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Help Ease My Mind (Gas vs Diesel)

Our eldest daughter's Jeep Rubicon and Leo in our driveway this morning (photo). They live at a 8,500 feet elevation 250 miles away. It's all High Country between our homes. Their Jeep has been regeared (axle ratio) with the 6 speed manual. So was their other gas truck.

The horsepower loss at over 8,000 feet is 25% versus at sea level. I really don't feel our Power Wagon 6.4L's power loss until at 10,000 feet plus while towing our trailers since we live at high altitude. It's 10,500 feet just up our road and it's really pretty flat terrain within some 500 square miles. Just don't have the passing speed I like in the 55 MPH speed limit with it while towing. It will still do it with a 1/3 less power though.

With our 2024 6.7L HO Cummins it's no feel of loss power. Going down our mountain grade it's why I like using the Cummins being the exhaust brake. It's a 21.4 mile descent of 5.8K feet in elevation. So we tow with our diesel.20250722_094943.jpg
 
I don't really feel like there is a huge enough gap between gas vs Diesel Maintenance to put a lot of weight in the choice.

I daily drive my Diesel. Daily driving to work 15 min each way and whatever we do on the weekends. I tow a 16K 5th wheel 5-6 times a year. One trip is usually 1400 mile one way and then the other trips are 500 miles one way. I don't really use the fuel points from the grocery store as they limit you to 35 gallons and I have a 60 gallon tank ( sometimes I just do 2 fill ups and split the discount between them). I do use Gas buddy to find the diesel prices around me and pick the best price. But really when the average difference is 10 cents are you really saving much driving an extra 5 miles to save $4? I don't look at my MPG, I already know it sucks in town and towing!

At the end of the day you may get a better Out The Door price on a gas truck....but I have never looked in to that.

If I didn't have the 5th wheel I would probably have a 1/2 ton truck. Buy what makes the most sense for you to afford.
 
Out here, the difference between gas and diesel is 50 cents a gallon. But there are only 4 gas stations in about a 1 square mile area. Otherwise you have to go all the way into town, or buy it in the middle of nowhere in Komiforina where it cost more.
So I try and fill up when I go to that area. Walmart, orilleys, CVS, Dr office are all in that area, about 32 miles from home and nearest place to go.
 
If I didn't tow a large camper up steep grades a few times a year, I'd have a gas engine. Listening to my previous Hemi truck at high RPM for miles at a time while towing was painful. it never gave up on me, but that drone man... and watching temperatures... Love the diesel for towing, but if you're not doing it often or pulling heavy trailers, I'd go gas all day every day.
 
MtnRider said:
Actually its the complete opposite. The gas oil change interval is 2x what the diesel is so the reality is you are useing 14 quarts of oil to the diesel's 12 quarts of oil for the same miles traveled.


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I was taking in account it didn’t sound like he’s putting a lot of “working” miles on the truck. And with the Cummins cam/lifter failures I wouldn’t risk the crank case getting washed with a lot of cold starts. So I figure he’d be changing the oil every 6 months (at least) and the hemi might be the same or less often. After all the failures I see out there, I’m changing the oil more frequently than the “recommended” interval. I’d agree with your statement about the Cummins being twice as much if he was hauling over the road on a constant basis. But that doesn’t sound like what the OP was describing.
 
RockaRhyme said:
If I didn't tow a large camper up steep grades a few times a year, I'd have a gas engine. Listening to my previous Hemi truck at high RPM for miles at a time while towing was painful. it never gave up on me, but that drone man... and watching temperatures... Love the diesel for towing, but if you're not doing it often or pulling heavy trailers, I'd go gas all day every day.
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Yea, mine was in 4th gear, 5K RPMs, pulling the steep hills at 65 to 70 MPH.
But she pulled just fine. Even though it was hot, truck temps all read normal. I had the off road page up so I could watch them all.
 
MtnRider said:
Do you work for CNN? Lol. If you are going to quote me use ALL of what I said., not a snippit that makes it look like I agree with you....
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Nope... i didnt agree with everything, i quoted that part because thats the part i agree with bud. Hence why i quoted snippets to get MY point across to the op, which was he should go with a gasser for what he does, not a diesel. Good day.
 
Well after vacillating over this decision for several weeks, I pulled the trigger and decided to go with a new CTD. Trading in the 21 Limited CTD on a 25 Laramie Level2 plus with CTD, auto level suspension.
The gasser would have probably been a correct choice also considering I am a flatlander that pulls a 4.5T barn door camper into the hills/mountains a few times a year. Mainly used 75% of the time for a daily driver where the gasser would have been perfect. But the diesel has been such an effortless puller and relaxing rather than reving out to the gasser power band.
and I found an exceptional deal 150 miles from home that made it a no-brainer, plus this one had a few details I really wanted but I am giving up the ventilated seats in the LTD, although realistically I only use that feature 10 times a year. For what ended up to be an $25K difference from ordering a discounted 26 LTD, I can live without it.
Picking it up Friday. Can't wait.
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I have a '22 Cummins. My truck is my only vehicle. 9.5% of my ~46,500 miles has been towing, however I have not had any problems with the emissions at this point. When I drive to work it is 75 miles of highway...with jams a bunch too.
 
Settled on a 2020 Limited with everything I want. Extremely clean and lightly used. Saved almost 30k versus buying new.

You can definitely tell the hemi has half as much torque as the CTD, it won't pin you to your seat. But you can still out accelerate a lot of cars on the road if you push it, though I naturally tend to drive less aggressively in this truck. It also has the infamous hemi chirp on startup. Thought it was a squeaky belt, no problem. Now I have to explain to my girlfriend it's not going away anytime soon LOL. At least it's harmless.

In 4x4, this thing is unstoppable. Even in 4x4 high, I just let it idle and I start accelerating UPHILL. It's crazy how well the hemi moves a 7k lb truck.

As far as MPGs, I average 12. Accelerating will always be 1-6, but if you get up to speed and let the truck coast I've seen almost 30.

Overall, very happy with my purchase. I love driving it.
 
garyh said:
Well after vacillating over this decision for several weeks, I pulled the trigger and decided to go with a new CTD. Trading in the 21 Limited CTD on a 25 Laramie Level2 plus with CTD, auto level suspension.
The gasser would have probably been a correct choice also considering I am a flatlander that pulls a 4.5T barn door camper into the hills/mountains a few times a year. Mainly used 75% of the time for a daily driver where the gasser would have been perfect. But the diesel has been such an effortless puller and relaxing rather than reving out to the gasser power band.
and I found an exceptional deal 150 miles from home that made it a no-brainer, plus this one had a few details I really wanted but I am giving up the ventilated seats in the LTD, although realistically I only use that feature 10 times a year. For what ended up to be an $25K difference from ordering a discounted 26 LTD, I can live without it.
Picking it up Friday. Can't wait.
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Nice choice!!
 
never understood the need for a heavy duty gas truck. I do however hate my HO and wish I had the standard output diesel back. I thought it towed and dd better
 
eljeffy said:
never understood the need for a heavy duty gas truck. I do however hate my HO and wish I had the standard output diesel back. I thought it towed and dd better
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I've owned a 2016 2500 6.7 and a 2018 3500 6.7, both SO. I now have a 2024 2500 6.4 to pull our 26' travel trailer, that weighs 5,500lbs loaded for traveling. Though we're not going anywhere until November, I think the 24 should do a exceptional job. I drive my truck maybe twice a week. It's usually less than 10 miles when I do. I should have kept the 18, but now I don't have to worry about it setting and not getting the temperatures up. Sure glad one size doesn't fit all.
 
eljeffy said:
never understood the need for a heavy duty gas truck. I do however hate my HO and wish I had the standard output diesel back. I thought it towed and dd better
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I need to haul a heavy slide-in truck camper so I need DRW to handle the weight but I don't need a lot of pulling power. You can only get DRW in HD trucks. I also use my truck around my property and it gets a lot of start/stop and short trips. Gas engines are a lot more tolerant of that than diesel engines.
 
RKCRLR said:
I need to haul a heavy slide-in truck camper so I need DRW to handle the weight but I don't need a lot of pulling power. You can only get DRW in HD trucks. I also use my truck around my property and it gets a lot of start/stop and short trips. Gas engines are a lot more tolerant of that than diesel engines.
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I mean, there are always exceptions. You could probably find one of these or the extended cab version... LOL

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Gas is a no-brainer unless you're towing massive loads that require monster torque. Gas is cheaper, oil changes are cheaper, no DEF, no DPF, no nasty EGR clogged up with oily carbon. Have you priced replacing a DPF? As for longevity exactly how long to you keep a truck? It's not the drivetrain that will drive you to sell your old truck, it's all the bells and whistles that crap out that will drive you bonkers. I'm in my Seventies now and I used to live in British Columbia, Canada with all its mountain ranges and steep climbs. I had a slide-in camper on the back of my 1977 Chevy 3/4 ton and pulled a boat from Vancouver to Kelowna many times with only 175 hp, 275 ft/lbs of torque, no AC, and a three speed automatic! LOL! Nowadays people are whining about towing with 410 hp and 429 ft/lbs of torque with cooled seats. Cold air isn't the only thing being blown up people's butts these days!
 
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