OT: Diesel pickup truck recommendation

[p nut]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

When we went from a gas F250 (7.5 l ?) to a diesel F250 (7.3 l ?), efficiency went from 10 mpg empty / 9 mpg loaded to 18 mpg empty / 13 mpg loaded, with a 8,000 lb gooseneck trailer.

What model years? I don’t remember Ford making a 7.5L gas but could be wrong.
7.3 diesel? That’s back 20 some odd years ago. My neighbor has a 1999 F250 with that 7.3 with only 45k miles. Nice truck.

Modern 7.3L gas truck don’t get great mileage but better than gas engines of old. Definitely better than 10mpg unloaded!

[nortx-Dave]

My F250 7.6 gets 13.5 mpg consistently when unloaded.

[melonyogloo]

Bought a Ford F250 6.7L Turbo Diesel in 2019 to carry my 4 wheel pop-up camper to travel the country while working remotely. Tested all the pickups with different brands/engines and like the Ford 6.7 the best. To drive long distance up and down the mountain everyday, nothing beats a diesel, especially downhill. My total weight was around 9,700 pound with the camper. I traded it in in 2022 with 54,000 miles and lost $1,000 (thanks to truck shortage). If I am towing and can afford it, definitely a diesel 1 ton.

[bigbill]

It's been mentioned, but a well maintained modern diesel is cleaner than a comparable gas truck. I get better mileage towing in a diesel, so I'm consuming less fuel. Diesel trucks have DEF and other emissions equipment so unless someone disables it, there's no rolling coal or black smoke.

We have two diesels. Mine pulls the 33' travel trailer, which can be as heavy as 10K. I'll average 13 mpg with the trailer, so I can travel 400 miles between stops. My wife has an older 2500 she uses to pull a gooseneck horsetrailer. She gets similar mileage but has a stupid small fuel tank, so when we travel together, she stops twice as often. I get north of 20 mpg unloaded, and my wife gets around 18-19.

I think the discussions around using a half-ton to pull an 8k trailer are missing the point. A 3/4 ton truck, whether gas or diesel is a much more stable platform. My least favorite stretch of interstate for towing is I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson. If it's windy, the crosswinds can be 30+ mph. I have a weight distribution hitch and a friction sway brake and get pushed around, but I don't sway. I see half tons with trailers swaying back and forth and have seen a few trailers and trucks on their sides.

[PaMtbRider]

Tell us more about the trailer you are getting. I'm sure we can convince you that the trailer your looking at is the wrong one.

My wife is retiring this summer and we are taking the month of September to explore Colorado in our Airstream trailer. We have been "out west" several times but this will be the first time towing our trailer. Who knows, maybe when we get back I'll be convinced I need a diesel. Nope ain't going to happen.

[Ralph]

Thread drift....Have a neighbor 2 houses up the street that drives a new King Ranch Super Duty diesel 4X4 8' bed. Man....that's one nice truck. He says it's his luxury Mercedes. He owns a construction business. I think he gets some tax advantages for a truck that size and GVW. But it is beyond nice. Wouldn't think there is any way to justify it other than he just wanted it.

[merlinmurph]

In '16, we bought a 30' travel trailer and a used '15 F-250 Lariat 6.7L gas w/ 15K miles. The trailer has a gross weight of 8500 lbs., so very much like yours. (I assume you're looking at a TT) We were going around-the-country and it was a fantastic trip. Lots of stories. Since then, we have done numerous trips along the eastern seaboard from Nova Scotia and PEI down to NC, KY and TN. This year we're going to the Michigan UP and Door County WI. So, we have a few miles under our belt.

I wouldn't even think of towing 8000 lbs with a 1/2 ton on this kind of trip. As others have mentioned, pay no attention to tow ratings in the brochures and pay attention to actual numbers, including all the stuff in the truck itself. And definitely don't even listen to the RV salesman. I would not want to go around the country with a package that is close to the weight limit. I'd prefer a 20% cushion. Sure, if you're going to just do an occasional tow to campgrounds a days trip away, that's different. But going around the country is demanding on a tow vehicle. You're going to be hitting long, steep uphills, and more importantly, downhills where you want confidence in your truck. Potentially the hairiest grade we hit was New Priest Grade Rd out by Yosemite and it was a piece o' cake, up and down. Slow, but confident.

Yes, you asked about diesel and that option has been covered well by others. It comes down to money as both gas and diesel will do well with an 8000 lb trailer.

Our F-250 with about 95K miles has been solid. I recently had to put a few bucks into it and trucks are expensive. I just learned that this engine has 2 plugs and a coil for each cylinder. The truck is absolutely awful to drive as a daily driver, and I avoid it. But it's a great truck to have when towing.

Anyways, you're going to have a great trip. There's a ton to see and experience.

Murph

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by p nut

What model years? I don’t remember Ford making a 7.5L gas but could be wrong.
7.3 diesel? That’s back 20 some odd years ago. My neighbor has a 1999 F250 with that 7.3 with only 45k miles. Nice truck.

Modern 7.3L gas truck don’t get great mileage but better than gas engines of old. Definitely better than 10mpg unloaded!

depending on which era that Ford was it was probably a 460ci motor.

Dad's best friend had a 78. I got to drive it once. Would pass everything but a gas station. You could watch the gas gauge go down as you were driving

M

[glepore]

The braking thing...yeah, that's one area where diesels excel. Ford has a program on the ecu where if you touch the brake for any time it sets the speed, and then downshifts to use the large compression to slow. Like a fake Jake brake. Others (Cummins?) have actual jake brakes. With 10k of trailer pushing, its appreciated.

[Scott5182]

Just get the diesel. Lower rpm and engine noise, more torque and you will probably never have to count your cargo weight. I tow and have towed regularly for 40 years. Currently tow heavy / light construction equipment (16-18K lbs) boat, Airstream and dump trailer. Tow rig since 2014 is a RAM 3500 and i never worry. Ive had several gas and diesel 1 ton trucks by ford and GM. None of them come close to the Cummins in the RAM.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by glepore

The braking thing...yeah, that's one area where diesels excel. Ford has a program on the ecu where if you touch the brake for any time it sets the speed, and then downshifts to use the large compression to slow. Like a fake Jake brake. Others (Cummins?) have actual jake brakes. With 10k of trailer pushing, its appreciated.

Last summer while we were in Wyoming, we were fishing at Burgess Junction off highway 14A. Highway 14A has warning signs about steep grades and advises people to not tow trailers and suggests different routes. We were in my truck with no trailer. There was some road construction so traffic was stopped before the downhill grade. We were behind a triple axle travel trailer being pulled by a Chevy 3500 dually. Once we started moving, the person driving the Chevy was on the brakes almost the entire way down. You could smell the hot brakes and I had my window down and the driver was not engine braking. Several times I saw the trailer brakes lock, so either the bias was wrong, or the driver was trying to use the trailer brakes as the truck brakes faded.


There should be some mandatory training or testing to pull a large RV.

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by bigbill

We were behind a triple axle travel trailer being pulled by a Chevy 3500 dually. Once we started moving, the person driving the Chevy was on the brakes almost the entire way down. You could smell the hot brakes and I had my window down and the driver was not engine braking. Several times I saw the trailer brakes lock, so either the bias was wrong, or the driver was trying to use the trailer brakes as the truck brakes faded.

That's scary stuff. Tow haul mode should downshift automatically, assuming the truck has a tow haul mode (and it was on).

[Gsinill]

Thanks again for all the input.
I learned a lot, including that there is an additional dimension to Ford vs. GM vs. Chrysler (Campagnolo/Shimano/SRAM) which is Diesel vs. gas (rim/disk)

Based on the input, I am now considering trucks from all 3 brands as long as they are Diesels.

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by merlinmurph

That's scary stuff. Tow haul mode should downshift automatically, assuming the truck has a tow haul mode (and it was on).

Several of the grades on 14A are double-digit, so even with automatic downshifting, there can be a lot of braking. I shift to manual before a descent. With the ten-speed transmission (Chevy and Ford now use the same Allison Transmission), the manual puts me in 7th gear to start, which takes me out of overdrive. I then toggle the gears using the switch on the shifter with the goal of remaining less than 3,000 RPM while controlling speed. I will usually quickly brake to reduce speed before downshifting, no more than a few seconds.

I avoid certain routes because of steep descents. I won't pull a trailer up and over Highway 14 between Shell and Sheridan, Wyoming, and definitely not on 14A between Burgess Junction and Lovell. Highway 16 between Ten Sleep and Buffalo can be sketchy, but I've driven it enough to know where I need extra caution. Pulling a heavy trailer means always playing the "what if" game.

[choke]

I used to live where there were a lot of oil and gas wells, which means lots of companies to service those wells. I would guess that somewhere around 85% of those service trucks were F250/F350 with the rest mostly Dodge and all of them were diesel. I can only recall seeing a few Chevy trucks doing that work. My neighbor worked at that job and he said that he typically would put 80-100,000 miles on his truck a year.

Originally Posted by bigbill

I avoid certain routes because of steep descents. I won't pull a trailer up and over Highway 14 between Shell and Sheridan, Wyoming, and definitely not on 14A between Burgess Junction and Lovell. Highway 16 between Ten Sleep and Buffalo can be sketchy, but I've driven it enough to know where I need extra caution. Pulling a heavy trailer means always playing the "what if" game.

For several years, I would ride my motorcycle in the Bighorns almost every weekend between April and October. The smell of hot brake pads was constant and a ride without them was rare. I think that they mostly came from motorhomes and trucks pulling travel trailers, though semis were often the culprit as well.

I mostly rode 16 with Buffalo as my turn around point, though occasionally I would ride 14 or 14A. I agree with you that I wouldn't want to pull a trailer down Shell Canyon or down the drop in to Lovell.