Gas vs Diesel

I need to pull a mini excavator. It and the trailer will weigh almost

10,000 lbs. My '91 F250 diesel that I bought about a year ago, has a cracked head - $3,000+ to fix. I may trade it in and get another, perhaps a Chevy.

I'm wondering if a larger gas engine might be a better route to go? Any opinions?

Thanks, RO

Reply to
RO
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IMHO, the only real choice in this scenario is to go with a diesel. Gasoline costs more per gallon while getting fewer miles per gallon, and it doesn't look like fuel is going to get much cheaper any time soon. In addition, while diesel has gone up in price, the price is not as volitile as that of gas. I have noticed pretty much that if gas rises a nickel, diesel rises a penny. And with today's modern diesel engines, there is not a significant difference in the maintenance cost between the diesel and a big V-8 or V-10.

As for which truck to choose, I think the Chevy or GMC would be the best choice if not for anything else except the Allison transmission. GM ran a series of magazine ads where they placed the same part from all three automatic trannies side by side like gears, shafts, bearings, etc. The pieces from the Allison made what came from the Dodge and Ford transmissions look like toys. All three motors right now are within a few points of each other as far as power produced.

One last bit - for regularly towing 10k lbs, I personally would move up to a one-ton (3500) series truck just for the dual rear wheels.

Cheers - Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan Race

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 08:25:57 -0700, "RO" wrote something wonderfully witty:

Diesel is the clear cut winner in this scenario. Can't beat one for the torque required for towing. The modern ones are really easy to jack up an extra 100 or so horsepower by a simple prom reprogramming. Although I probably would spend 5K to fix up what I got as opposed to spending 30K plus replacing it.

BTW -- How much you think you are going to get on a trade-in for a truck with a cracked head?

Reply to
ZombyWoof

If they show him $5,000.00 on paper:

They got his truck free, and still made about a grand or two, the trucks and big cars are the dealer's cash cows, not like the small econo boxes, where every dealer has to compete for the sales.

Refinish King

Reply to
Refinish King

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