Diesel-Dude
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Re: Diesel vs gas......................
Sport45 wrote: Jarlaxle wrote: Plenty of them. My old F-350 had 366,000 miles & most people guessed it at having about a third of that. My uncle's Dakota looks like someone has turned the odometer forward about 200,000 miles (he has 280K on it)--it's been repainted (5 years ago), but the interior is original except the floor mats. It's great to see others keeping vehicles on the road a long time, but I think we're the exception rather than the rule. Happy travels! If you don't need/want a brand new truck, or a diesel, you could probably track down a late model 3/4 or 1-ton Chevy with the 8.1L Vortec big-block V-8. At 496 cubic inches, it's the largest engine, diesel or gas, ever set into a pickup truck (not including the Dodge Ram 1500 SRT-10 which isn't much of a work truck). It is basically a 454 with a factory .437" stroker crank. A factory stroked big-block! That's pretty cool. GM rated the 8.1L vortec at 340hp @ 4200 rpm's and 455 Lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm's. There are also marine versions rated as high as 415hp. Two guys at work have them and while yes, they are thirsty, no more so than the 6.0L trucks other guys at work are driving. Both the guys at the shop have 5-speed manual transmissions, but it is my understanding the automatic trucks used the same Allison 1000 as the Duramax, but you would want to check around to confirm that. A lot of people stayed away from the 8.1L because of the worry about gas mileage and GM stopped offering the 8.1L a few years ago. It's possable to pick up a used one for a decent price simply because the market just isn't very strong for it. For someone looking for a damn-strong puller who doesn't want to step up to a diesel, GM's 8.1L Vortec may be worth looking into.290Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
The 351 Windsors can chew up rear main seals as well. Changed a few of 'em over the years, and I've never even owned a Ford. BTW. My very first vehicle was a Dodge D-100 with an old 318-2bbl (very much a gasser). That truck had over 260,000 miles when I sold it. The truck was rotted to the ground but it ran every day! Diesel or gas, if you take care of them most engines will outlast the vehicles they are sitting in.352Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
Are you and your hubby looking at NEW trucks? If so, take one of the new Chevy H.D.'s out for a test drive. I think you would be pleasently surprised on how refined these new diesel trucks actually are. The days of the loud, stinky diesel engine are over. Most fuel stations now have diesel pumps at the "car" islands so you don't have to worry too much about having to fuel-up with the big boys. The only gas engine available in the new Chevy 2500 is the 6.0L small-block V-8. While a fairly strong runner, it's no big-block (chevy doesn't offer them any more)and it's surly no diesel. The pulling power of the Duramax compaired to the gasser is night and day. A heavy, strainuous load for the gas engine will be a walk in the park for the diesel. The diesel engine will get better fuel milage than the gass engine. While there are always exceptions, most people I've talked to claim 10-12 mpg unloaded with the 6L gas engine while the diesel guys are floating in the 18 mpg range on the average. 20+ mpg on the highway is not uncommon with the Duramax. Of coarse you can't ignore the additional cost of the diesel engine over the gasser. That is probably the biggest argument against the diesel option. But keep in mind whan it comes time to sell it or trade it in on the newest model, the resale value of the diesel equipped truck will be much higher than the truck with the gas engine. Hope this helps.367Views0likes0CommentsRe: Diesel vs gas......................
I'm new to this forum, but I'm not new to pick-up trucks or towing. The Cummins Dodge I'm driving now is my first diesel truck. The 2003 Hemi Dodge it replaced will likely be my last gasser. Not because the Cummins Dodge is "far superior" to everything else on the planet, but simply because it does everything I need a truck to do. Is my truck the "perfect truck'? Not by a long shot. But it was the best compromise I could come up with. For me, (and this is just my own opinion), the "perfect truck" would be a Ford Super Duty with the 5.9L Cummins and the 6-speed Allison trans. My Dodge came closest to to this proverbial "perfect truck". My reasoning behind my buying the Dodge is: I wanted the Cummins. I grew up on a farm and every diesel engine I have ever been around has been an in-line engine. They have proven their reliability to me many-many times over, no matter who made them. Is an in-line better than a V engine? Don't know. Don't care. My in-line have done everything I've ever asked them to do and that's good enough for me. I wanted a solid front axle. Unlike a lot of diesel truck owners nowadays, I actually work my truck. I do a lot of towing, hauling and off-pavement work. While IFS offers a better ride going down the road, it has proven, in my personnel experience, to be more problematic in rough terrain than a live front axle. I like the looks of the Ford SuperDuty better than I do the Chevy/GMC's and Dodge trucks, but when I bought my truck, the Ford 6.0L was already having reliability issues (at least more than the Cummins and Duramax). I like the interiors of the GM trucks also, but the General hasn't offered a solid fron axle since the late 1980's. The "my automatic transmission is better than yours" debate didn't matter at all to me at that time because I was dead set on a manual trans behind my diesel. I believe (again, just MY opinion) it would be hard to argue against the NV-5600 6-speed manual trans being probably one of the stoutest transmissions ever put into a light truck, manual or automatic. But with the driver control fo todays 6-speed autos (sorry Ford), my personnal auto vs. manual debate may be in full swing. And as far as the iron vs. aluminum cylinder head debate? I believe if you look at 99 out of 100 head gasket failures on either the CTD, DM or PSD, the culprit will be either stretched or improperly torqued HEAD BOLTS. The 6.0L PSD has been plagued by head gasket failures and it obviously uses iron heads on an iron block. Ford's fix for these failures are bigger, stronger head bolts. In the hot rod diesel world, The Cummins engines are lifting their iron heads when boost starts to exceed around 55 psi on the average. Again, bigger, stronger head STUDS are the answer. Add fire rings to the equation, and 100+ psi boost figures are possible. As far as the Dmax is concerned, the aluminum heads have not proven to be a negative factor in the hot rodding world nearly as much as the internals of the engine. Bent connecting rods from the massive cylinder pressures are much more common than anything traced directly to the aluminum head. Again, stronger head studs are the answer to keeping the heads glued on and the gaskets in place. If the head bolts can't hold the load without stretching, it doesn't matter what the cylinder head is made of, the gasket is gonna blow.367Views0likes0Comments
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