Tow Rig Poll

Which Tow Rig

  • A diesel for sure - you'll want to upgrade if you don't

    Votes: 12 66.7%

  • You don't need a diesel buy a Tundra

    Votes: 3 16.7%

  • You don't need another toy, a 40 and 80 is enough

    Votes: 3 16.7%
  • Total voters
    18

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Fort Knox said:
Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the Tundra, to say the least. It has plenty of towing capacity for what I need, but then again.....I don't tow that often. If I were buying a truck based solely on towing capacity, and I planned on towing often, I would probably have gone with a diesel. However, I knew that I'll only be towing a couple/few times a year, along with a few trips to either Home Depot or the dump. Also, when I bought the Tundra, gas prices were pretty much at their peak, and diesel was significantly higher.

Gas mileage. Yeah, that's the Tundra's downfall. The thing will tow 10k lbs. all day long, but it's thirsty. Towing the 40, I usually get 10-11 mpg. Granted, as Greg said.....I don't tend to take it easy on the skinny pedal. Even if I did, I don't think I'd get more than another mpg or 2. Around town I get about 14. Highway....19ish. Gas mileage wasn't a huge consideration for me, since I only have a 5 mile commute.

Even though I absolutely love the Tundra, I can't say anything bad about the diesels. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about them. Obviously, for pure towing power, you can't beat a diesel, and they get better mileage. Some say that they don't make good daily drivers, but I don't see why not.

Oh, and for whoever said that you could put a supercharger on a Tundra and run a sub-6 second 0-60.....Toyota claims that a Regular Cab with the 5.7 V8 already does that, without a supercharger. You want to see something cool? Go to youtube and look for "Tundra supercharger". There are a couple videos of SC'ed Tundras that make me wonder where I can lay my hands on a spare $5k. :D
Click to expand...

10-11 ain't that bad IMHO. I got that in my '04 1500 Silverado towing, and I can assure you it wasn't nearly as powerful as the Tundra - not even close! I would say if towing "a few" times a year, and it being a dd, the Tundra wouldn't be a bad option - however, I think they are pricey. Have you towed that thing through any real hills yet Allen? I'd be VERY impressed if a gasser got that mileage in the hills. Would definitely make me think twice about my reco for Jon to get a diesel.

:beer: R
 
Ok,

As the subject matter expert on this I would have to recommend a diesel truck.

I use my 97 F-250 as a daily driver. Not the most comfy with the old shocks and front leveling kit, but it is easy to wheel and I do it and did it in the inner city in Portland as well and it is not a hard thing to do. I've put over 70K miles on it with vegetable oil and the truck has 215K miles. All I've replaced is a water pump, a fuel pump last month, and brakes and I will be replacing a vaccume pump (TOMORROW...haha brakes went out on me on my way home tonight)

As sad as I am to say it though as I'm a bigtime ford guy, for your usesage I would get a Chevy Duramax with the Allison NOT A DUALLY. You will never need it I gaurantee it and it is a huge pain in the ass if you don't need it. Make sure you get a crew cab...not any other option...you will be amazed how much you use it. Probably a short bed unless you plan to put a tool box back there then you are going to need the long bed. I'm not sure if chevy made a crew long but I think they did.

You mileage will always be far superior...almost double if not more when it comes to towing anything over 5K Lbs and the longevity if you plan to keep the thing is double that of a gasoline engine.

I've owned well over a dozen vehicles and all but my old 53 Ford, my current 56 Ford and that 40 and two 4 runners I had were diesel. I had 323K miles on my old Mercedes Wagon that I rebuilt in College and the only problem was a small leak out of the rear main....and that was mainly becuase it sat in a field for 8 years until I found it.

If you want a tow rig that can cram all the kids/dogs/wives/ or whatever else you can think of and then tow anything else you can think and do it comfortably it is a diesel truck.

And yes Ford absolutely screwed the pooch on the new 6.4 with the DPF. It kills fuel mileage. The twin turbo was a great idea and the truck is amazing...but they should have gone with Urea injection...I've heard guys that take the DPF off are getting another 5+ MPG out of the trucks.

I get 21 on the highway with my truck if I keep it under 65 and around 14-15 in town. That is with a 7.3L turbo non intercooled 7000Lb truck.

Nuff said.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies so far!!

The more I think about it and see other's thoughts, I really think that I don't need a diesel and a Tundra would fit the bill for what I would do with it. Even though the gas mileage would suffer when towing...I don't think it would be that big of a deal seeing that I wouldn't be towing that often (at most once a month).

Even with that being true I still want and will look for a diesel, however I don't plan on spending 26k for a 3-4 year old truck with 70k miles just cause it's a diesel. That being said I probably won't be able to find a diesel that is to my liking now that fuel prices have come down (which has led to a trend of an increase in diesel truck prices in the last 6 months). Just this week a 07 Chevy Duramax CC loaded with 24k miles in Fuquay went for 32,100 on ebay WOW.
 
I think you should just get another S4, it's a helluva lot more fun and comfy! You have 2 nice trucks, you can take that 80 anywhere w/ no worries, no need to tow it. And your 40 is too nice to wheel. :)

Or just save your dough and rent a truck/trailer the few times a year you need it.
 
mtweller said:
10-11 ain't that bad IMHO. I got that in my '04 1500 Silverado towing, and I can assure you it wasn't nearly as powerful as the Tundra - not even close! I would say if towing "a few" times a year, and it being a dd, the Tundra wouldn't be a bad option - however, I think they are pricey. Have you towed that thing through any real hills yet Allen? I'd be VERY impressed if a gasser got that mileage in the hills. Would definitely make me think twice about my reco for Jon to get a diesel.

:beer: R
Click to expand...

I don't know how much sellers are asking now, but I got my Tundra just under a year ago with 7,500 miles on it for just under $25k. According to the NADA guide, it's still worth a little more than that. Also according to the NADA guide, a comparable '07 Chevy 2500HD books for a couple grand more now, so they're not as pricey as you might think compared to the diesels.

I got that mileage (10-11 mpg) towing the 40 up to Harrisonburg, VA last October. Now there aren't many real hills on that trip, other than going over Afton Mountain near Charlottesville. I was kinda hoping to test it next month going to GSMTR, but at this point it doesn't make any sense to tow anything there, so the Tundra will probably make that trip without anything behind it. :frown:

Actually, I'll be towing the 4Runner up to Rausch Creek in about 8 days. There are some pretty good hills in PA as you get near Tremont, so I'll let y'all know how that goes.
 
FrankenTaco! <---who started it all for me
drive it out there and wheel the wee out of it and drive it back those are my plans
 
Miles on a diesel are all relative. Like I said I drive every kind of truck possible on a weekly basis. All our full size pu diesels have over 300k on them and run fine. We have only had to replace two motors. Both were 7.3 PS diesels out of Fords. One had 585K on it and the other 615K, both lived very hard lives and towed heavy loads for 95% of their lives. Hell the one that had 615K on it I towed 9000lbs of tires on a trailer down to Atlanta with if when it had 607k on it and it still pulled strong as hell and got 15mpg on that run loaded.
 
A related question....

Since I admittedly know very little about diesel engines, how is the maintenance on them compared to a gasser? More/less expensive or same? I know that diesels have a reputation for lasting longer, but I'm just curious about the maintenance side.

Also, besides cost (possibly), what are the advantages of a gasser over a diesel? As I said above, I've heard people say that diesels don't make as good daily drivers as gassers, but I don't call the reasons why. Al? Ramon?
 
I think the DD question revolves around convienence - diesels *used to be* really loud, smokey, hard starting, etc. My truck takes about 4-5 seconds on the coldest day since I've had it for the glow plugs to do their thing, and then it cranks as well or better than a EFI gasser. Diesel isn't available at every gas station, but most. I will likely never go back to a gas truck, I love the diesel!!!

As far as maintenance, oil changes cost a bit more, but the recommended drain intervals are longer. You have to change the fuel filter (which is not cheap) every so often - maybe 15k or so. Other than that, it is the same as a gasser. All this is new to me so the veteran diesel guys should chime in.

:beer: R
 
From my experience with my Cummins, maintenance was changing oil/air filters for the ~100k I had mine for. No plugs, wires, just keep the injectors clean and fluids changed and mine ran well. I was lucky to not have any warranty issues or maintenance costs.

The main reason they don't make good daily drivers, from what I understand is that short trips don't allow the block to heat up in order for the engine to run efficiently. Its why I sold mine when I moved from the west coast to Cary. I lived a bit "out" on the west coast where I had to drive 15-20 minutes to get anywhere. In Cary, a couple miles here, turn it off, a couple miles there, turn it off...not the best for a diesel.

If I recall, also issues with fuel and water in tanks that don't get drained for extended periods and if being driven short distances, having the fuel sitting in a tank for extended periods, it can allow degradation to the fuel system.

Now I'll step aside and let those with more experience contribute...
 
Fort Knox said:
A related question....

Since I admittedly know very little about diesel engines, how is the maintenance on them compared to a gasser? More/less expensive or same? I know that diesels have a reputation for lasting longer, but I'm just curious about the maintenance side.

Also, besides cost (possibly), what are the advantages of a gasser over a diesel? As I said above, I've heard people say that diesels don't make as good daily drivers as gassers, but I don't call the reasons why. Al? Ramon?
Click to expand...

Maintenance.... well parts are more expensive but there is less of them to actually replace. Fuel filter, oil filter air filter... fluids (but at longer intervals)
The not good daily drivers stem from older diesels being smelly, loud and smokey. Newer ones aren't. Newer onces also do better on start ups so you don't have to let them run that long or when you stop. Most older people who have been driving them for a while will tell you that the dealers recommended to leave them running when making short stops, not anymore.
 
Thanks for the info guys. So it sounds like the advantages that a gasser has/had over a diesel are slowly going away with advances to the diesels. The only other thing I can think of is that...... is it more difficult and/or expensive to get a diesel worked on if/when it DOES need work?
 
Yes...
but it isn't often that they do need to be worked on

Plus lots of the components are tied together.... your brakes go out, your PS is also going out.
 
Fort Knox said:
Thanks for the info guys. So it sounds like the advantages that a gasser has/had over a diesel are slowly going away with advances to the diesels. The only other thing I can think of is that...... is it more difficult and/or expensive to get a diesel worked on if/when it DOES need work?
Click to expand...

That and the newest diesels 08 and newer have new government mandated emmisions equipment on them. The DPF filters that Ford, GM and Dodge use has created a ton of issues with the regen process and has also redered the mileage while towing advantage of a diesel null compared to gas engines. If you take off the equipment the trucks run great but you void your warranty. Darn tree huggers had to srew it up :p.

I looked at a 06 Duramx with ~50k miles on it this morning and it had more rust than my 40 and they still wanted 28k plus tax, etc...crazy.

As much as I want a diesel, I think for my needs that I will most likely end up with a new Tundra. If I could find a truck like Ramon's for that price then I'd get a diesel but I don't see that happening when they blue book for like 28-30k. I still don't see how you got such a steal of a deal :hillbilly:.
 
Right place, right time. I just don't know if I'll luck up on an 80 now. And good lord, rust on an '06 - was it a salt mine truck??? GEEZ.
 
I would say any diesel below 200k is something you should be looking at... it will take a long time to wear them out. :D
 
I also think that this photo speaks for itself.
chevypullingtoyota.jpg
 
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