Truck

 Set 'em up, Shirley. I'll even give Kickstart a break and put 'em on my
tab!

<posted here 'n' there>

I'm thinking of trading my Pontiac in on a truck. Among several other
things, I'm wondering if I could actually get my 2008 Ultra into the bed
for hauling to such events as, say, Daytuna, when there's so dang much snow
on the ground I can't ride it there. So, my question to all you
knowledgeable folks is, is it worth getting an 8' bed and trying to cram my
8' long motorcycle in the bed, with the tailgate probably having to be
open, or am I better to just get the cheaper, standard 6-1/2' bed, making
it easier to drive around town, park, make U-turns, etc. and then just rent
a trailer (or buy one of those cheapo trailers that can fold up against
your garage wall) and do it that way. Heck, I'm probably going to end up
with a utility trailer anyways, just to haul my BBQ equipment to
competitions, but that stuff is pretty local. Trailering a bike thousands
of miles doesn't sound nearly as safe as just putting it in the bed.

Back 40 years ago when I lived in W.Va I had an 8' bed and needed every
inch of it to haul firewood, rock, etc. I don't think I need quite that
much truck right now, and if I go smaller, with maybe a six instead of an
eight, I might actually be able to put gas in it without taking out a loan
every week.

Thanks in advance for any replies, folks.

--
EZ Larry
BS #269

 stuff sniped


quick search yield link below

http://www.sportslift.com/cycletoylift3.html


ill take a jack Daniels straight up

 
Awesome. Thanks! Have another JD-it's a big bottle, and I'm pouring for
myself, too.

--
EZ Larry
BS #269

 
<Corona w/ lime today>

Larry, I have been honing my truck needs for the better part of 15
years and just finally got it right this past year.   I've had
extended cab/short bed models,  extended cab/longbed, standard cab/
shortbed, and finally, now, standard cab/longbed.   All of mine have
been 2wd (because we REALLY don't need 4wd in northern VA, and I use
dedicated snow tires for the 5-6 days of snow that we do get, and get
around better than 4wd with half-worn all-season tires) and had
various trim levels and one 3/4-ton; all the rest were 1/2 ton,
including my current 1999 GMC Sierra SLE.

While I can haul a bike perfectly securely in a 6.5' bed with the
tailgate down, I just HATE driving hundreds of miles that way.
Something about it just feels wrong; it's not logical, but that's just
the way it is for me.   I *like* to be able to close the tailgate, so
I'm sticking with the 8-foot bed.  I also like that my 8-foot-long
loading ramps fit in the 8-foot bed without turning them on their side
and laying them diagonally, taking up most of the bed.

In my experiance,  the extended cab trucks with an 8-foot bed (at
about 22-feet long, iirc) are simply too unwieldy to park and maneuver
in suburban/urban situations, though I'm sure they're fine in rural
areas and in Texas and Wyoming and the like.   So, I stick with the
regular cab.   Iirc, the extended cab/shortbed trucks have the same
wheelbase and overall length as the regular cab/longbed versions, so
if you need more cab space and don't mind the tailgate hanging open
when the bike is back there, that's an option.

As far as truck bed HEIGHT is concerned, the 3/4-ton 2wd is as tall as
the 1/2-ton 4wd; both are too tall for me to comfortably UNLOAD an
800+ pound motorcycle, though (using two ramps, one for the bike and
one for me) I can load the Street Glide using the engine and the
clutch friction zone by myself with no worries.  I prefer the 1/2 ton
2wd truck, again, for loading/unloading.   I had a 1/2 ton 2wd once
with the heavy-duty load package and the towing package and it was
almost as tall as my 3/4 ton truck in the back.

I put a rubber bedmat in the bed of the truck to give good traction
when loading and unloading, and to keep anything that I might have in
the bed of the truck from sliding around.   I use a vinyl tonneau
cover to protect my ramps and wheel chock and tie-downs when I'm not
hauling a bike (they stay in there permanently), and it's easy to roll
up and out of the way for loading a bike.

Oh, and my current truck was a one-owner, fully documented, 11-year-
old truck when I got it, has the 5.3 liter V-8, four speed automatic,
power everything with a cloth interior, looks almost new, runs just
like new, has 120k miles on it, gets 16mpg in pure around-town
driving, 18-20mpg in mixed use and 22mpg on the open road, whether
loaded or unloaded.

One last nice thing about 2wd, regular cab, longbed trucks ...  they
are not at all popular with the general truck buying public, where the
"default" configuration *seems* to be extended cab, shortbed, and
4wd.  So my truck only cost me $5,400  ...  certainly a strong
consideration for me.

 
Many thanks, Tim. I've received a lot of very good advice from a bunch of
folks on various email lists, and you are the first person to recommend a
standard cab, 8' bed. As it turns out, that configuration would actually
fit in my garage alongside my Ultra, and the bench seat would make it easy
to get out on the right side, since my wife's Impala would be parked close
to the right side of the garage.

Other folks have recommended the more popular configuration, but wouldn't
you know it, that configuration is exactly as long as my garage. I would
have to pull the truck in perfectly straight, press the front bumper
against the front wall of the garage, crawl over the center console, and
hope the garage door clears the rear bumper. Not to mention I wouldn't be
able to leave the hitch ball in place.

Thanks again, Tim. Have another of your choice on me!

--
EZ Larry
BS #269