Tumbleweed
Senior Member
One other thing to consider in the Gas vs. Diesel comparison is the exhaust brake of the diesel. That is worth it's weight in gold in the mountains.
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Not to my knowledgeI was more referring to the 25/3500's.
For the 1500's, did anything change physically in the rear end to support the GVWR?
So many people think they need to decide what size engine they need, gas or diesel, based upon one or two weeks of towing. Yes, you need to handle that capacity, but it's amazing how much you can tow with a 6.4 L hemi. And whatever you do, don't go Electric, you won't be able to go 100 miles without recharging. Living out here in Idaho and having a travel trailer of the same weight is yours, I know what it's like to tow up and down over passes where. you need the power going up but you don't want to have too much weight pushing you going down. Last spring I traded in my 2014 1500 hemi For a new 1500 eco-diesel. I know it's hard to find them because they are no longer in manufacturing cycle, but I love what I did. Nonetheless, you get nearly 11,000 pounds towing capacity on the hemi which puts your travel trailer at about 40% of capacity. If you went with a 2500, you are going to give up a lot of mileage And smooth ride for the other 50 weeks of the year. It's not worth it.Currently towing a 4500lb camper with a mid size rated for 7k towing (gas not diesel) at about 85% of gross combined vehicle weight, 9mpg, considering a Ram 1500 or 2500 to see if it might make a difference (thinking 2500 due to the higher max towing to future proof going from a 25ft to possibly 32 or 36 ft closer to 8 to 12k weight camper in the future).
Gas / Diesel tow better from a mileage standpoint?
Would a 2500 offer better mileage (been reading the forums and everyone seems somewhere between 9 to 13/14 mpg regardless of gas/diesel), any advice appreciated.
Edit - towing from Ohio through all the national parks including alaska (ok, not hawaii) but in general yearly 2 week trailer camping trips with the kiddo, plus various weekend (Apr - Oct) camping trips on the east coast. Not terribly dissapointed with what I have was just trying to figure I want a larger truck again anyway and starting to think now / 5 years from now closer to retirement age if it's worth the 2 to 3 mpg and easier time towing over the next 5 years.
Thank you
I hope this response addresses your original question.Currently towing a 4500lb camper with a mid size rated for 7k towing (gas not diesel) at about 85% of gross combined vehicle weight, 9mpg, considering a Ram 1500 or 2500 to see if it might make a difference (thinking 2500 due to the higher max towing to future proof going from a 25ft to possibly 32 or 36 ft closer to 8 to 12k weight camper in the future).
Gas / Diesel tow better from a mileage standpoint?
Would a 2500 offer better mileage (been reading the forums and everyone seems somewhere between 9 to 13/14 mpg regardless of gas/diesel), any advice appreciated.
Edit - towing from Ohio through all the national parks including alaska (ok, not hawaii) but in general yearly 2 week trailer camping trips with the kiddo, plus various weekend (Apr - Oct) camping trips on the east coast. Not terribly dissapointed with what I have was just trying to figure I want a larger truck again anyway and starting to think now / 5 years from now closer to retirement age if it's worth the 2 to 3 mpg and easier time towing over the next 5 years.
Thank you
But you can't ignore the difference in fuel prices. Where I live diesel is still 25% more than gas. To me, better fuel economy is not really a reason to buy a diesel, especially when you factor in all the other costs of ownership.Well to compare a Cummins my son also towed that same 8100lb TT with his 2021 2500 Cummins and average 12 MPG towing but that was according to the EVIC, not hand calculated. So yeah if you believe the EVIC it got about 3 MPG better than the 6.4 did.
11000 pounds of travel trailer with any 1500 is pure fantasy regardless of what the manufacturer claims for towing capacity. Typical half ton payloads run 1400 to 1800 pounds. As an example, I had a Sierra 1500 with 6.2L and 10 speed with a payload of 1650. My wife and I plus the stuff we usually have in the truck are 435# and my weight distributing hitch is 106 pounds. We usually have 200 pounds of stuff in the bed. So we use up 741# before we ven hitch up the trailer. Our 7600# trailer has a tongue weight of 1020# (13.4%) which would put us 111# over loaded. We. Could move the 200# in the bed to the trailer, increasing the tongue weight by 26 fo a net of 63# under payload but not much margin of errordecision. We are just two people so I can't see any way a family of five could haul our trailer with a 1500 and stay under max. We bought a 2500 6.4L wnd that was a great e at decison. No more worrying about every oz of weight.Media https://www.ramforum.com/media/
So many people think they need to decide what size engine they need, gas or diesel, based upon one or two weeks of towing. Yes, you need to handle that capacity, but it's amazing how much you can tow with a 6.4 L hemi. And whatever you do, don't go Electric, you won't be able to go 100 miles without recharging. Living out here in Idaho and having a travel trailer of the same weight is yours, I know what it's like to tow up and down over passes where. you need the power going up but you don't want to have too much weight pushing you going down. Last spring I traded in my 2014 1500 hemi For a new 1500 eco-diesel. I know it's hard to find them because they are no longer in manufacturing cycle, but I love what I did. Nonetheless, you get nearly 11,000 pounds towing capacity on the hemi which puts your travel trailer at about 40% of capacity. If you went with a 2500, you are going to give up a lot of mileage And smooth ride for the other 50 weeks of the year. It's not worth it.
Definitely. My son's company was paying for all of his fuel so that didn't matter to him but yeah, here diesel is $4.59 compared to $3.76 for regular gas so quite a big difference. A few months go diesel was over $6.00 while regular was about $4.00But you can't ignore the difference in fuel prices. Where I live diesel is still 25% more than gas. To me, better fuel economy is not really a reason to buy a diesel, especially when you factor in all the other costs of ownership.
I had a 2017 Ram 2500 diesel to pull my 10,000 Jayco. I averaged about 9 to 10 mpg towing, sometimes as low as 7mpg. I would easily get 20 mpg on the highway with no towing. I sold the diesel because of trouble I had with the emissions crap on the truck so I purchased a 2500 gas with the 6.4. Towing my trailer I got almost the same mileage per gallon as the diesel but only got 16 to 17mpg on the highway with no towing. the diesel towed my trailer a lot better than the gas.Currently towing a 4500lb camper with a mid size rated for 7k towing (gas not diesel) at about 85% of gross combined vehicle weight, 9mpg, considering a Ram 1500 or 2500 to see if it might make a difference (thinking 2500 due to the higher max towing to future proof going from a 25ft to possibly 32 or 36 ft closer to 8 to 12k weight camper in the future).
Gas / Diesel tow better from a mileage standpoint?
Would a 2500 offer better mileage (been reading the forums and everyone seems somewhere between 9 to 13/14 mpg regardless of gas/diesel), any advice appreciated.
Edit - towing from Ohio through all the national parks including alaska (ok, not hawaii) but in general yearly 2 week trailer camping trips with the kiddo, plus various weekend (Apr - Oct) camping trips on the east coast. Not terribly dissapointed with what I have was just trying to figure I want a larger truck again anyway and starting to think now / 5 years from now closer to retirement age if it's worth the 2 to 3 mpg and easier time towing over the next 5 years.
Thank you
It's true that the Cummins is $9K or so more expensive, but what folks fail to mention or consider is that you get all or most of it back when you sell or trade the truck. You can look for yourself on any of the KBB type sites. I've had a few diesel trucks and they always give me back the price of the diesel option.I would likely get better MPGs with diesel, but saved about $10,000 on the truck purchase price and who knows how much on fuel. So for me, the cost savings far outweigh any potential towing benefits of the diesel.