I've had a 8 foot bed truck with a across the bed tool box for years. This left me a usable 6 feet and change .
I just got a new truck and this one has a 6.5 bed.
Im not a contractor but i do use the bed for "work" most days and on occasion i do have to haul a motorcycle.
I was using my old tool box to about 50% capacity with tools, jack, ratchet straps, tow straps, hitches and some chain.
Thinking about doing something a little different for a tool box.
Option 1
Standard across the bed box, they make a narrow one so I only loose 12 inches of bed. But this would definitely make it tough to fit a bike
Option 2.
Swing out style, seems cheesy and all are plastic. But loose no bed length
Option 3 aluminum cube style boxes with one on each side of the front of the bed. Also seems cheesy and no loss of bed length
Update
Bought the swing cases and they were flimsy and not even close to hugging the bed sides. Returned them and bought a flush mounted aluminum box. It's held down to the forward tie downs with the nuts inside the box.
If I need to haul a bike it takes about 5 minutes to loosen the box and swing it long ways.
Life's always a compromise
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