As others have said jump to the 350. I have a Ram 3500 CTD with 4558 lbs of payload. Previous 12 Ram CTD 2500 CC LB only had 2176. You can never have too much payload when towing a 5th wheel.