Buying new F-350 Crewcab dually.

What tows better, long or short bed?

What's the best way to go and Why??

Will be towing 42' or 46' boat approx. 15,000lbs.

Thanks for the input.

Have a 2001 F-350 long bed the only way to go for towing. The only advantage I can see for the short bed is if you use it everyday and need the shorter wheel base....BZ

Had both and pulled a 47' fountain lightning. NO COMPARISON!! With the long bed- you had to turn around to check if the boat was still behind you, with the short bed you could look out the side window and SEE the trailer-- it wandered so bad. The short bed was only marginally better then a 3/4 ton single axle, and I consider it a death trap when towing anything of considerable weight and lenghth.

Towing that much weight, you will need the Dual Rear Wheel option, which is only availble in the long-bed option.

I just bought an F-350 King Ranch with the long bed and towed my 34' Baja to FL 1250 miles. It towed like a dream and I got 10mpg doing about 75 mph most of the way.

Ford makes a short bed crew cab dually..............

Also...short bed has a smaller fuel tank

Tag-along hitch or fifth-wheel or gooseneck?

[QUOTE=cbeastwood]Towing that much weight, you will need the Dual Rear Wheel option, which is only availble in the long-bed option.

That is an incorrect statement, ford does in fact list a shortbed dually, I just purchased one about a month ago, they are not in large supply(at least in Fl.), when I started hunting for a swb dually I found 5 in Fl at the time, I was willing to give up a little stability on the hiway for the increased manueverablity at the ramps and in tight spaces, I also needed to be able to fit it in my garage at home(home owners assn). I bought an 06 f350 crewcab dually with the 6.0 4x4 and the tow boss pkge.(an oddity I'm told on the shortbed) but I wanted the 4.30 gears, I tow an 27pc formula that weighs app 11,000lbs on the trailer and loaded with gas and have had no problem at all with it.

With a boat that long will you tow off the ball or 5 th wheel?
I tow off the ball so turning radius was very important to me

I have towed my bullet (about 12,000 on the trailer) with both a 7.3 1995 long bed and a 05 6.0 short bed both were crew cab dually for manuverabilty you cant beat the 05 this is for two reasons shorter wheel base mean ttighter turnibg radius also ford went to a coil over front suspension which also helped the turning radius. I love the o5 but with the new front suspension the new long bed would also be a prety good choice. If I was to buy again which I will when the 6.4 diesel comes out I will get another short bed.


I tow alot Florida once a year you woll love the truck either way

tag along.