hindle_az
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Re: Diesel vs gas......................
TexasBorn wrote: hindle_az wrote: jmbusa wrote: Diesels are: loud, noisy, air polluters, noise polluters, overrated, expensive, expensive to maintain, overkill for most RVers. This guy does not have a clue. I know that.....I was going to expose him when he replied with..."Well, uhhh....I've never owned one before but my buddy had one and I think I parked next to one at a rest area...." It's pretty simple, if you tow alot and often Diesel is the way to go period! There is no comparison costs and towing wise.443Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
lotto7335 wrote: I have same, but ext cab, short bed. I get about 9-10 city driving, and 13.5 on highway. I am not a "leadfoot" by anymeans. You are missing out. I have an 02 I bought used with 50,000 miles for about 27 OTD almost a couple of years ago. I get around 15 City and 20 highway. In the city I drive conservatively. I'm not a lead foot but I'm not a granny either. On the highway without the trailer I run about 75mph. With my trailer I get 9 to 10 MPG with a full 40gal water tank sometimes waste tanks are empty and other times they are 1/3 to 2/3's full. I run between 65 and 70 with the trailer. I'm pulling a Jayco Talon 24ft. Toy hauler. I usually have a few bikes plus gear. I'm not sure what you can do to better your mileage other then change your driving habbits. People don't realize how much fuel is wasted when you leave every light likes it's race. I'm not saying drive like your 100 years old but somewhere in between you can probably pickup a few MPG gas or diesel. Same on the highway...if I hit any hills sometimes your better off dropping a gear and going 55 then slaming the throttle to the floor to hold 65 70 with your trailer. It all depends. Maybe consult with a engine builder that has diesel experience.462Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
On another note many posts back people were arguing more about the power and pulling up hills versus gas mileage. I don't remember the names but we were arguing over turboing the gas engines and how they could be just as effective as the Diesels. Then that got me thinking about why the commercial trucking industry uses Diesel's and why are all the Diesels from Ford, Dodge, Chevy turbod but not the gassers. So I started to research and thought I would post some info incase there were others like me that wondered the same things. In a gas engine the air and fuel is mixed in the intake manifold prior to entering the combustion chamber. I'm sure most of us already new that. Here is where it gets interesting. When you compress oxygen it heats up. If you have fuel mixed in with that oxygen and you compress it enough it will ignite due to the oxygen heating up under compression. This is why people run injection systems and intercooler on turboed or supercharged gas engines. They want to run more boost to make more power but you have to cool the air/fuel mixture so you don't get preignition. Most of the hotrodders I know running more then 8 -12 pounds of boost are also running an intercooler or some type of injection system to cool down the air before it enters the combustion chamber. What makes Diesel's unique from Gassers is that the air and fuel is not mixed together in the intake manifold. Only air enters the combustion chamber. The Direct fuel injection system is timed much like the spark on a gas engine is. The Diesel is injected directly into the combustion chamber at the right time. Since the Diesels run so much more compression then your typical gas engine the fuel ignites as soon as it's injected just like a spark plug ignites the air/fuel mixture in a gas engine. Since the fuel and air is seperated you can compress it much more without preignition problems. This is also how some of the new Diesel's start cold without glow plugs. The computer simply retards the injection timing so the air is getting compressed more then normal before injecting fuel. Since it's compressed more it's hotter then on normal starts and thus no glow plugs. Sorry for the looong post but I found all this very interesting and thought I would share with everyone.458Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
Ron O'Brien wrote: well no doubt the diesel will get better fuel mileage -- however how come no one mentions the fact that to buy the diesel you will pay $6000.00 to $7000.00 your right if your buying new the diesel option usually costs more and may not make sense for somebody who tows once or twice a year and gets a new truck every 3-5 years Ron O'Brien wrote: also to maintain the diesel engine the costs are more,not to mention the smell and polution factor I bought an 02 Duramax that had 50k on it. 23,000 thousand miles later the only thing I've done differently is fuel filter changes. You have to do them more often then on a gasser but the filters are not to much more expensive and on the Duramax it's not to difficult to do. 30 minute job. Everything else (engine oil, oil filter, tranny fluid/filter, brakes, belts, diff, etc...) is going to be there no matter what you drive and hasn't been anymore difficult or expensive then on a gasser. As for the smell - they do smell more then a gasser that is for sure as for pollution I'm not an expert in that area so I can't really say more or less or worse, etc...458Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
More and more I see people talking about the price per gallon for Diesel versus Gas and how Diesel's no longer have an advantage in the mileage department. I can't speak for every truck and every trailer out there but in my particular case Diesel still costs less. You have to look past the price per gallon and do the math. I have a toy hauler that I take to motocross races in my area. I get 10.5 MPG. I have a friend with a gas truck that has a very simliar trailer in size and weight. He tells me he gets around 7. The cheap unleaded in my area is around 2.20 a gallon while Diesel can be had for around 2.50. If I drive 400 miles round trip with my trailer it costs me around 95 dollars. While my friends total costs is around 126 dollars. So while he is paying less per gallon he is using more gallons for the same trip and in the end pays more then me. We both have GMC's. I have the duramax and he has the 6.x gas version. Displacement wise the engines are very close as the Duramax is 6.x liters as well. I'm sure the 8.1 gas option would provide alot more pulling power but I don't see it getting many more MPG then the smaller 6 liter version. Like I said this is just my particular situation but until Diesel gets to around 1 dollar more then unleaded it will still pay to run the Diesel and even then it's a break even situation and you still have other advantages to draw from if you tow often. I realize there are those that don't tow often or plan to keep the truck to pay off the extra cost of the Diesel option (if your buying new) and like I said this is just my situation but my main point is you can't just look at the simple price per gallon. It's deeper then that.459Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
BertP wrote: hindle_az - Your reference to a gasser of the same displacement "without forced induction" struck me as a little misleading. I simply wanted to point out that a gasser will produce far more power per unit of displacement than a diesel without a turbo. And, there are still quite a few gassers in cars that are turbo'd from the factory. If they turbo'd the truck gassers in the factory, the cost would be a lot less than you think. If I add a turbo to a gasser on my own, the cost will be very high but not if it is done at the factory. As for the tranny shifting, that is a tranny problem, not an engine problem. If the truck couldn't hold the hill in OD, then the tranny should not shift intoo OD. Whether there is a gasser or diesel behind that tranny is irrelavent. And, no, a diesel will not always hold OD. I came out of Kelowna BC a couple of weeks ago in my 3500 dually D/A and a 10,000 - 11,000 lb 5er on back. Going up a 6 - 8% grade, the best I could do was around 52 mph in 3rd gear. As soon as I crested the grade, the tranny grabbed 4th, but it wouldn't coming up the hill. Lynn Rupper - Your engine has less power than mine, yet you are able to climb a 6% hill in direct with a heavier trailer than I have? It is possible if the tranny ratios allow it, but mine wouldn't. When my tranny grabbed 4th, the rpm dropped from 3000 to 2400. I don't have the power curve for the LLY in front of me, but I think it develops a max of around 250 HP at that rpm. It would appear that that hill demanded more than 250 HP, so my tranny couldn't upshift. Bert I agree from the factory would be cheaper then a retro fit. I also agree that horsepower and torque would be as good if not better then the Diesel. Once again I never said a Diesel will hold OD up any grade. So why doesn't the commercial trucking industry move in that direction???? To be honest it's not that deep for me and I don't really care. What I do know is what is available as a consumer and what the capabilities are for the options out there and there are pro's and con's to both solutions.433Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
kennard04 wrote: hindle_az wrote: BertP, I said struggling because after it downshifted got back up to speed and went back into overdrive a couple of miles later it would downshift and then repeat this pattern over and over. It was struggling!!! Bottom line is the truck couldn't maintain the speed in overdrive. A diesel would have. Period. a diesel will pull any grade in OD ? Come on man, any blanket statement surely will have plenty of holes in it. Gassers rev, diesels don't rev as much but if you'll look at the rpm range of the new Ford 6.0, it's MUCH higher revvin than the 7.3 and the DMax/Cummins. HP is made by multiplying torque times rpm. You can have all the torque in the world and go slowly up a hill. But you'll need rpm to stay at speed, rpm and hp. Please don't put words in my mouth. I've never said a Diesel will pull any grade in OD. My point was in the same situation my truck doesn't down shift and pulls OD just fine with the trailer. Obviously with a steep enough grade the truck shifts down as any truck would pulling or hauling a load. However, I have the same truck as my friend with a Diesel and have a simliar size/weight trailer and have towed over the same route many times and always pulls OD in cruise control at about the same speed 70-75 no problems. That was my point.433Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
BertP, I said struggling because after it downshifted got back up to speed and went back into overdrive a couple of miles later it would downshift and then repeat this pattern over and over. It was struggling!!! Bottom line is the truck couldn't maintain the speed in overdrive. A diesel would have. Period.434Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
BertP, why do you think I said (Naturally Aspirated) because I know the Diesel's are Turbo'd. I'm sure that without the turbo you wouldn't make near the torque that they do. That doesn't change the fact that Diesel's are turbo'd from the factory and the gassers are not. Turbo the gasser and now you just spent damn near the same amount for the Diesel upgrade but you still get piss poor gas mileage. You have to change your gearing and with the turbo you better start putting in the exspensive stuff. No more 87 octane or you will be knocking at the sight of the first hill. So where are your savings after all that. Don't know about other places but here Diesel is about 30 cents cheaper then premium. Uhhh....of course that might change tomorrow. LOL BarryPh1, personally I believe with a trailer of that size you could go with a Titan or F-150 and be fine. However, if you decide to upgrade your trailer then you might be unhappy in the future. If you know this is it then a 2500 might be overkill not worth the extra dough.434Views0likes0Comments
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