3/4 ton PU

[countrycorners]

I need a 3/4 ton to pull my 7000 lb trailer
Can't decide on gas or diesel, but am leaning heavily toward gas.
Those of you that have 3/4, whats your engine? and opinion of performance?

[Steve Stinson]

Well, you already know this is going to turn into the Ford, Dodge, Chevy argument. My .02 is go with diesel if you are going to pull the trailer frequently. I have owned both the Ford and Dodge 4x4 diesel crew cabs and much prefer the Dodge. The Ford was the older 7.3 motor. It got about 15.9 mpg not pulling anything and was very dependable. The transmissions, not so much.

My current truck is a 2014 Ram 4x4 crew with the Cummins motor. With a mix of city / hwy driving I am getting around 21 mpg - no trailer. Towing my Sea Ark 2072, I get about 17 mpg. Towing my travel trailer, I get about 15 mpg. No trailer, all hwy driving I will get around 23 mpg. No issues so far out of the Ram which currently has around 124k miles on it. When I bought it several years ago, it had Michelin street tires on it that were worn, so I replaced them with BFG Gen 2 All Terrains. That was a mistake. I only got about 23k miles out of those tires and lost a couple miles per gallon. I went back to the Michelins and now have about 80k on those. Got the mileage and ride back, but you need the 4x4 if you pull off the road. My Ram is completely stock - no exhaust delete, no chips.

All that being said, the maintenance is more expensive on the diesels. If you aren't going to tow a trailer at least once a week, go with the gas engine. The Ram has two fuel filters, oil filter, and air filter that all need to be replaced pretty regularly. You pay somebody to
do all that and an oil change, you are looking at about $400 - $500.

I know what trucks cost these days because I have about six of them for my business. If it helps you, we can hook your trailer to my truck and you can take a test run. Trucks are too d@mn expensive these days.

- Steve Stinson

[doomtrpr_z71]

It all depends how much you tow with it, I have a 02 chevy gas burner 2500hd with 4.10 gears and my 2014 gmc z71 pulls better than it does. One of my fishing buddys has a 16 chevy 2500hd 6.0 and its worlds better than my older 2500hd with much better fuel mileage in the 16-17 mpg range. If you buy a used newer model truck I'd say take the gas burner just becuase they are so much cheaper, its insane what people want for used diesels nowdays. My work truck is a 2018 duramax and it does tow better certainly but it also cost me 10k more even though it does get better fuel mileage around 18.5 mpg on average since it is used on farm. If you don't plan on towing the boat that often, honestly look at the 6.2 chevy halftons, they pull well and get 20+ mpg when not towing.

[reelbad]

I need a 3/4 ton to pull my 7000 lb trailer
Can't decide on gas or diesel, but am leaning heavily toward gas.
Those of you that have 3/4, whats your engine? and opinion of performance?

When you say 7000 lb. is that the GVWR or actual weight of the trailer?

[Steve Stinson]

I understood that to mean the weight of the trailer alone - No truck included.

I wouldn't recommend consistently towing a trailer that size with a gas pickup.

[countrycorners]

The loaded weight of the travel trailer is 7k. We tow it bout twice a month, once to a campground-then back.
Expect to cross country next summer, two month journey.
Thanks for your input!