Whatever you want to think is fine with me.
Drafting on the NASCAR track and pulling a 5er down the freeway are only distantly related.

 

Completely agree that no matter what you do as the load increases fuel consumption will go up.

Please don’t forget every type of forced induction is going to take power to build boost not just belt driven superchargers. In the case of the supercharger it is upfront off the flywheel and the turbo is on the back end as a exhaust restriction. A turbo is not free HP but does have advantages like every thing depending on application and a whole different argument. Thankfully the power taken to spin what ever type of air pump you are running is much less than the efficiency gains in the combustion process yielding a net power output gain. Sorry for the off track rant. Back to normal scheduled debate.

 

This is SUCH a helpful thread!!! I would love to got for the 7.3 in my soon-to-be-purchased F350 DRW, but I'll be full-timing in a 18,000+ pound, 42' fifth wheel. I'll be all over the country with an expectation of around 15,000 HAULING miles per year. Am I begging for trouble pushing the 7.3 past its ratings? Or am I being financially and reliability SMART in choosing the 7.3 over the 6.7? There is no question my needs dictate 6.7, but I'd love to save the up front money and longer term expense and potential inconvenience of the 6.7. For what it's worth, I am a detail and maintenance freak. All the regular maintenance elements would be performed to the "T" with me, so does that help my 6.7 "dream" make more sense?

Thanks in advance.
Darrin

 

If you are new to diesels, read, read, read. Learn all you can. If you aren’t comfortable with one, get the 7.3. As stated, the internet magnifies the issues of anything, and there are quite a few here that for what ever reason, fear diesels and try to instill that fear in everyone that asks,
I hauled my 18,000 lb Raptor about 5000-6000 miles with a 6.2 gas SRW, until I found a dually I liked. That was from the Canadian border to the Mexican border through the rocky mountain states. So, with that, I see no issues pulling with the 7.3 either. There is one fellow here that has a 6.2 DRW and pulls a big 5er with it @rvpuller ; maybe he will chime in for you. Personally, if I wanted a gasser dually, I would not hesitate to do what I do with the 7.3.
Good luck

 

I can chime in with experience driving 190K miles in a 2001 Dodge 2nd generation 24 valve Cummins HO with a 6-speed NV5600 manual trans. Of the 40 vehicles I've owned in my lifetime, this has been the most dependable and trouble free: no smog add-ons, No D.E.F. tank or soot bag, just a 4 inch pipe and a muffler,
and
my new 2020 Ford F-350 7.3L gasser with the 10 speed auto trans. It is way overbuilt for my needs.

Since the Cummins is old school with 245 HP and 505 TQ @ 1600 rpm it is not overstressed in any way. My neighbor across the lane has the same year Cummins and a few years ago he turned 300K miles with the original engine.
However, this era Cummins is singularly THE noisiest of the breed. We haul a Northstar Laredo Truck Camper. It weighs 2350 pounds, wet. We do a lot of off-roading with this lashup. It's taken me 18 years to do a build with lots of stuff like lockers, front Dana Super 60 (mostly Dana 70 parts) , winch; 3" loaded lift; and....ratta, ratta.

So, what's the problem? Noise. We could not even carry on a conversation on trips, which we do a lot of, and Jeanie doesn't feel comfortable driving the 6-speed anymore. We are in our mid 70's, but still in the camping and travelling mode, now more than ever. We don't have that much time left to drive out the $10K penalty of a new problem plagued 6.7. We live in CA where the tax on diesel fuel is exorbitant. A few months ago, we traveled from our home on the west slope of the Sierra Nevadas to Carson City Nevada. Diesel in CA: $3.75 gallon. Diesel 2 hours later in Nevada: $1.99 per gallon.

So Jeanie and I did a LOT of research to find a quiet and less expensive alternative (with a state of the art auto trans) to another diesel that we weren't worried about outliving us. It had to have enough power to not have the mpg drop like a rock when loaded up, like almost all gas V-8s with less than..oh let's say, 426 cubes of displacement.
This was the worst with Chrysler's Hemi V-8 on a 3500 with a load.
The 7.3 gas popped up as that alternative. The 7.3L gasser is really in a class by itself. The closest big hauler gas engine is the fading V-10. But 6 mpg with a big load is not where it's at.
So our truck is a 2020 F-350 XLT 7.3L gas 4WD Supercab Short Bed with the TorqShift 10 speed 10R140 automatic which is used in trucks up to F-650. It has the 5th wheel/gooseneck prep package.
We only have 200 miles on the truck. So, halfway through the first tank of gas the odo reads 12.5 mpg with no load. It started out lower until I pushed the 'eco' button. 350Recon on here has some very good numbers to report after the truck was broken in and the trans surveying his driving style. The mode button has a lot of options.

Our truck camper will likely stay on the whole time we own it, so it's GVWR is 11,300 pounds.
The curb weight is 6,653, or 6,798, or 7,243, depending.
HP: 430 @ 5,500rpm. Torque: 475 pound feet @ 4k rpm. Only 30 # feet less than my Cummins!
But that's deceiving as the torque band keeps giving down to about 1500 rpm.
It's around 750 pounds and 525 pound feet of torque lighter than the current 6.7L diesel V-8.
Here are the payload stats: 4610, or 4580, or 4320, or 4066, which is way higher than my old Dodge.

So far, i'm thinking we made a good move. Jean my queen is happy. I'm happy.
You will get an update when we get more miles on the sled.
jefe

Is there any trick to losing the front air dam?

 

Congrats on the new truck! I too, came from a Cummins as my primary truck. A 2016 with emissions issues...oh the joy of modern diesel's. I should have kept my 2006 5.9L. I learned from it, realized I didn't want or need the hassle of a diesel for towing 10k, so I'm back in a gasser.

Anyways, the air dam can be cut down with a jig saw for free...many people here (including myself) have done it. Or you can order an air dam from a Tremor model, which is shorter, and bolt it on.

 

Enjoy these discussions..
Somday soon, we’ll be looking back at them with fond memories..
Electric is the future, and the torque they make will be unreal..boring as all hell, but unreal..

 

Yep, electric is inevitable. Batteries will continue to improve.

 

It will but still has a long way to go from my research. Realistically my 7.3L may not last long enough for the battery improvement to be enough to be a decent range replacement for it.

 

I second the opinion to read, read, and read some more, so you make educated decision. I also recommend talking to other campers if you can – guys love talking about their trucks! You will hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I was in the same boat last year, having planned going FT this year. Bought the truck last fall, fiver this summer, but postponed selling the house till next year. We spent last 4 months on the road, so gained helpful experience. Here is my opinion.

I cannot comment on 7.3 specifically, as I never considered it – I never buy first year model of anything, no matter how promising it sounds. There are almost always unexpected issues that pop up, and it usually takes couple years to find them and clear them up. I didn’t want to deal with that while only having one vehicle and no house. So I was deciding between 6.2 gasser and diesel, and I consistently leaned towards 6.2, mostly because I keep vehicles long time, and I maintain them myself. 6.2 was dependable, easy to take care of, cheaper to buy and maintain, and I saw plenty of people pulling their rigs with gas engine trucks, so I knew I would be OK.

But almost everyone I talked to, even guys with gas trucks, told me to buy diesel for my intended use – full time heavy towing in mountainous West. They all said it’s not just the power to go up, but also the safety of engine brake to go down. The high altitude, where we spend most of our time, also benefits diesel engine. Finally, they said, you will come to appreciate being able to pull into truck stops with the fiver behind you, instead of trying to navigate gas pumps. Tied to that is the longer driving range you get with diesel engine, and the ability to add auxiliary fuel tank in the future, if need arises.

Every time I would talk to my wife about it, she would say something like you know we are buying diesel, but if it takes you 6 months to arrive to that decision, so be it. That’s exactly what happened – she was firm we are buying diesel, even though initial cost was so much higher. I can honestly tell you that after 4 months of living on the road, I am so glad she insisted on getting a diesel. Everything I read and heard from other campers proved true – the ease of going up AND down these high mountain passes without touching the brakes, long distance before fill-ups, and I love truck stops! With TSD app, the cost of diesel is less than gas per gallon, let alone better mileage you get with diesel. Maintenance is also easy – oil change is cheap and easiest among any vehicles I have ever owned, draining fuel occasionally is quick and easy, fuel filter change is cheap and easy. I am sold on diesel engine, and that’s what I would recommend to you as well.

Having said all that, if I were not to tow heavy and often, I would go for gasser, no question. Unlike some on this forum, I derive no extra pleasure from driving empty diesel truck around town. I view this truck as a tool to get the job done, and since everyone’s job is different, the toll will differ too. As far as expensive diesel repairs– a big concern of mine – we decided not to keep the truck outside of warranty period. The good news is that these truck keep their value really well, so there will be very little loss when the time comes.

I hope this was helpful to you.

 

It’s going to take time and refinement, but it isn’t as far away as some think. My guess is that the entire landscape will change by 2030. Sounds like a long time, but 10 years will go by in a snap.

I’ve had the pleasure of driving some awesome trucks through the last 30 years. Maybe the best vehicle I’ve ever owned is my current 2020. Such a pleasure to drive..
It’s going to suck when everything is mundane electric.

 

Hopefully you are correct on timeframe but am a little jaded from the last 20years of closely following battery technology. Large battery sets have been used for quite some time outside of the auto industry and advancement has been slow at best. Li-Ion has offered a improvement but to get where it needs to be viable for long distance heavy use still has a very long way to go.

 

Yes I have a 6.2 2x4 DRW with 4.30 gears and we pull a 16K fiver with the whole rig fully loaded scaling at 24.4K. We spend 6 to 7 months a year on the road with it and travel all over the country and I would love to have a 7.3 setup the same way but this truck has to much life left in it. But there are days that I wish I had more power like the last two days pulling across Texas on two lane roads in the cold, wind, rain, hills (Texas isn't flat) and gaining elevation, my mileage dropped down to 6 from my normal 8 on two lane (lots of small towns). In the wind is when a DRW is worth it pulling a high profile 5ver in cross winds and you don't want to stop like the last two days because it's to dam cold to sit and wait it out, I locked out 6th or used the manual mode in 4th and 5th and plowed right into it. If the 7.3 with the 10speed is as tough as the 6.2 with the 6 speed it should be a great pulling rig, no matter what I've put my 6.2 through it dosen't seem to bother it and I can tell you I've pulled some really nasty grades at altitude over the last 7 years. I don't want a diesel and never will, to many of the people we travel with have been left sitting along side the road looking at very expensive repairs, more than what a complete 6.2 motor would cost to replace.

We've been on the road for a month and this last leg is from Natchez MS where we attended a rally to Yuma Arizona with nice warm temps until March 1st then on the road again working our way back to our home base in SC Nebraska by the southern route.

Denny

 

I don’t think we can compare the last two decades failures with today’s pursuit of electronic power. I’m thinking if Tesla/SpaceX (Elon Musk & co.) can land Booster rockets on a barge in the Atlantic, they have the personnel and drive to develop the batteries of the future.

 

Trust me....You are stressing more about the constant frustration and shortcomings of less power than you ever would about modern diesel reliability. I can’t imagine how that must SUCK on a daily basis.
Keep selling yourself on that scare stuff... but one day, you will hook your 25.4K to a diesel and set yourself free.