Diesel vs gas for truck campers?

[Devocamper]

Have posted a few questios phere on the truck camper forum asking for help in down sizing to a TC and thanks for the help so far, I have been going over the weights of the TC's that we have looked at and all are over weight for my truck(07 Chevy 3500HD long bed Ext cab dual rear wheel diesel) but I do understand I can add suspension upgrades and maybe handle the bigger units but looking at replacing the truck and with the gas trucks having more capacity my question is do the gas 3500 or 350's handle the load of a heavy TC ? I know about towing and my current diesel is great for pulling around a 15k fifth wheel but do you need the diesel to have a good truck setup for a TC . Some of the newer 3500's and 350 have much higher load capacities when they have the gas motor. I think Chevy is around 7200 and ram may be higher with gvwr's around 13000 compared to my 07 at 11400. Thanks for any help and info
Mike

[run100]

twodownzero wrote:
Automatics are fine if you prefer to give up the durability for convenience.

Guilty, as charged.

[jimh406]

For Fords, there are some youtubes where people have added cord inside the window trim.

Here's one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XR-J7VTN80

[Kayteg1]

Fords don't have doors that bend with the wind 😉

[Grit_dog]

^ No cure that I've found. Starts at about 80 mph with my rig, no wind. Toss a headwind into the mix and I'll back er down in speed just cause the noise is deafening and sounds like it's going to pull the doors off!
Kid made the mistake of opening the window once. Had to slow down to like 45 mph before it would roll all the way back up with that headwind.
Sure is nice being able to roll on the go pedal in top gear grossing 20k uphill at 8000ft and pull away from the crowd!

[deserteagle56]

In the past few days I put 2,882 miles on the rig in the above photo. Yesterday morning I topped off the fuel in Cheyenne, Wyoming and headed west on I-80. As those of you know who've driven this section of interstate before, this is high country. Cheyenne is over 6,100 feet in elevation and I-80 goes up to 8,530 feet before dropping down to Laramie which is "only" at 7,200 feet. The road then climbs way high again for miles before dropping back to just over 6,000 feet in western Wyoming. This would have been a piece of cake - except there was a storm system moving through and multiple warning signs on the freeway told of winds from the west/southwest at 35 mph gusting to well over 50. The temperature at Cheyenne was 41 degrees (and 40 mph winds) but it dropped to 30 degrees over the high passes. For miles between Laramie and Rawlins the snow blew in great white sheets across the roadway - no doubt it would have stuck to the road surface if it wasn't moving so fast because of the wind.
The Ram/Cummins shrugged it all off. No matter the elevation or the powerful head wind I could accelerate at will in 6th gear - although I prayed that the tiedowns were stout enough to hold the Bigfoot in the truck bed. Warnings were out against taking "light" trailers on the road until the winds died down and I saw one - about a 34 foot camp trailer - that didn't take heed on its side in the ditch. A few miles later in the median was a small car that had rolled. Some of the worst driving conditions I've encountered, requiring full concentration on staying on the road. I fueled again at Fort Bridger, 332 miles from Cheyenne. The worst mileage I got on this trip - 11.6 mpg hand calculated - but then I figured I might as well have been driving 110 mph (60-65 mph + up to 50 mph wind speed). Best mileage I saw this trip was 15.6 mpg.
I doubt any gas-powered rig (and I've owned plenty) could match this kind of performance.
The most annoying part of this section of my trip was the wind noise. The fierce winds flowing over the cab were sucking the tops of the doors away from the body and also sucking the heat out of the truck. Has anyone found a cure for that?

[jimh406]

Reddog1 wrote:
Does anyone on the forum really know why the Ford, GM, or Dodge does anything?

We seem to only know after they release something. Even then, it's hard to figure out the reasoning. It's ok though because we all can switch trucks which is a big advantage of having a TC.

[Reddog1]

Gray is better than Pea Green, but not as good as Red. I got an additional 5 MPG after switching to a red truck.

No hijack or disrespect intended, just an attempt at a bit of humor. Does anyone on the forum really know why the Ford, GM, or Dodge does anything? Steve said his info on the Ford was from a Ford press release. Anyone have a source for info on the GMs or dodge or is it just speculation?

Wayne

[jimh406]

Definitely grey is better. 🙂

[Reddog1]

I think maybe something has been overlooked here. Have you ever considered the color of the truck might make a big difference?

Wayne

[Buzzcut1]

This is the reason I will never own a gasser. 22,000 pounds and we go up and down high steep passes in 100* heat

[Steve_in_29]

taycotrains wrote:
After owning a 6.0 diesel in a new Ford SD...Ill never own another diesel...My 6.2 gasser suits me fine.

My 2004 6.0 was bought back by Ford after 5 trips to the dealer but my 2007 6.0 is going strong with no issues at all. So much so that we bought the truck back and had it fixed after it was totaled.

Your 6.0 experience is hardly indicative of diesel trucks as a whole.

[Steve_in_29]

twodownzero wrote:
The reason manuals are not common and not offered by Ford and GM is emissions, not durability. The newest automatics are great, but nothing will ever beat the durability of a manual transmission.

While I can't speak for GM, Ford dropped their manual transmissions due to less then 1 percent of truck buyers wanting them. This was from a Ford press release.

On another note, the reason Dodge sold so many trucks with manuals was because their automatics were WEAK. So much so that they would derate the load/towing capacity of an automatic equipped truck compared to the manual.

[taycotrains]

After owning a 6.0 diesel in a new Ford SD...Ill never own another diesel...My 6.2 gasser suits me fine.

[capeman]

I'm sold on diesels..never go back to gas