Diesel Refueling - Where? - Montana Owners Club

beancounter · 03-11-2007, 01:47 AM

Where do y'all stop for diesel refueling? Loves? Flying-J?

Until I get used to towing my new rig, I will be a little nervous about close-quarters maneuvers. And, at 13' in height, I need to be cautious about the overhead as well.

Any tips are welcome!

Glass Guy · 03-11-2007, 03:18 AM

I will try to use Flying j of any high volume seller of diesel. If you are traveling on a major highway the overhead clearance should not be a problem, If a semi can fit under them you will too. Roman

happy campers · 03-11-2007, 03:21 AM

Refueling on the road is a crap shoot in my opinion as you're away from the stations you regularly use. That said, stick to the big truck stop type stations if possible as they probably pump a large volume of fuel, and there is usually plenty of clearance for the big trucks. As a courtesy, fill and then move away from the pumps. Don't tie up pumps while you're shopping for souvenirs in the gift shop.

old turbo · 03-11-2007, 03:35 AM

I try to fuel at large stops. This said I also look for a good price,thats why my neck is long now. I try to keep my extra 91 gal tank filled for the times I find it hard to find a decent place to refuel. Price to me is always important some independents will be cheaper than the big guys and you will always see a lot of pump action keeping the fuel fresh.

ols1932 · 03-11-2007, 04:28 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by beancounter

Where do y'all stop for diesel refueling? Loves? Flying-J?

Until I get used to towing my new rig, I will be a little nervous about close-quarters maneuvers. And, at 13' in height, I need to be cautious about the overhead as well.

Any tips are welcome!

When towing, we always go to Flying J truck stops. Their prices are usually 1-2 cents/gallon cheaper than others. Then with the Flying J Rewards card you get another 1-cent/gallon discount. Just be sure to start the pump with the Rewards card. Most, not all, Flying J's have RV lanes. Some use pump #1 on the truck side for RVs.

A lot of the time, we fill up the truck after we have parked the rig for the night. That way we can go through the regular car lines. Something to note: Prices listed on the Flying J website for diesel are the truck prices. Prices for RVers and other cars are less.

Orv

rrheik · 03-11-2007, 05:15 AM

We like Flyin J and Pilot, but we normally start looking for stations when we hit the 1/2 mark on the fuel tanks, oem and aux. tanks. Fortunately most of the stations we have stopped at have had diesel on the end pumps, which works even with a lower overhang. We normally only go about 250-300 miles a day so with 56 gals. we can look for a good stop. Truckstops are always first choice. I have had tractor trailers run interference for me exiting gas station in heavy traffic, so another advantage of truck stops.
bob

illapah · 03-11-2007, 05:16 AM

Noted last week that the flying J in Salt Lake City that I usually use has 4 pumps for diesel. three of them are for ultra low sulphur diesel and only one is for low sulphur diesel. Just one more thing to contend with at fueling time.

Montana Sky · 03-11-2007, 11:10 AM

I try and stick with Flying J, Petro, or Pilot. I also use their websites to try and "plan" my fuel stops, does not always work out that way. Here are the links for you to book mark if you choose.

www.flyingj.com
www.petrotruckstops.com
http://www.pilotcorp.com

I also try and stick with large volume diesel movers when picking a refueling stop. So far with a combined total of over 110,000 miles of owning diesel trucks I have never had a fuel filter plug, water in fuel, injectors go bad, or fuel gel during the winter months. (knock on wood now that I said that)

Dave e Victoria · 03-11-2007, 12:43 PM

I tend to avoid Loves as the pump arrangement for passenger cars is perpendicular to the front of the building an can make for very tight manuevering. Cost me a set of steps once. There is always the option of mixing in with the big boys out back but the nozzles are sometimes too large for a pickup filler tank. I have noticed that the filler on my 2006 is a bit more accomodating than the one that was on my 2003.

After all of that, I tend to agree that Flying J is my first choice. Indeed, several of these have dump stations right at the fueling island. Very convenient.
Dave

gojodo · 03-11-2007, 02:25 PM

Why is it when I read these threads they sometime raise more questions than they answer. What is ultra low sulfur diesel compared to low sulfur diesel. I think I use low sulfur but should I avoid ultra low sulfur?

Montana Sky · 03-11-2007, 03:51 PM

John,
LSD is 500 ppm (parts per million) diesel fuel that is being phased out.
ULSD is 15 ppm diesel fuel is becoming mandatory for all road diesel by 2010.

I noticed a drop of almost 3 mpg when switching over to ULSD back in late September. It is my opinion, but if you can still find LSD I would run that over ULSD as long as it is on the market. I also started running a diesel fuel conditioner to help increase the lubricity and centane numbers that you loose with the new ULSD fuel. Since running the conditioner I got the 3 mpg back.

Here are a few links that will help answer some of your concerns and questions.
http://www.clean-diesel.org/highway.html
http://www.chevron.com/products/prod...sel/ulsd.shtml
http://www.factsonfuel.org/diesel/index.html
http://fleetowner.com/mag/fleet_abcs_ulsd/

You can also Google ULSD Diesel Fuel. The amount of information you will find can have you reading for the next 3 years. Lots of opinions on the long term effect for pre 2007 diesel motors.

Glass Guy · 03-11-2007, 03:54 PM

Any diesel built after January 1 2007 must use ultra low sulfer diesel, you can burn it in you present truck but you can not use low sulfer diesel in a vehicle built after 01-01-2007. Hope this helps you out, Roman

gkbutler · 03-11-2007, 04:50 PM

Fortunately most of the Truck stops have found out there are a lot of RVs out there that run on diesel. We haven't had any problems except when we stop at the smaller stations that sell diesel. On the way north last year, we stopped at a place in Northern Ga. Don't remember the name of the town but the diesel pump was on the back side of the station. No problem getting in, but there was an almost 90 degree exit ramp. The pump was located at a position where it was practically impossible to back out of. From the looks at the bottom of the ramp, there had been a lot of trailers that had gotten caught at the bottem and had to be towed off the ramp. With our superglide, after I filled up the tank, I backed up and jack knifed the rear end and drove out. The attendant at the station was already on the phone to the towing company. The look on his face was "priceless" when I was able to back out and get back on the main highway.

happy campers · 03-12-2007, 04:12 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Montana Sky

John,
LSD is 500 ppm (parts per million) diesel fuel that is being phased out.
ULSD is 15 ppm diesel fuel is becoming mandatory for all road diesel by 2010.

I noticed a drop of almost 3 mpg when switching over to ULSD back in late September. It is my opinion, but if you can still find LSD I would run that over ULSD as long as it is on the market. I also started running a diesel fuel conditioner to help increase the lubricity and centane numbers that you loose with the new ULSD fuel. Since running the conditioner I got the 3 mpg back.

Here are a few links that will help answer some of your concerns and questions.
http://www.clean-diesel.org/highway.html
http://www.chevron.com/products/prod...sel/ulsd.shtml
http://www.factsonfuel.org/diesel/index.html
http://fleetowner.com/mag/fleet_abcs_ulsd/

You can also Google ULSD Diesel Fuel. The amount of information you will find can have you reading for the next 3 years. Lots of opinions on the long term effect for pre 2007 diesel motors.

Could you share with us which conditioner you started using? For those that are interested, there's an afternoon of reading on additives on the dieselplace.com. Just search for additives.

tcorbitt · 03-12-2007, 08:57 AM

ULSD is still not available everywhere, I would think this is an issue for those with new trucks requiring the new fuel. As I understand it, someday soon ULSD should be the only Diesel available for over the road. Since starting to use it in our 06 Ford, the only think I notice is less soot under heavy accelleration under load. I am not worried about lubrication, as the additives are suppose to take care of this based on the EPA docs. Mileage seems to be an interesting topic. Many people are seeing lower numbers. I have seen no noticable difference with ULSD vs USD since starting to used ULSD most of the past 9 months (I have seen nothing but ULSD in VT since last summer, still mixing with LDS when traveling out of state as the ULSD does not seem to be available everywhere yet.)

Pulling in, around, out of small stations, go slow, relax and with lots of practice you will soon become comfortable with the length/width/height of the Monty.

Cat320 · 03-12-2007, 09:20 AM

When refueling we try to avoid the big ones (Love's, Pilot, etc)...but if there is no choice try to use Flying J. The big ones always seem to be crowded and dirty. We try to find independent stops that are busy enough so the fuel is fresh, but without the hassle of the big truck stops.

sreigle · 03-12-2007, 10:31 AM

We will use Flying J and Love's if there's no other choices or there is a big discrepancy in prices. However, those tend to be a zoo. Very busy. We've waited as long as 30 minutes at the rv lane because of the big Class A's filling those large tanks. And one even has a dump station that requires blocking the rv fuel lanes. We'll look for any truck stop that looks decent. We'll also go to smaller stations after sizing up whether we can get in and out without much difficulty. A couple of times we've pulled the truck in to fill up and then backed out to go around and out because of the overhang or sometimes because of the real estate layout.

exav8tr · 03-12-2007, 12:37 PM

Just a suggestion. My brother in law and sister have been "long timing" for the last seven years. He does all the driving and he says he has never pulled into a station with his 5th wheel. They only do 200-300 miles a day when they travel. He unhooks at CG and then gets gas as they go out and visit and before they leave he fills up again. Of course, he does have a long range tank and can do that quite easily. I think he just plans it that way and avoids the problems at the pump...Sounds like a good idea to me. Of course, I haven't started travelling yet.....

Montana Sky · 03-12-2007, 03:46 PM

Frank,
I am using GM diesel fuel conditioner from my local Chevy shop. Cost is $6 for an 11oz bottle that treats up to 30 gallons. The additional 3 mpg more than pays for initial $6 cost plus the additional lubricity sure cannot hurt the fuel system.

Delaine and Lindy · 03-12-2007, 04:00 PM

We use flying J, Petro, Pilot. We try not to use the smaller stations, they just don't pump large amounts of Diesel. I'm also a X truck driver and feel very comfortable at Truck Stops. I have been using ULSD since last Nov. And most everyone has been using it since last year. I haven't had any change in my mileage. Our fuel capacity is 148 gals so we can travel a long time, between fuel stops. GBY....

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