Diesel vs gas......................
OK folks, there have been a few to many diesel vs gas threads that have shall we say gone to "Hell and a hand basket"! So if all of you would put in you BEST, no flaming reasons for going gas vs diese...
Forum Discussion
Marty & Rich, check out the Edmunds.com reviews and forums for the Ford F-250, F-350, Dodge Ram 2500 and Dodge Ram 3500 for the model years from 2005 on (particularly for the diesel Dodges from 2007 on with the current Cummins diesel). There are non-stop complaints about the diesel emissions controls causing maintenance problems, often major maintenance problems, and that is almost always from not doing enough hauling.
One poor owner of a Ram diesel reported being told by his dealer that his engine problems were due to insufficient heavy load hauling as that resulted in the particulate emissions system not regenerating properly.
Basically the emissions controls necessary for reducing emissions when hauling heavy loads plain f***s heavy duty Ford & Dodge diesels when they are little used for not hauling heavy loads. Stop & go driving makes things worse, but what is really critical is getting enough driving time hauling a heavy load at a reasonably steady speed of some sort for a long enough period relative to other driving. 30%+ driving time hauling vs. non-hauling is probably a reasonable minimum.
My wife and I plan to use our tow vehicle to actually tow a load, before retirement, for maybe 50 hours a year, compared to 250 with just my wife in it, and 50 hours with both of us in it. That's 50 hours out of 350, which is only 14.3%. After retirement a clear majority of our pickup driving time will be hauling an RV, and that is when we'll switch to a diesel truck.
If we could afford to simply store a $27,000 diesel truck when we're not on vacation, we'd do it, but we can't take the chance of having to replace one of our existing commmute vehicles before retirement.
One poor owner of a Ram diesel reported being told by his dealer that his engine problems were due to insufficient heavy load hauling as that resulted in the particulate emissions system not regenerating properly.
Basically the emissions controls necessary for reducing emissions when hauling heavy loads plain f***s heavy duty Ford & Dodge diesels when they are little used for not hauling heavy loads. Stop & go driving makes things worse, but what is really critical is getting enough driving time hauling a heavy load at a reasonably steady speed of some sort for a long enough period relative to other driving. 30%+ driving time hauling vs. non-hauling is probably a reasonable minimum.
My wife and I plan to use our tow vehicle to actually tow a load, before retirement, for maybe 50 hours a year, compared to 250 with just my wife in it, and 50 hours with both of us in it. That's 50 hours out of 350, which is only 14.3%. After retirement a clear majority of our pickup driving time will be hauling an RV, and that is when we'll switch to a diesel truck.
If we could afford to simply store a $27,000 diesel truck when we're not on vacation, we'd do it, but we can't take the chance of having to replace one of our existing commmute vehicles before retirement.
