I've always said that the 6.2 isn't for everyone just like the 6.7 isn't for everyone they both have their pluses and minuses that have to be weighed before making a decision to buy either one. Whenever I'm contacted on this forum or others I always try and give honest answers I can to their questions but the one thing I stress that if you are going to pull with a 6.2 get 4.30 gears from the start, 70% of our miles are towing and almost no empty highway miles.

As far as it not being suited for extended towing I will have to say that's not how I see it, we are getting ready for our next trip (7.5 to 8 months) that will take us to and through KS, MO, IL, OH, PA, NJ, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK and back to our homebase in NE.

Denny

 

Lemme know when you come through GA and I'll wave to you from my new 6.2!

 

It should be after Thanksgiving, depends on how my sisters knee replacement goes when we leave Virginia, she will be following us to Florida in her motor home.

Denny

 

I currently own a 2012 250 srw 4 whl with 4:30 gears and 6.2 gas. Before that I had a 08 6.4 diesel super cab. I pull a 5th whl toy hauler with a GVWR of 14.000 lbs. Most of the time when traveling it is in the 12 to 12,500 lb weight. I will grant you that with the diesel I had the power to maintain any speed I wanted on 8% grades and the diesel averaged 2 to 2.5 mpg better than what I have now.
When you go from diesel to gas without the right mind set you will be disappointed with the gas performance in hills. It only has a little over half the torque of the diesel so of course its going to seem to struggle a little more. However if you put your mind to rpm's rather than lugging the gas does just fine with a lot less initial cost and operating cost.
I live in Minnesota and went to Tucson AZ in March with the Toyhauler loaded to the max as I had two motorcycles in the back that the combined weight alone was 1800lbs. When going up a long 8% grade in manual and anticipating the hill I was able to cruise up at 50mph in 3rd gear without a tuner. I did try the tuner that's popular on this web site and found it did not add any mileage when towing, and I did not like the shift patterns when traveling empty.
On my trip to AZ I averaged 7.86mpg for the entire trip up and back(total miles divided by gallons used). The diesel I had before with a tuner averaged just under 10 on a similar trip. So If I had the diesel I would have saved about $200 in fuel cost (calculating the price difference between gas and diesel) of which would have been eaten up with the cost of service.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is diesel vs gas is all in the mindset. If you want lots of power and cost of buying and operating is not a concern then the diesel is the way to go. However if you need to operate most of the winter empty, then for me the gas is a no brainer.

 

Can you rent a truck for that trip?

 

I'm amazed at how many of you spent lots of money to find out diesels aren't all they are cracked up to be.
I could of told you as a former mechanic that unless your hauling heavy loads all the time or driving 100s of thousands of miles regularly diesels don't pay in the long run.
Oh they get better mileage but you can drive a gas rig for about 20,000 miles just to pay for the option cost.
There is an old saying that if your not driving a diesel at least a 100,000 miles a year they don't pay for themselves.
I have a V-10 Dodge that is my heavy hauler. It will pull about anything. The guys I know with 6.2 gas like them & have had no complains of any major importance.
In the winter I get to talk to plenty of snowbirds.

 

We're on our way to AZ for the winter by way of Jersey City and I'm still very happy with my truck, it works for us.

Denny

 

Living in northern california I can chime in with my experiences having gone back and forth over Donner Pass four times this summer. I don't know what your fiver weighs, but I have a 3,000 pound slide-in in the bed (not counting the wind resistance) and I pull a 4,500 pound Jeep behind me. My truck has the 4.30 gears. Each trip I've either run 60-65 MPH when not in traffic over the hill and when traffic bunches up to get around the slow-moving semi's I'll just keep up with the flow, whatever it happens to be. Sometimes one semi will swing into the fast lane at 35 MPH to pass another semi at 30 MPH, yeah, I think I might have been in second during those times but it spools right back up to normal speeds when traffic clears.

In the clear towing up the hill, so far my transmission *has yet* to downshift to any gear lower than third. Fourth mostly and on the downhill sections 5th and 6th. On two of the trips I just left the cruise control on all the way up and over and let the thing drive itself as I had very light traffic. No drivability issues and I've never felt that the truck lacks power in any meaningful way. As pretty much everyone above says, the 6.2 likes to rev to make that power and if all your experience is with a slow-revving diesel (or a 460) than it's just going to *feel* wrong.

That said, I'm only seeing 8.7 MPG between Sacramento and Fallon.

-Joe

 

FWIW.....I have been very happy with my 6.2l/3.73 gearing pulling what I do. 4.30's would do a lot better though.

My trailers are a Raptor 367SE toy hauler, 40' 8" pin to back end/12,500 empty weight or 38' enclosed gooseneck. I would get right around 8 mpg with either of them at around 60 mph. I think there were 2 passes between ND and AZ that it would drop into 2nd gear. When I pulled the GN down to AZ, all across MT,ID, and UT, the temps were in the low to mid 70's and I would get up to 70+ mph at times and the truck performed flawlessly.
That being said, my SRW is maxed out for capacity; and finding a 6.2l dually on a lot somewhere was impossible, so yesterday, I put a deposit on a 2015 KR dually 6.7 PSD. So I will get to see how much "better" the smoker is over the gasser.

 

I bought a 2014 F-350 DRW (see signature). I am so happy. I pull a 40' RV. HEAVY... HEAVY... HEAVY! That is OK. I don't care I am not the first person to the top of the hill.

The dually was right for me because my kingpin weight is much heavier than a SRW can handle.

I had the opportunity over the Summer to see hundreds of diesel pickups of all ages pulling boats where I work. There were at least half and closer to 70% of the diesel pickups I saw with either turbo or injector problems or some other major engine issue. Major expenses PLUS downtime. I wanted a reliable truck. Hence the reason I bought a 6.2L. SO HAPPY!!!

 

Congrats! Nice truck! I too went from diesel to gas, and am on my second gasser (first was a V10). It was an excellent decision for me, and I can't see myself ever going back to a diesel.


Enjoy!

 

Old post, but I had a 2012 and 2015 6.2L truck, and now a 2016 6.7L truck. I love the power of the diesel. But I hate the higher oil change costs, the worries about the expensive fuel system, the longer winter warmup times, etc. The gas trucks had good power, I had the 3.73 gears in both of my gassers. When I eventually get an aluminum Super Duty, it may well be a gas truck with 4.30 years.

 

I had diesels for nearly 20 years, my last being the 2014 6.7. Everything you speak of in the 6.7 is exactly how I felt. My latest 2 trucks have been gas. I can't say it enough, how much more I enjoy the gas over diesel now. I anxiously await the next improved gas option for the new SD, it will be my next truck.

 

Since getting my 6.2 I'm excited about having CLEAN OIL

 

Haha I hear you in this. Aside from the one guy on this board who claims the 6.7 in his truck doesn't dirty his oil. In my experience, all diesels turn the oil black.