People will like what they like. I'm not offended if people like gassers, to each their own, it's just not my cup of tea and I won't see the the same "premium" to get into a diesel, mostly because I'm not putting a Toyota diesel in mine. I do acknowledge there's a premium for a Toyota diesel.
That said I'm swapping to diesel for a few reasons:
1. with 270k on the stock gasser, I'll need to rebuild soon anyway and I've heard I'll have about the same money in a rebuild as what I can swap for. According to the swap parts I've already bought and the parts I need to buy, the costs will be very similar. This cost is not theoretical as I was able to pick up the donor truck cheap and sell the carcass for scrap.
If the costs are similar and I can get a lot more range and fuel flexibility, then I choose the diesel.
2. with the diesel I can set it up to run on Waste veggie oil. When I run it on WVO my fuel cost per mile is less than 1 cent per mile, which absolutely makes it cheaper to have a diesel engine. If I have to pay for WVO, that raises my cost to 5 cents per mile.
According to your data in the original post:
the fuel cost for your gasser is 14.47 cents per mile, while
the diesel fuel cost per mile is 15.84 cents.
I've ran WVO for 10+ years so I've seen the long term effects of it, and will still do the conversion.
3. from my experience gassers require cheaper but more frequent maintenance. I know diesel parts cost more, but for me the maintenance frequency on a diesel is noticeably less. Over the long run, the cost may be about even, it may not, but once you factor time in, then it is very close to even. The diesel I'm swapping in is a much less complicated engine than a gasser.
After I get the diesel in there and all the kinks are worked out, I plan to add a second fuel tank for WVO. The first WVO conversion I did paid for itself in 8 months, this WVO conversion should cost considerably less (as it will be my 4th WVO conversion and 3 design iteration - mainly due to parts changed and my own fabrication skills) . If I run out of WVO the conversion will still allow me to run it on Waste motor oil or used transmission fluid. If I run out of that, I can use that tank for diesel with no ill effects or parts to change.
That said, I've taken many vacations where I took extra WVO with me so I could fill myself up.
If the costs are similar (for me they are) , the only drawbacks to a diesel are:
I'm just adding to the discussion, knowing that I'm probably not changing anyone's mind. One of the things that I really like about this forum is that we can have these discussions and be friendly without it turning into a hatefest.
That said I'm swapping to diesel for a few reasons:
1. with 270k on the stock gasser, I'll need to rebuild soon anyway and I've heard I'll have about the same money in a rebuild as what I can swap for. According to the swap parts I've already bought and the parts I need to buy, the costs will be very similar. This cost is not theoretical as I was able to pick up the donor truck cheap and sell the carcass for scrap.
If the costs are similar and I can get a lot more range and fuel flexibility, then I choose the diesel.
2. with the diesel I can set it up to run on Waste veggie oil. When I run it on WVO my fuel cost per mile is less than 1 cent per mile, which absolutely makes it cheaper to have a diesel engine. If I have to pay for WVO, that raises my cost to 5 cents per mile.
According to your data in the original post:
the fuel cost for your gasser is 14.47 cents per mile, while
the diesel fuel cost per mile is 15.84 cents.
I've ran WVO for 10+ years so I've seen the long term effects of it, and will still do the conversion.
3. from my experience gassers require cheaper but more frequent maintenance. I know diesel parts cost more, but for me the maintenance frequency on a diesel is noticeably less. Over the long run, the cost may be about even, it may not, but once you factor time in, then it is very close to even. The diesel I'm swapping in is a much less complicated engine than a gasser.
After I get the diesel in there and all the kinks are worked out, I plan to add a second fuel tank for WVO. The first WVO conversion I did paid for itself in 8 months, this WVO conversion should cost considerably less (as it will be my 4th WVO conversion and 3 design iteration - mainly due to parts changed and my own fabrication skills) . If I run out of WVO the conversion will still allow me to run it on Waste motor oil or used transmission fluid. If I run out of that, I can use that tank for diesel with no ill effects or parts to change.
That said, I've taken many vacations where I took extra WVO with me so I could fill myself up.
If the costs are similar (for me they are) , the only drawbacks to a diesel are:
- less places to fill up
- I need to plug in the block heater when it's cold.
- takes a little longer to heat up in the winter
I'm just adding to the discussion, knowing that I'm probably not changing anyone's mind. One of the things that I really like about this forum is that we can have these discussions and be friendly without it turning into a hatefest.