Very tall bed-top pickup box?

Trying to figure out whether the next truck is a pickup or a van.

Van is in the lead, but local trailer rental options mean the ability to tow 10k lbs would be good (even if the cars i like are rarely going to push the actual weight that high, you need the rating to rent the trailer).

 While a pickup's higher load-in is a pain for sportbikes, it's a lot easier to get that towing capability.

 But virtually all the "camper tops" (or work/cargo type) aren't nearly tall enough to get a bike in, let alone with enough headroom that you're not trying to simultaneously balance a 400lb bike and do the limbo.

 Am i missing a box type?

It might be a dumb question, but all day and nobody even popped in for that observation? 

I don't have a good answer for your question about toppers, but in my experience, if I'm hauling a bike, I'll do whatever I can to use a van instead of a pickup...and if I need to tow a car, I do whatever I can to borrow/rent the whole shebang including the truck. I also tow cars very infrequently, so YMMV. 

Would a small harbor freight trailer solve the problem?

Are you trying to keep the bike out of the weather , or just move it around on the pick up bed ?

the guys that pick up metal scrap just make the sides of the bed taller with a metal frame and 4x8 sheets of plywood  pointed up.

Not sure if that is what you are looking for or something weatherproof :)

Are hi top toppers not tall enough ?

In reply to Appleseed :

I'm pretty sure those are too low for the bike (didn't have a ton of extra room to the Dadjiban's door opening) and definitely too low to walk into the taller bed of a truck wrangling a bike. It would be super-ungainly, but I'm hoping for a 5-6' opening height from the bed.

Excellent further questions, which deserve a full keyboard. Tomorrow...

I've never found a topper that worked with the dirt bikes short of something that basically looks like a truck camper. Alumitech makes some sweet ones, but they are $$. Granted I'm doing dirt bike stuff so the bikes are taller, so there may be some happier medium for sport bikes. 

In reply to gearheadE30 :

That's more or less the box shape I had in mind! But just want a hollow shell, not a billion-dollar slide-in... I'd like to be able to do dirt bikes as well, and the headroom that would make that possible would also make it less harrowing to load a sportbike.

IIRC the rear door opening on my Dodge B2500 was about 48". The Aprilia fit, but I didn't love the whole "get a run at the ramp so you're not trying to push a 400lb motorcycle on pure grunt, but also step up onto a cinder block and then step into the van while ducking to clear the door opening." It was bad enough at that load height, and the few inches taller pickups seem to be would only make it worse.

In reply to several insightful questions :

Okay, I tried to ask one specific question about one specific answer, and as usual, GRM is too insightful not to wonder what I'm trying to achieve and why I'd want to do what I was asking about... And I apologize in advance for the disorganized wreckage that passes for my understanding of what I'm trying to achieve. I'm more than happy to hear problems with my conclusions, assumptions, and/or suggestions I haven't thought of. This is supposed to be the fun phase...

In general, I'm looking at replacing the '97 F-250; the very last of the chassis that just evolved from the early sixties, you might say it's the intersection of too old to be good and too new to be cool. I mean, it's done a fine job of the truck stuff, pulled many trailer loads during phase 1 of the shop excavation, been to the dump, etc, etc... But it's very much an Old Truck and not much fun to drive, so it only gets used when we need to do truck stuff. We're also going to move the Mini along, and the new household order is that my wife's getting a new car, while I'm going to try to live the dream and mostly drive my neat old stuff. Which means the house truck is likely to be pressed into occasional DD duty for me when it turns out that a the MGB (or whatever) doesn't want to car today. It's not like the current truck won't do that, but... If I'm going to live with a truck that's that old-trucky, it needs to be cooler and thus more fun.

Anyhow, in no particular order, I'm going to try to roll out a bunch of the stuff I'm trying to mash into some kind of decision:

• Motorcycle to the track. Van is way nicer for both load-in height and having a lockable, out of the weather place for all the attendant gear.
• Home improvement stuff. Truck can be loaded with a bucket, van means either utility trailer or having dirt/gravel delivered (which isn't bad, but requires planning)
• Bicycle races. Depends on the race; cyclocross often means finishing the race looking like I've been dunked in brown tool dip, and I daydream of being able to either have an outdoor shower thing, or at least have a changing room to sponge off in. Other races I'm okay with my "modesty avocado" (cheap green changing tent; as a pasty, hairy, middle aged dude I consider it my civic duty to find a private place to clean  up and change)
• Towing; I don't do it a lot but it does come up, but the local trailer rental places seem to be very limiting in what vehicles they'll allow. 7500lbs seems like a *minimum* to be able to rent a car trailer or a dump trailer, and I'd be sizing down on the dump trailer. I hope to never really need a dump trailer again after Phase II of the shop excavation, so if I move slowly enough maybe I'll be done with that before moving the F-250 along. Even at 7500, I'd be losing my go-to car hauler, as this place is five minutes from my house, easy to deal with, and the flat deck and built in hand crank winch make anything pretty easy to load. There's a less convenient place that does have an enclosed car hauler that's a bit more expensive, and they do just say "3/4 ton" for vehicle capability... I kinda feel like my rental options are just not great around here and that's forcing a larger towing capacity than I ever actually need. The linked trailer will probably never weigh more than 7k pounds with any vehicle I'd haul on it, but you have to  be able to tow it fully laden to rent it.

I've at times considered:

• Somewhat newer pickup that's less of a penalty as transportation and just live with the lack of a closed box for gear; maybe crew cab so there's some weatherproof storage and maybe work out a small electric winch to make bike loading less of a momentum sport with the tall load-in. Yes, HF trailer would avoid the tall load-in, but then I have to have and store and drive with a trailer. A 3/4 ton truck could also manage one of those hitch mount bike carriers which do exist up to sport bike size and lower the load-into some extent...
• Large SUV (on the grounds that it could tow most stuff and would be more pleasant to drive; this mostly comes up when my wife's pondering of her next car leans toward something on the small end for road trips and more than two adults)
• Promaster/Sprinter/Transit; Less pleasant to daily because noisy box, but probably the best-driving of anything outside of the SUV? Best answer for motos and bikes, and in case I wind up with a functioning band again. I think this is my favorite answer despite the limitations.
• Econoline/E-series. In the era where tall vans are so common I hate the idea of going back to getting me and a bike through that 4' opening and tall conversions that actually have tall doors are rare. But you can get an E350 that does all the van things and tows 10k (if only for a few years and only with the V10 or diesel), which makes it the only option that can do absolutely everything except be loaded with a bucket.

Tow ratings are funny. I have little doubt that a lot of the above vehicles would probably actually do better with 10k lbs than my '97 F-250 with its drum rear brakes and flexi-flyer chassis. The 460 will move stuff happily enough, but it seems like everything from the last decade or two has more power and probably a more capable chassis. I suspect a 2010 F150 is actually more truck, but if the rating isn't there, they won't rent me the trailer (not to mention legality, liability, and I'm just not qualified to be cavalier about tow ratings).

And some of this is absolutely not totally rational. I just hate the idea of owning a perfectly good truck and having to go rent another one in order to rent a trailer. Even if that happened twice a year, it would be a few hours and lost in the noise cost-wise. It just feels like an invitation to berkeleying three days juggling pick-up and drop-off times and probably winding up caught between warring rental companies that won't let me tow one company's trailer with the other's truck, and finding that out right when I need to be hitting the road...

I'm still wondering why a small Harbor Freight trailer wouldn't solve your problems. 
 

You can buy them for a few hundred dollars, store them vertically against a wall, load them ridiculously easily, and haul them behind virtually anything (including a classic compact).

What's not to love?

So, owning multiple trucks, trailers, and a van:

Go for a van. Look for a 2500-series van. They'll have towing capacities well in excess of what you need. You'll have a MUCH easier time of loading vehicles inside, have plenty of capacity for pulling things, be able to have lockable storage, and even roll out a sleeping mat if you like. I have a high-roof Nissan 2500 and absolutely love it: The only downside is that I can't go through drive-throughs or most parking garages. 

In reply to SV reX :

I'm sure that could be made to work. But I don't see equipping every classic and project with a hitch (or any of them if I can avoid it), and the next thing you know we've got a boring vehicle old enough to be depreciated and solid enough to be reliable... Maybe it's more fuel-efficient and easier to park than a truck, but we haven't knocked down the vehicle count and now we've got to hook up a trailer any time something won't fit in the hatch/trunk.

One track is ten minutes from my house, but the others are an hour or several hours; how's an HF trailer do at 70? I did a quick search, and it sounds like it'll survive that just fine (maybe with a tire swap), but what's it like spending three hours at 70 with that little cargo trailer back there?

It deserves more noodling on. I'm sure some of my resistance is in just having grown up in a house where we were never without a truck. And we're back to having to rent a truck and a trailer, probably from separate places, any time I need more trailer than that. It could be worth it, but I dread those days.

I have had a high roof Chevy van years ago , lots of room but you really have to think if you can get in and out of places ,

But what about a full size 1 ton Ford van with extended roof and rear doors set up for wheel chairs ?

They have extended doors , or the back "flap" area of the fiberglass roof has a hinge to allow for the wheelchair owners head not too hit !

or a cheap Mercedes Sprinter .......

In reply to brandonsmash :

It's probably lost in my ridiculous wall of words above, but the weight I actually need to tow and the weight I need a rating to tow are quite different because of the need to rent trailers. I can't rent a 2500lb trailer to tow a 2500lb car with a 5k rating because the trailer's 10k GTWR means the rental place won't let me leave the lot empty without a 10k tow rating.

We're probably just watching me grudgingly accept that having a giant PITA on those occasions I need to haul a car on a trailer isn't worth compromising everything else about choosing a truck/van. Even dealing with UHaul for the trailer rental might be worth it, difficult though it is to accept that dealing with UHaul can ever be worth it.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

The high-roof E-series is definitely on my radar. But they're rare. High roof is not common, and having the doors extended into the high roof is rare within that...

Sprinters don't or only rarely get up into that tow rating, do they? I kinda had the impression that all the new-era vans sort of cap out around 7k (and are usually a lot lower). I apparently need a spreadsheet...

1- Decommissioned ambulance?

2- Rent a truck and trailer a couple times per year?

3- Toy hauler RV

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

I didn't mean to be suggesting you wouldn't have a truck. I meant get whatever truck you enjoy driving, and don't worry about getting a cap.  Any truck will easily tow a small trailer, and bikes are much easier to load onto a trailer than up into a truck bed.

And if you ever wanted to, the small classics could potentially also tow a trailer that small (as a tire trailer, etc)

I agree.. I'm not sure I'd like a little trailer like that at 70 mph for 3 hours.  For me, that would just mean a slightly bigger trailer (behind the truck).

I would not like daily driving a truck with a really tall cap on it.  I have a mid height cap (which is fine, but wouldn't fit a bike). And the caps are pricier than they should be. Mine cost about $6K.  

Do you have a place to park a trailer?  A 6x12 enclosed trailer would make a great hauler for bikes and track stuff, and you'd never have to unload it when you got home. Just let it be the garage for the bikes.

And they are not too spendy. 

If looking at the SUV option, I don't know if there's any contemporary ones that have that high of a tow rating. My 21 Expedition Max has a 9300 pound rating, and I don't think the GMC is as high as that since the 3/4 ton Suburban is now only sold for fleets. 

I'm not sure where you are renting from, but I have never needed to have 10K capacity to rent a car trailer.

In fact, the only 10K lb trailer I have owned was a 24' Haulmark enclosed Race Trailer with upgraded axles.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

It's a fluke of the local rental places, as noted in the wall of text. There's a spot I know, close to my house, easy to deal with (like, take two hours of your life back compared to U-Haul)... It's like renting from McMaster Carr instead of Home Depot. And the other, less convenient but also not U-Haul has a big enclosed trailer that just requires "a 3/4 ton."

 It's probably worth it to just deal with U-Haul as opposed to compromising truck choice, but given the tow ratings on halfway modern 3/4 and even half ton pickups, I'm just annoyed that the vans are rated so low. It just doesn't feel like it should be an either/or thing.

 And that's how this thread got started; trying to have as much of everything at once as possible.

In reply to SV reX :

Ah, slowly I am catching up...

 My wife is averse to a trailer kicking around in the yard, but she's also exceedingly reasonable and incredibly supportive, so if the sliding tiles of the puzzle land there, I bet it could work. Folder would be an easier sell than 6x12 box, but you make a compelling case about the internal parking...