Movin' on up to a new Dually!
Picked her up on 2 days ago. 2014 Ram 3500 4x4 drw with the 6.4 Hemi and 6667 lbs. of payload. It is replacing my 2011 Ford 4x4 F350 srw regular cab with the 6.2. The Ford was a great truck but when I...
Forum Discussion
The DRW makes sense with a 5,000 lb. camper but not the choice of diesel. The extra expense and hastle of a diesel is needed when towing more than 10,000 lbs. but it is hardly needed for half that load.
I have a diesel truck and I paid an additional $9000 for the truck, pay twice as much for an oil change which I have to have done twice as often, have to change the fuel filters every 10k versus 80-100k with a gas engine, have two batteries instead of one to replace, have an extra 800 lbs. of engine weight which is subtracted from the payload capacity, have to buy DEF as well as fuel, have less reliable emissions systems and sensors (had to replace a $700 NOx sensor at 12,000 miles), have to drive further to get fuel as none of the three gas stations in my town have diesel at the pumps much less DEF which I get at truck stops, and the fuel economy gain is negated by the greater distance to buy fuel and the cost of diesel which over the past 3 years has been higher than premium gas. And with diesel I have to worry a lot more about contaminated fuel and water in the fuel and algae and adding fuel stabilizers which has never been a concern with my gas vehicles. Diesel fuel economy also drops dramatically if one is making trips of less than 30 minutes or doing around town driving.
The diesel engine works well with the 3.73 gears on my pickup but I could get 95% of the power needed with a 5,000 lb. camper with a gas engine and 4.10 gears. Where people create problems is in buying whatever the dealer configures and the factory wants to sell which is high gear trucks that help with the EPA's CAFE calculations and does nothing for the people buying the trucks.
I have a diesel truck and I paid an additional $9000 for the truck, pay twice as much for an oil change which I have to have done twice as often, have to change the fuel filters every 10k versus 80-100k with a gas engine, have two batteries instead of one to replace, have an extra 800 lbs. of engine weight which is subtracted from the payload capacity, have to buy DEF as well as fuel, have less reliable emissions systems and sensors (had to replace a $700 NOx sensor at 12,000 miles), have to drive further to get fuel as none of the three gas stations in my town have diesel at the pumps much less DEF which I get at truck stops, and the fuel economy gain is negated by the greater distance to buy fuel and the cost of diesel which over the past 3 years has been higher than premium gas. And with diesel I have to worry a lot more about contaminated fuel and water in the fuel and algae and adding fuel stabilizers which has never been a concern with my gas vehicles. Diesel fuel economy also drops dramatically if one is making trips of less than 30 minutes or doing around town driving.
The diesel engine works well with the 3.73 gears on my pickup but I could get 95% of the power needed with a 5,000 lb. camper with a gas engine and 4.10 gears. Where people create problems is in buying whatever the dealer configures and the factory wants to sell which is high gear trucks that help with the EPA's CAFE calculations and does nothing for the people buying the trucks.
