Gas vs Diesel for Towing a Fifth Wheel!!!
I have some issues picking a suitable towing vehicle to haul a travel trailer. Gas vs diesel for towing a fifth wheel? Which one is better? Any suggestion?
Forum Discussion
You have to look at more than what the book says the stock numbers are.
The book says my old Cummins only makes 420 ft/lbs and 215 HP. In reality, with a few relatively easy changes it makes twice that and if I want 700 HP, all I have to do is swap a couple more pieces. I probably will, just for fun.
I don’t think “which is better for towing a 5th wheel” can be answered without defining “better”.
Gas trucks generally can get the job done with a lower overall cost.
If you tow your trailer on the sand dunes, gas trucks are the only good option, diesels are too nose heavy and they plow in and get stuck too easy.
Whatever you hauled up a mountain with a diesel, someone did it before with an old gas truck. Just not as fast.
Diesels are generally more powerful, and a lot more fun to drive with a heavy load. You don’t really “need” all that power, but I sure do like it!
The exhaust brake on a diesel is a big plus coming down the mountains, but gas engines don’t need them as much because they make a lot more compression braking power on their own, they essentially have an “intake brake”. The reason diesels have so little compression braking is they have no throttle plate. Air is free to run right through them.
Gas engines are throttled, they get corked up at the intake, kind of like how an exhaust brake corks up a diesel at the other end.
I think everyone agrees the diesel is “better” at hauling heavy loads, but one of the reasons they go uphill better is you’re carrying a much lighter wallet.
You can’t compare to big-truck diesels. Some pickup diesels make as much power as many big-truck diesels. But the huge 15-liter big-truck motor is way understresswd. It COULD make a zillion HP. It’s detuned to where it can run full throttle uphill under a huge load all day long without even getting hot.
That’s why they go so many miles. But the truth is by 500,000 they’re usually pretty tired or have already been overhauled.
The book says my old Cummins only makes 420 ft/lbs and 215 HP. In reality, with a few relatively easy changes it makes twice that and if I want 700 HP, all I have to do is swap a couple more pieces. I probably will, just for fun.
I don’t think “which is better for towing a 5th wheel” can be answered without defining “better”.
Gas trucks generally can get the job done with a lower overall cost.
If you tow your trailer on the sand dunes, gas trucks are the only good option, diesels are too nose heavy and they plow in and get stuck too easy.
Whatever you hauled up a mountain with a diesel, someone did it before with an old gas truck. Just not as fast.
Diesels are generally more powerful, and a lot more fun to drive with a heavy load. You don’t really “need” all that power, but I sure do like it!
The exhaust brake on a diesel is a big plus coming down the mountains, but gas engines don’t need them as much because they make a lot more compression braking power on their own, they essentially have an “intake brake”. The reason diesels have so little compression braking is they have no throttle plate. Air is free to run right through them.
Gas engines are throttled, they get corked up at the intake, kind of like how an exhaust brake corks up a diesel at the other end.
I think everyone agrees the diesel is “better” at hauling heavy loads, but one of the reasons they go uphill better is you’re carrying a much lighter wallet.
You can’t compare to big-truck diesels. Some pickup diesels make as much power as many big-truck diesels. But the huge 15-liter big-truck motor is way understresswd. It COULD make a zillion HP. It’s detuned to where it can run full throttle uphill under a huge load all day long without even getting hot.
That’s why they go so many miles. But the truth is by 500,000 they’re usually pretty tired or have already been overhauled.
