Might be forced to buy Diesel
Wife and I have been looking at Fifth-wheels. My truck is 8 years old (half ton) and I was thinking about getting a new 1 Ton gas truck next year. It seems that all the Fifth-wheel floor plans we re...
Forum Discussion
If I was in your shoes, I would get a GM 6.0 gas with 4.10's. Then go driving. THat rig will get about the same mpg as a diesel. possibly pull a bit slower up steeper grades, ie over 5%. up to that point in time, both will have the same hp to the ground etc.
The gas will weigh some 500-600 lb less, so that chassis truck will have a higher end result potential to towing. Pickup.com did a test a few yrs back, the 6.0 was keeping up with the diesel trucks. granted slower, but if you want to say 3-5mph is SLOWER, go for it. not enough to worry about in my book. I also recal that there was a quote in the article, that stated the 6.0 might have caught the dmax if the hill would have been longer!
My next truck will probably be a gas rig as stated above. my dually diesel gets about the same mpg as sw gas rigs, with fuel being some 40-50 cents per gal higher, it will take many many miles of driving if I would ever pay off the 8G extra cost up front. If I traveled in the 5-10K elevation range a lot! then a turbo or supercharged motor would make sense. Other wise for where you are, a gas will work fine. Hanable that posts on here, pulls a 11K 5w with currently a ford 5.4, a dodge hemi before that. I believe the hemi did a bit better. Both do as well as the cummins he had before that with the same hp. Then you probably were not around back int eh day when one could buy a 10K gvwr dually, with an 8500 gcwr along with a big 6 cyl gas that had all of 105HP! those were the days! I had a 2500 with a 292I6, it could outpull a 454 with double the gcwr! so tow ratings is not all its cracked up to be.
Then the difference from gm, is gm supplies a reciver that is rated to 13K lbs. they do not supply a 5w hitch, hence why you have a 14K tow rating. My dually diesel has a 5K ball mount, as it did not come with a factory hitch, I put a 15K hitch on it, but if you can GM, they will still only rate it for 5K ball mount towing, as that is all the bumper is rated for! but I do get a 16K rating for a 5w! try that one out for size sometime!
Marty
The gas will weigh some 500-600 lb less, so that chassis truck will have a higher end result potential to towing. Pickup.com did a test a few yrs back, the 6.0 was keeping up with the diesel trucks. granted slower, but if you want to say 3-5mph is SLOWER, go for it. not enough to worry about in my book. I also recal that there was a quote in the article, that stated the 6.0 might have caught the dmax if the hill would have been longer!
My next truck will probably be a gas rig as stated above. my dually diesel gets about the same mpg as sw gas rigs, with fuel being some 40-50 cents per gal higher, it will take many many miles of driving if I would ever pay off the 8G extra cost up front. If I traveled in the 5-10K elevation range a lot! then a turbo or supercharged motor would make sense. Other wise for where you are, a gas will work fine. Hanable that posts on here, pulls a 11K 5w with currently a ford 5.4, a dodge hemi before that. I believe the hemi did a bit better. Both do as well as the cummins he had before that with the same hp. Then you probably were not around back int eh day when one could buy a 10K gvwr dually, with an 8500 gcwr along with a big 6 cyl gas that had all of 105HP! those were the days! I had a 2500 with a 292I6, it could outpull a 454 with double the gcwr! so tow ratings is not all its cracked up to be.
Then the difference from gm, is gm supplies a reciver that is rated to 13K lbs. they do not supply a 5w hitch, hence why you have a 14K tow rating. My dually diesel has a 5K ball mount, as it did not come with a factory hitch, I put a 15K hitch on it, but if you can GM, they will still only rate it for 5K ball mount towing, as that is all the bumper is rated for! but I do get a 16K rating for a 5w! try that one out for size sometime!
Marty
