Question regarding diesel vs gas

[Palmeris]

Gas 7.3 4000 rpm making 475 torque
6.7 power stroke diesel 1800 rpm making 1050 torque

Use a bio side fuel treatment in a full tank when it is sitting if your concerned.

Hands down the diesel

[madisonjon]

Based on my readings, a 3/4 ton diesel loses payload vs. gas 3/4 ton. That lead me to decide between a 3/4 gas or 1 ton diesel. I ended up choosing a used 2013 Ram 2500 gas. Based on all my calculations, I can tow a trailer under 9600 GVWR, which is plenty for my needs. It’s going to sit in my garage during the winter and only be used for towing my camper. I didn’t feel the need to spend +20K for a truck that will only be used for my camper.

[Gammel]

I've decided that Ford lied to me saying my F150 'could' tow 11,000 lbs. Yes it can, on a flat freeway. It does tow my 9000 lb ORV, but it works hard on the steep grades and I don't feel like it is really safe. Despite having an Equalizer hitch there are occasions when I feel that the tail is about to start wagging the dog. Gonna get a F350. I'm sure the 7.3 gasser is adequate but since I do a lot of high altitude towing it is gonna be putting out less HP at 6000' than my 3.5 Ecoboost because it is naturally aspirated. I'm also sure the diesel will hold its value much better than the gasser. Plus, who can say no to 1050 lb/ft of torque?

[nbluesky]

Originally Posted by Roy-c

Sounds like you won't put enough miles on the truck to justify the extra cost of the diesel.

My first and only thought but if money is not the concern buy the diesel and love towing every minute you drive. Plus resale on a low miles diesel will be exponentially higher.

[Rhagfo]

Originally Posted by Pezmogee

We want to move yup to a F250/2500 in either Ford,Ram or Chevy. But it will mostly sit in the driveway except for weekend driving during the winter short trips and in the summer mostly camping trips once a month. So would diesel or a gasser be better? We are towing about 8000 lbs total. I am worried the diesel would have problems sitting too long.

Why are you looking to move up? Do you plan on keeping the 8,000 TT long term? Then again are you looking of going bigger?
If sticking with the TT a 250/2500 gas will do fine. If you are looking to get a larger TT or a 5er, you should consider a 350/3500 diesel.

[Bobby F]

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

After all this is on an RV forum and we all know that RV's are one of the biggest money pits out there. Seems sorta ironic that we buy something we like (diesel) to tow a rapidly depreciating toy and get chastised for owning a diesel cause it costs more than the gas truck.

In fairness, everyone's financial situation is different, and while everyone here has presumably made the leap into "I like/love RV'ing", you can't be surprised that many of us don't simply say "I love it, so I'll spend bigbux until I have the perfect set-up." And we don't know where the OP falls in that spectrum.

[Elev8torguy]

Just switched from gas to diesel. Went from 250-350. The gas will be just fine. My suggestion is dont even test drive the diesel if your debating. If you do you will not want the gas.

[tuffr2]

The big downside to diesel is the complexity of the engine and exhast system. Don't forget about that. It is not all rosey on the diesel side. Get a clog in the exhast system and it is a few $1000 to get it fixed. Oh, injectors are pumping in fuel at 35,000psi.

Diesel fuel plus DEF can go bad much faster than gasoline if not used.

[Rhagfo]

Originally Posted by Elev8torguy

Just switched from gas to diesel. Went from 250-350. The gas will be just fine. My suggestion is don't even test drive the diesel if your debating. If you do you will not want the gas.

Well if only short trips that are not up a steep mountain, gas will do fine. If you are thinking longer trips to either coast, with a larger trailer, time to think diesel.
If you don't do your own maintenance, find a good local independent diesel shop to do oil changes and fuel filter changes, dealers consider this a cash cow. Yes, the filters can be expensive, the two fuel filters on my Ram are about $110 from a on line parts company for Factory filters.

[consolenut]

Gas engine is fine. Dont knock it but it has to be GEARED to pull. if its geared for fuel mileage it wont pull. gas engine and anything less then a 4.10 rear gear your wasting your time. 4.10 is good, 4.30 is better and 4.56 or 5.38 is great. So what if it has to pull at 3k or higher. Its where peak torque is in the gas engine. Its that simple. i pull at 2900-3100 all day pulling and im 35k combined scale weight. 6.5 to 7 mpg no matter where i go. 65mph and enjoy the ride. So what if your in the right lane there not going to run you over.

[nicky8668]

Originally Posted by consolenut

Gas engine is fine. Dont knock it but it has to be GEARED to pull. if its geared for fuel mileage it wont pull. gas engine and anything less then a 4.10 rear gear your wasting your time. 4.10 is good, 4.30 is better and 4.56 or 5.38 is great. So what if it has to pull at 3k or higher. Its where peak torque is in the gas engine. Its that simple. i pull at 2900-3100 all day pulling and im 35k combined scale weight. 6.5 to 7 mpg no matter where i go. 65mph and enjoy the ride. So what if your in the right lane there not going to run you over.

3.55 + 10R140 = 4.10 + 6R140, if 4.10 isn’t enough to get the rig going, don’t bother with the 4.30, you’ll need a diesel.

[Rogue_Ryder]

I've been having an internal struggle with this choice as well... I currently drive a 1500 gas truck and am going to upgrade to a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab.

From a purely economical standpoint the gasoline engine truck will have a lower $/mile cost. Therefore the answer is simple; right? Not exactly. I've towed thousands of miles with both gas and Diesel trucks, mostly gas because that's what I've owned the Diesels were borrowed, rented or an employers. I can tell you that when towing you need to stop and refuel the Gasoline truck a lot more often MPGs can down around 8mpg in both the Ford Modular engines or Chev LS the HEMI is pretty thristy too from what I've seen (personally have no wheel time with those). The next thing that's not as quantitative is the driving "feel" of a gas vs Diesel truck. When you're towing a heavy load with a gas engine generally the RPMs are up there and you may need to slow down on steep grades in order to keep the engine cool. With the Diesel trucks the engines are just loafing along and it's less stress on the driver. I believe that is 1 major reason to choose the Diesel over gas.

Another factor is the pump sticker shock. With your gasoline truck getting 8-10 MPG towing you might not be as inclined to take as many trips or trips as far away because of the huge gas bill. Sure you paid $10K less for the truck but a lot of people forget that when they see the huge gas cost at the end of a trip. The Diesels will also have a higher residual value, but the trade off there is increased maintenance costs (real or perceived), Diesels take more oil and use DEF (new ones) but oil change intervals are longer. The newest Gasoline engines aren't as simple as the old ones and can have expensive repairs just as Diesels can. VVT, MDS/AFM, GDI are all complicated and expensive to repair. While Ford's 7.3 has gone old school with pushrods but it's also an expensive option making the decision between it and the 6.7 PSD more difficult. A lot of the expensive repairs with newer Diesels is centered around their complex Emissions equipment; depending on where you live once out of warranty this stuff can be removed and you now have a vastly more reliable truck (I'm aware this is Federally illegal, but many places don't have Diesel Emissions testing).

Now my personal experience is all with older stuff that has 4 or 6 speed automatics and I'm sure the newer gas trucks are better but the Diesels are also light years ahead of the old PSD 7.3s and 12V Cummins I've driven.

[nicky8668]

Originally Posted by Rogue_Ryder

I've been having an internal struggle with this choice as well... I currently drive a 1500 gas truck and am going to upgrade to a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab.

From a purely economical standpoint the gasoline engine truck will have a lower $/mile cost. Therefore the answer is simple; right? Not exactly. I've towed thousands of miles with both gas and Diesel trucks, mostly gas because that's what I've owned the Diesels were borrowed, rented or an employers. I can tell you that when towing you need to stop and refuel the Gasoline truck a lot more often MPGs can down around 8mpg in both the Ford Modular engines or Chev LS the HEMI is pretty thristy too from what I've seen (personally have no wheel time with those). The next thing that's not as quantitative is the driving "feel" of a gas vs Diesel truck. When you're towing a heavy load with a gas engine generally the RPMs are up there and you may need to slow down on steep grades in order to keep the engine cool. With the Diesel trucks the engines are just loafing along and it's less stress on the driver. I believe that is 1 major reason to choose the Diesel over gas.

Another factor is the pump sticker shock. With your gasoline truck getting 8-10 MPG towing you might not be as inclined to take as many trips or trips as far away because of the huge gas bill. Sure you paid $10K less for the truck but a lot of people forget that when they see the huge gas cost at the end of a trip. The Diesels will also have a higher residual value, but the trade off there is increased maintenance costs (real or perceived), Diesels take more oil and use DEF (new ones) but oil change intervals are longer. The newest Gasoline engines aren't as simple as the old ones and can have expensive repairs just as Diesels can. VVT, MDS/AFM, GDI are all complicated and expensive to repair. While Ford's 7.3 has gone old school with pushrods but it's also an expensive option making the decision between it and the 6.7 PSD more difficult. A lot of the expensive repairs with newer Diesels is centered around their complex Emissions equipment; depending on where you live once out of warranty this stuff can be removed and you now have a vastly more reliable truck (I'm aware this is Federally illegal, but many places don't have Diesel Emissions testing).

Now my personal experience is all with older stuff that has 4 or 6 speed automatics and I'm sure the newer gas trucks are better but the Diesels are also light years ahead of the old PSD 7.3s and 12V Cummins I've driven.

I was in your position few month back, the dealer basically offered me the same OTD price on the 7.3 XLT with the premium package and the 6.7 PSD XLT without any option. The PSD is $6.5k more expensive on the sticker. This is because they had 20 exactly same 6.7 PSD ordered for a local business which recently bankrupted. So they stuck with these 20 trucks but kept all the deposit from the business. So they’d like to get their lower trim PSD trucks moving. I ended up with the 7.3 gasser cause I really don’t need the diesel. I can work on pretty much everything on a gasoline engine, but I know nothing about diesel, let alone the emission stuff.

The new 7.3L gas engine has more torque than the 1st gen 7.3L diesel, even at 1500 rpm. So, if a pre-2000s diesel truck has no problem towing 12,000 lbs, I don’t see why modern gassers would. But yes, these gas trucks are thirsty and you do need to stop more frequently than diesel trucks.

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by Rogue_Ryder

I've been having an internal struggle with this choice as well... I currently drive a 1500 gas truck and am going to upgrade to a 3/4 or 1 ton crew cab.

From a purely economical standpoint the gasoline engine truck will have a lower $/mile cost. Therefore the answer is simple; right? Not exactly. I've towed thousands of miles with both gas and Diesel trucks, mostly gas because that's what I've owned the Diesels were borrowed, rented or an employers. I can tell you that when towing you need to stop and refuel the Gasoline truck a lot more often MPGs can down around 8mpg in both the Ford Modular engines or Chev LS the HEMI is pretty thristy too from what I've seen (personally have no wheel time with those). The next thing that's not as quantitative is the driving "feel" of a gas vs Diesel truck. When you're towing a heavy load with a gas engine generally the RPMs are up there and you may need to slow down on steep grades in order to keep the engine cool. With the Diesel trucks the engines are just loafing along and it's less stress on the driver. I believe that is 1 major reason to choose the Diesel over gas.

Another factor is the pump sticker shock. With your gasoline truck getting 8-10 MPG towing you might not be as inclined to take as many trips or trips as far away because of the huge gas bill. Sure you paid $10K less for the truck but a lot of people forget that when they see the huge gas cost at the end of a trip. The Diesels will also have a higher residual value, but the trade off there is increased maintenance costs (real or perceived), Diesels take more oil and use DEF (new ones) but oil change intervals are longer. The newest Gasoline engines aren't as simple as the old ones and can have expensive repairs just as Diesels can. VVT, MDS/AFM, GDI are all complicated and expensive to repair. While Ford's 7.3 has gone old school with pushrods but it's also an expensive option making the decision between it and the 6.7 PSD more difficult. A lot of the expensive repairs with newer Diesels is centered around their complex Emissions equipment; depending on where you live once out of warranty this stuff can be removed and you now have a vastly more reliable truck (I'm aware this is Federally illegal, but many places don't have Diesel Emissions testing).

Now my personal experience is all with older stuff that has 4 or 6 speed automatics and I'm sure the newer gas trucks are better but the Diesels are also light years ahead of the old PSD 7.3s and 12V Cummins I've driven.

Spot on.
I went from gas to diesel to gas and back to diesel.
There's just something about towing upwards of 10,000 in the mtns or loafing along at 1700 rpms in a diesel thats addictive. Then you hit a downhill stretch and the exhaust brake does all the work.

I did a fairly long 3,000 mile 28 day trip from Oregon through WA, ID, MT, WY Ut, NV, CA and back to Oregon with an 18 Ram 2500 6.4, 4.10 gears and a 9500 lb TT.
I would never do that again. Not only was it annoying to hear the gas 6.4 rev up on a modest hill, it was terrible when we hit a 10% grade while crossing the Teton Pass. Going up and near the top I hit 45-4800 rpms in 1st gear. Lasted over a few mins. Glad I was still under warranty because it sounded like I was at the local dirt track on a Friday night. Going down was non eventful until I was near the bottom and came around a hairpin turn going downhill and hit a construction zone where traffic was stopped. I was very hard on the brakes and had the TBC turned up to 8-9 IIRC. Made the stop and then the smell. Definitely got the brakes hot.
That event and the constant shifting and revving for 3,000 miles was enough.
Went back to a diesel. Sure it's more money, but it's also more relaxing. And isn't traveling with a trailer supposed to be enjoyable?

Mpg's were also a concern. Heading from UT out across NV where we've never traveled before I was a little concerned about gas stations. Actually 1/2 the trip it was on my mind. I literally filled up a few times after having only driven 50 miles because i couldn't 100% determine if I had a gas station that would be open in the 150-200 mile range.

Prior to that trip most trips were in the 2-3 day 200 mile RT type of 1 week with 200-300 a day with stay overs of 2-3 days then repeat. The 3000 mile 28 day trip was a lot of driving with only 1-2 days between driving.

IMO gas is great for shorter less traveled trips.