best gasser for towing.

[maxwell]

looking at getting a new company truck 2500 or 3500. cant really justify the extra 10,000 for diesel for work......but i will be using this truck for playtime too. only will tow an enclosed trailer maybe once a year to valemount. the rest is just sleds on deck which is why im thinking a gasser would be adequate...

we have an 02 6.0l gmc gasser we use just for towing our enclosed to the hill 60k max a day and it gets the job done but uses a tone of fuel. power is pretty good.

i know the new 2500 dodges come with the hemi....cousin has a 1500 hemi and i am hoping for something that tows much better than that...seems like more of a performance motor than a towing motor.


so basically im looking at the gm,ford or dodge 2500 gassers but unsure which one will best suit my needs. i need it to have reasonable fuel milage while unloaded and it doesnt have to have good milage while towing but it needs to be able to get the job done the few times a year it will be put to use.

thanks

 

[Slamnek]

My 2010 6.0L is'nt too bad on fuel if you drive under 110kmh unloaded and has lots of pulling power but gets super thirsty when loaded. I would look at the ford 6.2L

 

[Trashy]

I did read, and see that you would prefer a gas pot over a diesel. But I have to be honest with you, my last truck was a 93 Chev 2500 diesel, and now I have an 05 F-350 diesel.
Both truck are/were weekend trailer pullers. Meaning I have had company trucks, and these would sit on the driveway until needed. Or if they were getting too dusty, I would take it for a bath.

My company truck now is an 07 Chev 2500 gas, and my 05 Ford diesel (90L tank) get's better mileage loaded to the nuts, than the Chev does empty (130L Tank).
I personally will never go back to a gas pot, if I had to buy one. And maybe you should consider the extra 10G's???
JMO
Good luck in your search!

 

[sledneck97]

I'm pretty impressed with my 2011 dodge mega cab 2500 with the 5.7. When I had stock rubber on it I was getting mileage down as low as 14L/100 hauled my 28 foot tow behind down to California last summer and got anywhere from 24L/100 to 26L/100.

 

[FTBeaver]

At work I just went from an 07 chev 2500 6L to a 12 chev 2500 Duramax and brand new I am using 20-30L a day less with the diesel (I have a heavy foot). The 12 gets a little better milage than my personal 06 Duramax. There is no comparison in power, I would say the extra 10k is worth it. I just hit 10,000km on the new truck and the urea delete has been ordered, we will see if it makes any difference in the mileage.

 

[medler]

This is my story...I have a 08 6.0L 3/4 ton...Empty it will scrape by at 15mpg @110 km(going by the DIC in the truck)..Loaded with 2 sleds on and gear about 13mpg..pulling my trailer,with the quad on the deck ,,10 mpg..I drive 10 min. to work everyday and a diesel would be a huge pain in the butt for me,not to mention hard on the truck...If i had another vehicle to drive to work,i wouldve bought a duramax,,,but i aint rich so that isnt gonna happen.. A diesel is great and if i had one i probably would never have a gas again...take it for what its worth,

 

[maxwell]

yep similar to my issue. i do about 10-300km a day for work all depends. but many trips to valemount. usually no sleds but once in a while i would have 1 or two on the deck. for work my truck idles mostly all day. is that good for a diesel i dont know? the biggest load i have at work is a sledeck and maybe one quad once a month. my concern with a diesel is that i hear horror storries about maintenance. my company drives our gas trucks until they die at 300,000km+ with very minor issues. i cant justify the 10,000 injector jobs etc that i keep hearing about. but this truck would be left bone stock maybe i wouldnt have those issues with a diesel.

 

[snopro]

If you are going to get a one ton then diesel is the only way to go. I have a Ford and my buddy has a Dodge. Both are great trucks and pull our trailers easily. If you are decking it I think you need to go to the one ton as well. The resale value and better fuel economy will pay for the extra 10g. If I was going a gasser I would buy the new Ford ecoboost but you won't be able to deck it legally.

 

[Griz-L-Bar]

f-150 eco-boost.....yep I said it. Friend just bought one crazy power better milage than hemi or 6.2 not sure on the 5.0. should have enough suspension for the load you carry. oh wait sled deck...hmmm better look into that. well there is always airbags!

 

[pfi572]

Maxwell,
I have had alot of oil burners and the last two have been gas. I got sick of the little problems that are most items related to fuel. No warranty even when filters are clean. This was on Fords.
The most inportant thing to remember is to get the right gear ratio for the application that you are using truck for. The truck i have now is a 2011 F250 Crew cab long box with 6.2 and 4:30 gears and it gets a average of 15 to16 MPG over a period of a month or two .
This includes hauling sleds and running empty. Truck pulls like crazy as it is in the power band with the ratio i have. The newer motors are small displacement and require them to rev in order to make any power.
I find that most trucks have to low ratio like 3:73 or 3:55 and will work fine if you don't haul anything or keep them very light.
With the newer 6 speed trans. these new engines work pretty dam good. Have 96000 on this truck and has never seen dealer and is still in perfect shape.
As i am saying this i road in and drove a new Chev with the new diesel and it is impressive on power and fuel economy and wouldn't have any trouble buying a new one of these.
If you were closer you could drive mine and it would give you a idea or if a dealer has one with 4:30 gears go drive it and then go drive one with 3:73 and you will see what i am saying.
Its hard to fing any with 4:30 as i ordered mine in.
My two cents.

 

[Longhorn]

Wow...people still buy 2500 and 3500 trucks with gas engines??? I can see no reason on earth to buy anything over a half ton with a gas engine...But thats just me...

Better power, resale, mileage, longevity, oh and resale....Just bought my 10th diesel and couldnt be happier!

 

[goodngrubby]

Come take my Hemi for a bag....390 hp is fun...it'll burn off a set of 20's in no time, but you'll second guess your purchase the first time you pull up to the pumps.

 

[byronkentgraham]

Why do people still buy gas job 3/4 tons? Simple. Dropping an extra $10,00 for a truck that pulls less than 10% of the time is dumb. You gotta save a lot of $ to make up for $180 oil changes, 3-4x more expensive repairs, 30 minute warm ups in the winter.

 

[BIGHORN1]

well guys here is my 2 cents. i have been driving 2500 duramax's since there inception in 2002. our company has now decided to go with 6.0L gas pots and the costs are really starting to show and we are only 6 months into this experiment. i have went through 4 of the 2500 dmax's with very minimal issue's. one tranfer case and other than that just routine maintenece, shocks, brakes, etc, keep in mind all of these were driven till about the 250 000km mark. First gas pot and with 48 000km we are on 1 engine, 2 transmissions , one rear and and a couple of everything else that could possibly go wrong. If you use your truck and dont consider it a driveway queen you better stick with the oil burner as these gas jobs just dont cut the mustard.

Dont get me wrong, with the prices these days you can burn a lot of extra gas to make up for the 10 000 price difference but if i had to buy it out of my pocket it woulld burn diesel. even with the more expensive oil changes and maintenence you are going to be light years ahead of the game when you hit 200 000km.

 

[Longhorn]

Why do people still buy gas job 3/4 tons? Simple. Dropping an extra $10,00 for a truck that pulls less than 10% of the time is dumb. You gotta save a lot of $ to make up for $180 oil changes, 3-4x more expensive repairs, 30 minute warm ups in the winter.

First off...nobody that knows anything about the 'new' diesels warms them up for 30 minutes...very bad for them. $180 oil change? More like $120 BUT...at 12k intervals so equal to or even cheaper than a gasser at 5k intervals. 3-4x more expensive reapairs?? Unless you are out of warranty, non issue, and even out of warranty there is very little that goes wrong.

Now the pulling less than 10% of the time, I guess I cant really counter that as I have always used mine for work so they get used regularily. Keep in mind Maxwell has inquired about a truck that would be used for work and occasional towing/hauling. I assume he wont keep it forever, so resale should be important, another great reason to spend the extra, it will pay off in the end.

 

[Bnorth]

Ford 6.2. If you weren't set on leaving it stock I would prob lean toward diesel but the new diesels are pretty rough on fuel compared to the pre-emissions trucks. that said if you chip and delete them they run a lot better, get better mileage, and run on a longer oil change interval. But it usually means saying goodbye to your warranty. That makes me uneasy but for most it's not an issue as the powertrain is solid, the warranty issues are usually related to the emissions equipment. Most of these guys try to resell their trucks but you state that you run them into the ground at 300,000km. For the frequency you haul and the weights you haul the newer gas motors will have plenty of jam.

After all that my money would be a dodge 3500 diesel with full deletes cause I can't leave anything stock and am addicted to diesel torque.

 

[maxwell]

Ya its gota stay stock. Would be tough to tell the boss man I need a new 60,000$ truck and then 10,000 in extras LOL

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[TylerG]

Ya its gota stay stock. Would be tough to tell the boss man I need a new 60,000$ truck and then 10,000 in extras LOL

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just tell the boss you need a new $70,000 truck then

 

[Longhorn]

Ya its gota stay stock. Would be tough to tell the boss man I need a new 60,000$ truck and then 10,000 in extras LOL

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6.2 is likely your best choice then...If you could get away with a half ton I would definitley recommend the eco-boost, seeing a ton of them in the field right now and guys seem pretty thrilled with it, but I beleive its only available in the half ton

 

[Redlineryan]

Its tough to beat the durability of the 6.0L vortec. My dad just upgraded to a duramax for work but had a 04 2500 6.0 with 4:11's well over 400 000km and only had to rebuild the transmission once and one water pump gasket and thats it but its getting ready for a new front end soon. still runs great and rides way smoother than my cummins. used to tow the fully loaded 4 place enclosed with 5 sleds and barbeque and about 2000lbs of work tools in the back all the time before we got diesels. towed pretty good would be alot better with 3:73 gears.