Heavy half pickup

Good choice, Scott. Yes, some sarcasm in a few post...but yes, if you do your homework, you will be a happy camper/traveler...

We been from Ozarks to Smokey Mountains to Upper State NY with ours and never had any problems.

Slownsy wrote:
I must admit that my 6.2 gasser pulling my 8000lbs TT screamed along at almost 2000rpm doing 65mph in mainly 6 or 5 going op som inclines and on some steap hills doing 4000rpm overtaking the slow coaches for maybe a minut or so getting 10mpg, it must be worn out by now.
Frank.

Funny, my GM 6.2L, in a 1500 truck is also just as capable as the Ford 6.2L and pulls just like yours....I guess we are just a pimple on the heavy haulers butt, the way they talk.

CKNSLS wrote:
To the OP-

You will never have anyone on this forum OK a half-ton for ANY TOWING NEEDS.

File it under "it's not gonna happen!"

Really guess I missed that Although no we would not go any heavier we are just fine and have been in the Ozarks several times and 8hrs straight through. If you truly want a 1/2 ton do your home work make the specs fit both for truck and f'ver. All I can say is our ECO boost does an excellent job. Yes it is max tow haul and 3.73 rear end. yes it is just the wife and I. Good Luck

Got 40,000 on mine now and will trade it off before it hits 100K, which will be in 3 or more years. Be ready to get a new one, be it a 1/2, or 1 ton either way, depending on what we decide to do about camping and the economic situation. Drive it everyday to/from work, so we'll make a decision at trade in time. Right now, the truck and camper are perfect for us. If we camp more or decide to full time at retirement, we will choose accordingly. Probably would not keep any truck more than 7-10 years either way as the new trucks electronics are way to expensive to have fixed, not if but when they go bad.

Who drives ANY vehicle 300,000+ miles? Very few IMO. Mostly just pro drivers.

Slownsy wrote:
I must admit that my 6.2 gasser pulling my 8000lbs TT screamed along at almost 2000rpm doing 65mph in mainly 6 or 5 going op som inclines and on some steap hills doing 4000rpm overtaking the slow coaches for maybe a minut or so getting 10mpg, it must be worn out by now.
Frank.

As stated, the Ford 6.2L has the power although low end torque is weak compared to a diesel. How is it starting out from a stop on a 6% grade pulling 8,000+ lbs? Low gearing may overcome the lack of torque? Main issue for me is justifying the $3500 option on top of an already expensive top tier model truck in order to get it. Furthermore, I rarely see any gasser still on the road after 300,000-500,000 miles or more. Have seen numerous diesels with very high mileage still cranking just fine. I agree with you that RPM's aren't the reason why diesels outlive gassers.

I must admit that my 6.2 gasser pulling my 8000lbs TT screamed along at almost 2000rpm doing 65mph in mainly 6 or 5 going op som inclines and on some steap hills doing 4000rpm overtaking the slow coaches for maybe a minut or so getting 10mpg, it must be worn out by now.
Frank.

Another thing to think about, is upgrading the fifth.If you find you need more room etc,thus larger/heavier trailer,needs bigger truck.Might as well equip. yourself now

mileshuff wrote:

jus2shy wrote:
To move any load at any speed, it's all horsepower

Diesels are preferred because of their very high low end torque. They've never been horsepower monsters. Nor have the ever been acceleration kings. A Dodge Viper with V10 has far more HP than any of the big 3's 3/4-1 ton trucks. Care to put a trailer behind a Viper and see how the engine performs? 800ftlb vs 450ftlb is a huge difference.

Dodge was smart in dumping the V10 gasser from their 3/4 and 1 ton trucks even though it performed equal or better than the diesel and cost less. You won't get 500,000 miles out of a gas engine very easily as you will with most diesels.

But my complaint about the Ford 6.2L is more about the cost. It is a $3500 addon but only available on the upper tier Ford 1/2 ton trucks already rather expensive. Why bother?

Right, diesels make lots of power down low because of torque. So at say 1,600 rpm, the diesel is already making around 200+ horsepower while a gasser at that rpm is probably in the 100 range. In the end, the diesel is producing way more horsepower at a far lower part of the RPM curve. It's just that people tend to give all credit to the torque rating when it's really the torque output at a given rpm (horsepower). I can also guarantee that the viper motor (if able to get at its max horsepower band) would out-pull a truck, but it wouldn't last very long doing it LOL.

Here's a good empirical example, say at 1,600 rpm to keep things even:

Diesel:
horsepower = (RPM*Torque)/5252
(1,600*800)/5252 = 1,280,000/5252 = 243.72 horsepower

Ecoboost: (for the ecoboost, I'm estimating that it makes 350lbft at 1600 given the graph I posted earlier)
horsepower = (RPM*Torque)/5252
(1,600*350)/5252 = 560,000/5252 = 106.6 horsepower

(some edits below)

Doing a little reverse work, the ecoboost would have to hit 3,050rpm at full-torque to match the work being produced by the diesel:
(3,050*420)/5252 = 1,281,000/5252 = 243.9 horsepower

And doing some interpolating, the 6.2L motor from ford would have to hit about 3,600rpm where it's putting down 360 lb-ft of torque before it matches that power output:
(3,600*360)/5252 = 1,296,000/5252 = 246.76 horsepower

(end edits... yeah call me a numbers geek)

So for a given RPM, the diesel is pulling hard at 1,600rpm because of how much horsepower it's producing at such a low RPM. It is that big torque that allows the diesel to produce so much horsepower at a very low RPM. So in the end, it is horsepower production that gets your load moving, it's just that diesels do it so low in the power band that it comes on early. But the advantage of gassers is that they have far more RPM capability, so they produce their horsepower far higher in the rpm band than the diesels. Which is why they need so much more gearing and tend to be more inefficient. But in the end, the gassers can match the horsepower of a diesel, they are typically more strung out doing it though. Modern gas motors are made to scream all day long though compared to the motors of yore and this doesn't hurt them all that much to be screaming. It's just that they're very inefficient at that point.

jus2shy wrote:
To move any load at any speed, it's all horsepower

Diesels are preferred because of their very high low end torque. They've never been horsepower monsters. Nor have the ever been acceleration kings. A Dodge Viper with V10 has far more HP than any of the big 3's 3/4-1 ton trucks. Care to put a trailer behind a Viper and see how the engine performs? 800ftlb vs 450ftlb is a huge difference.

Dodge was smart in dumping the V10 gasser from their 3/4 and 1 ton trucks even though it performed equal or better than the diesel and cost less. You won't get 500,000 miles out of a gas engine very easily as you will with most diesels.

But my complaint about the Ford 6.2L is more about the cost. It is a $3500 addon but only available on the upper tier Ford 1/2 ton trucks already rather expensive. Why bother?