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bikepsych's avatar
bikepsych
Explorer
Oct 12, 2018

Considering moving from Diesel to Gas...talk me out of it?

Greetings,
After a recent 9000+ mile trip from California to Halifax, Nova Scotia and back, I've gotten pretty fed up with the excessive price of diesel. On average it was 10-15 cents more per gallon across the country. Add to that the added expense of DEF at $13 per 5k miles, and the extra cost for oil changes and maintenance and the $$ start adding up. Add on to that the restrictive performance mods for a diesel here in California and you really cannot do any upgrades to the engine.

So my questions to this august body of knowledge is...

What will I lose (apart from MPG) going from diesel to gas? Will I miss the torque when my Lance 825 is on the back? HP numbers are not tremendously different, but at 800ft lbs of torque for my 2013 6.7L diesel and only 430ft lbs for the Gas, I'm wondering if there would be a noticeable loss.

Can a 6.2L be reasonably upgraded to improve the torque?

I know that I'm going from about 14mpg with the camper in the diesel down to around 9mpg with the camper for the gas engine. Unloaded there is about a 2mpg difference.

So, the challenge is posted...please let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks.

BG
Truck Campers

109 Replies

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  • joerg68's avatar
    joerg68
    Nomad III
    Oct 12, 2018
    Have you done any modifications to your 6.2L?


    None, everything is stock. The truck has 110k mls. In its first life, it was abused on Alberta oil fields - the sort of vehicle you are warned not to buy. This year was our first season after we had it shipped here last fall. It did very well, we had zero problems with it.

    It will use significantly more fuel if you go faster. Or so I read.
  • jaycocreek's avatar
    jaycocreek
    Explorer II
    Oct 12, 2018
    I know that I'm going from about 14mpg with the camper in the diesel down to around 9mpg with the camper for the gas engine.


    Maybe not..The 6.2 is a good engine..I have the 460 EFI and from Hamilton Montana up over the pass and another grade before getting home,I got over 11 MPG with a 9.6 Lance loaded at about 3800 pounds.

    Power is never an issue in the hills of Idaho.
  • d3500ram's avatar
    d3500ram
    Explorer III
    Oct 12, 2018
    bikepsych wrote:
    d3500ram wrote:
    I won't talk you out of it. The power of a diesel is nice, but in my situation if could do it over i would have opted for gasoline.


    The EU3000 is a pretty big generator, where do you store it on your camper?


    SB camper on a LB bed: I built a simple frame to place between the front of the camper and the truck bulkhead. It is custom fit to keep my generator in place.



  • bikepsych's avatar
    bikepsych
    Explorer
    Oct 12, 2018
    joerg68 wrote:
    What do you want to hear? The 6.2 is a great engine as-is. Get the 4.something rear axle if you are concerned about torque. As long as your little Lance is all you want to haul... Of course twice the torque makes a difference. Only you can decide how much that means to you. It will rev higher. The 6.2 likes that.

    This camping season, my real world fuel consumption with a Northstar Arrow in the back was better than 19L/100km or 12.5 mpg. That was going around 55 on the highway (trucks over 3500kg/~7800lbs are limited to 80kph/50mph here). I hear it uses more when you go faster.


    I can definitely live with 12.5 with the camper in it. I had a larger camper in it before, an Adventurer 89RB, but I was about 1000 over GVWR and only got 12mpg on the highway with it. The Lance gets me about 13.5-14.

    Have you done any modifications to your 6.2L?
    BG
  • bikepsych's avatar
    bikepsych
    Explorer
    Oct 12, 2018
    pfidahospud wrote:
    Best to compare cost per mile instead of MPG. Then you can compare apples to apples, except maintenance costs.
    Diesel fuel stinks, isn’t available everywhere, and costs a lot more in initial cost and maintenance. ‘Nuff said for me.


    Excellent idea. I'll crunch the numbers out to 100,000 miles and see which one comes out on top. The diesel also weighs more and costs more initially ($8k...CHA CHING!)
  • bikepsych's avatar
    bikepsych
    Explorer
    Oct 12, 2018
    d3500ram wrote:
    I won't talk you out of it. The power of a diesel is nice, but in my situation if could do it over i would have opted for gasoline.


    The EU3000 is a pretty big generator, where do you store it on your camper?
  • joerg68's avatar
    joerg68
    Nomad III
    Oct 12, 2018
    What do you want to hear? The 6.2 is a great engine as-is. Get the 4.something rear axle if you are concerned about torque. As long as your little Lance is all you want to haul... Of course twice the torque makes a difference. Only you can decide how much that means to you. It will rev higher. The 6.2 likes that.

    This camping season, my real world fuel consumption with a Northstar Arrow in the back was better than 19L/100km or 12.5 mpg. That was going around 55 on the highway (trucks over 3500kg/~7800lbs are limited to 80kph/50mph here). I hear it uses more when you go faster.
  • pfidahospud's avatar
    pfidahospud
    Explorer
    Oct 12, 2018
    Best to compare cost per mile instead of MPG. Then you can compare apples to apples, except maintenance costs.
    Diesel fuel stinks, isn’t available everywhere, and costs a lot more in initial cost and maintenance. ‘Nuff said for me.
  • d3500ram's avatar
    d3500ram
    Explorer III
    Oct 12, 2018
    I won't talk you out of it. The power of a diesel is nice, but in my situation if could do it over i would have opted for gasoline.

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