Updated at: 29-05-2022 - By: Lucas

Standard Truck Bed Sizes

If you drive a pickup truck, you know how important it is to have a bed that is big enough for your needs. Maybe you only drive it on the weekends. Or, maybe you use your truck for work, like a lot of other people. If you usually carry big, heavy loads, you’ll need a truck that’s big enough to carry them.

You can ask the salesman what size the truck’s bed is when you go to buy a new or used car. This information comes from the company that made the product. Also, the dealership can always measure the truck to make sure the information is correct. They don’t want to sell a car with a big truck bed and have it turn out to be smaller than they said.

Here, we will talk about the typical size of a truck bed. We’ll also talk about why it’s important and how to measure the size of your own truck bed.

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Truck beds come in three main styles: short, standard, and long. Most of the time, you can tell what kind of bed a truck has just by looking at it. But if you aren’t sure, you can use a trick.

You need to look at where the flap is on the gas tank. Then, measure how far away it is from the back fender. In general, the bed is longer the farther it is from the gas flap. Here are some rules to follow:

If the gas cap is on the bumper, the bed is short.

If the flap is close to the wheel, the bed is a standard bed.

If there is a gap between the gas tank cover and the back bumper, the bed is long.

Even though every truck bed is made by a different company, they all come in the same sizes. Here’s the rule of thumb. Just remember that a Ford short bed might be an inch or two longer than a Chevy short bed. (There’s a reason for this, which we’ll get to in a minute.)

5’8″ is a short bed.

Normal bed is 6’5″

Long bed – 8″

Why Do the Measurements of the Truck Bed Matter?

When you’re looking for a new truck, you’ll care about a lot of different things. You might care more about the price than anything else, for example. If that’s the case, you’ll likely choose a truck with a short bed. If you have a lot of stuff to haul, you might want to look for a truck with a long bed. Lastly, if your whole family needs to fit in the truck, the number of seats will be more important than the size of the bed.

But once you have your truck, you might need to buy extra parts for it. You’ll need to know how big your truck bed is to do this. You might want to buy a lot of different things that need these measurements:

You can get new parts for your truck.

A cover for the bed of your truck

You might want to order a truck cover.

You might also want to put a tool box with hard tools on the back of your truck. If this is the case, you will need to know how big your bed is. You can always get this information if you don’t have it.

How Do You Measure Your Pickup Truck’s Bed?

If you don’t know how big your truck’s bed is, you can do one of two things. You can call the dealer or the maker to get the information. You can also measure it on your own. Since the only way to know for sure is to measure your truck (and not just any truck online), we suggest that you measure it yourself.

There are 3 easy steps to measuring your truck bed

Put the measuring tape against the back wall of your truck bed. This is where the bed of the truck meets the cab. Stretch the measuring tape out until it touches the inside edge of your tailgate. It’s important to only measure to the edge on the inside. It will be wrong by about an inch if you take it to the edge.

Divide the total number of inches by 12 and write down the answer. This will help you figure out how many feet and inches your measurement is.

Also, you should know that most companies round up. So, round up to 5 feet, 7 inches if something is 5 feet, 6 and a half inches long. Once you know this, you can go online and order any kind of truck accessories you want. You’ll also need this information to order new parts for your truck bed.

Why Do You Need to Measure the Bed – Can’t You Just Get the Information Online?

Remember when we said that truck beds are made on purpose to be different sizes? So, let’s talk about why. If all truck makers made trucks with the same bed, you could buy parts from anyone. By making them all slightly different, you have to buy replacement parts and accessories from the same company that made your truck.

The other reason you should measure your truck instead of relying on online information is that trucks change. Every year, companies that make pickup trucks come out with new models. Almost every year, the size of the beds changes. Again, this is so that you can’t take parts or accessories from one model and use them on another. It really comes down to making sure you buy from the manufacturer or a licenced distributor. It’s always best to measure the truck bed yourself and keep the information in the glove compartment.