Opinions needed on Tow truck - Diesel or Gas?

[Pantera]

I have a Chaparall 36 ft gooseneck trailer to haul two cars in and back when I was racing, I was using a '84 Chev 1 ton 454 ci to pull it. Nowadays it is just getting too old and my cars are just too valuable to be broke down on the road with this old truck. I will be traveling much farther to show them than I was when I was SCCA racing in the midwest.

I do like the way it is set up with a sleeper and a 60 gal propane tank under it in the front of the bed. I was able to go almost all the way to Mineaplous with out having to stop for fuel from Tulsa OK. It pulls fine and yet I am not comfortable with it out on the road with my rig anymore. It has been setting for the last 10 years.

I have been thinking that a Dodge Diesel powered club cab 1 ton would be a good tow vehicle. I understand from a buddy here that works out of one that they get around 20 mpg and have great pulling power.


Does this sound like a good Idea or is there a better Idea out there?

the thought of a Dodge with the Diesel power sounds just like what I am going to need in the future. I never towed two cars at one time when I was racing but my trailer was a old Ford show car transport trailer so I know they will fit.

Any experience/suggestions would be appreciated.

Pantera
Tulsa OK.

[MosportGreen66]

I do not know much but saw this one during my regual searches. Low mile- NO reserve!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=13487

-Dan

[69Chevelle L78Deluxe300]

I have done a lot of towing of my boat and trailer that weigh 10,000#. I live in Phoenix AZ so when I pull it out of the valley I climb up to 5-7000 ft altitude. When I bought the boat I had a 3/4 ton Chev Suburban with a 454 that was rated for 10,000# towing, but that must be in Nebraska, not anywhere with mountains. It would go about 15MPH up the hills and I got about 6MPG . I put on headers with some minor improvement, then I put on a Paxton supercharger. It then had plenty of power but after about 30 seconds pulling up a hill it would overheat and I was back down to 10 MPH . The most I could tow in AZ was about 4000#. I sold the Suburban and bought a new Ford 3/4 ton crew cab pickup with the Power Stroke Diesel, 5sp manual, and 4.10 gears. This is the only Ford I have ever owned, but it is the best tow vehicle I have ever driven! It will pull up the hills at 50MPH with the air conditioning on in 110 degree summer heat!! I even towed the boat to RI and back to AZ and averaged 12.8 MPG for the 6000 mile trip at 63MPH! I put the truck and boat on a truck scale and the rig weighed 17,100#! It averages just under 17 MPG when not towing. After my experiences, I would never get another gas vehicle to tow.
Jim

[Belair62]

I was going to say Power Stroke too....

[Chevy454]

Having gone the 454/Paxton route myself in a '91 Dually, but stepping up to CAT power, my vote is for a "newer" diesel. Any of the newer Cummins/Powerstroke/Duramax offerings would be ok. The new 6.0L & 8.1L gas engines from GM are TONS better than the old 5.7L & 7.4L gas engines of old, but they are still healthy eaters when it comes to fuel. And of course, stay away from the anemic Dodge or Ford V-10s.

As for the trailer, though, I hope you have 36ft of floor space, or else you're not gonna get 2 cars in it...

[budnate]

DIESEL for sure, I had a gas Ford before the Dodge I have now best rig I have ever owned to date! I drove both diesels last year and found the Ford needed way to much area to turn around in and rode like crap unloaded, the Dodge turned nice and can be stuffed into a parking stall with little effort and rode decent unloaded, both will get the job done no problem, but when I compared the two back to back one day and not siding on brand the Dodge was a pleasure to drive.

Bud.

[PATRICKJOINER]

pantera
for the trucks/trailers i own my, i have my drivers all in dodge one ton crew cab duallys with the cummings h. o. diesel & the 6 spd. manual tranny. i also had a '03 chevy 3/4 ton crew cab with the duramax diesel, good truck, but with the trailers they pull, 36 & 48' you really need a dually. these are great trucks (dodges), get about 12-15 mpg, loaded with 2 cars on the 48' rigs... i am going to sell one of these dodges, they are all '03 slt's... e mail or send me a pm if you are interested..

[gemleeus]

my boss and i went on a fishing trip to fla. on the way down, pulling a 20ft grady white boat w/ late 90's 454 dually. the boss got so tired of upshifting and downshifting, we stopped in a dealer in ala. and he bought a new 3500 diesel dually. at first the truck was a little herky-jerky with the boat, but once the trucks computer learned the boat was back there it was like driving any other truck, and sometimes almost forgetting the boat was back there. the truck pulled it very smoothly and would downshift automatically when coming to a stop making using the brakes hardly none at all. myself not having to much experience with pulling with a truck was very impressed. the truck pulled the boat effortlessly. the boat i know weighed over 12k. lbs. probably much more. 3500 dually, duramax w/ allison trans.

[Glenn J Coleman]

WOW, I have a similar set-up and the exact same problems. An 83 1 ton Chevy dually with a tired 454 (nagging exhaust manifold leak) pulling an 86 42ft Chapparel. With both cars in I think I'm loaded at 13,000 lb.s I have considered a 454 HO crate package from GM Performance or just rebuilding the stock motor into a stump pulling tq. monster. But with interest rates in the dirt, you can sure make a case for driving home a new truck.

Please post how you resolved your situation.

[Chevy454]

Glenn:

As I mentioned above, I've been in your shoes. We had a '91 Chevrolet 3500 crew cab with a 454/auto/4.10. At that time we had a 44ft gooseneck that weighed 9K pounds empty. After we munched the 4L80E a couple of times, we upgraded to a special heavy duty 4-speed manual with a gear splitter attached that Moparts had in his shop. This helped a lot, but I wanted more so on went a Paxton and a full dual exhaust running through headers. While it ran like a scalded ape, it necessitated a 110gal. auxillary tank in the bed of the truck in addition to the dual 20gal. saddle tanks. MAJOR gas hog. We then upgraded to our crew cab TopKick with the 3116 CAT diesel and haven't looked back. I will NEVER go back to a gas rig to tow with.