You hit the nail on the head sir. I feel it will be a diesel. Like you said will probably go down kicking and screaming then say. Why didnt I do this a long time ago.

 

Well guys have decided to keep truck for now. We shall see if it changes. In the end wife and I really don't want to start over again. Keep on rocking guys. Thanks.

 

I just don't have stress or drama towing my Arctic fox 26x,with my gas truck.

 

I worn your shoes too, and I was going to say that my situation was a 15 y/o truck with 200K on it, yours is relatively new. I would keep it from a smart financial decision point of view. I "needed" something else. Bought the diesel, there's no comparison to any gasoline truck. 800 ftlbs speaks volumes. Set the cruise on 70 and forget it, and get almost twice the MPG.

 

Diesel is the way to go if you're going to be towing often and/or for extended trips.

 

I just posted a fairly good review on towing something similar weight. Just search my name in this forum. To answer the question from my opinion, if you tow that setup semi regularly, I'd go diesel. For less frequent, gasser with 4.30. For once in blue moon, gasser with 3.73. Just my opinion.

 

Currently we do about 8-10 camping trip a year. One about 4 hours away from home to Southern Ohio, another vacation trip with camper is about 6-9 hours away. Rest of trips are usually within 2 hours of home in NW ohio. Still throwing this around a lot. My Ram dealer who i bought current truck from can give a good deal on trade and new truck. Would not be upside down on deal. Just depends on whether I want to start over again on a loan.

 

As someone who depends on trucks for work and who has made purchasing mistakes--i wanted to try to assist first time diesel buyers in the market following the 2002/2010 diesel regulation changes. I'd like to help others avoid the mistakes I've made. (When it comes to Ram 6.4 vs Ford 6.8 vs Ford 6.2, I'd appreciate updates please).

I'm a small business owner who runs medium duty, and tows 5,000 - 10,000 lbs daily, and loads an additional 1,000 - 7,500 lbs on the trailer and flatbed daily. I run within about a 200 mile radius in my region (Western Carolinas). I used to run light Superduty and carry about 3000 lbs of bulky load in the truck and on the back, while running the mountains of PA, WV, OH, VA, and NC. Despite those weights and miles, I made a mistake by going diesel at first.

The diesel powered trucks are fun. I have to confess I love them. Smiles per mile for sure Lots of torque and HP. However...they are expensive to purchase, and expensive to operate. They are cost effective for only specific uses and for a limited number of miles/hours.

The mandated emissions systems have created engineering vs cost challenges that limit the life of the motors. If you are unlikely to run the truck beyond warranty, or dont mind spending tens of thousands of dollars over the years as a power enthusiast, this isn't a problem. Enjoy the MPG and the awesome power. I know I did. If you are buying a truck for utilitarian reasons and plan to run it for it's entire service life, read on...

With light duty diesel motors, and light duty diesel motors shared with lighter medium duty trucks, it is not a matter of *if* you will have to do a major engine overhaul. It is a matter of, 'when.' Unless you are looking for power and fun, ignore what you hear from the Cummins, Powerstroke, and Duramax enthusiests and recreational drivers. The Big Three are all struggling with potentially devastating failures. Chevy was smart to temporarily bow out of the medium duty truck market (they re-badged Isuzus). Ford, which struggled more than the others from 2003 through about 2013 has now managed to produce a medium duty diesel that *should* last much longer than the others by offering a de-tuned version of it's 6.7 in the F450 and F550. It should also compete with the heat/EGR troubled Cummins and Duramax in the up-powered lighter trucks just fine. However, the Ford's are still plagued by hard-to-pinpoint intermittent and consistent sensor failures, some of which can lead to catastrophic motor problems. (Just as the Duramax and Cummins also have serious cost vs engineering challenges). Frankly, the only way to get your money out of a diesel truck is if you are towing well over CDL mass (more than 10,000lbs) and burning at least 50,000 miles a year, and/or you plan to dump the truck on the used market before the odometer/hours cross a threshold set by your savvy fleet manager.

Current diesel motors are a big money pit once you get over about 175,000 to 220,000 miles of private use, or the equivalent hours of pro use. After only 200,000 miles, or the hours equivalent, modern Super Duty/Ram/Chevy chassis and cabs still have a lot of life left in them. As a little guy, I need that life. Truck down time can break me. Once I realized I could source a fresh Triton V10 for the cost of tearing down a fouled EGR system, or replacing trouble prone diesel injectors there was no turning back. When it comes time to do an engine swap on that grenade-d diesel, you are looking at $9,000.00 if you are connected, and $15,000.00 or $16,000.00 at the dealership. And you _will_ have to replace that motor. Especially if you run a tune to dodge the EPA regs.

If you like that power as much as I do, and can afford it or trade it in every couple if years, have fun!! Or, if your business makes diesel the right choice (hot shot, expeditor, big fleet, etc), I get it (and I'm jealous a little. But if you need to wring every mile and operational hour out of that truck, you will love that big gas lump under the hood, even as you pull to the right lane going up the mountain. Smile when that kid shoots you the middle finger passing you on the hill. Lol.

I hope this helps some one avoid the traps I fell into. If any fleet managers want to correct or modify any of my points, I understand. Thanks in advance for any up-to-date input/advice on the reliability of the latest gas motors in the Ram and Ford medium duty trucks.

 

​​​​​​Do you have any real numbers such as diesel engines on the road vs diesel engines that have experienced major malfunctions? To give your own experience is one thing but your claiming things as factual with no proven data. I've only been in the powerstroke community for about 6 months now but I was in the Duramax community for awhile before that and I've never heard of anyone having to replace the entire engine. With the Duramax the most common problem was HPFP failure, which is an expensive repair but it was a small percentage of the members in the communities I was involved in that actually experienced failure.

 

If it wasn't for the mountain passes I have to go up in Wyoming and Colorado I would probably be in a gas engine, not a diesel. My trailer has a GVWR of 11K. The diesel pulls the hills extremely well.

 

FWIW - Over the last year I’ve had the opportunity to do some part time work at the following businesses/military base. Paramount Studio’s, Southern California Edison and the Marine Base at Miramar Air Station. At all three locations I noticed a lack of diesel trucks, mostly Ford and Dodge gas trucks. I pay attention to this because I bought a Ford 6.2 and follow the gas vs. Diesel conversations very closely. After speaking with people at these locations I was told that they are moving away from diesels where appropriate because of the expenses associated with maintaining and fixing modern diesels. Fleet buyers understand these issues and are making economic choices to help the bottom line financial. This as reaffirmed that I made the right decision to go with a gasser.

 

Data is not maintained for these vehicles by an independent organization such as Consumer Reports (to my knowledge). So, I do as most do, and weigh several factors I turn to the engineers' *claimed* B10 rating. I watch/ask about the dealer bulletins. I ask shop technicians. I ask fleet maintainers. I read the forums. I read technical articles. I read the posts in the forums in which diesel truck owners discuss how to bulletproof their engine. Those are the most damning of all, as many model years of each of the trucks have entire laundry lists of hundreds or thousands of dollars in upgrades the owner/fleet manager must perform in order to fix known issues and keep their motor from having to be prematurely removed for major service. I say, "damning" because it offends me as US Citizen that our beloved Big Three are making vehicles with known issues. That said, I also have sympathy for the manufacturers. The revised EPA regs are pretty tough/expensive challenges. It seems like the engines get a little better each year.

Anyway, all that is imperfect research because of lack of hard numbers but it is we have access to. Here is an article as an example. It lists some of the Duramax's failures during recent years. Some are the same as the other manufacturers experienced.

http://www.duramaxhub.com/duramax-problems.html

Im not hating on any of these manufacturers. I am a fan of the Big Three. I also love the diesel motors. Just doing my best to share the practical reality where the rubber hits the road. But ultimately, imy conclusions are opinions. Discard them if you wish.

 

I'm on the gasser side of this debate. Though admittedly I have far less knowledge and experience than other people posting here. My towing needs are small- only about 2,000 miles per year with an enclosed trailer weighing about 7500lbs.
From my vantage point it seems diesel is best reserved for business use with cautious forecasting of maintenance and repairs.
If your diesel truck is used in creating revenue then go for it. I'm cautiously pessimistic about the "regular joe" who has a diesel truck just because it's cool.

 

When I was starting to look at trucks we thought of diesel also as there are plenty here in Houston to look at on the market on any given day. We read and looked around and ultimately turned to one of our friends who helps run the family stone business they have. They run around 7 SD trucks in diesel due to loads they move around and also use them for their personal trucks (insert "King Ranch", etc here) so they are nice too.

He told me in no uncertain terms to go gas unless I was doing more than 20k a year driving it/towing with it. It was an all around summation of all the issues you have read about, and he did say they had fixed a lot of the early issues, but still not for the faint of heart.
He also knows I do almost all of my own work on the vehicles and know absolutely ZERO about diesels, and I am not going to give it all over to the dealer to work on for me.
We're relatively flat here until we go out of state, so most will be in the flatlands and we're doing a 35ft TT with an F-250SD CCSB Lariat, so we're not exactly roughing or skimping on the goodies.

I noticed the other day in his moniker the 2017 was "ORDERED", so I guess the decision has been done.

Griz

 

Mine is a diesel but in the first 2 years I put over 60,000 miles most of it towing. I still tow when I'm in the US and Canada, at a minimum the wife's civic.

If I was to get a new truck, not doing all the miles and towing and wanted it for the daily runs into town or the grocery store I'd buy a gasser. That's also why I keep my bronco for those short runs when I need more than the wife's Civic.