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noonenosthis1
northern california
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Thanks!
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rhagfo
Portland, OR
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gme3470 wrote:We also are in CA and tow an 8000lb trailer around all the hills you mentioned. Our truck is a 2022 F350, 7.3l, 10spd, with a 4:30 differential. It is really a lot better than the 6.2l in our previous truck. In fact, we have no problem accelerating up those big hills even after getting slowed in traffic. Mileage around town is about 13 and towing on a level, no wind, freeway it's about 10.2. It really is as capable as one of our earlier diesels
Well 8,000# is not the same as 11,500# 5th wheel. To your point our 2001 Ram with a 5.9 CTD and 3.55 gears could accelerate uphill pulling a 13,000# 5er.
While the 7.3 Godzilla is a good engine part of the advantage is a 10 speed transmission and 4.30 gears.
Russ & Paula the Beagle Belle.
2016 Ram Laramie 3500 Aisin DRW 4X4 Long bed.
2005 Copper Canyon 293 FWSLS, 32' GVWR 12,360#
"Visit and Enjoy Oregon State Parks"
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valhalla360
No paticular place.
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With gas engines, you need to let them build rpms to generate HP. HP is what determines how fast you can climb a hill. Torque determines if you will make it up the hill.
With the 10 speed transmission, rear diff ratio really doesn't matter unless you are pushing the truck to the limits. The transmission will just pick the gear suitable to get the overall ratio the engine wants.
Presumably you are running at around 11k lbs loaded. That's well within modern gas truck capabilities and tow haul uses engine braking pretty effectively with gas engines.
Of course if you are just trying to justify what you want....just buy the diesel.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV
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Golden_HVAC
Fairview OR, USA
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I guess it actually depends on how many miles you go each year. Do you really want to pay for a new $50,000 truck to go up a hill 10 MPH faster with the 7.3L gas engine? Or stay with your current truck and take a extra 10 minutes on each trip?
As for the diesel engine option, while you will get a little more money when you trade it in 10 years, the difference is probably not the $10,000+ more you will spend to buy the truck this year. So if you drive a LOT of miles, a diesel can be a little less expensive for fuel, but not for oil changes, and other yearly maintenance, and especially insurance costs. So if the diesel is costing about $50 more a month to buy insurance, are you really saving money? And yes it will go about 10 MPH faster up those few miles of really steep hills. So you will save about 10 minutes on a 3 hour drive?
Personally, I think I would stay with the 6.2L that is probably already paid for!
I bought a brand new Bounder class A back in 1997. I put on about 45,000 miles in 16 years. If I had paid more for a diesel, I would have saved a little on fuel, been able to have a longer RV, but not saved on oil changes! I am very satisfied with my gas motorhome. It served me very well, and I even lived in it for about 8 years. When I took a cross country trip, twice, the fuel was expensive, but acceptable. I don't think a DP would have been less expensive to drive. However insurance was much lower cost, so a lot of savings there.
On my trip in 2005, I was estimating about $0.50 per mile to drive the RV, so I kept the trips as short as possible, but still see what I wanted to see!
Have a great time deciding what to do!
Fred.
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wowens79
Georgia
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The new Ford 7.3 has really hit a sweet spot for RVers. Now with the 7.3, it can easily handle loads up in the 15k lb load. Mine is actually rated at 20k. Before the 7.3 over 10-12k lbs you really needed to look at a diesel.
With a diesel, short trips are horrible on the emmissions systems, and they don't get up to operating temps for the emissions to work properly, and those systems are expensive to repair.
The diesel is about $8-9k more expensive upfront. The old theory of getting that money back when selling is no longer true. If you run identical 2020 7.3 and 6.7 trucks through KBB, you will find the diesel is only worth about $5k more, so it looses half the cost of the diesel in 5 years.
TFL did a YouTube video of the 7.3 pulling 16k lbs up I-70 over the rockies, and it was able to maintain the speed limit of 65mph up the grade, and still had more power available to accelerate.
With the gasser you have about 700lbs more payload, my SRW f-350 has 4200lbs of payload
If towing real heavy loads, the diesel wins, but for the typical RVer the 7.3 is a great choice.
If you do uphill drag races towing 15k lbs, the diesel is the way to go, otherwise go with the 7.3.
2022 Ford F-350 7.3l
2002 Chevy Silverado 1500HD 6.0l 268k miles (retired)
2016 Heritage Glen 29BH
2003 Flagstaff 228D Pop Up
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Golden_HVAC wrote:I guess it actually depends on how many miles you go each year. Do you really want to pay for a new $50,000 truck to go up a hill 10 MPH faster with the 7.3L gas engine? Or stay with your current truck and take a extra 10 minutes on each trip?
As for the diesel engine option, while you will get a little more money when you trade it in 10 years, the difference is probably not the $10,000+ more you will spend to buy the truck this year. So if you drive a LOT of miles, a diesel can be a little less expensive for fuel, but not for oil changes, and other yearly maintenance, and especially insurance costs. So if the diesel is costing about $50 more a month to buy insurance, are you really saving money? And yes it will go about 10 MPH faster up those few miles of really steep hills. So you will save about 10 minutes on a 3 hour drive?
Personally, I think I would stay with the 6.2L that is probably already paid for!
I bought a brand new Bounder class A back in 1997. I put on about 45,000 miles in 16 years. If I had paid more for a diesel, I would have saved a little on fuel, been able to have a longer RV, but not saved on oil changes! I am very satisfied with my gas motorhome. It served me very well, and I even lived in it for about 8 years. When I took a cross country trip, twice, the fuel was expensive, but acceptable. I don't think a DP would have been less expensive to drive. However insurance was much lower cost, so a lot of savings there.
On my trip in 2005, I was estimating about $0.50 per mile to drive the RV, so I kept the trips as short as possible, but still see what I wanted to see!
Have a great time deciding what to do!
Fred.
Clearly Spoken from lack of experience with a large side of conjecture and possibly a smidge of diesel envy….
And fairly full of sheet.
PS, no one wants a 1997 Bounder now, gas or diesel, except maybe the motorhomeless.
So in that regard you may not have gotten more out of a diesel.
Especially if it would have come with the 6.5Turdbo GM/Detroit smoker.
Now if you had a 1997 OBS Powerstroke or 97 Dodge Cummins with only 45,000mi you’d probably poop yer pants at how much they’d be worth.
Historically ALL the GOOD light duty diesel pickups have maintained a significantly greater % on resale and yes, enough to offset the purchase price difference. Not debatable.
Those that don’t are not by design that they are a diesel but rather other factors that are under control of the owner. (Like lack of care, not buying or selling right, etc. same things that reduce roi on any/all vehicles.)
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold
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PA12DRVR
Back in God's Country
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Not sure where the Motorhome fits into the discussion of new / diesel pickup. In any case....I've used 2-3 diesels for a couple of TT's and a 5th wheel as well as the current F250 diesel for my non-RV towing. I'm not interested in being the 1st guy up the hill, but I do like to make it up the hill w/o seeing lots of flashing lights and warnings. So I'd recommend a diesel if you're getting a new tow rig.
That being said, routine maintenance is more expensive on a diesel and the infrequent "catastrophic" failure (e.g. injectors) is very expensive. All this would roll into what a couple others have suggested: if your current rig gets the job done (and is paid for), probably cheaper to keep it rather than chase a new vehicle.
CRL
My RV is a 1946 PA-12
Back in the GWN
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JRscooby
Indepmo
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Go up a 10 mile long grade at 60 MPH, takes you 10 minutes. Up the same grade at 30, takes 20 minutes. Now how much of your drive is steep enough to pull you down to 30? And the diesel will drop some speed too.
Bet if you really ran the numbers, in the course of a day you might save half hour, unless you are speeding in the diesel. Of course that does not account for the assault on manhood of somebody passing you.
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noonenosthis1
northern california
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JRscooby wrote:Go up a 10 mile long grade at 60 MPH, takes you 10 minutes. Up the same grade at 30, takes 20 minutes. Now how much of your drive is steep enough to pull you down to 30? And the diesel will drop some speed too.
Bet if you really ran the numbers, in the course of a day you might save half hour, unless you are speeding in the diesel. Of course that does not account for the assault on manhood of somebody passing you.
Well, I'm not a biologist but I am a woman and I know that for sure after birthing 3 kids. I don't care if people pass me, I prefer that! It's those one lane roads and the 6.2 screaming that get to me. I don't like hearing an engine work like that and it gives me visions of something shooting through the hood.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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JRscooby wrote:Go up a 10 mile long grade at 60 MPH, takes you 10 minutes. Up the same grade at 30, takes 20 minutes. Now how much of your drive is steep enough to pull you down to 30? And the diesel will drop some speed too.
Bet if you really ran the numbers, in the course of a day you might save half hour, unless you are speeding in the diesel. Of course that does not account for the assault on manhood of somebody passing you.
And a smidge more than a smidge of diesel jealousy in this post…..
I mean, I get it. There’s a lot of people that can afford a lot more than I can. But I don’t find their “forums” and tell them how stupid their $250k super cars or private jets are….even though I secretly wish I had an extra few or few hundred million to p!ss away on whatever suits my fancy. I’m not even sore about it.
You may be happier if you quit outwardly lamenting in the general form of 3rd grade level insults and just keep living.
Or in other words, Lighten up Francis! Lol
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