Possible new class 5 rig. Am I nut's to choose gas motor ?
- Thread starter klahanie
- Start date
86scotty
Cynic
The problem with that is that you breaking lots of laws they are starting to care about, especially if you go anywhere near CA. What's more, you instantly lose warranty and any possibility of ever taking the truck to a dealer for any maintenance. On anything new this is a very bad decision due to software and advanced tech that any new vehicle is slave to a dealer for.
You know this I'm sure but that's why it doesn't work.
I think your 8.5mpg and 11mpg estimates are pretty realistic, once you average in the slow speed stuff.
Then it just becomes $/year or $/lifetime of vehicle. There’s no hill that I know of west of SK that a 7.3 won’t maintain speed with only 12k and it doesn’t really get that hot often.
Resale may or may not factor in for you, but from what I see here (BC), used diesels premiums are generally higher than the sticker premium.
As an aside, I find it interesting how far we’ve come when a 7.3 Godzilla is considered to be ‘simple’.
Then it just becomes $/year or $/lifetime of vehicle. There’s no hill that I know of west of SK that a 7.3 won’t maintain speed with only 12k and it doesn’t really get that hot often.
Resale may or may not factor in for you, but from what I see here (BC), used diesels premiums are generally higher than the sticker premium.
As an aside, I find it interesting how far we’ve come when a 7.3 Godzilla is considered to be ‘simple’.
Todd780
OverCamper
This was st of my 1st thought. I think both would be fine. But in some of the more remote areas I wonder if diesel would be harder to find?Will you take this truck into Mexico where low sulphur might be an issue? If yes, gas. If no then diesel. Because. But either will do just fine. But you know, diesel is cooler than gas and you'll be looked down upon at the campfire
Just a thought. Don't know for sure as I've never looked into it.
Now I'm off to start another Tundra vs F150 thread...
2025 deleted member
Well-known member
Hard to do these days. Some states the Feds are coming after the owners when they go to sell and see it’s been deleted.
TL;DR - skip the generator, get more batteries.
You haven’t shared your budget (you don’t need too, necessarily) but with the cost of lithium ion batteries coming down and the space that will be available to you on a 550/5500 platform, I can’t think of any reason why you’d want to get a generator over additional storage capacity.
I can imagine if your use case involves lots of winter camping at high latitudes while using the minisplit to provide heat that battery capacity can be a concern. In that case, a generator may provide some peace of mind. Likewise, depending upon the battery system, AC, and washer/dryer you’re considering, you may run into issues of max current draw outstripping the battery BMS’s ability to flow that amount of current, but this can be planned for in advance and is most likely just theoretical.
Sounds like it is going to be a cool project.
86scotty
Cynic
Please don't camp near me if you're going to idle a diesel to charge batteries. Even a new quiet one with a stock exhaust.
I speak for everyone in the world I'm pretty sure.
ExpoMike
Well-known member
I ran into this in Death Valley. The group was near Stovepipe Wells and I was the only diesel in the group. They didn't sell diesel there so we all had to drive to Furnace Creek, for me. Was really low by then.
My '97 Ram was a 12v Cummins but when I bought my current 2000 Ram, I went with an 8.0L V10 gas. So much simpler to deal with but does get about 9mpg 😕
driveby
Active member
I'm with you 100%. I hate generators and certainly idling anything. I plan to "over battery" if that's a word and the high idle would be under duress as a last resort. Lots of solar on the roof and plenty of amp hours hopefully means I'll never actually need to high ilde (or genny for that matter).
86scotty
Cynic
Be nice if that could be extended to shouting, yelling, general 'ell raising, midnight troubadours, loud music, loud mouths etc, etc. We've been subject to all of that and more at all hours. Multiple times.
You gotta love people
I agree, which is why I would prioritize fitting out a rig which will get you further than most care to go. I just did this over the week of July 4th. We could only fit a trip in then and knew it was a risk. Headed to the Colorado high country expecting to fight for even remote spots and found 5 of them, none of which would've been accessible with a 2wd.
Our minisplit has been fine, dust/dirt wise. It sits high up on the rear wall so it gets dirty but not terrible. Never considered covering it - too lazy.
Our total costs were similar although the camper body and build out costs were reversed; labor (labour!) costs were the same.
We have 7200kwh of storage; our 800w of solar (~600w maximal efficiency in the summer in the desert) keeps our system topped off during the the day and recharges it in a few hours the next day despite continuous AC use in summer. We never use the DC-DC converter in the summer.
In the winter, we have to rely more on our DC-DC converter which currently an older Victron Orion. It gets super hot and throttles down from 30a to mid-20s pretty quickly. The newer Orion XS should be better (higher efficiency (50a) and better thermal management, allegedly). Even with limited sun in the winter, we haven’t had much trouble although this is in the lower latitudes and without heavy snow. There are other DC-DC converters with even higher output but I wanted to stay with Victron for ease of monitoring. I know I could wire more than one together but, again, no need for our use case.
McCarthy
Is it riding season yet?
Gearing is a huge part of building a truck with a 7.3. The difference between 3.73's and 4.30's is massive when running big tires, with big wind sails (campers or trailers) behind them. If you have a 3.73 truck with 37's or larger look at 4.56's- biggest difference one can make without power adders.
WOODY2
Adventurer
Almost better to escape to Beatty?