Why diesel trucks?

NRALIFR wrote:

I respectfully disagree for several reasons, not the least of which is my personal experience hauling truck campers on various trucks. First of all, I think you’re underestimating what’s needed to comfortably haul a large TC that weighs 5-6k lbs and has the frontal area of a fifth-wheel in ALL driving conditions. Towing and hauling at low elevation and flatlands is one thing, but in the mountains, which I do regularly, requires more than just HP. It requires torque.

You’re correct that the V6’s available today can make an incredible amount of HP. I have one in a car, and I love it. It makes 305 HP, but.........only 268 Lb-ft of torque. That’s less torque than the first Diesel powered truck I owned years ago that had the lowly 6.9L. It only produced 170 HP, but the torque was 338 Lb-ft. I can tell you that there were definitely some times that truck was not fun to drive with the TC on it. On steep grades over about 5000 ft elevation, you just had to fall in line behind all the loaded semi’s chugging up the hill. My speed would be dictated by the slowest truck in front of me, because I didn’t have enough power to pass.

You’re also correct that hauling TC’s is probably not much of a blip on any truck manufacturers radar. But, there are plenty of commercial and vocational uses for F250-F450 pickups that are very similar to hauling a heavy TC. There’s nothing particularly unique about TC’s. I know for a fact that Ford uses a testing device that simulates the weight and physical profile of a large TC or cargo box on their Superduty trucks during development. They quit using actual truck campers for testing years ago because they were destroying them.

I would have a hard time believing that they haven’t already put a Ecoboost V6 in a Superduty truck for testing purposes to see how it would do. In my opinion, if there was a V6 gas motor that would work in the Superduties, there would be one available by now. In the trucks the Ecoboost is available in today, where the truck is generally lighter than the SD’s and the trailers being towed have a lower frontal area than a big TC, the owners complain about the poor fuel mileage they see when they use the truck for its intended purpose.

We can only buy what’s available when it’s time to buy a truck. As I said earlier though, I’m eagerly awaiting the new 7.3L gas V8 availability in Ford trucks, and I hope it’s an available option for all of the Superduty pickups. That sounds like it’s going to be a good (maybe even great) truck engine. There are definitely V8 gas motors capable of towing and hauling heavy loads. Because I know how much my camper and our gear weighs, I don’t know of any V6 gas motor I’d want in a truck capable of hauling it.

:):)

Engine torque doesn't matter....torque at the wheels counts and torque at the wheels can be achieved with gearing.

The problem with comparing torque is your old truck likely had a 3 speed transmission that would often find itself not able to use the HP because the torque available didn't have an appropriate gear...modern trucks have 6-10 gears, so they could match the gear to the HP/torque the engine could put out.

The last line of your comment is likely the reason you don't see a V6 in 3/4 & 1 ton trucks...you have an impression it's not going to work. Ford fought the same thing with the eco-boost in the 1/2 ton...people expected to need a V8 if they towed so it's a tough sell from a marketing point of view not a capability point of view.