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

[Bob__B]

Also .... There are a lot of situations a manual transmission is not fun at all ... steep boat ramps being on of them ..... Yeah, you can set the emergency brake and feather it just right and then pop the emergency brake, but it totally sucks.

[billtex]

Whoa....flashback...I had to go back and check the date on this thread....

[GeoBoy]

HMS Beagle wrote:
^^ This thinking is very out of date. None of the big three offer a manual anymore for good reasons, one of which is durability. Most urban heavy trucks have automatics these days, for the same reasons.

The Allison was the first (American) transmission to try to emulate some of the utility of a manual, and everyone has gotten much better at it since.

If you haven't driven one of the automatics in a new truck (last 4-5 years) you really can't appreciate how far they have come. I can think of no advantage to an automatic over the Ford 6R140 that I now drive.

I escort oversize loads and the company I escort for has switched all their tractors to automatic transmissions. I have escorted loads in excess of 100,000 lbs.!!

[jimh406]

twodownzero wrote:
The newest automatics are great, but nothing will ever beat the durability of a manual transmission.

I think that depends on who is driving.

[twodownzero]

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.

[Grit_dog]

Bedlam wrote:
A manual transmission does make a good theft deterrent now days, but I just don't see the manufacturers investing money in them to keep up with the current engines. At least I keep my clutching proficiency current with my motorcycle and dune buggy, otherwise I would suffer withdrawals.

Lol, I'll let you commute with my truck for a while if you get close to withdrawals!
Like it for what it is, but I went a few weeks without a company rig this summer and I HATE driving that thing in traffic. Love it elsewhere, but agreed, when I upgrade my personal truck, it will not be a handshaker.
If I win the lottery and go get a Hellcat, it WILL be a manual though!

[Bedlam]

A manual transmission does make a good theft deterrent now days, but I just don't see the manufacturers investing money in them to keep up with the current engines. At least I keep my clutching proficiency current with my motorcycle and dune buggy, otherwise I would suffer withdrawals.

[Grit_dog]

^Bedlam, the G56 has the same capacity. Ram only de rates it because of that weak @ss dmf clutch they use.

[Bedlam]

Ram still offers the 6-speed manual, but derates the engine with that setup verses either automatic it offers. I would be driving a manual if it offered the same capacity as an automatic but already saw the differences when I chose the 5R110 over the ZF in my previous Ford. I have to also agree that this view of manuals being better is due to dated information.

[HMS_Beagle]

^^ This thinking is very out of date. None of the big three offer a manual anymore for good reasons, one of which is durability. Most urban heavy trucks have automatics these days, for the same reasons.

The Allison was the first (American) transmission to try to emulate some of the utility of a manual, and everyone has gotten much better at it since.

If you haven't driven one of the automatics in a new truck (last 4-5 years) you really can't appreciate how far they have come. I can think of no advantage to an automatic over the Ford 6R140 that I now drive.

[twodownzero]

The solution to all of that is a manual transmission. They are more durable in virtually every way, even if they don't have the name "Allison" on the side.

The Allison transmission in the pickups has to be the biggest marketing scheme ever. Allison is a subsidiary of GM, and the parts in the transmission that comes in the pickup share nothing with their commercial/heavy duty automatics that come in tracked vehicles and medium/heavy trucks.

I'm sure the transmission is great, but the real Allisons don't have park. The one in the pickups is there because its name sells pickup trucks.

But I don't drive automatics, so I guess I won't be able to get a new truck and will just have to make mine live forever. Which, honestly, given the current cost of new trucks and such, I'm okay with that.

An automatic transmission would never be the solution to make a better pickup truck to me. A 7, 8, or 9 speed manual transmission with at least two overdrives would be excellent, however.

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

[billtex]

HMS Beagle wrote:
the power of the 8.1 simply cannot compare to the new diesels.

2x...we have towed/hauled with both. No comparison.

Note; when we purchased our current truck the DuraMax was +$1800 compared to the 8.1 gasser with Alli.
Worth every penny.
Bill

[HMS_Beagle]

I had the GM 8.1L/Allison combination in a motorhome chassis once. That transmission was a breakthrough, and the motor had great power if you let it rev and didn't mind 6-7 mpg. But the Ford 6R140 transmission in my '15 F350 is quite a lot better still, and the power of the 8.1 simply cannot compare to the new diesels.

[Bob__B]

Vinsil wrote:
While the 8.1/Allison was a great combo, they stopped making those trucks in 2007 and then only had them out for 6 years. If you remember, fuel was at an all time high in this era and diesel was selling more than ever. Point is, as much as it is one of the better gas options, best case IF you can find a clean low mile truck...its 10 years old already.

A better gas option is a Ford V10 having similar numbers in power you can find a newer truck. But the 6.2 ford offers and the 6.4 ram offers today have as much or more power with the side benefit of better economy and can be had in a new truck.

The 8.1 was good but it's old and not many were sold.

Initially, I was looking for a 2008 Duramax/Allison combination, but after looking for a long time gave up on that. (That year had the injector problems solved and didn't have as much of the pollution stuff) Every time I found what I was looking for ... it was already sold.
None of the local dealers had what I wanted either...which surprised me since there are a lot of farm trucks in the area. I had to drive to a big dealer about 120 miles away to be able to test drive what I was interested in.

[Oregun]

Vinsil wrote:


A better gas option is a Ford V10 having similar numbers in power you can find a newer truck. But the 6.2 ford offers and the 6.4 ram offers today have as much or more power with the side benefit of better economy and can be had in a new truck.

Yep Brholt's post on page 1 convinced me that a 6.2 ford would work for me.