I worked for a Diesel engine manufacturer for around thirty five years, doing engine developmen, but own two Ford Super Duty V10s, a two valve F450 4wd dump truck, and a three valve F350 long bed dually crew cab.
Why don’t I have a Diesel, you ask?
I simply don’t drive either enough miles to justify the extra purchase price to buy a Diesel. The fuel savings would never justify the added expense, and the worse gas mileage is largely mitigated by the lower pump price of gas compared to Diesel.
I paid $4500 for the F450; probably close to 15 years ag (it’s a 99), and the same for the F350 about seven or so years ago (it’s a 2005, but only 2wd). Both are low trim XL models, but I am fine with that. They’re trucks, not every day luxury transportation. The F450 had about 70k miles and the 05 F450 had about 130k.
The two valve in the dump truck performs fine when loaded to 15500 lbs coming out of the pit (Gvwr is 14500, so I am overloaded by a half ton). It downshifts for the one big hill on my route, but the hill is no problem.
The three valve towed a 13500 lb fifth wheel travel trailer from Mi to Texas and back. Would a Diesel have handled the hills better? Maybe, but the V10 pretty much maintained the speed limit, albeit at a high engine rpm. I also tow my 8800 lb ctl on a 14000 lb trailer with no issue.
locally, the percentage of diesels in new trucks seems to be dropping. Most people who buy ney trucks are finding that the adrenaline rush from being first to the top of the hill isn’t worth the increased buy in price and horrendous repair bills if, or maybe when, something goes wrong with their Diesel.
Sounds like the gasser is the right choice for the op.
Thats a great reason to own gas and I would agree, but you missed another reason(s)
Its called GCWR. Look at the GCWR of a diesel 4500/5500 compared to gas. It‘s an issue of a potential truck buyer having a trailer they want to tow that weighs xx,xxx pounds.
If the gas truck can’t tow it, but the diesel can, then the diesel is the choice. That’s where my situation is.
If I had a Ram 5500 with a
gas engine, I’d be pulling a smaller, more lightly loaded trailer 100 trips rather than a diesel for 60 trips. That saves me a TON of
TIME. That’s time which I can spend baling more hay and
making more money. So it more than pays for itself for MY situation. The diesel engine’s ability to create more time for me to make money elsewhere is just MATH. It’s not emotion based on urban legends or rumors.
For you, conveniently, your load requirements were at the gas limits (or slightly above). That’s great for YOUR situation. However, to put diesel engines down for just a fuel economy advantage is ridiculous.
Also, I don’t care about getting to the top of a hill
first, but I DO like getting to the top of a hill with more fuel in my tank than if I was pulling with a gas truck. Loaded on hills is where gas trucks drops to embarrassing low levels. Diesel does not. So if you pull heavy loads, even without driving a lot of miles per year, diesel may be the only choice.
The bottom line on fuel economy is this: Diesel costs more, but if you tow-especially tow heavy, the higher MPG’s pull the fuel costs to a tie or an advantage for diesel.
I’d also point out a diesel engine will run longer before rebuilds given equivalent care.
Look, I’m just gonna come out and say it. SOME (not all) guys who drive gas trucks only put down diesel trucks because they are jealous. Repeat- SOME (not all).