The bigger the truck, the better, right? This is America, after all!

All jokes aside, the size and capacities of our future home-on-wheels matter quite a bit. From cab size and bed length to towing and payload capabilities, the potential configurations are many, especially if you factor in the differences between the major manufacturers.

Some of these factors–namely the towing and payload ratings–are primarily dictated by how you intend to use the truck. Others–like interior space–are more up to personal preference.

In this post, we dive into our thoughts on truck sizes and capacities as we try to determine the perfect fit for our full-time travel starting in 2025.

Things to know:

With full-time travel on the horizon, we need to choose a truck that can help us thrive on the road. The capacities and size of the truck are integral parts of our decision-making process, as they determine what the vehicle is capable of and how well it can perform the jobs we ask it to do.

Note: By the time you read this, we might already have a truck. Our intent is not to mislead you, we simply wrote these blogs well in advance!

Picking a truck for full-time travel

If you are familiar with our history, you know that we have owned exactly one full-size truck–a Ford F-250 Tremor with the 7.3-liter “Godzilla” engine.

A fair question to ask is, “Why didn’t you just keep that truck?”

There are a few answers to that question, and they seem worth mentioning before diving into this facet of our decision-making process.

1. We didn’t plan to take the leap into full-time travel. We anticipated settling down this year and slowly building back up to part-time travel. We sold the Ford believing that our path was set, but it changed.

2. Even if we had kept the Ford, we might have needed to swap it for something else. More on that later in this blog and in blogs to come.

3. Because we thought we no longer needed the Ford, we wanted to sell it while the market was still relatively hot. We didn’t want to be stuck with an auto loan we no longer needed.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into our thoughts about truck sizes, capacities, and capabilities as we prepare to purchase a three-quarter or one-ton truck!

Interior space and overall length - comfort versus convenience

Because we like to venture off the beaten path, explore dirt roads, and occasionally tackle tough terrain, a smaller truck has some distinct advantages. The shorter the wheelbase, the better the turning radius (as a general rule), which is ideal for off-road adventures.

On the other hand, we know we will be traveling with all of our belongings and our pup, Chowder. Interior space is incredibly important for both storage and comfort. Unfortunately, larger cabs mean longer wheelbases–you see the dilemma.

There are some ways to compromise. You can opt for an extended cab, which has half-doors and less space in the rear, choose the shortest possible bed length, or some combination of these options.

Given our circumstances and priorities, we decided that a crew cab was the right size for us (despite Riley’s dream of one day owning a single-cab truck). That left us with the bed size to determine the overall length of our truck.

Bed length - do you really need a long bed?

The major manufacturers offer two bed lengths on their HD trucks–standard and long. Standard tends to be around 6.5’ to 6.75’ depending on the brand, while long beds are 8’ or longer.

Many people can get away with a standard bed, especially if they are towing a trailer of reasonable weight. There are even plenty of truck campers that fit a standard bed and offer quite a bit of living space.

Keep in mind, though, that a longer bed equals a longer truck, which translates to more stability. If you are towing something extremely long and heavy, a longer truck has the advantage.

The same goes for larger truck campers–if you want to safely haul a big truck bed camper, you should probably opt for a long bed truck. They also tend to be more useful for work if you intend to use your truck outside of recreation.

The downsides? Well, a long bed makes a truck much harder to turn and maneuver in tight spaces. From the trail to the parking lot, that extra length sneaks up on you and makes daily life a little more difficult and stressful.

Ultimately, we’re leaning toward a long bed because of the direction we think we’re going with our camper setup. If we were going a different route with the camper, we’d probably stick with a standard bed for the convenience.

Payload and towing capacity - just because you can…

…doesn’t mean you should. While we’re as red-blooded, stick-it-to-the-man as they come, we tend to abide by the payload and towing ratings of our vehicles. So, as we hunt for the perfect truck for our upcoming lifestyle shift, we want to make sure we’re buying one that can handle whatever challenges we throw at it.

If you’re buying a pull-behind or fifth-wheel, you’ll want to pay attention to both your payload and towing capacities.

The towing bit is obvious–you want to be safely under the limit your truck is rated for. The payload part of the equation is often overlooked–after all, you’re towing the camper, not loading it into the bed. However, a portion of the weight of your trailer is transferred to the truck, detracting from your payload. Called the hitch or pin weight, you need to account for this when loading up your truck (or in our case, purchasing one).

For truck bed campers, payload is the primary concern. Your truck is only rated to carry so much weight, and while you can compensate with things like airbags and helper springs, staying within factory limits is a good idea. This means factoring in you, your passengers (dogs included), gear, camper, and so on!

These numbers can be affected by everything from the engine powering your truck to the trim level you choose. We are opting for a one-ton truck and low trim level to maximize our ratings.

What size truck do you need?

With all these things in mind, we feel relatively confident that the truck we’re searching for is a crew cab with a long bed and single rear wheel configuration. We fully recognize that this will hinder us off-road, but we want to ensure that we are just about maximizing the capabilities of our new truck without going overboard (buying a dually, for example).

What do you think–are we on the right track? Would you opt for a different configuration? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts, opinions, and pieces of advice–we’d love to learn from you and take your feedback into consideration as we make this huge decision.

Full-time travel is rapidly approaching, and we can’t wait to share every step of the journey with you. From choosing a truck and picking a camper to actually hitting the road and adjusting to our new lifestyle, we hope you’ll follow along and join our thriving little community of adventurers!

- Riley + Hanna