Question for the remodelers in the north

I do this

 

The short bed is not ideal for materials in anyway. I made up a hitch support for 4x8 material but it is a pain. I do not see the long bed being all that much better but it will help since you run out of real estate quickly with the short bed.

Once you have a real truck for work with a bed that swallows up 4x8 with ease you know what I am talking about. You also need to upgrade the suspension to haul daily for sure.

If you plan to use this for contractor work it will do the task but it will not do the task if you typically do material delivery.

 

This is one of the few trucks out there setup for real work. Not knocking you here but you have a good some of money tied up in your rig in order for it to be ideal to construction work.

Complete suspension consisting of OME's, Dakars, and bumpstops.
Commerical Canopy with rack.

After the high cost of a Tacoma to start with and another 3-5K in mods to make it worthy for work it would be a hard choice in my eyes to pick the tacoma for a work vehicle.

 

Not sure I'm following you

 

Suspension isn't for the construction...the shell is a personal preference. And anyone with any truck would need either a shell or a rack to haul 12' lumber like that.

 

I am not knocking your truck at all. It is one of the nicest work rigs on here as I stated already. It would just be hard for me to pick a vehicle which costs a good bit more than some fullsize models and then mod it to be comparable to a fullsize specs.

AWorthyOpponent, I never mentioned 12 foot matieral, only mentioned 8 which the tacoma has issues with compared to other vehicle choices.

 

It's all good , I wasn't offended at all

I agree , if I was intending to get a dedicated rig for hauling material , it would be a 1 ton flat bed dump .

I almost always get material delivered , it's just more economical and efficient that way , my truck hauls my tools and is a small material pick up rig

The bonus for me is that I get to drive a Tacoma

 

I did commerical hvac and now a career in commerical electrical. The truck in stock form is not ideal besides hauling tools in my eyes. Just other day there was some material I could of had for free but did not take due to my truck not being setup at the moment to make the trip home with it.

After having a 3500 truck with a knapheide box you get spoiled let alone rolling out the box truck.

I am 95% happy with my truck nothing in the world is perfect, truck meets me needs which was to fit in my garage with a quad cab and not have a horrible interior as the colorado.

Just trying to give the OP a truthful idea what he is getting into if he plans to use the truck for material hauling as he mentioned. It can do the some material moving but it needs more time to setup and when working that is the last thing I want to do. Add in some poor conditions from mother nature on a muddy worksite and the situation compounds quickly.

 

So, how about 4wd extended cab or 2wd crew regarding "light material" hauling, tools, and occasional kid (baby seat) ride?

 

How do you figure?? Full size truck with an 8' bed and 2' tailgate would haul 12' lumber no problem without a shell, ladder rack or anything of the sort... And, 8' sheet goods fit between the wheel wells.

 

I would get a 4WD

Why are you stuck on these two truck options ?

 

I can and have hauled 20' with my headache rack that was on before the cap

 

I know it's possible, but that other guy said you need a ladder rack or something similar for any truck if you wish to haul 12' lumber. It shouldn't be a big secret, full sized trucks are better suited for hauling larger lumber than the Tacoma.

 

Sure

but a full size isn't one of the OP's options

 

Stuck bc I can get a great deal on the dc and if I buy new i like the gas and price of the 4 cylinder, 4wd in lieu of the DC option if that makes sense. Previous owner of a 99 prerunner which worked, but now there is more tools and the kid factor.

 

x2

Best option for the scenario you described imo. If you don't have to have one of the two you posted earlier right away, I would look for DCLB 4x4 that fits your budget.

 

My leaf springs were shot after 6 months using my truck as a work truck. Either option ladder racks will make your life easier. I have the thule adjustable racks, cut them down so they can sit below the top of the cab so i can haul sheets up there if i need to, and they dont catch as much wind, then set them higher to carry long material. Either option is going to have its drawbacks, you should really look for a 4wd 6cyl IMO

 

I understand the factors that are obviously directing toward a
Long bed or limited material hauling. Lets move past that.

Is a bigger bed more important for those that do more than average home improvement or is it easier to adapt to have the additional storage space? Can you fit a baby seat in the back of an AC? All the threads are split on what truck style to get, not
if you can live with one.

 

I chose the longer bed over more interior space. Mainly for work but no kids for awhile. DCLB wasnt an option for me