Finding fuel

[Montana Man]

Def issues and fuel pump issues? Def is no problem but some folks are against it because they don't understand it. How hard is it to pour some in every 2000 to 5000 miles? The fuel pump issues are real. There are diesels out that are more reliable than others. Beware of ads stating new this and new that relating to their powertrains. If they worked right they wouldn't be constantly changing them.

[LERD]

[QUOTE=mlh;1205337]

Originally Posted by LERD

I’m just waiting for Ford to build a 6.7 Ecoboost. I’d be first in line to get one. It could easily put out 600 HP and 800 Torque at 2500 RPMs. I have had 2, 2.7 Ecoboost F150s. Great and very little impressive engine.
Lynwood

Oh, man would that be fun!! Watch the TFL trucks video on the 5 star supercharged F-250. I could never keep a set of tires on that beast! And diesel guys talk about the smile on your face when towing, look at Andre's face on that video!

https://youtu.be/fy_RoR49fb4

[mlh]

[QUOTE=LERD;1205362]

Originally Posted by mlh

Oh, man would that be fun!! Watch the TFL trucks video on the 5 star supercharged F-250. I could never keep a set of tires on that beast! And diesel guys talk about the smile on your face when towing, look at Andre's face on that video!

https://youtu.be/fy_RoR49fb4

I have a 5Star tuner on my 10 cylinder MH but it doesn’t add much power but it does use the fourth speed so it does help.
The horse power they were showing is rear wheel. You can add 23% to that to get actual engine power.
Lynwood

[richfaa]

Originally Posted by mlh

Thanks Rich. I thought I was going crazy.
Lynwood

We go through this routine with every tow vehicle we buy. We run the fuel down till the display says like 20 miles to empty, of course we do it at home not on the road towing.

We then fuel till it is full to the lip and one more squeeze will overflow. We now know exactly what the capacity of the tank is.

[mtlakejim]

I really can't wrap my head around why folks are so scared of pulling into a truck stop to get diesel? I mean seriously what is the deal. Truck stops seem to be the logical place to use when you have a big trailer in tow. What is the alternative, pull a large load thru a busy city street? NO THANKS!


I far prefer to get fuel at truck stops because they have a LOT more room (even at the car pumps) particularly when towing. And they usually have a fast food restaurant so you can get something to eat while your at it. I don't worry about a second fuel tank because there are always plenty of truck stops on any major route.


Fuel more expensive at truck stops? So your telling me you would risk damaging your rig on a busy town street and under an awning that is not tall enoug to save maybe $2.00 bucks vs pulling into a truck stop that is DESIGNED for large rigs? That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Seriously the stress alone isn't worth it geezzzz…..


As for the original poster. If your pulling a small camper and never plan to upgrade then the gas should be ok. It should get the wheels rolling on a lighter trailer. Not with as much pep as a diesel but not as expensive either. Although you might want to think about how nice it would be to have the diesel engine brake when towing down a mountain, even with a lighter load it sure makes the trip a lot safer. For certain you should really think over if there is any possibility that you might upgrade to a larger camper in the future though.

[beeje]

Have owned a diesel for over 25 years. If I was forced to go back to gas my camper towing days would be over.
As far as diesel truck issues go, you have to do your homework.

Do not buy a first year production truck form any manufacturer..... They will have the most issues. Wait a year or 2 for the bugs to be worked out.

As far as I know, the GM trucks from 2017 and up are the only diesel engines that do not use the bosch fuel systems ( they are now Denso ). The Bosch CP4 pumps have been reported to self destruct causing catastrophic engine damage to the tune of 15k+. There is a class action law suit currently under way regarding that pumps use by all 3 major manufactures.

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by mtlakejim

I really can't wrap my head around why folks are so scared of pulling into a truck stop to get diesel? I mean seriously what is the deal. Truck stops seem to be the logical place to use when you have a big trailer in tow. What is the alternative, pull a large load thru a busy city street? NO THANKS!


I far prefer to get fuel at truck stops because they have a LOT more room (even at the car pumps) particularly when towing. And they usually have a fast food restaurant so you can get something to eat while your at it. I don't worry about a second fuel tank because there are always plenty of truck stops on any major route.


Fuel more expensive at truck stops? So your telling me you would risk damaging your rig on a busy town street and under an awning that is not tall enoug to save maybe $2.00 bucks vs pulling into a truck stop that is DESIGNED for large rigs? That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Seriously the stress alone isn't worth it geezzzz…..

Now, now, take a deep breath... awnings are all tall enough (they have to be) and there are lots of non truck stops with good access...

I absolutely agree that truck stops are the best, no question.
But, in the areas that the OP asked about, and with the range that he described, there will be times when truck stops are simply not an option. You cannot count on truck stops every 200 miles in many parts of the west, even on the major routes. Also in the areas he described, many of the things to see are off the beaten path.
So, the advice they were given on how to research stops using apps like GasBuddy (or Google maps) is sound and practical; not ridiculous at all.


Now, to address the OP original discussion of gas vs diesel... many have discussed that the diesels will get better fuel mileage, and given similar generations of trucks that should always hold true. Diesel is a denser fuel, with more energy per gallon...
But, just to make sure not to minimize that difference; one might say it's only a couple miles per gallon difference. But, if you get 7mpg with a gas and 9mpg with a diesel, that is 30% difference. That is not just a cost difference, it's a range difference - for the OP example, that might mean stops as low as every 175 miles with gas vs every 225 miles with diesel. And, that is about the difference we saw when we went from a gas to diesel truck a few years ago, while pulling the same camper.

New trucks are very capable whether gas or diesel, but there is no question that if you tow long distance and you tow heavy (which really all of us do with Montana's), there are significant advantages with a diesel engine for that use. On the other hand, gas makes a nice engine for daily driving; if you tow only once or twice per year, or shorter distances, the gas may make sense.

UPS has this figured out; they use only diesel engines in their highway tractors (like all trucking companies). But, they switched to gas in their delivery vans as gas engines were better suited to the stop and start use.

I think it sounds like either choice could work for you, and I really like that you are asking a lot of questions well ahead of when you need to make the decision.

Brad

[twindman]

I use truck stops but prefer to NOT pull thru with the semis. I call the hoses they use - 'fire hoses'. The nozzles are larger and barely fit in the tank plus it is easy to slosh over when done because of this.
I forget which one, but either Pilot or Flying J I think has a rv section with 2 pumps of diesel and normal hoses. I like those.

[mlh]

The only time I almost ran out of fuel was when the UL sulfur fuel just came out and I was in the wilds of Wy. Most stations didn’t have it. I waited until I had 25 miles on the tank and added my 5 gallon emergency can.
Lynwood

[Slow Hand]

When I hit 100 miles of fuel left I start looking for fuel. Never been close to running out. When I travel price is not my biggest concern. It's like anything else. Say you bought a tool, when you bring it home and then look online a couple days later and see a lower price. I myself i never look just because I don't want to kick myself for not waiting. It is what it is.

I have passed cheap fuel only to find higher price 10 miles down the road. would you drive back 10 miles to get the cheaper fuel?

Gas buddy is only good on the highway. I have used it in town and sometimes the millage is as the crow flies not as the road goes.

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by Slow Hand

When I hit 100 miles of fuel left I start looking for fuel. Never been close to running out. When I travel price is not my biggest concern. It's like anything else. Say you bought a tool, when you bring it home and then look online a couple days later and see a lower price. I myself i never look just because I don't want to kick myself for not waiting. It is what it is.

I have passed cheap fuel only to find higher price 10 miles down the road. would you drive back 10 miles to get the cheaper fuel?

Gas buddy is only good on the highway. I have used it in town and sometimes the millage is as the crow flies not as the road goes.

As to our use of Gasbuddy... I'm not talking about searching after the fact and driving back 10 miles, or to drive miles out of the way to some tiny gas bar in the middle of a town to save a few pennies.
But it sure has been nice to know well ahead of time that the truck stop on the far end of town is 40+ cents cheaper than the ones on the near side.... or that the one on this side of town is the place to stop. That has happened regularly... once I calculated we saved over $100 in a single week of travel; I figure GasBuddy has saved me $500+ since I started using it (I don't manually track how much I saved on each fill-up from highest price... that would be way too much work! But I've traveled 30,000+ miles in 3 years so it adds up...)
So we're not talking pennies here; you can buy some tools with that right there ... and I didn't do anything other than pick which truck stop to use when I needed one...

Like you, we start looking for fuel about 100 miles out. Gasbuddy makes that so easy - I tell my wife I need fuel in xx miles and my wife starts searching on the app. Often she will skip the town ahead because she knows we can get to the next one where it's cheaper. Once she finds the ideal stop, she tells me well ahead of time how many miles ahead, which exit to look for, what station it is, and whether to turn left or right at the bottom of the off ramp.

I also like how easy it is to use when fueling up: enter just 2 things - your odometer and the dollar amount. From the built in GPS it already knows which station you are at, what the fuel price is, then calculates how many gallons you filled. If the fuel price is off, you adjust it and it adjusts your gallons filled; then the next user gets the updated price.

Also when you enter just those 2 things, it will automatically create a fuel log that calculates things like the total mileage, accurate fuel consumption rating and the total cost for the trip. My wife likes that it has the history of which stations we used last time we were there, so on routes we travel more frequently she always searches for them first... I could open the app right now and tell you those details about every trip for the past 3 or 4 years that I've been using it and it takes me about 30 seconds per fuel stop to have all that.


So, that's why I like it... if you don't use Gasbuddy, what do you use? I'm always open to suggestions if there is something better ...

Brad

[LERD]

I do use GasBuddy quite often. But I'll admit I hadn't thought about using it for accessibility to pumps before. Just fuel prices and fuel grade.

[LERD]

Brad[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by kowbra

Now, now, take a deep breath... awnings are all tall enough (they have to be) and there are lots of non truck stops with good access...

I absolutely agree that truck stops are the best, no question.
But, in the areas that the OP asked about, and with the range that he described, there will be times when truck stops are simply not an option. You cannot count on truck stops every 200 miles in many parts of the west, even on the major routes. Also in the areas he described, many of the things to see are off the beaten path.
So, the advice they were given on how to research stops using apps like GasBuddy (or Google maps) is sound and practical; not ridiculous at all.


Now, to address the OP original discussion of gas vs diesel... many have discussed that the diesels will get better fuel mileage, and given similar generations of trucks that should always hold true. Diesel is a denser fuel, with more energy per gallon...
But, just to make sure not to minimize that difference; one might say it's only a couple miles per gallon difference. But, if you get 7mpg with a gas and 9mpg with a diesel, that is 30% difference. That is not just a cost difference, it's a range difference - for the OP example, that might mean stops as low as every 175 miles with gas vs every 225 miles with diesel. And, that is about the difference we saw when we went from a gas to diesel truck a few years ago, while pulling the same camper.

New trucks are very capable whether gas or diesel, but there is no question that if you tow long distance and you tow heavy (which really all of us do with Montana's), there are significant advantages with a diesel engine for that use. On the other hand, gas makes a nice engine for daily driving; if you tow only once or twice per year, or shorter distances, the gas may make sense.

UPS has this figured out; they use only diesel engines in their highway tractors (like all trucking companies). But, they switched to gas in their delivery vans as gas engines were better suited to the stop and start use.

I think it sounds like either choice could work for you, and I really like that you are asking a lot of questions well ahead of when you need to make the decision.

Brad

Best part is, while there is no absolute answer, everyone has given me plenty of options from their own experiences to contemplate. Many I've thought of and a few I haven't. I think that no matter which fuel I chose, I think I'm going to add at least a 5 gal. Jerry can to my travels. I appreciate all of the input.

[mazboy]

regardless of what engine, upgrade to a 50-60 gallon fuel tank that replaces you current tank....


we love ours and saves space in back.

[Leonard R.]

STOP!!!!
You will kick yourself if you don't buy a diesel with all of the advantages of torque, which is much more important that horsepower.
Also the engine brake is worth it's weight in gold.
Stay away from gas!!!!!

[steiny93]

I'm in ND, our first pickup was a GMC 6.0 gaser, we couldn't get 200 miles before needing fuel. We did trips across the state, to the mountains, etc. Getting fuel wasn't an issue.

Our reason for switching to the diesel was driven by the desire for greater engine braking. Driving in the mountains with the 6.0 was stressful as the engine didn't have much if any engine braking capability. With the HDT or the Ram with the Cummins engine braking is significant.

[Bob and Jeannette]

If you go with a gas engine you will not be able to use truck stop tractor trailer fueling lanes. I thank the Good Lord every time I see one when I need fuel on the road.

[Keith Schweizer]

I used to start looking almost right away for a place to refuel when I had the stock tank in my 2015 F 350 cc short bed 6.7. Went and put in the Titan 50 gal tank. Fueling is never on my mind until getting to destination 300 miles SLC to Rawlins Wy. no problem. With plenty of fuel still in tank. Plenty of pulling in the mountains above 7k feet. Yes we did have to stop to stretch legs, but not a a busy fuel stop. One of the best up grades .

[laverdur]

If you don't mind spending a lot of time getting fuel, you might be OK. Personally, I wouldn't tow without my 57 gallon replacement tank. I can tow 400 miles and still have fuel left at the end of the day. On a recent solo trip I topped up in Butte, MT and arrived in Minot, ND (667 miles) with over 200 miles of fuel remaining to empty.

[beeje]

Not that its a big deal, but know one mentioned that the extra sized fuel tank and fuel adds weight which reduces your payload by possibly, 2-300 pounds. Not a big issue if you have the payload to spare. The SRW 1 ton guys could have an issue. The 3/4 ton guys will more that likely have an issue. Just saying.