6.2 f250 6.4 ram 2500 towing with a gasser

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Hey folks my last few posts here at bitog have been about finding a good used 3/4 ton diesel to upgrade from my f150 2.7 eco. I'm having a hard time find a good pre emmissions truck in my price range that isn't junk and many people here have recommended a gasser which honestly I didn't really entertain. I'm now thinking that may be a good option considering towing mpg between the gassers and the diesels are almost identical from my research.

I'd love a 6.2 f250 but they are hard to find used and when you do they are just about as expensive as the diesels. I've been looking at the 6.4 rams which seem to have good reviews and I wanted to see what this community thought of that engine/drive train combo? Does dodge still have weak transmissions? The 6.2 seems to out class the 6.4 but the ram hits my price range in the low 20ks far more often than I can find the f250s.

For the record my f150 tows my new 7600lb gvw 33ft travel trailer pretty good but I'm up against payload and weight and I'd really like to add a 50 gallon tank in the truck bed so I don't have to weasel in and out of tight gas stations every 150 miles. Would be far easier to fill up in a rest area with a added tank.

Looking for any info on gas vs diesel towing, hoping to be convinced that gas is a viable option for me(full time rver, 15k a year/60% towing). Any info on the 3/4 or 1 ton gasses, especially the ram 6.4 would be appreciated. Also any info on aux tanks for gasses would be great, if I'm not mistaken all gasoline tanks have to be manually pumped right?

Thanks
 
I think gas is a good choice. One thing to remember is gas is $2.62 a gallon nationwide average, while diesel is $3.02, 15% higher before counting in the extra cost of maintenance and repairs.

Have you considered the 2500HD 6.0L Silverados?
 
You tow a lot during a year, and I wouldn't recommend a 2.7EB for that much of a loaded duty cycle. A gas V8 could be a good choice, if you are able to run it on 87 octane all the time.
What fuel do you run in the 2.7EB?
What kind of fuel economy do you get?
How much do you go through hills or mountains, or do you stay mostly in the flatlands?
How fast do you tow?
 
Personally I prefer the 6.4 over the OHC 6.2. But that's as much preference as anything concrete. I've towed with both and the 6.4 seems to have a broader midrange at the expense of High RPM power, but it makes plenty of both. The 6sp it's paired to is an excellent transmission as are the axles used in the 2500/3500 Ram.

I wouldn't buy a used emissions diesel, with the price of DEF related equipment, SCR replacement, and DPF replacement it's too much. Injector prices, forget it. Unless you're towing really really heavy and often I just can't justify the risk of the diesel repair cost. I can buy a lot of gas for the price of a set of injectors in a diesel.

If I was going to buy a new 2500/3500 truck off a dealer lot today, it'd be a Ram with the 6.4.

In a few years when GM is allegedly bringing back a big block and the Ford 7.3 gas is out my decision might be different.
 
I'd go older and look for a V10 F350 or a GM 6.0 before I ever bought a Ram. Most likely at those years they are using the junk Chrysler transmissions (IIRC only the Diesels got the Aisin) and, well the rest of the body is low end Chrysler.

Don't see why a gasser would be an issue - many millions of motoromes run on a Ford V10. Even Uhaul runs that combo on most rental trucks. One other option would be an Ecoboost 3.5 with Max Tow or Payload - that would give you more headroom in payload and power. We've got 10k towing miles on our 2011 pulling a 35ft, 9900lb travel trailer and it does great.
 
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My advice would be to ask your question here: RV.net/ Tow Vehicles

There are people that own/owned the trucks you're considering.

There's a member that owned a RAM 6.4 and towed heavy (for a gas truck) with great success.
 
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Here's a bit on the 6.0 Chev in a 3/4 ton Suburban. I've been towing a 6300 lb, 28 ft travel trailer. The 6.0 has 383 ft lbs of torque. I find it settles in nicely in fourth gear ( out of 6), in the tow mode. In fourth it will not "hunt" and shift gears. It cruises at 3500 rpm, much higher than a diesel, but the engine is designed to run all day at that. With no load the truck gets 14.2 mpg. While towing the trailer it gets just over 9 mpg. There is no question the diesel ranks supreme, but I tow less than 10% of the time. I take that trailer up the passes through the Rocky Mountains. You just have to slow down and be patient.

PS. I love the smell of diesel exhaust when you fire it up in your garage!
laugh.gif
 
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I really like the Ram HD chassis. Its solid and handles as well as I can ask it to. But I would wait a few more months before getting a Ram gasser. The updated models are coming out as the gassers will be getting the 8 speed transmission.

I towed heavy and towed often with my 2011 Ram 1500, which had the 545RFE 5 speed, which is apparently the same transmission the HD gassers currently use. It was solid and never let me down mechanically but was quite lacking in gearing. Once up to highway speed you were hunting gears, either revving to the moon or lugging as it felt. The 8 speed should close up all the ratios and prove to be a great transmission for the trucks.
 
I have been towing a 32 foot (35 foot 10 inches) 7500lbs travel trailer for the last 7 year with a 2002 2500HD 6.0 4L80E. I picked the truck up in 2010 with 23,000 miles on it, It currently has 54,500 miles on it.
That is about 3500 miles a year. 95 percent of that is towing. Truck does just fine. I tow over Vantage, Snoqualmie, 4th of July, Lookout and the Continental divide. I have had to do knock sensors and the intake manifold gasket. I climb vantage at 60 mph and 3800 RPM,
Lookout pass I can tow at 50 to 60 and 4200 rpm.https://lb.511.idaho.gov/idlb/mountainpasses/mountainpass.jsf?id=6
You can't be afraid to let the engine rev. It will be fine as that is what is made for.

I have a 2002 it and it does just fine. Any of the current 3/4 gassers will do fine for what you have.
On the RV board guys have said they have not noticed that much difference when going from the 6.0 4 speed to the 6.0 6 speed. I was considering a new gasser until talking to them.
They said if you have no rust and you truck is clean there is no reason to.

I have towed a trailer with the current 6.2 Ford. The trailer was very similar to mine 30 feet and 7800lbs. Since the truck was 1200 lbs heavier than mine, I really didn't get a different experience towing.
 
Having said all that. If you are full timer. Gas is good, but I would be looking really hard at a diesel.
A diesel will be my last truck.
 
I think I've read that the Ram 6.4 prefers premium fuel... I could be wrong.

I was persuaded into a diesel when I bought my truck. Went to buy a xlt gas but with late year incentives the lariat diesel came out cheaper than than ordering what I wanted. Fortunately most diesel (emissions) related issues have been covered under warranty so far. If I had to pay for that DEF heater or the EGR cooler it would have been in a scrap pile. Now I hear about 100k mile turbo failures and fuel pumps failing and taking the whole $10k fuel system with it has me thinking I should unload it for a gasser while it's running
 
Originally Posted by Soggydog
I think I've read that the Ram 6.4 prefers premium fuel... I could be wrong.

I was persuaded into a diesel when I bought my truck. Went to buy a xlt gas but with late year incentives the lariat diesel came out cheaper than than ordering what I wanted. Fortunately most diesel (emissions) related issues have been covered under warranty so far. If I had to pay for that DEF heater or the EGR cooler it would have been in a scrap pile. Now I hear about 100k mile turbo failures and fuel pumps failing and taking the whole $10k fuel system with it has me thinking I should unload it for a gasser while it's running



10K repairs is something I would do what I could to do avoid.
 
Not sure how soon you're planning on buying something, but the coming 2020 Fords will have the new 7.3L gas engine. Of course there may be a little risk in being an early adopter of a brand new engine, but everything I've seen so far points to it being a beast of an engine. They're going back to a pushrod design for this one rather than the OHC gassers they've been using.
 
Have a friend that bought a new F-250 gasser not sure which engine it was a 2016 model. Pulling a large RV trailer said he got 7 mpg going Indiana to Florida. He traded for a used diesel and went up to 14 mpg same truck just a diesel. He has only had it a year so don't know about the repair bills yet.

In this area many people delete the exhaust systems and say they get even better power and fuel efficiency.
 
Originally Posted by A_Harman
You tow a lot during a year, and I wouldn't recommend a 2.7EB for that much of a loaded duty cycle. A gas V8 could be a good choice, if you are able to run it on 87 octane all the time.
What fuel do you run in the 2.7EB?
What kind of fuel economy do you get?
How much do you go through hills or mountains, or do you stay mostly in the flatlands?
How fast do you tow?


I run 87 towing and not towing. Just didn't see the difference in anything other than my wallet with 93.
Mpg is 10@62mph, 21.5@77mph not towing. Everything I read says my towing mpg with stay the same and I'll give up 5-7 mpg unloaded. Tow all over, mostly from FL to VA and anywhere in between.
 
Originally Posted by FLORIDA
Hey folks my last few posts here at bitog have been about finding a good used 3/4 ton diesel to upgrade from my f150 2.7 eco. I'm having a hard time find a good pre emmissions truck in my price range that isn't junk and many people here have recommended a gasser which honestly I didn't really entertain. I'm now thinking that may be a good option considering towing mpg between the gassers and the diesels are almost identical from my research.

I'd love a 6.2 f250 but they are hard to find used and when you do they are just about as expensive as the diesels. I've been looking at the 6.4 rams which seem to have good reviews and I wanted to see what this community thought of that engine/drive train combo? Does dodge still have weak transmissions? The 6.2 seems to out class the 6.4 but the ram hits my price range in the low 20ks far more often than I can find the f250s.

For the record my f150 tows my new 7600lb gvw 33ft travel trailer pretty good but I'm up against payload and weight and I'd really like to add a 50 gallon tank in the truck bed so I don't have to weasel in and out of tight gas stations every 150 miles. Would be far easier to fill up in a rest area with a added tank.

Looking for any info on gas vs diesel towing, hoping to be convinced that gas is a viable option for me(full time rver, 15k a year/60% towing). Any info on the 3/4 or 1 ton gasses, especially the ram 6.4 would be appreciated. Also any info on aux tanks for gasses would be great, if I'm not mistaken all gasoline tanks have to be manually pumped right?

Thanks



That trailer weight will do fine with a 3/4 gas motor. However-you can't add the gas tank. It takes away too much payload. Due to emissions-there are now more downsides to diesel than ever before. Frequent gas stops are just a fact of life when pulling something behind your truck that has the aerodynamics of a refrigerator.
 
Originally Posted by FLORIDA
Originally Posted by A_Harman
You tow a lot during a year, and I wouldn't recommend a 2.7EB for that much of a loaded duty cycle. A gas V8 could be a good choice, if you are able to run it on 87 octane all the time.
What fuel do you run in the 2.7EB?
What kind of fuel economy do you get?
How much do you go through hills or mountains, or do you stay mostly in the flatlands?
How fast do you tow?


I run 87 towing and not towing. Just didn't see the difference in anything other than my wallet with 93.
Mpg is 10@62mph, 21.5@77mph not towing. Everything I read says my towing mpg with stay the same and I'll give up 5-7 mpg unloaded. Tow all over, mostly from FL to VA and anywhere in between.


That's good fuel economy for towing with a gas engine. I think the key is to keep the speed down so the engine isn't running full rich all the time. Staying with 87 octane at least assures you're buying fuel cheaper than diesel. From what I've seen, 87 is about 20% cheaper than diesel, 89 is about the same, and premium is more expensive.
 
Originally Posted by CKN
Originally Posted by FLORIDA
Hey folks my last few posts here at bitog have been about finding a good used 3/4 ton diesel to upgrade from my f150 2.7 eco. I'm having a hard time find a good pre emmissions truck in my price range that isn't junk and many people here have recommended a gasser which honestly I didn't really entertain. I'm now thinking that may be a good option considering towing mpg between the gassers and the diesels are almost identical from my research.

I'd love a 6.2 f250 but they are hard to find used and when you do they are just about as expensive as the diesels. I've been looking at the 6.4 rams which seem to have good reviews and I wanted to see what this community thought of that engine/drive train combo? Does dodge still have weak transmissions? The 6.2 seems to out class the 6.4 but the ram hits my price range in the low 20ks far more often than I can find the f250s.

For the record my f150 tows my new 7600lb gvw 33ft travel trailer pretty good but I'm up against payload and weight and I'd really like to add a 50 gallon tank in the truck bed so I don't have to weasel in and out of tight gas stations every 150 miles. Would be far easier to fill up in a rest area with a added tank.

Looking for any info on gas vs diesel towing, hoping to be convinced that gas is a viable option for me(full time rver, 15k a year/60% towing). Any info on the 3/4 or 1 ton gasses, especially the ram 6.4 would be appreciated. Also any info on aux tanks for gasses would be great, if I'm not mistaken all gasoline tanks have to be manually pumped right?

Thanks



That trailer weight will do fine with a 3/4 gas motor. However-you can't add the gas tank. It takes away too much payload. Due to emissions-there are now more downsides to diesel than ever before. Frequent gas stops are just a fact of life when pulling something behind your truck that has the aerodynamics of a refrigerator.

From what I've seen, the 3/4 ton gassers have plenty of payload for a 50 gallon tank. My dry tongue weight on my trailer is only 735 pounds, guessing 835 loaded.
 
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