Ford engines getting smaller..thoughts KRT?

[Saltydog235]

They make up for the little ones with 6.7L, 6.8L and 7.3L mills. That 7.3L is a beast for a gas engine. It’ll pull more than the truck it powers can handle, I’ll say that.

[JBtflo]

But that's potentially almost $5,000 more for $3 gas than one that gets 18 mpg when the odometer hits 100,000 miles.

[flashman252]

And blowing black smoke all over squatted trucks is fun

This is where I am not the norm I guess. I go 5 over the speed limit and set cruise control. Yes the delete will have the ability to roast tires and blow black smoke, but I dont want anything to do with wasting diesel out of the tail pipe. I truly love the idea of setting cruise control, no matter what I am towing, and just letting the turbo spool and knowing there is enough torque in the engine to get the job done down any hwy or hill. The truck doesn't even down shift, even when I am towing a box trailer or my little travel trailer going up a steep steep grade. The truck just works but doesn't have to overwork to get me down the road. It makes the ride boring but far less stressful than a gas motor when I am towing. That eco originally had tons and tons of power but still downshifted. Towards the end, I thought something was always going to break and didn't even feel comfortable towing the last season I bird hunted out of it. I was just waiting for the day it was going to leave me stranded and I hated that feeling.

[flashman252]

But that's potentially almost $5,000 more for $3 gas than one that gets 18 mpg when the odometer hits 100,000 miles.

So I have thought about this... My diesel is getting 20-21 empty, and gets 16 mpg no matter what is being towed. Its dead on 16 mpg, unless there is a stiff head wind. I think it has something to do with how the truck performs when something is plugged into the trailer light switch. I can tow my little duck boat or my travel trailer and its 16 mpg. The oddest damn thing! Diesel is $4.09 avg where I live and gas is $3.30. My eco boost got 13 mpg (on its best days, was realistically 10-11 when factoring in hills and winds) and would get 18 empty. Tank on my eco was 23 gal and my diesel is 31.

31 x 20 = 620
23 x 18 = 414
Empty results

31x16 = 496
23x13=300 (being real generous here)
Towing results

31x 4.09=126.79
23x 3.31 = 76.13
$50 difference in fill ups

For $50 difference.... I will pay this every fill up to have the comfort in the ability of a diesel when it comes to towing and the longevity in between filling up the truck. It really is a no brainer. If you break it down by cost per year.... it still wouldn't bug me. There is absolutely no question that a diesel is just a much more comfortable ride when it comes to towing. Now you do have to factor in DEF fluid, but its $21/gallon for the premium stuff and I get roughly 2500-3000 mi out of a gallon.

Also, all of these numbers are based on where I live. I live at elevation and all of our motors lose roughly 10-15% power. our boats are way under powered and our trucks are as well. Just comes with living where I live. When I bought my bass boat out of texas, I had drop from a 23p prop to a 19p just to get the boat up on pad. Thats the unfortunate part of living at altitude. Ecoboost trucks at sea level in SC might be better than what I was getting. It will take a lot for me to get out of a diesel ever again.

[Saltydog235]

So I have thought about this... My diesel is getting 20-21 empty, and gets 16 mpg no matter what is being towed. Its dead on 16 mpg, unless there is a stiff head wind. I think it has something to do with how the truck performs when something is plugged into the trailer light switch. I can tow my little duck boat or my travel trailer and its 16 mpg. The oddest damn thing! Diesel is $4.09 avg where I live and gas is $3.30. My eco boost got 13 mpg (on its best days, was realistically 10-11 when factoring in hills and winds) and would get 18 empty. Tank on my eco was 23 gal and my diesel is 31.

31 x 20 = 620
23 x 18 = 414
Empty results

31x16 = 496
23x13=300 (being real generous here)
Towing results

31x 4.09=126.79
23x 3.31 = 76.13
$50 difference in fill ups

For $50 difference.... I will pay this every fill up to have the comfort in the ability of a diesel when it comes to towing and the longevity in between filling up the truck. It really is a no brainer. If you break it down by cost per year.... it still wouldn't bug me. There is absolutely no question that a diesel is just a much more comfortable ride when it comes to towing. Now you do have to factor in DEF fluid, but its $21/gallon for the premium stuff and I get roughly 2500-3000 mi out of a gallon.

Also, all of these numbers are based on where I live. I live at elevation and all of our motors lose roughly 10-15% power. our boats are way under powered and our trucks are as well. Just comes with living where I live. When I bought my bass boat out of texas, I had drop from a 23p prop to a 19p just to get the boat up on pad. Thats the unfortunate part of living at altitude. Ecoboost trucks at sea level in SC might be better than what I was getting. It will take a lot for me to get out of a diesel ever again.

You have to run that diesel 300K miles with no out of warranty repairs to make up the delta in costs to its gas counterparts for fuel and engine premium. That isn’t going to happen with a modern diesel for the vast majority of guys and the way they run them. Get one of those $7-12k repair bills and it just went to 500k or more. Your diesel isn’t saving you a dime and never will. Owned plenty of them and switched back to gas for a reason. And I guarantee you, I’ll tow anything with that gas engine on a 250-350 platform you’ll tow with the diesel, I do it every day.

10spd transmissions make a difference but I never saw more than 16 mpg in a PSD, 18 once in a CTD, my Brokedownmax didn’t run long enough to know. Towing was 9-12mpg depending on the load. Everyone I talk to says they don’t do any better than that now. Yours must be one of those magical ones.

My 7.3l gas gets 12.5mpg overall with a 10spd, 4.30 gear, level, bags and set up to haul shit. My 150 Tremor gets 17.5. Both have 5 Star tunes with the little EcoRocket being scary fast.

[flashman252]

You have to run that diesel 300K miles with no out of warranty repairs to make up the delta in costs to its gas counterparts for fuel and engine premium. That isn’t going to happen with a modern diesel for the vast majority of guys and the way they run them. Get one of those $7-12k repair bills and it just went to 500k or more. Your diesel isn’t saving you a dime and never will. Owned plenty of them and switched back to gas for a reason. And I guarantee you, I’ll tow anything with that gas engine on a 250-350 platform you’ll tow with the diesel, I do it every day.

What gas model are you running and what is your every day MPG in one of those big gas motors empty vs towing? And I agree, most modern day diesel owners drive them like hot rods and mod them out relentlessly. I prefer not to go this route. I full intend on keeping this one as long as the motor keeps on humming. Its a RAM and I am fully expecting a transmission at some point and the 68RFE transmission is no allison, but I understood that risk when I bought it. I don't think there is a bulletproof vehicle out there. I tow enough (2 boats, travel trailer, decoy trailer) that I was fully willing a ready to pay the extra expense for comfort going down the road.

[Saltydog235]

What gas model are you running and what is your every day MPG in one of those big gas motors empty vs towing? And I agree, most modern day diesel owners drive them like hot rods and mod them out relentlessly. I prefer not to go this route. I full intend on keeping this one as long as the motor keeps on humming. Its a RAM and I am fully expecting a transmission at some point and the 68RFE transmission is no allison, but I understood that risk when I bought it. I don't think there is a bulletproof vehicle out there. I tow enough (2 boats, travel trailer, decoy trailer) that I was fully willing a ready to pay the extra expense for comfort going down the road.

My everyday is different than most in that truck. If I’m driving it, I have between 8k and 20k behind it. It’s about 12.5 these days. Less if I’m towing heavy, a little better light.

The CTD has its own issues, just like the others. Deletes and all that hot rodding is over now for the most part. And the Allison and TorqShift in the Ford are virtually the same transmission. Allison leases the name as a marketing gimmick to GM these days. The 68 has been solid for Dodge, it’ll be all the electrical crap that fails on it, or was on mine.

[flashman252]

You have to run that diesel 300K miles with no out of warranty repairs to make up the delta in costs to its gas counterparts for fuel and engine premium. That isn’t going to happen with a modern diesel for the vast majority of guys and the way they run them. Get one of those $7-12k repair bills and it just went to 500k or more. Your diesel isn’t saving you a dime and never will. Owned plenty of them and switched back to gas for a reason. And I guarantee you, I’ll tow anything with that gas engine on a 250-350 platform you’ll tow with the diesel, I do it every day.

10spd transmissions make a difference but I never saw more than 16 mpg in a PSD, 18 once in a CTD, my Brokedownmax didn’t run long enough to know. Towing was 9-12mpg depending on the load. Everyone I talk to says they don’t do any better than that now. Yours must be one of those magical ones.

My 7.3l gas gets 12.5mpg overall with a 10spd, 4.30 gear, level, bags and set up to haul shit. My 150 Tremor gets 17.5. Both have 5 Star tunes with the little EcoRocket being scary fast.

9-12 towing???? In a deisel???? Thats hard to believe. My hunting partner runs the same ram with the same transmission and gets almost exactly what I get towing. His is a 2020 though and has 100k mi already (his commute to work is quite a bit longer than mine). I will say this, I have taken my truck to Oklahoma 3 times already and it never made sense to me, but my MPG severely dropped when I was running it around at lower elevations. I have never towed while I was there and they were always empty runs. I always thought it was weird but I definitely noticed it, but I assumed elevation would hurt power and therefore mean less MPG's as well but wasn't the case on all 3 occasions I made that trip to see my little brother.

[Saltydog235]

9-12 towing???? In a deisel???? Thats hard to believe. My hunting partner runs the same ram with the same transmission and gets almost exactly what I get towing. His is a 2020 though and has 100k mi already (his commute to work is quite a bit longer than mine). I will say this, I have taken my truck to Oklahoma 3 times already and it never made sense to me, but my MPG severely dropped when I was running it around at lower elevations. I have never towed while I was there and they were always empty runs. I always thought it was weird but I definitely noticed it, but I assumed elevation would hurt power and therefore mean less MPG's as well but wasn't the case on all 3 occasions I made that trip to see my little brother.

No, I have a gas 7.3L Godzilla. Towing what I do with a diesel might get a few more MPG’s. I don’t care about fuel economy in a truck, I bought it to haul and tow stuff.

[flashman252]

If what is being said about diesels by Saltydog, I would second think the thought of diesel. The only reason I got one myself is based on numbers I had seen from my hunting partner. And my truck is pretty dang close to the same results. But based on what is being said, those numbers are definitely too close to what my ecoboost was getting, which wouldnt be worth the extra cost of diesel fuel. And he isnt wrong about repairs. There are many many people who sell their trucks the second they hit 100k mi and the warranty is up because they are so afraid to have one without the warranty. I am fortunate that one of those bills wouldn't break me in the slightest if it happened. But I have always maintained everything and I am a firm believer that if you take care of it, it will take care of you. Everything mechanical fails at some point, but if you take care of it, hopefully that failure happens much later on down the road.

I will have to take a pic of my dash when I get back to my truck. I promise my numbers are not fabricated in the slightest. My trip A will show my current tank I just filled, and I use trip B from oil change to oil change. It is how I track my miles between oil changes. So that one will show when I have towed the boat or travel trailer on this oil change, so obviously will be lower than trip A. But I have been nothing but impressed with the performance of the 6.7 cummins thus far.

[flashman252]

I just got the oil done not too long ago. I cannot remember if I have gone to the lake once or twice since the oil change but I have towed the bass boat at least once to the lake and it was a short trip. Either way, these are my mpg numbers on my 2022 ram 2500 Cummins.

IMG_7164.jpg
IMG_7165.jpg