stephen_haley
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Re: Diesel vs gas......................
well these old timers, those that were weaned on DP's can tell you more than I can, but in general a diesel has to get closer to running temp before you put a load on it due to the enormous pressures it works under, it's fuel type, many cases relate to brake pressures, being absolutely oil pressures are up and so on. short hops are made better letting it sit and idle. truckers leave big rigs on all night with very little problem. in the morning when they take out they'll blow out what carbon has accumulated in a short time. carbon build up is a big issue for diesels that are run and stopped over and over again throuhout a day, but newer PU diesels are much better about it. as far as maintenence for PU's i have friend that don't change oil except for every 10k or more miles. in fact you can put an external, additional oil filter on some diesels and every 2k miles change that 1 filter and put in a quart or less to top it off and you can stay that way for a year. this external filter should be previous to the factory filter. total service, all filters and all fluids can cost $200 to $300 depending on your rig and where you are and who is doing it. or you can do it yourself if you obtain the aide of a good diesel mechanic and simply pay him to do it once and show you how. it'll cost you under $75 per total service on a PU assuming all filters and fluids are changed and you do the work. these other guys will give you much more specifics shortly i am certain. stephen440Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
diesels have and need more compression. something like 8 or 10 to 1 for passengar cars and as much as 25 or 27 to one for diesels. more compression more heat. heat required to ignite fuel burn clean. diesels run cooler, not hotter and in most cases never run hot if maintained regardless of what you are pulling. also because they are over built in most cases with an exceptional cooling system. this is why an OTR can go 3 years, and maybe even 200k and never have to flush out the system or add coolent if it is maintained correctly. in fact if you were to put the same cooling system on a gasser, which you can't, you'd never experience overheating under any load for the life of the vehicle. assuming you did not you fail in other areas of maintenence. the radiator in my brothers kenworth tractor is over 8" thick and about 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall. compare that to the 2.5 inch thick and 27 inch wide and 27 inches tall we get in a pu truck. and unlike our cars and trucks being plastic and aluminum. his is copper/brass/aluminum and the joints are all silver soldered like refrigeration system piping. so there just is no comparison. stephen440Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
when i pulled with my ford i staed at 55 to 60 max and keep it out of OD. i have never had a problem with my gasser pickup pulling a 10k trailer with 3 horses across country. it just tooled down the road and nevere misses a beat. but that is running 58 as an average and i know that's slow for all of you AJ Foyts out there; but, it paid me back many times over by keeping it under 60 and outta OD. never had a break down and over 200k on it when i sold it and it finally started using a quart of oil every 2000 miles. stephen440Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
Bunk wrote: I would be useing it every couple of weeks but not on long hauls. about 500 miles round trip. With the condensation factor I would like to keep the tanks full. Additives to keep fuel fresh? Bunk I don't see a problem with it being used every 2 weeks and having the tanks full. These long timers can give you more first hand experience. They'll be responding. stephen Soon to own my next RV440Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
if you know your rig, you can calculate a safe amount of fuel to hold in your tanks for the trip. this goes for going and coming. i'd leave a small bit of safety in it, something like 10% over. if you have 2 tanks split up the weight. if you are not going to use it for more than 2 or 3 months i'd suggest taking it out every month for a short 2 hour run down the highway. the time spent is well worth it for your diesel. stephen soon to own my next RV440Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
i'm a user, not a mechanic. when i buy, it'll be a diesel for 3 reasons. first there will always be diesel no matter what. the govt. won't let the transportation industry come to a halt, ever. it may slow down or get expensive, but the truck stops will forever be open to a large degree. second, you just can't get the HP out of a gasser without trashing the enigne. bnand new 2006 ford and chevy engines are noted on all sales material i have seen as being able to go a maximum of 150,000 miles. during the last 50,000 miles i'd suspect the wear and tear to drop off lots of HP and service and maintenece becomes a nightmare. third, i'm pulling a full size pick up. standard cab, long bed, empty. can't do it on a gasser without wearing the engine out on hills. as as side bar; can someone tell me if they have any idea as to how some older rigs, in excellent condition, with a DP, have only 60,000 or so miles over 10 or more years. i am looking into some Foretravels and they are all low mileage and in pristine condition. i know if a gasser is left idle for long it just begins to fall apart, leaks develop and so on. you need to use them on a regular basis. is it not the same for a DP? even though it's gonna get 500,000 miles on a single engine, it seems 10 years with only 60,000 tells me it sat a lot. what do you pro's think. stephen soon to be MHDP owner458Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
Lynn Rupper wrote: Don't forget to factor in the gas engine will last about 150/200k miles and the diesel engine will double that. All you have to worry about is will the truck components and body last that long. new manufacturers of MH state in their printed material that 150,000 miles is the maximum expected mileage on a gas engine. since the last 3rd will provide less pull and efficiency, i believe it's just smart to buy diesel if you can afford it. stephen458Views0likes0CommentsRe: Anyone make a mistake buying first MH ?
if you guys are running 65 and 70, you'd be surprised how fast the mpg goes up by dropping down to 55. yeah i know "gee that is slow", but if you are sef contained and don't have the hotel, motel, bathroom and eats problem i kinda figure at 55 i can get 10 or more in almost any rig. what say you? i rented a 33 footer with a 360 dodge (don't quote me on the 360 but i do believe it was) and i got 12 mpg from red river new mexico to dallas texas running 55 all the way. 648 miles. filled up in red river at the shell station and drove into irving texas with out a stop except to eat and poop. still had most of a quarter of a tank left. did this in the early fall. it was a 5 year old MH and this was back in 2002. stephen304Views0likes0CommentsRe: Anyone make a mistake buying first MH ?
yeah i hope to use truck stops exclusively. no city streets for me. got a dingy for that. what year was your fleetwood pace arrow! sounds like a nightmare come true! anyone else have a leaky raft problem with fleetwood products? stephen304Views0likes0Comments
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