5 Foot Pickup Beds

Am finally thinking of getting a pickup truck, in part to haul my WR to good rides (50 plus miles away). Am assuming a short bed (5 ft.) is too small even with the gate down. But not sure I want an extended bed. Thoughts? How easy/hard is it to get a WR up a ramp into a truck? Might get a trailer package and simply use one of those rear hitch carriers! Thanks.

SWOman wrote:

Am finally thinking of getting a pickup truck, in part to haul my WR to good rides (50 plus miles away).  Am assuming a short bed (5 ft.) is too small even with the gate down. But not sure I want an extended bed.  Thoughts? How easy/hard is it to get a WR up a ramp into a truck? Might get a trailer package and simply use one of those rear hitch carriers!  Thanks.

Grab a tape measure and see what you need. Measure from the front of the front wheel (the point that would be contacting the front of the box)to the contact point of the rear wheel on the ground. I suspect you will probably be ok with the gate down on a 5' bed. If not you could incorporate a rail that you could install and remove when transporting a bike. Another option is to load the bike at an angle in the box - front tire in the front LH corner and rear tire to the rear RH corner. I have seen several people load this way mainly because it makes it easier for them to secure the bike.

I have a Ford Ranger SC with a standard box and a light weight 5x8 utility trailer. How I load up depends on where I am going, what I am doing, and how many bikes I will need to carry. Generally if it is just myself then I load the bike in the back of the truck. If it myself and another that is when it comes down to decision time which usually means accessing how much crap we will be carrying. Problem is if I opt for the trailer I always end up carrying more crap than I needed.

There is in my mind are several advantages of not pulling a trailer like maneuvering in traffic, parking, and security. Plus you don't have to deal with trailer maintenance issues along the way such as lights that stop working (trailers have their own laws of electromagnetism which don' behave like the standard laws), and the occasional flat tire - which does not happen often but always seems to happen in a driving rain storm at night when your trailer lights have stopped working.

The nice thing about my trailer is loading/unloading the bikes is pretty easy and I can use it for other things as well... unfortunately the other things usually meaning friends of friends calling asking if they can borrow the trailer.

Great reply - thanks.

I have a Tacoma with the 5ft bed and a bike will fit no problem.. You of course have to have the tail gate down, but it’s not an issue for most trucks. As far as loading goes, i use a ramp and a small step stool to make the jump in to the truck a little lower. I did struggle with a shorter 7 ft ramp and recently switched to a 10 ft ramp and now it’s no problem.

This is the ramp that I use and love:
https://www.titanramps.com/motorcycle-ramps/10-long-single-folding-arch-ramp.html

I have a Silverado with a short bed. I can close the tailgate no problem. I put the front wheel in one front corner and skoot the back tire to the side a little. You can use the tiedowns on the side of the bed. The dealership likes to hook to the footpegs on both sides. Works good too.

Mylesc - thanks for the advice and pis! One question, I noted the ramp folds in half, does it fit ok in your truck bed?

Meant "pics"

That Titan ramp is 61” when folded. With the tailgate down it fits no problem.

A little more detail on fitting a WRR in a Tacoma pickup bed if you can.
Would like to pull a camper trailer. So will need the tail gate up when hauling one WRR .

Will the tail gate close if you angle the bike into a 5 foot Tacoma bed??

Will the tail gate close if you angle the bike into a 6 foot Tacoma bed??

Am considering purchase of a Tacoma. But need to keep the overall length of truck short enough to fit in my garage. So the options are the Tacoma access cab with a 6 foot bed. Or the Tacoma double cab with a 5 foot bed. Double cab would be nice. But too long with the 6 foot bed.

Any experience with this out there??

I have a Nissan Frontier with a 6 foot bed, I imagine the frontier and Tacoma have similar lengths. I can put the front tire in the middle of the bed against the front wall, kick the back tire all the way to one side, and close the gate. I definitely couldn’t do this if the bed was a foot shorter. You might be able to get with the whole bike on an angle from corner to corner but you’ll have to figure out how to strap it.

Hertz wrote:

I have a Nissan Frontier with a 6 foot bed, I imagine the frontier and Tacoma have similar lengths. I can put the front tire in the middle of the bed against the front wall, kick the back tire all the way to one side, and close the gate. I definitely couldn’t do this if the bed was a foot shorter. You might be able to get with the whole bike on an angle from corner to corner but you’ll have to figure out how to strap it.

Thanks for the response!

There’s no way to close the tail gate with a 5ft bed. 6ft bed yes. Never owned a 5.5 ft bed, so can’t say for sure.

mylesc wrote:

There’s no way to close the tail gate with a 5ft bed.  6ft bed yes.  Never owned a 5.5 ft bed, so can’t say for sure.

Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!

So minimum 6 ft bed. It is very tempting to just go old school and get a full size pickup with a regular cab and 8 ft bed. Back in the day if there were more than 2 or 3 people we took 2 vehicles.

I just picked up a 08 Frontier two months ago. Will use it to haul my bike from time to time. Got a wheel chock and I will mount it to a piece of plywood (so no need to drill the bed and the chock can be removed anytime), but first I need to install the firestone tires and bilsteins on my truck.

The only thing I am going to recommend you do is that if you buy a ramp for the pickup. make sure you get an ATV ramp instead of a regular ramp. The longer the ramp the better.

For a Dirt bike the short ramp will be fine. but if you have like a cruiser that's low to the ground. your bike will bottom out on the tailgate onto the ramp. Ask me how I know.