diesel vs gas

[travel dodge]

diesel vs gas and which tires (international travel)

I searched around here and could find a few treads that touched on the topic but none that seemed to discuse it directly. I have a 1995 Dodge ram 1500 with 360 gas motor that I have built, loved and cared for since it was a pup. It is getting to the point that I am afraid to take it on long trips as I am not sure I can aford that gas to get it and the trailer back home. I have been considering the swaping of all my parts on to a 2500 with a diesel since I hear they get around 20 mpg no matter what they are carrying or pulling. That would be more then twice what I am getting at this point.

So the question I have is, on a global scale is it easier to find diesel then gas? I would figure that almost everywhere has big rigs, tractors, Lorys ect that all run on diesel so it should be easier to find anywhere. right? It also seems to me that there are more oversized gas tanks and the like for the diesels.

I am building this rig to travel the US, All the Americas and possibly a trip to Africa someday. Please let me know what you think, I am interested in this question the world around so if you know about avalibity in Asia or else where let me know that as well.

The only downside I can think of is places like Baja where there is just a guy with a jug of gas on the side of the road, but If I can go twice as far on a tank of gas I might not need thoses guys anymore.

 

[Rockcrawler]

I definitely feel that Diesel is a superior choice to gas, however the 20 mpg that you're hoping for probably won't be there. The Cummins will get 20 mpg empty cruising in the 55 to 65 range. I average about 18 mpg in mine in mixed driving around town and freeway/highway (75 mph out here in AZ). I get about 15 mpg towing my Jeep.

I'm not sure about international availability, but I haven't had trouble finding it anywhere I've been in the states. It isn't at every station, but with the increased range you're able to plan your stops etc.

Hope that helps.

Kyle

 

[travel dodge]

18 mpg:wings: anything better would help... put $75 in my tank on the way to work tonight

 

[TEETS]

I get 18-19 mpg in mine with some mixed driving with little towing. When I tow the front end loader(~9000lbs) or brush hog(~7500lbs) I get about 15 mpg. I have a friend with a hemi 1500 and he gets about 10-12 around town. I would go with the diesel any day.

 

[Robthebrit]

My Dodge mpg is very sensitive to speed. With an empty bed at 62mph, which with my gearing is around 1650rpm (peak torque), I get mid twenties on the freeway. If I increase the speed to 70-75 I get 18-20mpg.

Don't forget i drive a mog, I can deal with driving at 62.

Rob

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I think anything that can double or come close to doubling your mileage from 10 mpg or worse is worth it IMO. The engine itself is built very durable. I have one with 186K miles on it and a compression test shows perfect compression, literally "just broken in." Of course I am biased (you can guess from my handle) but I prefer diesel quite a bit mostly for the ruggedness and durability. I would sell oyur truck and buy a diesel, you can get then for about $6-10G in the same era in pretty good shape.

 

[travel dodge]

This is some good info, sounds like the way to go. I could not stand to part with my gas dodge as I have had it so long. I plan to keep it and make it my plow truck while I take my time switch all the camping stuff to the new dodge. :Mechanic: I must admit stealing the stuff from it will kinda be sad.. It will be like I am cheating on it with a younger model.

 

[travel dodge]

I changed the title as I have more questions for this thread.
What seems to be the most popular off road tire in far away places? I had been planing for sometime to get truxis MT's for my truck as they are said to be a great rock/snow tire. A little over a year ago when I was in baja I was looking around and saw more BFG mud tires (on MX plated rigs) then any other kind of tires. It got me thinking about how hard it would be to replace an interco or other smaller brand tire if I needed only one or two while I was traveling. It seems that a BFG or Goodyear are some of the only options, anyone with experience buying tires in latin america?

 

[gjackson]

Diesel is avaliable in most places on the planet. As you said, everywhere has trucks to haul goods. Some places I have been diesel has been rationed, and hard to get, but it is there. Other places they mix water with diesel to get more money (but they do the same to gas.) Given the range advantage, I don't think you can go wrong.

cheers

 

[charlieaarons]

I changed the title as I have more questions for this thread.
What seems to be the most popular off road tire in far away places? I had been planing for sometime to get truxis MT's for my truck as they are said to be a great rock/snow tire. A little over a year ago when I was in baja I was looking around and saw more BFG mud tires (on MX plated rigs) then any other kind of tires. It got me thinking about how hard it would be to replace an interco or other smaller brand tire if I needed only one or two while I was traveling. It seems that a BFG or Goodyear are some of the only options, anyone with experience buying tires in latin america?

Michelin truck tires. Period.
Outside North America nobody in the expedition tire world has heard of Intercos. Look at what virtually every military truck in the world runs on (even ours!). Look at what Chris Scott shows in his book Sahara Overland. Would you rather stake your life on polyester or steel?

Charlie

 

[travel dodge]

michelin.. that makes sence, I would not even have thought about it. I love the amount of info availble on this site:arabia:

 

[Robthebrit]

I'd give a thumbs up to michelin XZL's, i have them on one of my mogs and they are great tires. If you are looking for big tires (mog sized) then Continental have some awesome tires - MPT81's in particular. I have them on the other mogs and they every bit as good as XZLs, same construction, but silent on the road and air down better.

If I had to pick, I am not sure which I would use, it probably doesn't matter, both are available worldwide.

Rob

 

[Haggis]

traveldodge. if your not quite ready to pull the trigger on a newer vehicle, you could try a Hypertech Programmer. I used one on my '01 Dodge and went from 13 mpg to 17 mpg while using the truck in work mode (towing, hauling) and around 19 mpg on the freeway. Some of my buds have done the same and results are usaully around 3 mpg gain in the 87 octane mode, I haven't tried the premium mode, no real need to. The biggest improvement and what I like the best was the improved driveability with the new transmission settings. You can set your shift pionts to match your needs and it has been a great improvement, the tranny isn't searching for gears while pullin up hill no more. If your patient you can find a deal on them, normally there around $400, but I got mine from a promotion from Preformance Parts for $340. Hypertech has been around quite a while and they're a good company. Back in "87 they custom burned some chips for me for my '87 Stage 1 Buick LeSabre, a rare car with buicks hotrod Stage 1 V6 and the Buick Management computer system ( 6 black boxes instead of one). They went out of their way to do it right and the results were more than satisfactory.

The advatage of an your slightly older rig is that there are millions of them on the road and in bone yards. If your in the boonies someplace you can walk in to any parts store and find parts or scavenge from a yard. Heck there's more of a chance that local can scavenge some parts for you, while the guys in the more exotic rigs are waiting for parts to be flown in. Don't sell you Ram short, it might just surprise you and others.

 

[travel dodge]

Good info on the hypertech but on the web site they only have programers starting in 1997. I have 1995 obdI not obdII. Yea I love my rig, so many memories but want to have one as a plow rig and have the other as a recovery and travel rig (winch and all). I will not be getting rid of my truck by any means just keeping the supper swampers on it and having it in low range most of the time, I think it will be happy that way. Who knows next summer it could be a flat bed rock crawler.
There are other advantages to the new rig buy as well like a extended cab.. Now that the girl freind lives with me it's not just me and the perro anymore. Some of my wiring started 12 years ago, I think I know a little bit more now and this will make me start over.
Anyway I found a perfect option that I will check out next week. 1998 cumins ext cab manual, if I can get it at the right price.
Anyone out there know anyone much about 12 valve vs 24 valve motors.. It seems that the 12 valve it what I am looking for easier to work on less complex less computer controled but the 24 valve has more power..

Well I will keep the site posted and start a write up on the swap when I find the right rig.

 

[navara-au]

There are a lot of different types of diesel motors. The more modern turbo charged common rail diesels are very efficient and have great power to weight ratio's. But some of the older v8 non turboed diesel's are not much better than petrol engines in fuel economy. If you get a diesel make sure it is turboded otherwise you wont be happy with the power or lack there of and fuel economy.. (preferably from the factory, as the motors are built differently to handle the more power from the turbo)