Hello,

I am a wanna be diesel guy. I have a 28' fifth wheel that should weigh around 7500# (actual is unknown). I live in Oregon where we have real mountains. I would like to tow this trailer over the mountains and not have small traffic jams build up behind me.

My preference is a turbo diesel but my personal economy sucks right now. Will a 6.9/7.3 tow well over the hills or am I stuck with a 460?

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Larry

 

Larry, the 6.9 and 7.3 NA (naturally aspirated - non turbocharged) are slow engines but steady. When a turbocharger is added to the engine they become a real workhorse, BUT attention must be paid to the operating temps of the engine when they are working. As with any engine, maintainance is the big issue and the diesel is no exception. All I can tell you is find a friend who has one of the trucks you are interested in and try it. That is how I first became interested in the diesel. Good luck and keep us posted. Bill

 

I never towed with mine yet, but i have heard alot of guys that like the 460 better, i believe a man even swapped out his 7.3 for a 460, and he said he pulls the hills and everything much better and so on. I dont remember if it was this site, fordtrucks.com, or the ford-trucks.com. I do know that with the diesel you will have to worry about cold weather starting although you will get better mileage with it. They pretty much amount to the same thing if you list your pros and cons about each of them. Just my thoughts.

Brad

 

It was me that swapped in a 460. I don't have much good to say about the regular 7.3 but can tell you that the 460 gets a couple less miles per gallon empty and the same loaded. 16,000 pouinds loaded up the hills with the 7.3 went 26 mph. The 460 will hit 65. My 460 is much quieter and very smooth. I will trade my 7.3 remains for a 460 core. My block and two rods are wasted but the rest is good. The fuel system only had 2,000 miles or so on it. I had that 7.3 for almost 11 years and put 188,000 miles on it. Annual repairs were over 2,000 a year average to keep the 7.3 going. It was one of the happiest days of my life when that thing blew up because I knew that was going to be the last $500 tow bill I was ever going to have to pay to get it home again. Ding dong the witch is dead! yippeee!

When my new house is done I'm going to whip up a 545 for it. Then I should be able to really pull. I'm hoping to embarrass some newer diesels with it on the hills.

 

My 6.9 diesel was not fast, but it would drag just about anything I ever hooked it to. It pulled loads all over WVa. hills at weights up to 23,000 gross. I once hooked to a semi that blew a driveline in the middle of the interstate pulling a hill. He was grossing 76,000 but I got the truck out of the middle of the highway going uphill.
It was still working every day when I retired it for a 7.3 turbo engine. 18 years and 253,000 miles on the 6.9, and they were all hard miles. I know a gas motor would have died several times doing what that motor did, and was still doing.
During it's life it moved thousands of tons of rock, dirt and busted up concrete as well as the machinery that was used to do the work.
With all the snow it has plowed the milage is not anywhere close to right, because of all the backing up I drive for 18 hours and only show 50 miles on the speedo.
The oil consumption was the only reason I put a new one in. I was never the first one there, but I was always there, year after year.
Now I am ready for another 20 years or so and with the 7.3 turbo sometimes I am the first one there now.

I will never consider a gas motor for a truck, you can blow by me all you want to, but I am still sitting here smiling. And I am sure I will still be smiling for many years to come.

 

I have a 95 F350, 7.3 powerstroke. I bought it with about 130,000 miles on it. I live in Eastern Oregon, and I can tell you that pulling a 6,000 lb. load (horse trailer, horses, gear, and hay) over many steep mountains (I 395 south from Pendleton) was no trouble at all. I kept it around 50 on the upgrades. Could have pushed it harder, but I didn't want to. It's a great truck and I'm darned happy to have it.

It is a bit more routine maintenance than a gas truck. There's lot of good information in these forums for keeping your diesel rig in good shape.

 

I pull a 13 ton 49 foot converted car trailer (I haul golf cars) with a 460, and I'll tell you right now my 6.9 (with the pump turned up by me) will pull right along side it. They both have comperable oil consumption, and the 460 is a '91 w/a 5spd and 4:10 gears, mine's a '87 4spd w/4:10 gears (4:10's and a 4spd = lots of rpms) but pound for pound up a hill, mine's tougher to slow down. I just lost interest in the 460 as a pulling motor after driving our rig for 2 years. But I will give the old big-block one thing, she keeps tickin'.

 

it's slow going with the N/A 7.3, but it will pull anything just not very fast unless little load. A powerstroke would be better for towing.