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Old 08-23-2018, 08:10 AM   #41
Claudius
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I've owned 3 Gas pot Trucks in my time. All mid to big blocks. Standards and Auto's. No matter what i did with those being towing or with Camper on it, it always felt like i was beating the crap out of my engine. Especially on big hills. $10.000+ for a diesel over and above the price of a gas pot buys a lot of Gas but that hard working engine sound always made me uncomfortable. That all went away 18 years ago with my first 6.7L PowerStroke. Slow getting up to speed but when it got there it just purred. Sometimes i needed to look back just to see if my Trailer was still there...lol. Some of you will know exactly what i'm talking about. I will never go back to a gas pot truck, even if i get too old to tow a trailer.
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Old 08-23-2018, 08:31 AM   #42
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I agree with with all the previous posts. I, myself, have a 2005 Duramax which I purchased new. I kept up with maintenance and only used Rotella T6 full synthetic oil from the first oil change and changed fuel and air filters as scheduled. I also buy all my oil and filters at Walmart and found a place that will do the oil change with my supplies and lube the chassis for $14.99. I had the water pump go bad at around 180K and got it repaired. Bought the truck 1 year after buying a Surveyer TT. It was over-kill at the time, but I wanted to be prepared for a possible fifth wheel in the future. We finally purchased our Alpine fifth wheel in 2017. It felt real nice to go to a dealership already prepared TV wise. My truck now has close to 250K miles and still runs great and I would do it all again. For me, I would go with a diesel for longevity, mileage, re-sale, and current and tow capacity.
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Old 08-23-2018, 08:39 AM   #43
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I agree with with all the previous posts. I, myself, have a 2005 Duramax which I purchased new. I kept up with maintenance and only used Rotella T6 full synthetic oil from the first oil change and changed fuel and air filters as scheduled. I also buy all my oil and filters at Walmart and found a place that will do the oil change with my supplies and lube the chassis for $14.99. I had the water pump go bad at around 180K and got it repaired. Bought the truck 1 year after buying a Surveyer TT. It was over-kill at the time, but I wanted to be prepared for a possible fifth wheel in the future. We finally purchased our Alpine fifth wheel in 2017. It felt real nice to go to a dealership already prepared TV wise. My truck now has close to 250K miles and still runs great and I would do it all again. For me, I would go with a diesel for longevity, mileage, re-sale, and current and tow capacity.
Well said!
Diesels aren't the smelly, noisy rattle boxes they were 15-20 years ago, they don't smell, smoke, rattle & are very little, if any, bit noisier than the gas.
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Old 08-23-2018, 01:27 PM   #44
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I have had (mostly GM) gas trucks all my life. Bought this Diesel for pulling the Toyhauler. Here in Canada when I went in to "Look" at the new 2018 Diesel GMC trucks I was mostly interested in how it rode without a load. Rode great. Started to wheel and deal. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Not much more for brand new then what people and car lots wanted for used. Got what I wanted for my 2015 GMC gasser because here in Alberta trucks sell. Everyone wants one and or has one. Diesels go for very premium prices and right now here diesel is much cheaper then gas at the pump. Gasoline is $1.30 for regular (a liter x 3.8 to get gallon price) and Diesel is ($1.24 x 3.8)and has been stable there since last January. The mileage has been awesome towing or not towing and truck has been a joy to own so far. I knew I was buying for when we retire in a year so knew exactly what I wanted. My 2 cents from a Canadians perspective.
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Old 08-23-2018, 06:28 PM   #45
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Living here on the Front Range in Colorado, every camping trip is a trip over one or more mountain passes. We upgraded our Toyota Tundra (with the big engine) to a 2013 F350 SRW diesel when we bought our Fusion 300 because every trip over a mountain pass in the Tundra seemed like it was wearing the heck out of the truck. And that was pulling a 7000 lb trailer. The Tundra was clearly not adequate to tow the larger trailer, in spite of what the trailer salesman said... The diesel pulled the Fusion 300 for five years and many camping trips without drama or problems over every mountain pass in Colorado that allows a vehicle combo of that length. I'm not sure a gas truck would have done as well under those conditions.
Regarding cost of ownership and losing value on a diesel truck. I buy the pre-paid maintenance coupon books from the dealer. Those oil changes and tire rotations end up costing me about what I could buy the oil and filters for myself. As far as the truck holding its value, I just traded in the 2013 F350 SRW diesel on a 2018 F350 DRW. I paid $51,000 for the 2013 Lariat SRW truck; I got $39,000 trade-in for it so it lost $12,000 in value in five years. I can definitely live with that. As far as the new truck, I paid $10K under sticker for the 2018 truck. As someone said earlier in this thread, deals are out there if you are willing to bargain.
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Old 08-24-2018, 02:00 AM   #46
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I'm all in with most everything you wrote Danny, except for fuel pricing. This chart puts diesel 13% higher cost than regular and 6.5% less than premium. We only fuel up with premium if we're going into the mountains. Commuting and flatland towing does fine with regular grade. Maybe the average between regular and premium is within pennies?

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_w.htm

Oil changes every 7,500 miles is sure nice compared to 3,000.
Exactly what I was going to say...

With variable ratio timing, to accommodate the high compression gas motors, when towing, we need all the extra power we can get. As Such, I have to run 93, when towing my little 30 travel trailer, in the South Eastern US. I could not imagine towing the western mountains with anything less than 93. As such fuel coast is about the same for 93 vs diesel.
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Old 08-24-2018, 03:41 AM   #47
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Y'all got any idea how funny it is to see/hear grown folks using the difference in price between gasoline and diesel as justification for buying a $60K + truck to haul their $60K+ travel trailer... at 6 to 9 mpg vs. a $68K truck that will not only pull the trailer more easily, and last longer but which will also get appreciably better MPG...
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Old 08-24-2018, 04:45 AM   #48
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Just noticed the OP is from Colorado Springs. Gotta say that if he is traveling the 'hills' of Colorado, that gasser will be hauling virtually any RV over, say 8Kwith it gasping for power. I did those 'hills' with an F350/460 and rowed it up them with the shift lever at way too slow a pace. Did them again in '15 and '16 with the diesel and it was a breeze in comparison, seldom shifting below 4th with a 6 speed trans to maintain speed limit. I also recal rental cars in 2005-7 when we went skiing - and they too were gasping for power. Hexk, even the hills of Maine, NH and VT put my '06 V10 into labor pain and they are pretty gentle in comparison to the Rockies and with not much altitude
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Old 08-24-2018, 08:22 AM   #49
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If I worried about the price of gas vs diesel or the price of a diesel truck over a gas truck and buying a 40,000 dollar or more RV. I would travel by plane and stay in a motel. Think of the money I could save. No truck costs no fuel costs for it, no Rv costs, no storage costs just pay as I go on a trip. I might even get a brand new Prius with all that savings.
Yes, I wish fuel prices were lower and trucks cost less but, life costs money. Anything we enjoy to do costs money. RVing is just another hobby for me.
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Old 08-24-2018, 08:58 AM   #50
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It's all about individual circumstances as many here have noted. If I was full timing with a large rig and loved mountains it would be a diesel without question. The DW and I are full timers (work that is) and our TV is a second commute vehicle, we get away to camp 4-5 times a year in our smallish TT and after retiring in 3-4 years we'll camp a lot more but don't plan to haul cross country. I got a smokin' deal from a private party last fall, my TV gets compliments from strangers, it's rock solid and going 55mph uphill is fast enough for me. YMMV.
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Old 08-24-2018, 10:47 AM   #51
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It's all about individual circumstances as many here have noted. If I was full timing with a large rig and loved mountains it would be a diesel without question. The DW and I are full timers (work that is) and our TV is a second commute vehicle, we get away to camp 4-5 times a year in our smallish TT and after retiring in 3-4 years we'll camp a lot more but don't plan to haul cross country. I got a smokin' deal from a private party last fall, my TV gets compliments from strangers, it's rock solid and going 55mph uphill is fast enough for me. YMMV.
This thread is actually civilized compare to some of the other threads I've read on another RV Forum...I think its pretty simple, if you are full timing and want to travel this great country, diesel is a must. If you are part timers or weekend warriors, get what makes sense to you.. I have a Ram 2500 5.7, which is not ideal but it gets the job done for our Laredo 5th wheel and its my primary vehicle for work and family use. I got a heck of a deal on it and will ride it out until its days are over and then will look for another deal, gas or diesel, whichever one makes more sense
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Old 08-24-2018, 01:49 PM   #52
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You are wasting you money running premium fuel on an engine designed to run regular fuel. Premium fuel (read higher octane) is actually not going to work as well as regular....if you vehicle is designed to run on regular. The higher octane fuel has a higher resistance to ignition...which means you need either more compression and or more heat to be able to make it ignite efficiently, which is normally a function for higher compression engines. There are a lot of articles out there that explain it a lot better than I can, but the bottom line is to save you money and actually get better performance from your engine.
I am a vintage bike mechanic. Older Kawasakis (70s/80s) and Suzukis of the same era had under 9:1 compression and running high test fuel which, as has been noted, is actually harmful and causes a lot of deposits on valves and poorer performance than regular gas. If you put in a piston kit with 10.25:1 compression pistons, it is necessary to keep the engine from pre-igniting the mixture and poppppping. In this case high-test is needed. It also helps to retard your ignition advance in these cases. Most of the high-test benefit might come in the form of more advance additive packages but I can't say for sure if this is marketing hype of for real.

As far as gas or diesel, I pull my trailer about once a month and don't go all that far. We have a 19 year old chihuahua with no eye balls that MUST go with us (my missus would leave me home before that pup!). The gas works fine and I had to buy a gas truck as I can't afford a diesel of the same even ancient vintage as my 96 F250. I bought my truck for $1700 and a diesel in the same condition with under 300K miles would have been about $4-5K more. Since I work on my property, no sense buying top shelf in my case and after looking at the Ford truck site and having my head spin around on the 6.0 and 6.4 diesel threads with all the mods to make those engines perform acceptably, I feel better with a gas engine. Do I wish I could sit with my engine idling for 2 hours while my wife leaves me out in the Walmart parking lot? Sure but it is cheaper for me to just roll down the windows and sweat a little.
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Old 08-25-2018, 05:29 AM   #53
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" I might even get a brand new Prius with all that savings. "
Ken, you need to be careful throwing language around like that. You know those kinds of sentences are directly linked to your man card!
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Old 08-25-2018, 02:21 PM   #54
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That's funny, is that your truck?
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Old 08-25-2018, 03:13 PM   #55
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No, I snapped the photo up in Ontario a couple years ago....it just struck me funny!
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