Opinions needed on Tow truck - Diesel or Gas?

[Pantera]

My buddy reports that he gets about 20mpg with his Dodge dually Diesel. I wonder if he is pulling my leg?

[Enoch]

I have a 2000 Dodge quad cab Diesel 6wd. Dually. (Whew-say that 10 times fast) 5 Sp. with 4:10 gears. At 65 mph it's tack'in 2000 rpm and getting 18-21 mpg at 75 it's tack'in 2400 rpm and mpg is down to 15-16. I would suggest getting 3:54 gears as there is plenty of power and that would give you a better cruising rpm. I have 60,000 miles on her and would buy it again. I would prefer an auto on the next on. Hope this info helps. Rich.

[Pantera]

Thanks Rich that confirms what my buddy told me about his Dodge. I am with you about the auto but if I could get the 3:70 rear that would be my choice. Of course with a auto the 3:54 would be just fine.

I know that having the extra large 80 gal propane tank on my chev allowed me to buy gas where it was at a good price most of the time. I could go almost 700 mi on what was on board. I can see that holding the speed down would help the mileage on a diesel.

Pantera

[Chevy454]

A couple of things to consider...

You need to be careful when choosing your rear gear ratio...not only from a "power" or "mileage" standpoint, but more importantly from a "GVW" standpoint. If I'm not mistaken you loose a thousand pounds or more going from 4.10s to 3.54s on the Dodge. I hadn't thought much about it until talking to one of my buddies who tows his race car with a Dodge. If you're looking at towing a 2-car trailer with a 1-ton, then every little bit of GVW is gonna be CRITICAL, as you're probably gonna be close, if not over, your legal GVW.

As for the automatics, you'll LOSE power with the autos, especially on the Dodges. For their auto tranny to live behind the diesel(s), they had to detune them, thus dropping power/torque...yuck. And, IMO a standard will outpull an auto any day of the week. I would stay away from an auto, unless going with an Allison auto as in the newer GMC/Chevrolet offerings.

[toner]

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My buddy reports that he gets about 20mpg with his Dodge dually Diesel. I wonder if he is pulling my leg?

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My brother has a 96 dodge 1 ton dually diesel and gets 18mpg. Last summer he bought another one only it's a 01 with 4 wheel drive, still gets 17mpg running empty. My wifes' 03 2 wheel drive blazer only gets 17mpg (but that could be the way she drives it) .

[VETTEGUY]

When it comes to towing a sizable trailer-you can't have to much power or be too safe. I saw a guy with a two car stacker
trailer pulled with a 3/4 ton Ford. I believe this is illegal
but I know that it is stupid. Don't overlook trucks like the
Freightliner FL60 (Sportchassis) These trucks (classified as heavy duty pickups) are sold for the most part to folks
pulling travel trailers. Used ones are not that expensive.
Not real practical for daily use, but if your main use
is towing, I would recommend one. Try RVTruck.com

[Mr70]

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I need to bring my car to the one and only SuperCar Reunion and race.

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Hmmmmm.....now thats an idea....

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Yes....Yes that is.

[Chevy454]

The only downside to the FL60 route is your GVCW. According to the Federal DOT laws, anything 26,001 pounds and over requires a CDL. And, those FL60s are quite a bit heavier than your average 1-ton dually, as I found out with my TopKick. It would be easy to have a 2-car trailer in the 16,000 pound range loaded (more than likely it will be more), which means you're truck had better be 10,000 or less.

I unfortunately had to find all of this out the hard way, which sucks, because the Medium Duty trucks are far safer to tow with than the 1-ton offerings when you start getting into some decent weights.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

We never did factor in the price of fuel for this discussion.

[Pantera]

Now that I have a Diesel I can say that the extra price is sure worth it. I bought a 97 Dodge 1 ton with the cummings and it sure has the passing power even with a car on a trailer behind it. Almost like it was not there. My old 454 chev dually just can't start to run with it. Passing power is outstanding.