truck down - Page 2

If you regularly haul lots of weight, then diesels really shine. Watching your gas truck drop from 14 mpg or so down to 8 makes diesels look pretty good. A friend of mine was rabidly anti-diesel. Bought a v10 dodge when his piddly little 5.9 couldn't barely pull his new 5th wheel. Then he upgraded the v10 with a blower, exhaust, and other mods. Now his truck was getting 8mpg Canadian pulling the trailer, and 10-11 empty. It still didn't have the power he wanted. At that point he gave up and bought a diesel.

At the moment, diesel here is actually cheaper than gas, $1.129 per liter for diesel vs. $1.189 for regular unleaded. For the last few years diesel has usually been a few cents more expensive than gas up here, but only since the early 2000's or so. I attribute that to so many people now driving diesel trucks as their everyday driver, where-as before they were limited to work trucks.

And it's true that diesels do cost more when they break down, and it can be tougher to find a good diesel mechanic. But if you are mechanically inclined, you can also do a lot of your own repairs. To be honest, it's tougher now to find a mechanic who -really- knows carburetors, than it is to find a good diesel guy. And the upside of diesels on repairs is that you'll need far fewer. My original scrap truck was a '92 Ford with a 7.3 non-turbo. It's still running strong on the original drivetrain with almost 500k kms/300k miles on it, and fires up every time I try to start it, no matter how long it's been sitting. And all the while getting 14-17 mpg while working. Not bad for a truck I bought for $2000 with 255k on it. You -won't- get that out of a gas engine, not ever imo.

I think spending 40-60 a day extra is Probadly stretching it a bit. And here in the states gas is usually half a dollar cheaper than highway diesel, so it'd have to do a bunch better on mpg just to make up difference in price

Ok I diddnt realize diesel was same price up yonder, if that was the case where I lived I would run a diesel too. But unfortunately it's not so Ill stick to my old gasser. I like the cummins motor but I think I'd go duramax, I love v8's and the Allison is a dam near bullet proof trany.

Originally Posted by Libertytow

that"s why i have 3 parts trucks in back 3 good rears 3 good trannys 12 good tires and enough body parts well you get the idea

Oh, to have that kind of space available...