You may hear someone refer to a new Chevy’s 6.5′ bed as a “Standard” bed. Others might call the bed “Short”. Why so confusing? Well, it’s because of the way the manufacturers created more bed options on their vehicles over time.
Many years ago there was only one cab size and one or two bed sizes that were offered by manufacturers. Most trucks had 2-door cabs and 8′ long beds. As demand for more cab space grew, manufacturers created larger cabs.
So we got “Extended” cabs, or cabs with slightly more room behind the front seats. Because manufacturers wanted to use the same vehicle frame for both Regular and Extended Cabs, lengthening the cab required them to shorten the bed. Thus, typically, Extended Cab trucks came with 6.5′ “Short” beds, and Regular Cab trucks came with 8′ “Long” beds.
After the demand for pickup trucks as daily-use and family vehicles became even more popular, the “Crew” cab was born. The Crew cabs have four full-sized doors much like a sedan. This time the manufacturers had to shorten the bed to accommodate a cab with 4 doors and full front and rear seats. This is when the “Extrashort” bed was born. Extrashort beds are typically about 5′ long for mid-sized trucks (Tacomas, Colorados, Frontiers, Rangers, etc), and 5.5′ to 5.8′ long on full sized trucks (Silverado 1500s, F150s, Ram 1500s, Tundras and Titans). With a few exceptions, (Ford Raptor and a few F150s) they are only available on half-ton or mid-sized trucks with Crew cabs.
Then Ram introduced “Mega Cabs” which feature a cab that is even larger than a “Crew Cab”. Only Rams offer a Mega Cab, which are now only available on their Ram 2500/3500s
Because the industry was so used to calling 6.5′ beds “Short” beds, and 8.0′ beds “Long” beds, they feared confusion if they relabeled the beds short (for the all-new extrashort), medium (for the short), and long. Therefore, they continued to use the “Short” and “Long” terms, and just added the “Extrashort” to the list of cab terms.
However, RECENTLY, some manufacturers decided to rename the 6.5′ “Short” beds as “Standard” beds, which allowed them to relabel the Extrashort beds as “Short” beds.
For example, Chevy now refers to their 6.5′ bed on the Silverado as a “Standard” Bed, and they call their 5.8′ bed a “Short” bed.
This is where all the confusion comes in! If someone says they have a “Short” bed, do they mean short as in 6.5′ or short as is 5.8′? THIS IS WHY WE PROVIDE BOTH TERMS on our bed dimensions. Good thing a Long bed is still a Long bed.
Here is what we mean when we use universal terms:
Universal Cab Terms:
“Regular Cab” = 2 door
“Extended Cab” = 2 full doors + half or smaller sized rear doors
“Crew Cab” = 4 full doors
Universal Bed Terms:
“Extrashort Bed” = Beds that are less than 6′ long.
“Short Bed” = Beds that are 6-6.8′ long.
“Long Bed” = Beds that are 7′ or longer
Explanation of CURRENT Manufacturers’ Cab terms (manufacturer’s terms are in quotes)
Chevy/GMC :
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Double Cab”
Crew Cab = “Crew Cab”
Ford F150s:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Super Cab”
Crew Cab = “SuperCrew”
Ford F250/350s:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Super Cab”
Crew Cab = “Crew Cab”
Ram:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Quad Cab”
Crew Cab = “Crew Cab”
Mega Cab = “Mega Cab”.
Toyota Tundra 1999-2006:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Access Cab”
Crew Cab (2004-2006 only) = “Double Cab”
Toyota Tundra 2007-current:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Double Cab”
Crew Cab = “CrewMax”
Toyota Tacoma:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “Access Cab”
Crew Cab = “Crew Cab”
Nissan:
Regular cab = “Regular Cab”
Extended Cab = “King Cab”
Crew Cab = “Crew Cab”
