Truck with a 5.5 box

[Michael]

I'm getting a good deal on an F150, but a 5.5 box seems really small to be hauling plywood sheets and construction lumber. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks.

[Scott Lurndal]

Get a bedliner with the supports molded in the side for a couple of 2x4s at the same level as the top of the wheel well. Those will hold sheets flat, with some overhang at the back. Works fine.

[Michael]

Sounds great. Much appreciated!

[John Grossbohlin]

The F150 should have a bit over 4 feet between the wheel wells so you don't need to raise the sheets to that level to have enough width. Opening the tail gate so it lays flat, and ratchet strapping the sheets to keep them in the bed, and you should be good to go. The smaller trucks, like the old Rangers, actually had steps stamped into the inner walls of the bed where you could put 2x4s to support the sheets above the wheel wells.

[krw]

I bought an extended cab instead of a crew cab for exactly this reason. I wanted a full-size bed.

[krw]

With a standard box, a sheet will extend to about the middle of the tailgate. I agree that another foot isn't a killer, until you get to longer stuff. A single, or a couple, of 2Xs will fit entirely in the bed, too. I've carried 8' metal angle and it was nice fitting it inside the bed.

My '01 ranger did not have the steps in the fender wells for the supports. They certainly would have been nice. I had to put the sheets at an angle. I had 2x4s cut to support the sheets.

[Michael]

Thanks for the help! I feel better about the purchase.

[Clare Snyder]

Put a rack on it and you can haul 16 foot lumber. A 5.5 foot box without a rack is about as usefull as the trunk on a 72 impala.

[Clare Snyder]

And my Ranger has a 7 foot box - - -

[John Grossbohlin]

They had changed the trucks by then... Go back to the '80s! 😉

[Mr. E]

A kayak/boat carrier extends the load carrying length without a roof height carrier rack.

[Scott Lurndal]

The bed liner for my old '00 ranger had the steps. As does my '16 colorado.

[krw]

I wonder if it was because mine was a flare-side. In '13 the Ranger had rotted out so badly (springs riding on the frame) that I replaced it with the '13 F150. It probably would have been my last truck.

[krw]

Standard cab? I wanted the extended cab so I could put some "valuables" inside, particularly when we traveled.

[krw]

I have a hitch extender so I can carry 12' lumber easily and 16' carefully.

[Bill]

This thread got me thinking/learning more about trucks and bed-liners, ways to carry sheet goods, and things like that. I even browsed a few car-selling web sites. While I was watching a YouTube video related to car-buying yesterday, my wife asks me out of the blue, so *WHO* is getting a new vehicle??? I answered that it was going "to be a surprise"! If I mount a base for "bird spotting scope" in the truck bed, she just might fall for it--I mean go for it! ; )

[Scott Lurndal]

Dunno. My '00 ranger was stock base model (manual everything), the kind that used to dominate fleet sales to the trades. It would still be running if a tree hadn't fallen on it a couple years ago in a derecho. Never had a problem with it over the first 120k miles (other than replacing the alternator once). Body in great condition (california weather dontchanknow).

Loved that Ranger, I'd even custom turned the shifter lever knob from some local Almond. The replacement colorado was the only manual light truck for sale at the time (2016).

[krw]

I bought a new one last November ('21). Someone ran a stop sign at full speed and totaled my '13. A new one, even fairly well loaded, was the same price as a used one at the time. Used vehicles were nuts, which helped me out with the insurance claim too. ;-)

[russellseaton1]

How times have changed. Long, long ago. Back when the dinosaurs roamed the shopping malls with 25 cent video arcades and Radio Shacks and Sears stores and break dancing was all the rage. A standard box was considered 8 feet. The short box was 6.5 feet. And the super short box of 5.5 feet had not even been invented yet. Back then I remember the only crew cab four door pickup truck I ever saw was one owned by the railroad. It had an 8 foot bed too. Single rear wheels so they could mount the railroad wheels underneath it.

[DerbyDad03]

I know all about trees and well maintained vehicles.

My super clean 2006 Honda Odyssey in 2014:

SWMBO's super clean 2011 Honda CR-V in 2022:

Fun fact: 99% of the time the 2017 Ody you see next to the CR-V is parked where the CR-V was parked that day. That limb came down on one of the rare days that we swapped spots.