Anyone have a standard size toolbox on a 5.5' bed? Is it practical or does it make the bed too short?

 

I never liked the crossbed toolboxes (I feel they look dorky). I have a Leer 100RCC shell on my bed that has a toolbox on each side behind a door where a window would normally go. I get way more cargo space than I probably would have if I had a crossbox tool box and anything that goes in bed is protected from weather. I feel the side toolboxes are easier to access than a crossbed box.

 

I love my tool box...wouldnt give it up, but I rarely use the bed

 

It would make the bed too short. I had one in my 6' ranger bed and that was even too short for me. If you don't use your bed though then it's probably fine.

 

I used one for two years on my F150 while I was building my house on my 5.5' bed. If I needed to haul something that wouldn't fit in the bed, I just hooked up the trailer and went to the lumber yard or where ever.

FWIW, that toolbox needs a new home....

 

I had one for a long time. It makes the bed basically worthless for anything more than Costco trips. As soon as I bought my house and had a garage to store my tools and stuff it went in the shed.

 

There is no firm answer to that question. It simply depends on each individual's needs and wants. Personally, not having a toolbox would be very impractical to me. And while the toolbox obviously takes up some space, there's plenty of space underneath the toolbox in the bed, so if you're carrying long items such as lumber you have plenty of room to carry and stack them in the bed with the toolbox there. You can take a look at some of the pictures in my album to see I have lots of room under my toolbox. The only situations where you're going to run into trouble with a toolbox is if the item you're trying to haul is long and tall. That's a rare occurrence for me, and when those situations come up, I'll either take my toolbox off until after I'm finished hauling it or rent/borrow a trailer. I use my toolbox to store odds and ends (some tools, rope, some EMS equipment in case I happen upon an accident, basketball, etc), but the main use I absolutely needed a toolbox for at first was to store my firefighter gear in it. When I would get through a day at the fire academy, my gear would absolutely reek due to spending several hours sweating in it, crawling through sand and mud, being continuously drenched in water, etc. That's not something I want to put in the cab of my truck to stink it up. When it's raining or when I'm going to be going other places before or afterward (as opposed to driving straight there and straight back), I can't just leave it in the bed to get damaged or stolen. A toolbox fixes that problem. The occassions when I don't want to for whatever reason or simply can't keep something in the cab, but still need it to be safe from the weather or getting stolen, a toolbox is the perfect fix. Again it all depends on your personal needs.

 

I love mine. Heres what you do, Get a nice aluminium tool box so if need be you can take it out in 2 mins. Plus I haul my dirtbike, and 4 wheelers, if its a short trip I just drop the tail gate. if not just pop the toolbox no big deal.

 

I went with a wheel well tool box....one that fits over the wheel well, gives me my bed and storage at the same time....I think I have pics in my albums.

 

Would this work as an alternative. Thinking about going this route myself, wish they would have made some storage under the seats or somewhere.

http://www.truckaddons.com/Catalog/s...swingcase.html

 

Those look slick as snot on a broom handle.

One of these days, I'm going to build a box under the rear seat and cover it with carpet to either match the flooring or a dark charcoal carpet to match the trim. I've seen a commercial unit that does the same but I don't like the looks of it. I can build one that is stronger and better looking for a lot less. I'm sure I can also come up with a better locking system than their Michael Mouse cable lock.

 

I've always liked the idea of those things but where it mounts it covers up a tie down in my bed to where I'd have to remove it. Can't find a suitable way to reloate it so I don't lose it

 

It's ok for me. The largest things I haul are 2x4s or 4x8 sheets of plywood and drywall. They stick out the back so the tool box isn't in the way but I am limited to how many sheets I can load though since (I forget how many) eventually I'll reach the bottom of the tool box. This really sucks when hauling prehung doors but if I can't use the bed I'll use a trailer.

 

I love my uws toolbox. at first i was a little skeptical about getting one, thinking that i was already making my 5.5 bed even shorter than it already was, plus i couldnt really think of any serious use i had for it. but let me tell you, as my friend with a tundra who had the same skepticism about getting one as i did, youll find uses for it you never knew you had and fall in love with it. i keep all the regular tools and jumper cables plus offroading crap i have in there, plus if i ever need to have something locked away i can throw it in there. get it, and if you absolutely need the bed space for something, just take it out and put it back in.

 

This is what I ended up getting on my Supercrew. It is the 69" wide low profile slimline box. It is the first bike I've had that I could push all the way forward against the bulk-head without the lid hitting the back of the cab when open. This gives me just about 4-1/2 feet of space behind the box which is just a couple inches shy of what you'd have with the 6-1/2 foot bed with a full-size box.

I like this box because it is almost not there when viewing the truck from the side because it is so small. I have the deep well version which does limit space between the box and the floor of the bed, but it allows plenty of storage for what I use the box. I think the shallow well box would have been adequate, but they just looks strange to me. The powder-coat black box would have blended into the bed even more, particularly with my spray in liner, but I have not had a good experience with UWS powder coat durability.

USW also makes a slim-line box with a regular lid, but the bed sides on the Ford are so tall, I felt this would look weird.