Considering Moving to an HD Truck

belanger9 · Jun 23, 2021

ColoradoTJ said: ↑

I didn't have time to dive into this earlier and what I have to say is even more relevant now anyway after just getting home.

The 7.3L/10 speed is a pretty good setup, and if you decide to get the truck tuned by 5 Star Tuning these trucks drive totally different (in a good way). 10-12K lbs the GM 6.6L is a great setup for someone that doesn't want to off-road a full sized truck. Colorado...good luck. Utah...good times.

I've seen some comments about "I would get the diesel", but some may not know what it takes to maintain one. For instance, I did a late evening run to Wally World to get some items. On the way to the store (9 miles into town) I noticed my truck was about to go into exhaust regeneration. I'm sure I could make it....

While at my least favorite place to be looking for DEF Fluid, every shelf was empty. Great. This almost defeated the whole purpose for going out besides getting 35 gallons of 91 octane and 30 gallons of diesel. I went to a gas station near by to see if they had some overpriced DEF fluid. Nope. Great.

So I decided to head over to the fuel station to redeem my 1.00 off per gallon for 35 gallons. I also had an additional .80 cents off for 35 gallons. Well on the way....sure as stink on crap my truck went into regen. Some people know this, but you don't want to stop during a regen. This just wastes more fuel on an already expensive process. Out to the freeway I went to spend 30 minutes driving consistently over 30 mph with no stop and go traffic.

Completed that 30 minute drive to clean my exhaust particulate filter and headed back to the fueling station to get 65 gallons of liquid gold.

Why am I telling you all this? I want to talk a little about the costs. Every regen I do it eats 6-8 gallons of diesel that is injected into the exhaust to bring temperatures up to 1100-1250*F to burn the "soot". My truck regens about 400-500 miles when towing. It's all about how much fuel is being used. If I'm at max GCWR it is around 400 miles. When I took a trip down to Oklahoma, I went 815 miles between regens due to being empty on the way down and getting 22-24 mpg. Don't forget while driving diesel is being used as well. I'll just keep that out of the equation. I do have the ability to do a manual regen, but that is loud and I try not doing that around my house. The engine RPM is brought up to 2500 RPM, exhaust temps are increased up by injecting fuel in the exhaust, and 30 min later the process is done. The hood is up and the big cooling fan is locked in pretty much the whole time. It sounds like a jet engine is taking off. Your neighbors will hate you. This process seems to use the least amount of diesel and in addition usually gets a better cleaning.

So 8 gallons is worst case scenario on a regen. Diesel in my area is 3.29 a gallon. Every regen costs me 26.32 every 400-500 miles since I rarely drive my truck for "shits and giggles" unless you are @jberry813 and I'm picking him up from DIA (he doesn't like the DMax) so I drive it every time....LOL! (Love you boo) Now you have to be careful on this regen process as well. Do I have enough fuel? Going into regen between half and a quarter tank can get sporty. On long trips, I take an emergency 5-10 gallons just in case. I got caught once with my pants around my ankles in South Dakota during bike week. I went into regen and needed fuel BAD. I was trying to avoid Sturgis like the plague but had to get a lot closer than I liked. Not sure if anyone has taken a 28' camper through Sturgis during bike week. That was fun. Actually the bikers were cool as hell and helped me out.

Now during all this fuel being used during towing and regens...guess what? DEF fluid is being used. Remember I said tonight was a strikeout for finding any. I'm at about 1/2 a tank for DEF, so I'm ok for a while.

Keep these things in mind when thinking "I'm getting the diesel" and if it's needed or worth it. For me, the stretch is worth the cost. Most? probably not. If you are daily driving a modern diesel to a workplace that sits in a parking lot...you're doing it wrong and will pay for it in maintenance costs. Ask anyone that has had a fuel system failure or exhaust emissions problem. My exhaust is 3800.00 to replace. At 100K miles I will completely remove my exhaust and have it cleaned to help prevent plugging and full replacement. This will cost me 500.00 if I remove the exhaust myself and take it in.

Food for thought....
Click to expand...

This is why I don't get people who want a diesel so bad. Have they never used a 2013+ diesel for long chunks of time? The power is intoxicating, but they get annoying, and they can get VERY pricey even when working right, let's not talk about if they go wrong.

With how good the gassers are getting it's become a comfort thing - diesel's will pull all day long and stop very quickly just using the engine. But the gassers have enough power to pull the same load, they just rev like you're using launch control, and the brakes will have to be used. There's a reason large fleets are going away from diesels outside of their 550 style, 1 tons and below are going all gas.

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