Crew Cab vs. Extended Cab

[moosetags]

I would like some input from the group on extended cab vs. crew cab.

I am shopping for a new truck for my soon to be purchased pop-up truck camper. I have pretty much decided on a new Chevrolet 4x4 Duramax 3500 long bed. I need the 8 foot bed as I plan to tow Lucy with this unit.

I have pretty much ruled out a regular cab truck as I will need some storage behind the seat and may like to carry passengers now and again. Of course, I would like a truck as short as possible. The overall length of the the extended cab truck is 249"; the crew cab truck is 259". For the extra 10", I guess I am leaning toward a crew cab. On the other hand, since the extended cab back doors are hinged at the rear, it feels like it has better access to the area than the crew cab does.

I know that many of you out there have each of these configurations. I would sure like to hear the pros and cons of each of these.

Thanx, Brian

[wasagachris]

Brian I owned a 1990 chev extend a cab. It didn't have the reaerward hinged doors and I found that getting into the back either to retrieve items or for passengers was very awkward. Since then I have owned two crew cabs both with long beds. Access into the back seat is much better. The downside is that the truck is very long and I have run in to some difficulty backing some trailers into sites in campgrounds. I have even run into tight spots backing up a 5th wheel.
Can you get by with the short box and is it available on the crew cab? You wouldn't believe what a difference a couple of feet make while backing into tight spots.

[SteveH]

I currently have a crew cab GMC with the short bed, and my previous truck was an extended cab GMC with the same bed.

I think it's just whatever you want to do. I liked the extended cab because I could manuever it easily. I disliked the extended cab because the rear doors were short, they hinged from the rear, and the back seat was really too small for adults to sit there.

I like the crew cab because of the bigger doors, bigger back seat, and the doors are hinged like real doors. I dislike the crew cab because it is MUCH harder to manuever into parking spaces, and just barely fits in my garage without room to walk around it at the end.

It's one of those things like, "you can't have your cake and eat it too".

[2airishuman]

these cover the issues somewhat.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463...abs-61324.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463...-tv-25801.html

NOT having a B pillar tween the doors is an issue...

crash data is worse, especially rollovers.

depends on what is going in the back seat and how u plan to use the space.

cheers
2air'

[Antique Pedaler]

Well, Tags, we have similar 25' FB trailers and both carry kayaks. I had a '00 GMC 2500 extended cab 8' bed and liked it fine but the rear door hinges were inconvenient and the back seat was tight for our grandchildren as, for some reason, they grew. We upgraded to our current '05 GMC DMAX 2500 crew cab 8' bed when GM was doing that first employee pricing. There was nothing wrong with the '00 but we went for the opportunity. So the '05 is super roomy. We can carry everything and everyone in comfort. Because of it's size I always park in two slots at the far end of parking lots.
Make that 4 when hitched up. At home we use our little car or bicycles for getting around.

Tomorrow we're headed for the lower Colorado River for a month of kayaking and tandem bicycling. We're all packed and there's still plenty of room.

P.S. Around here people like the dual rear axle when for use with a pickup camper. No added weight capacity but fewer problems with cross winds.

[Cracker]

I wouldn't trade my long bed, crew-cab dually for any other configuration. This vehicle has such great stability on the highway that I'm more than willing to put up with the slightly more difficult task of backing into tight quarters. I've never encountered a "backing situation" where another 10 inches of length would have made a difference - outside of maybe one more short "jog" forward and back. Sort of like comparing a 34' to a 30' Airstream --- not enough difference to worry about. As for the disadvantage of the short bed, I couldn't fit my 4' bed-slide, plus a 35 gallon blue tank, plus a rack of 2 x 6 levelling boards, plus a 3'-6" Rubbermaid storage box, in a short bed with a fiberglass tonneau. Nuff said! The only real consideration is whether or not the beast will fit in your garage.

[sandlapper]

Brian, IMHO wheelbase is one of the most important parts of safe towing. The longer the better. Hours upon hours & miles upon miles of peace of mind towing are worth the occasional squeeze into a tight campsite. Maybe just move to another(bigger) site. Antique Pedaler is right about the dual rear wheels You would quickly come to appreciate them with a slide in.

[2airishuman]

the op is gonna use a sliDe in camper shell.

he's tow'd the stream fine with a shorter suv thing.

so the main issue might be camper shell size/configuration.

as in how long is the front sleeper section that extends 4ward over the cabin.

and are there any concerns about that relationship. (support/vision/wind/noise)

probably lots of posts on this issue on the truck/shell/slide camper forums.

cheers
2air'

[4RXLA]

Go with the crew cab dually.

[Bluto]

I'll echo dougsale, "go with the crew cab dually".

My current TV is a 2007 Classic Chevy crew, dually, w/8'bed, 4x4.
I've had an extended cab on a different truck and glad I got the crew on the 2007.

The crew cab makes it easy to travel with pets, I fold it down and pad it up. Makes a nice large bed for them. Then when we have to use it for people and the seat is not down, there is plenty of leg room back there.
Oh, don't forget to get the leather seats, sun roof, and all the bells and whistles.
All the extras make for a great over the road vehicle.

[Ike T]

We use a crew cab with the 8' bed as well. Wheelbase is 164", which provides an amazing amount of stability.

I do have trouble (trouble = not hitting the mark correctly the first time) at times backing into sites, more to my lack of ability to compensate for the extra length rather than the extra length itself. I just have never quite gotten the hang of it after we upgraded from a 119" wheelbase vehicle.

I like being able to access the rear of the cab without opening 2 doors on a side. Opening only 1 door ensures the dogs jump into the back seat.

Good luck on your purchase.

[Steelegood]

Brian,

IMHO, It also depends on the amount of time your going to be carrying along passengers! We bought our crew cab to accomodate our growing children and thought when we became empty nesters we wouldn't need a crew cab! Well now we're there and...., wrong, we seem to haul more passengers than before. We enjoy the extra company, and guess I just trust my own driving over other campers We've ridden with! As long as we have an Airstream, we'll always have a crew cab!

Just a thought. Good luck on your choice.

Regards, Terry.

[tinearpaul]

Hi Brian:

We sold our 02 GMC Yukon XL 8.1 and 4.10 with 51K miles in December to another Airstream couple with a 25 ft. trailer. We ordered a 2011 GMC Sierra Denali 3500 HD Duramax crew-cab, short bed, single rear wheel truck on 15 December it arrived two weeks ago. Got a GREAT deal from a small dealer in CA. We only have 250 miles on it but it sure is nice with all the improvements. The diesel is wonderful. We ordered a crew cab and short bed as the truck is 20 inches longer than our Yukon was and was concerned about the extra 18 inches of bed in some of the smaller parks in California. For extra passengers and pets, the crew cab is the way to go. I also think from the number of crew cab trucks on the road, they might be easier to sell when that time comes. We tow a 30 ft. Classic so should not be a problem with the new truck just better mileage than the 8.1.

Paul

[clancy_boy]

Crew Cab is my vote. I have been in the back seat of an extended cab full size for a 3 hour ride. The rear window was touching my head, leg room was marginal, waiting for the front seat person to get out (or open his door) made me feel like a kid (in a bad way). 10 ines is not that much when you have already picked your manufacturer, model and size - Crew Cab is the way to go. I also did not think of the 2Air comment, the door frame support for side impact would get me there for safety alone. Had a side impact once in a 2 door 'yota, it was close.

Mike

[webtrippin]

Originally Posted by moosetags

I need the 8 foot bed as I plan to tow Lucy with this unit.

I don't really understand why you think that you'd need an 8 foot bed to tow the 25 AS.

I have a extended cab 6 foot bed towing a 28 and she does just fine. Maybe it's the Hensley, I dunno. But I also towed an older 25 with a Toyota 4Runner that did okay too.

Consider that the long bed regular cab is probably somewhere near the same length as a extended cab short bed. If it's just wheelbase that you're looking for to make you comfortable with specs on paper, either could get you there.

That being said, crew cab is quite nice convenience wise. No having to open the front doors to get to the back doors and stuff or people in/out. But if you aren't going to use them all that much it may not be an issue for you. We use ours almost all the time as the mutts ride in the back and we're full timing. Yeah, we have to open our doors first but then again it's not that big of a deal. Nice to have 4 real doors but not a must have in my book. I can live with it. You might hate it. YMMV.

How are you going to use the truck? Daily driver plus occasional camping trips? Full timing? Might make a difference. What make are you going to get? Price range and what model year? Older trucks didn't have the extra cab doors, some started earlier than others, and newer Dodge trucks have 4 full doors but a small rear seat in nearly the same length as say a similar year and wheelbase Chevy.

Also consider what kind of setup you want for the bed. Canopy? Topper? Nothing? Most of those (except for the super popular "nothing" option) cost a bit more for longer beds. Is budget a concern?

What are you going to haul in the back? My truck is quite full, and the ladder in the back is at an angle because it doesn't like being cooped up in only 6 feet of length and I didn't get one of those telescoping fancy ladders. 8 foot bed would have been nice.

Where you going to drive? Visiting Key West mostly? Then get the shorty. Wide open road and nowhere near metro areas ever? Get the long bed quad cab, and may as well throw some duals into the mix too.

[moosetags]

I absolutely have to have an 8 foot bed pick-up in order to tow Lucy as I am planning on putting an 8 foot truck camper in the bed of the truck. People do put 8 foot campers in 6 1/2 foot bed trucks, but you can't tow a heavy trailer this way as you would need to use a 2 foot hitch extension for the ball to reach the trailer. The 8 foot truck camper that I am looking at will weigh 2500# + ready to camp. A short bed truck just can not handle this job.

This new truck will be used for camping and towing. We probably will not take the truck camper out of the bed very often.

We don't visit Key West very often. Where we live in the Florida Panhandle, we are closer to Cincinnati, Ohio than we are to Key West.

Brian

[4RXLA]

Brian, I'm rethinking my earlier recommendation for the dually as you do alot of moose viewing in remote areas. My parents had a crew cab dually with a pop up camper and a 31' trailer and my dad swore by the stability of the dual rear wheels. Based on your past trips that you have documented so well on these forums, you probably would be better off with a crew cab SRW 4x4.

[moosetags]

I'm leaning crew cab SRW. Many of the places that we go Moosing in the back country have put some scrapes on the Suburban. A dually would have a real problem on some of the roads that we have been on.

Brian

[4RXLA]

You may want to consider the 4x4 just for the extra few inches of ground clearance...although that could make getting in the camper more challenging.

[newroswell]

Moosetags, here's my choice.