Gas vs diesel
- Thread starter 300zx_tt
- Start date
It's dumb how much it changes state to state. They run off measured weight here. I can have gvwr of 50k combined, but if I only weigh 25999 I'm good.
One of our guys got turned around in Colorado because we had a truck registered for 26k, towing a trailer registered for 22k. Trailer was empty, but he was told to park it and find a driver or turn around and get an escort out of state.
Truck and trailer empty weighed 13k, and he was going to pick up a forklift that weighed 8k. Well under 26 combined.
But, company logos on the truck and they will start digging.
This is my 2014 F-350….
6.2L V8
4.30 Limited Slip
4wd
9.5’ Gooseneck brand flatbed
Chassis cab (heavier springs than the pickup)
Empty weight just under 9,000 pounds
GVWR 14,000
The trailer was a 16’ Diamond C that weighed a bit over 5k, empty. It was rated at 14,900 GVWR, but occasionally went a little heavy.
Did I use all of the RPM’s when pulling larger hills? Yes. Does it get good fuel mileage? No. Do I wish I had a diesel? Absolutely not.
Here are the times when I would recommend a diesel:
You always are towing over 15k
You regularly need to tow 20k, or more
You drive with a trailer over 15,000 miles, per year
You live at a stupid high elevation
You have the money to burn on a diesel and down time won’t adversely impact you
The diesel WILL tow better, no way around it. For towing under 14k, the diesel is not generally necessary.
One of the biggest handicaps of the gas engines is the rear axles they get paired with. Almost all of them come with the higher gears to save fuel. This makes them not very good, for pulling. Get one with low gearing (high number) and they are much different, capability-wise.
The gas motors I would recommend are:
Ford 6.2L (MY 2017 and later got a torque bump): this is the weakest I would recommend
Ford 7.3L I saw the other poster said they suck, I haven’t seen that, but don’t have much experience with this model
GM 6.6L The county road and bridge started using these and they have impressive towing and are holding up well
Ram 6.4L This is my least favorite, because of cylinder deactivation. Strong motor, when working
My truck weighs so much and has such stiff springs, a SRW would be better on ride and fuel. My truck beats the tar out of you unless you put a thousand pounds on the bed or about 7k behind it.
I recently got this Thunderstruck bumper replacement on:
6.2L V8
4.30 Limited Slip
4wd
9.5’ Gooseneck brand flatbed
Chassis cab (heavier springs than the pickup)
Empty weight just under 9,000 pounds
GVWR 14,000
The trailer was a 16’ Diamond C that weighed a bit over 5k, empty. It was rated at 14,900 GVWR, but occasionally went a little heavy.
Did I use all of the RPM’s when pulling larger hills? Yes. Does it get good fuel mileage? No. Do I wish I had a diesel? Absolutely not.
Here are the times when I would recommend a diesel:
You always are towing over 15k
You regularly need to tow 20k, or more
You drive with a trailer over 15,000 miles, per year
You live at a stupid high elevation
You have the money to burn on a diesel and down time won’t adversely impact you
The diesel WILL tow better, no way around it. For towing under 14k, the diesel is not generally necessary.
One of the biggest handicaps of the gas engines is the rear axles they get paired with. Almost all of them come with the higher gears to save fuel. This makes them not very good, for pulling. Get one with low gearing (high number) and they are much different, capability-wise.
The gas motors I would recommend are:
Ford 6.2L (MY 2017 and later got a torque bump): this is the weakest I would recommend
Ford 7.3L I saw the other poster said they suck, I haven’t seen that, but don’t have much experience with this model
GM 6.6L The county road and bridge started using these and they have impressive towing and are holding up well
Ram 6.4L This is my least favorite, because of cylinder deactivation. Strong motor, when working
My truck weighs so much and has such stiff springs, a SRW would be better on ride and fuel. My truck beats the tar out of you unless you put a thousand pounds on the bed or about 7k behind it.
I recently got this Thunderstruck bumper replacement on:
The Ford 7.3L with 4.30s is stoute and I intended to get one recently when I was truck shopping. It's capable, simple, and reasonably priced as trucks go. I can't speak to quality control.
I stumble across a lightly used Ram 3500 srw diesel that I really liked and picked it up instead. It's a personal truck, zero commercial duty, but will be hauling my Deere 333d around for working on my own land and more frequently an enclosed trailer with motos. The turbo and exhaust brake are mighty nice in my AO (Colorado mountains). The couple of unloaded freeway trips I've done it did over 20 mpg.
I stumble across a lightly used Ram 3500 srw diesel that I really liked and picked it up instead. It's a personal truck, zero commercial duty, but will be hauling my Deere 333d around for working on my own land and more frequently an enclosed trailer with motos. The turbo and exhaust brake are mighty nice in my AO (Colorado mountains). The couple of unloaded freeway trips I've done it did over 20 mpg.
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i currently own a 2013 6.7 powerstroke. I can personally testify the cost of maintenance on these trucks is stupid. If i could do it again, i’d buy a gasser.
With the new trucks and the 10 spd's it becomes a bit less important.
There is a guy over on FTE that did a gearing spread sheet and obviously 1st gear between 3:55 and 4:30's is a big difference, 2nd was a decent difference also. Beyond that the 3:55's would generally simply be down a gear vs. 4:30's for basically the same effective torque at the wheel. So 4:30's would be in 8th, the 3.55's would need to be in 7th. I think this was pretty true for all gears besides 1st and 2nd.
The 4:30's starting in 2020 were getting a bigger axle housing and ring gear and thus could carry more weight based on that(as well as the 4:30 gears obviously). For 2023 I think every truck now has a larger axle housing and ring gear.
There is another guy on FTE that does 5th wheel RV delivery. I believe he has 3.55 or 3.73 gears and his truck hauls great according to him. I think he hauls 15k+ a lot on his dually.
This is the way.
Can fit a 18-37x12.5 10 ply on the stock rim with no rub.
Config[|Ford|SuperDuty|2023|1|1.|...PHX...62S.CBB.85S.XLL.924.61N.18B.CRW.SRW.41H.76S.99N.67B.43C.592.66S.250.X4M.]
Can fit a 18-37x12.5 10 ply on the stock rim with no rub.
Config[|Ford|SuperDuty|2023|1|1.|...PHX...62S.CBB.85S.XLL.924.61N.18B.CRW.SRW.41H.76S.99N.67B.43C.592.66S.250.X4M.]
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