How many of you tow with a Gasoline powered 250/2500 or 350/3500 truck? Do you have a small V8 (5.7 hemi, 6.0 GM, 5.4 Ford) or the large V8/V10 engines (8.1 GM V8, 6.8 Ford V10, Dodge 8.0 V10)? Does it have an automatic or manual transmission? If you had to buy a truck today, would you buy a Gasoline powered truck or switch to Diesel? Not trying to start a "mine is bigger than yours thread", just wondering what others think or have experienced and what they are pulling with their "GASSER"!

Myself, I would switch to Diesel. The 8.1 big block GM is not offered in the 2500/3500 trucks anymore, if it were, I would be hard pressed not to stick with the 8.1/Allison combo, hey it works for me. The 8.1 is still offered in the 4500-8500 chassis. I don't think the 6.0 GM gasser mated with the new 6 speed automatic would get the job done....At least not in my situation.

"I don't think the 6.0 GM gasser mated with the new 6 speed automatic would get the job done....At least not in my situation."

What ya pullin

Gets the job done here

We pull a 3HS Bumper pull with a 6.0 Escalade no problems.

14' Shortwall LQ with a CC Duramax, no problems.

All depends on what you are doing.

Going to attempt to pull a Cherokee Super Chief, 35' on the floor, 43" total length, 6 horse head to head. First thing I got to do is weigh this trailer, dealer said it weighs around 7500#, The Cherokee folks say it tips the scale at 9660#. The trusty scale at Wilson County Farm Supply will tell the correct weight, no guessing. What's your truck rated to tow so far as fifth wheel towing? My 2001 3500 is rated to tow a 15,000# gooseneck/fifth wheel. It's rated at 22,500# GCVWR. Was wondering what the new 6.0/6 speed auto is rated at. I know my 8.1 don't pull nothing like the newer Diesels, and I don't believe the 6.0 with approx. 100# less engine torque is going to pull with the 8.1, unless that new 6 speed auto (not an Allison) has some sort of magical powers! I believe that extra gear (6th) is an extra overdrive, nothing extra down in the 2-3-4 area, when you are trying to get the load moving. I think my old truck will do just fine, was just wondering what and how much others are pulling with a big GASOLINE, automatic truck.

giddyupmatt, that GMC is a much nicer looking truck than the new Chevy, that's a good lookin ride!

I know you said you were going to weigh it anyway, but I don't think there is any way a 6H head to head could weigh 7500. The other figure sounds spot on to me.

After owning a gas Ford and wanting to upgrade to GN LQ trailers, we bought a diesel. This is a tow/carry truck, not a daily driver. We have many hills in our area, and with the cruise and air on we can go over the top of most in OD.

If it were a daily transportation I would consider a v-10, but for our usage it's perfect. Would only replace it with something similar

BOL  Gard

Hello all,

I have an 06 DRW Crew Cab Ford with the 6.0 in it and the 4.10 rear end.    What a pulling machine.  I pull an 05 2 Horse Elite with 15' LQ.  With 6 Bales of hay, 40 gallons of water 2 horses, bag of feed, and all the tack needed to start a little store, the whole rig ways quite a bit.  However we are less than 26,000#.    Driving 2000 RPM's (63 mph) I get 11 - 13 mpg.   I only have 15, 000 miles on the vehicle and have notivced the milage starting to creep up.   In the last 4000 miles I have gained almost a 1 mpg increase.   I love the diesels, they are pulling machines.

We used to have a 99 Ford V-10 gasser and switched to a 2003 Dodge diesel.  The Ford pulled the trailer we used to have good but with the automatic you had to lock out the overdrive and turn high rpms. Also with the short box you only got a 27 gal gas tank and with getting 7 mpg you didnt get far before you had to start looking for the next station. With the Dodge I got a 6 speed and like it better in the hills,  not always shifting up and down.  When we went to a bigger trailer I was glad to have the diesel.  I think you have to balance out your needs against the higher cost of the diesel.  If you only put on a few miles each year the gasser would be cheaper.  Our current trailer with horses and hay weighs 16000 lbs and I have pulled it out west in the mountains with no problems.

That's another mark for the dodge 6 Spd manual Trany and the Cummins Engines.  You just have to start thinking about the hills and how much strain is put on an automatic trany being required to continuously shift up and down.

I ran an 04' up and down these Kentucky hills with an automatic for 96,000 miles with not one problem out of Dodges automatic tranny. Only problem I had with the Dodge was it was too tall.

Not against automatic at all.  Just want to make that aware.  I just wanted the thought out there.  The automatic does a lot more shifting that if you had a manual and were controlling the shift patterns.  I do have to say though that it is good to hear that the 04 trany lasted as long as it did. I knew several people me included that ran into real problems with these.  The problem could have been limited to just those few and that my truck and a friend of mine’s truck were both gas and ½ ton (though I did trade it in on the truck I have now with the odometer read just over 188,000 miles without doing any trany work).  The problems I would have is it would feel like something skipped.  I replaced u-joints, rear bearings, and check gears to see if there was any wear or chipped teeth and found nothing nor did replacing any of that fix the problem so I let it go and like I said I turned it lose with 188,000 miles.  I honestly never heard anything for the diesel and/or ¾ ton and higher because at that time I was not hauling trailers it was a “to and from work” truck.

Duramax Diesel with the 6 speed Allison AUTOMATIC transmission...

No Jerky Shifts...

Horses love it...

I pull with a GMC 8.1 gas, towing a 22 foot Merhow 2 horse with 11 ft short wall.  Love it.  Have pulled the mountains in Colorado, and to Arizona down to Phoenix from Flagstaff and back up, loaded with 60 gal of water, generator and 8 bales of hay. Never had a problem.  I am wondering what I will do for the next truck since GMC is not making this engine..... but hey in 4 years, none of us may be going anywhere with the cost of gas.....

CTR RIder

When hubby drives the speed limit we actually get pretty good fuel mileage even loaded.

That is my problem too.  My husband doens't like it when I drive because I only do between 60-65 when towing.  BUT I don't use as much fuel as he does and with current prices.....  Guess who doesn't drive my truck anymore!!  

Gotta find the trucks "sweet speed" and just go with it.

Here in Texas - where you can drive for 12 hours and still be in the same state - I prefer a diesel for fuel mileage.  My o4 Dodge HO Cummins gets 16.5 (IF I keep my foot out of it) pulling and their Hemi *might* get 11!