Gone to diesel? Some questions for those that have.

My first gas tow vehicle was a 2003 Ram 2500 with a 5.7 Hemi gas engine. It did a good job with our 25 foot TT, but when we went to a 29 foot fifth wheel camper, the truck struggled and the transmission seemed to constantly shift and the engine would rev constantly on even on the slightest grade on the highway.
I switched to diesel and have never looked back. The oil changes for diesel have cost more money. But not enough to change my mind. I also have the fuel filter changed in the spring and fall. That will cost 100 bucks each. Other than that, not much difference. Towing with the diesel makes a big difference on grades. Pulling up the grades is easier and going down the grades is not a problem with the exhaust brake. That being said, if you have a smaller camper then a gas truck will do the job.
My 2500 Hemi averaged about 13 MPG with 4:10 gears. My 6.7 Cummins averages 14 with 4:10 gears. These are daily driving numbers.

Last gasser - 2002 2500HD Crew cab 4X4 6.0 and 4.10 gears. Did Ok with TT but not with the taller 5'er that replaced the TT. Never weighed the 5'er but guessing a bit over 10K.

Next truck - 2006 2500HD crew cab 4X4 LBZ version of the diesel. Wow! World of difference and towing became a pleasure rather than work. Could pass vehicles when I wanted, run with cruise on if conditions allowed, stopping power was much better. Now have 2012 and its even better!

As far as maintenance - I do my own repairs and maintenance so I have a pretty good handle on the true costs. The diesel uses 10 quarts oil per change. The 6.0 used 6 quarts. Change interval is similar. Oil filter costs were also similar. Fuel filter for diesel is pricey - upwards of $40 - my filter life is at 58% at just over 18,000 miles. Last truck I sold at 128k miles - other than routine services, I had no other engine expenses to that point. 2012 needs DEF - $25 every 5k - 7k miles depending on towing or empty.

Not saying everyone needs a diesel but the maintenance is not much different than a gasser for todays engines. My next truck will likely be another diesel as I don't see us downsizing out rig. 02 truck got 13 mpg empty 6 towing the 5'er. 06 got 18 mpg empty and 10 towing our 5'er. '12 gets 17 (on winter fuel, hoping I'll get 18 on summer) and almost 11 towing.

Good luck, Mike

I am a little partial here. First truck was an 89 F250 with a 6.9 hypermax turbo. 2nd truck was a 91 F350 with a 7.3 banks turbo. Then finances got in the way. Now I have a Jeep Liberty turbo diesel. My old trucks hauled race cars and small campers. My new 2.8 tows my 5k gvw camper. And most likely, I will stay with diesels.

I went from a F150, 5.4 3.73 rear end to a 2008 F250 6.4 Extended Cab and then back to a 2500HD 6.0 gas.

When my wife and I picked up our first travel trailer we didn't like the stability of the half ton so we picked up the F250 with the 6.4. The first winter I had constant check engine lights on cold starts in the winter. The diesel was great when we had our travel trailer but then we sold that and decided to look into a truck camper. The F250 only had 1800lbs of payload per the door jam, so we traded it across the board for the current truck in my sig with 29xxlbs of payload per the door.

If the truck had more payload and honestly no check engine lights with cold starts I might have kept that truck.

Maintanance on the 6.4 cost's a lot more than my 6.0 Gas truck. I was doing oil changes every 7500 miles and fuel filters every 15k to avoid oil dillution. The 6.4 got the same mileage as my 6.0 gas unloaded same route to work so no gain there. I bought these trucks expecting it to burn fuel so it didn't really bug me, just surprised by some of the claims.

If I were to purchase a 8,000lb+ GVWR travel trailer / fifth wheel then I would be looking for a diesel, having owned both I can say from experience there is a point where the diesel just works better. However if I did go back to a diesel I would take my time and try to find a pre-dpf duramax or cummins.

My first truck was a new 1984 2.2L naturally aspired Izusu pickup. All 65 HP of it. The only thing I towed was my dune buggy, and it was a big load when going up the hills in 3rd gear of the manual 5 speeds. It would get 30 MPG, it was very light too. Curb weight was around 3,000 pounds.

I also owned a Honda Civic 1.5L car at the time, and I guess I replaced the 230 cubic inch inline 6 Ford Fairmont with both the truck then the car. Later I went to a 1975 F-350 gas 460" engine for more power and more pulling capacity. Back in 1987 when I bought the F-350, the more powerful engine that Ford had was the 460" recently fuel injected V8. The non-turbo F-350 of the time was only 180 HP while the 460" was a bit over 225 HP.

So I owned and drove all three of those cars and trucks at the same time, never to work, I had a company truck for that. The F-350 was mostly for vacations, the Honda to go to the store, and the Izusu for side jobs and any time I might need the 25' extension ladder I carried on it's ladder rack.

No I don't think I would want another diesel vehicle, unless it is a DP motorhome. The fuel is more epensive, oil changes are a lot more, and the oil is REALLY black. The oil filter for my Izusu was something like $18 back then, and a regular Phram filter for the Ford 460 was only about $3.50 on sale once a month. I would buy the oil when on sale the other part of the month.

I drove a GMC work truck with a 6.2L NA engine in it, that was not much of a huge improvement over the 350" diesels that GM put into the cars a few years earlier. GM single handedly changed what people thought about diesel cars in a few years with the 350" diesel engine.

Fred.