Class A Gas or Diesel

donfrump wrote:
diesel fuel is cheaper than regular in the world I live in by about 40-50 cents a gallon less than gas and not 25% higher. A 36 ft gasser that cost u 95K(example) will not be worth $70K 10 years later. Diesels do cost more to buy and cost more to maintain. I would say later in life a diesel with 100K miles would be still perfect engine and trans wise and a gasser will be on its downhill run. diesels have far superior frames, engines, trans, suspentions,
cabinets etc

Here in Minnesota, gas is $1.77 and diesel is $2.23.

My ZIP is 55901------------what's yours?? Wait, let me guess------it's Crazyfornia.


http://www.gasbuddy.com/

diesel fuel is cheaper than regular in the world I live in by about 40-50 cents a gallon less than gas and not 25% higher. A 36 ft gasser that cost u 95K(example) will not be worth $70K 10 years later. Diesels do cost more to buy and cost more to maintain. I would say later in life a diesel with 100K miles would be still perfect engine and trans wise and a gasser will be on its downhill run. diesels have far superior frames, engines, trans, suspentions,
cabinets etc

Kayteg1 wrote:

427435 wrote:
Lots of misinformation and slanted views in this thread-------------same old gas vs diesel stuff.

First a little background. I spent much of my career engineering and operating off highway equipment with diesel engines..

I can't get it how a member can make such entrance and follow with arguments on kinder-garden level.
With such education you should be able to come with balance sheet showing cost of use include purchase price, money spend on fuel and depreciation at the time of selling.
Sure for DP purchase, especially when you buy higher quality you have to give up some of your collectible cars, but when you buy gasser don't you have to sell you collection to get fuel money?
What you do at the end when hit with huge depreciation on gasser?

Where's your balance sheet showing I'm wrong?? You don't need to be a rocket engineer to know that diesels are more expensive to maintain or that diesel fuel is about 25% higher today (and likely for the foreseeable future).

Depreciation is usually a % of purchase price------gas or diesel. Thus an expensive diesel WILL have more annual depreciation than a lower cost gasser. My depreciation over over 10 years is around $2500 per year with my gasser. What's yours?

Oh yes, my gasser is ready to roll reliably anywhere you want to go, despite being 15 years old-------------so don't talk to me about the "better" reliability of a DP. It's the house stuff that is the problem with either.

msturtz wrote:

427435 wrote:

msturtz wrote:
We went to a gasser from a TT. We were disappointed at the noise and jarring ride in the gasser. Those problems can be mitigated but you cannot escape the roar of a V 10 running at 4000 RPM a foot away. The other issue is heat coming from the engine. On hot days the heat was intense. Again it can be fixed but is expensive if the manufacturer didn't do it. We ended up trading it in fo a DP. The other problem is tow rating. The max tow rating for a gasser is 5k.

$150 of Dynamat products will take care of most of the heat and noise. A proper alignment (lots of caster) and some Koni FSD shocks help a bunch on the ride and handling. There's no way I would spend the extra money for a DP-------------nor do I have to worry about the costs of replacing a turbo or injection pump on a diesel.

As for power, we have been more than satisfied with our "old" 310 hp V10 even though we have a 5000 lb toad behind us.

We did use hushmat by removing all the carpet and had the doghouse insulated as well. The unit also had upgraded shocks and Hellwig helper springs. The noise and poor ride quality was still too much.

The type and quality of the sound deadening material varies greatly depending on the source.

What shocks did you buy? Were they the Koni FSD's? Helper springs, due to the resulting increased spring rate will make the ride harsher.

I truly admired that man's quest to plan out that FMC-diesel project, THEN to work hard and long to complete it. He did a wonderful job, and I wish I had been there to congratulate him on his success. I could relate to it, having built street rods and racecars.

Heres the link copy and paste to get it

http://www.fmcowners.com/mbbs22/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=77

mike brez wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
heck, pickups are coming with 420 HP diesels for last 5 years.
Sure when you compare 20 years old coach with new one you are talking totally different technologies.
But to give you real feeling about engine choice, read the topic by member who converted his gasoline pusher to diesel pusher.
It is here.

You didn't link it to anything.

It was a old old pile of junk MH.(still is) why the guy installed a diesel is beyond me. The MH was not worth much before and still is not basically worth anything it was a labour of love
Guy did a amazing job though don't have the link but saw the pictures

Kayteg1 wrote:
heck, pickups are coming with 420 HP diesels for last 5 years.
Sure when you compare 20 years old coach with new one you are talking totally different technologies.
But to give you real feeling about engine choice, read the topic by member who converted his gasoline pusher to diesel pusher.
It is here.

You didn't link it to anything.

Cloud Dancer wrote:
Why is it so difficult to admit that there are well-known/recognized design features in a large/heavy diesel pusher which are simply NOT in gas-engined motorhomes. We all know there's definite reasons why the large diesel pusher motorhome evolved into what it is. Why is it that most of us had gas-engined motorhomes THEN at some point upgraded to a diesel pusher?
And, how about all the guys like me, who after fighting the short-comings of gasoline motorhomes (five, in my case) finally decide to cough up the money in order to enjoy the comfort of driving (and using) a nice large diesel pusher? OK, so the cost is higher than we would prefer, but we all know that you pay for all other luxuries, to say nothing of pride-of-ownership. Sure, you can say it's poor money management. But, keep in mind that it didn't cost you a dime.
THERE, I got it off my chest.....:B

your 100% correct. the diesel hateing gasser lovers simply don't realize or will not admit there are so many many good features available on DP units that are simply not available on gassers
such as joey storage trays that open either side, aquahot , air horns,
10K diesel gen sets.air brakes, quite motors, front entrance,
superior ride,far better handleing,better steering,better cooling, superior mountain power when loaded, 2-3 times towing capability. more battery capacity,bigger inverters, and on and on

Well said Cloud Dancer...well said ! My feelings exactly.