Diesel power...pros and cons

[CG]

Ive seen quite a few threads on diesel conversions for 4x4's. I really dont know much about them. Last one I had was in a diesel Rabbit truck probably close to 25 years ago...Not exactly a great experience lol.

I'm curious what the pros and cons are. What is the best late model diesel combo you can put in our trucks? If you had money to burn would you keep your rig gas powered or would you jump at the chance to switch?

I understand they are torq monsters, so that's a good thing. I suppose if we have gas go crazy again you can make your own fuel.

Im not switching (no money lol), just curious since I read so much about them.

[kwmech]

The "popular" thing now is to swap in a cummins 6bt into everything. Personally I see how much maintenance the diesels need, and how expensive they are to run. Yes they get twice the mileage and put out twice and sometimes 3 times the power, but at what point does the cost of maintaining a diesel and the cost of gas cross? I like my big block trucks. Yes more in gas and a little longer getting up that hill, but I don't have to worry about a 300.00 lift pump or an 800.00 injector pump going out.

[CG]

Thanks for the answer. I guess people just like to oh and ah over the diesel threads on here because yours was the only feed back. Must not be a whole lot actual diesel owners.

[wildwilly4x4]

I have a 6.5 in my '72 4x4 with a later model NV4500, all set up with a banks turbo system. My actual motor was cheaper than any gas motor..FREE, from someone who didnt know how to work on a diesel. Early chevy diesels are pretty easy to find...not as strong as a Cummins, but they work good for what they are, and get spectacular mileage. Mine will prolly even out run a similarly set up gas rig, and get 22 MPG to boot. Also, with a lil knowledge, they are dirt simple to work on, and are extremely reliable. My 0.02

[Hottrucks]

ok heres my $.02
your never going to make your own fuel...diesal fuel is running about the same $$ as high grade gas....

the cost of the swap will out weigh the amount of fuel your going to save

as far as power...I run a F 350 diesal...its my work horse I tow alot with it lug my slide in camper and tow the boat at the same time AND I live where its pretty hilly I take it to Fla with a 24" box trailer full of motorcycles..it also plows snow better than any gas truck because of the weight and low end torque...yea it rocks so if someone ever wanted a old work truck then do it!!

the Kool factor of it rocks too

as far as maintance ..in 100000 miles all I have done is oil changes every 10,000 and fuel filters and the motor is just getting broke in (a gas would be looking for some sort of internal maintainance by now)

in reality I might consider it if I had or found a dam near perfect truck, lived down south Planned on keeping the truck for a long time... Oh and the motor would have to be near free ..I would want a late modle Chevy with an Allison trans...I think the swap would be fairly easy ( kinda the same work as puting in a newer BB) but getting it wired would be kinda *****...but once its in you can plug in a box and really make some serious power

there you go
Jeff

ps besides you can get diesal power and torque from a stock gas motor check my build

[bikes&bowties]

When (not if) I have the money I will be building a crewcab and it will get a 5.9 12 valve cummins under the hood.. Nothing like rolling coal and getting 20mpg in a jacked up fullsize... Thats just me though

[1985-GMC]

Im with you bikes&bowties, I will be doing the same thing with my dually. I already have my donor engine, I picked up a 91.5 dodge 250 with a great running engine off craigslist for $1400 the only thing wrong with it was the tranny and no bed. I will get back most of my money if not all of it when I part out the rest of the truck, so the engine will basically cost nothing. All I need now is a dodge nv4500 and a dodge 29 spline np205 and a bunch of odds and ends to do the swap.

[Burt4x4]

Diesel Power is AWESOME! 454 Power is AWESOME! I recommend BOTH:


Each Engine shines in it's own light!

[thirdstreettito]

No offense guys, but please dont spout crap off when you are wrong, you just look plain ole stupid.

Diesel are %30 more efficient than gasoline engines. The only way a diesel cost a lot is when you buy Ford or dont take care of it properly. Keep everything lubricated and clean and monitor your gauges and you'll go more than 500K.

I have owned a few diesel. My father has owned more than he can count. My uncle works on them ,and has owned at least 50 and owns about 10 at the moment. Why? Because we like saving money. Make your own fuel properly, no by-product.

Any guy who doesnt know much about them will hate them, most guys dont know much about them, hence why they all hate them. Take a little while and read up on them, how they work, cause and effect, etc. You will want one badly when you know about them.

I know Im probably gonna get flamed for this but, the truth hurts.

[dfairchild19]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

No offense guys, but please dont spout crap off when you are wrong, you just look plain ole stupid.

Diesel are %30 more efficient than gasoline engines. The only way a diesel cost a lot is when you buy Ford or dont take care of it properly. Keep everything lubricated and clean and monitor your gauges and you'll go more than 500K.

I have owned a few diesel. My father has owned more than he can count. My uncle works on them ,and has owned at least 50 and owns about 10 at the moment. Why? Because we like saving money. Make your own fuel properly, no by-product.

Any guy who doesnt know much about them will hate them, most guys dont know much about them, hence why they all hate them. Take a little while and read up on them, how they work, cause and effect, etc. You will want one badly when you know about them.

I know Im probably gonna get flamed for this but, the truth hurts.

this is very true, and the 12 valve swap may be the easiest swap out there. i think that many people are just uneducated about diesels. they are very easy to maintain and they mainly only get expensive when you try to get major power out of them, and also if you buy a ford of course.

[Mxracer202]

Cant wait to get my 67 "finished" once she is a capable trail rig then I will get back to my willys which is gonna have a cummins she is prety much gonna be a street machine. Cant wait walk away from ricers blowin black smoke out the back!!!!!!!!

[V30 mongo]

Originally Posted by dfairchild19

this is very true, and the 12 valve swap may be the easiest swap out there. i think that many people are just uneducated about diesels. they are very easy to maintain and they mainly only get expensive when you try to get major power out of them, and also if you buy a ford of course.

I have an old 6.2. It's old and slow, but it still goes and has'nt been taken apart yet. Never had a Ford of any kind. Thinking of one, maybe. Whats so bad about a Ford diesel other than this is a Chevy forum?

[onlyifihadachevy]

personally I think the ford diesels are good, as any other as long as your not raising the boost extremely high.

And ford should be coming out with the cummings 6.7 diesel soon.

They get expensive or time consuming on certain models. Like the 6.0 fords need to take the cab off to take off the heads, My uncle did it 3 times. Or the 7.3s having the glow plugs under the valve covers. Both fords.

But they have great advantages, the fuel mileage, how long they last and the torque. And not to mention the ease of getting power out of them. The fuel can be difficult to find sometimes, but you can also make your own bio fuel. Which can be made extremely cheap.



For a tow rig, street rig then sure a diesel would be great, but offroading I would prefer a gas because of the rpms they make.

[1985-GMC]

The only diesels that ford had that were any good were the old 6.9 and 7.3 Powerstrokes but parts get expensive if anything breaks (which they will), and if your looking to make any sort power out of them that's where things get really expensive. Take a 95 Cummins and a 95 Powerstroke and build them to 700hp and you will probably spend 3X-4X times the money on the Powerjoke and the Cummins will be more reliable. But that's just my opinion.

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by onlyifihadachevy

personally I think the ford diesels are good, as any other as long as your not raising the boost extremely high.

And ford should be coming out with the cummings 6.7 diesel soon.

They get expensive or time consuming on certain models. Like the 6.0 fords need to take the cab off to take off the heads, My uncle did it 3 times. Or the 7.3s having the glow plugs under the valve covers. Both fords.

But they have great advantages, the fuel mileage, how long they last and the torque. And not to mention the ease of getting power out of them. The fuel can be difficult to find sometimes, but you can also make your own bio fuel. Which can be made extremely cheap.



For a tow rig, street rig then sure a diesel would be great, but offroading I would prefer a gas because of the rpms they make.

Ford will not be coming out with a Cummins or Cummin(g)s 6.7, they will be coming out with a FORD V8 6.7 made and designed by FORD.

[onlyifihadachevy]

I thought they won the contract, Guess I was wrong. Do you know if there was any reason for the change from the 6.4s They have only been out like 3 years.

And is ford just going to copy cummins 6.7?

[thirdstreettito]

FORD V8 NOT I6! They are switching because the 6.0 sucked, the 6.4 sucked, so they are trying to make something that sucks more. As my local diesel shop says, "If it wasnt for Ford I would be out of business"

[Hottrucks]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Ford will not be coming out with a Cummins or Cummin(g)s 6.7, they will be coming out with a FORD V8 6.7 made and designed by FORD.

My buddy called me the other day he was at Barret Jackson in Fla and test drove the new FORD diesal..he said it makes stupid power and is quite ....I have a 6.0 ( International) in my ford 100,000 mile ( 2004) I get decent milage it pulls like a dozer and I had it chipped for awhile but I was driving it like an Idiot so I took it out..all that being said I have heard some bad reports on them something about a bad rocker that hits the injector. breaking or something..guess I got a good one...

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by Hottrucks

My buddy called me the other day he was at Barret Jackson in Fla and test drove the new FORD diesal..he said it makes stupid power and is quite ....I have a 6.0 ( International) in my ford 100,000 mile ( 2004) I get decent milage it pulls like a dozer and I had it chipped for awhile but I was driving it like an Idiot so I took it out..all that being said I have heard some bad reports on them something about a bad rocker that hits the injector. breaking or something..guess I got a good one...

Yeah "supposedly" the new Ford 6.7 is a good engine, but once they put some miles on them im sure they will have problems too. I do know a four or five people that have 6.0s with no problems but they do NO pulling with them. On the other hand I know two other people that pull backhoes with their 6.0s the first guy has had his in the shop too many times to count with 3 or 4 pairs of heads put on it and who knows what else, and and the other guy has had about the same luck with his except last month he sold his and bought a 2010 6.7 Cummins. So I figure as long as you use it as a minivan you should be alright.

[Hottrucks]

first off keep in mone the cumming is a Bad Azz engine..to bad it came in a D**** I can't even say it

BUT out off the 100,000 miles on my truck I would guess that about 65,000 of them there was something behind it..either my 28 foot race boat or a 24 foot dual axle box that is always full of something...mostly 5 or 6 motorcycles... I run it back and forth to Fla about 2 or 3 times a year..it take me 21 hours to travel from here to Tampa its 1490 miles so you can figure out how I roll...lmao

ALL that being said I stand by my motor...not all the 6.0's..and again the old Cummings are fast becoming the engine of choice for a diesal swap..as a matter of fact I'm looking into putting one in a 66 ford 4X4 for my buddy

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by Hottrucks

first off keep in mone the cumming is a Bad Azz engine..to bad it came in a D**** I can't even say it

BUT out off the 100,000 miles on my truck I would guess that about 65,000 of them there was something behind it..either my 28 foot race boat or a 24 foot dual axle box that is always full of something...mostly 5 or 6 motorcycles... I run it back and forth to Fla about 2 or 3 times a year..it take me 21 hours to travel from here to Tampa its 1490 miles so you can figure out how I roll...lmao

ALL that being said I stand by my motor...not all the 6.0's..and again the old Cummings are fast becoming the engine of choice for a diesal swap..as a matter of fact I'm looking into putting one in a 66 ford 4X4 for my buddy

I guess its just the luck of the draw with anything these days (Including the 6.7 cummins). My step dad has 2 2003 dodge crew cab duallys, one we've had for 5 years and the only real problem with it has been with the electric fan clutch and the other we just bought about a month ago and no problems so far. Personally I hate anything with computers thats why im doing a 1st gen cummins swap, I could also use a 2nd gen 12v because the injector pump isn't computerized either but their a little more expensive.

Again cummins has no (g)

[87fleetsidedude]

in my opinion...if diesels are so freakin amazing why doesnt every run a diesel?...i personally dont like or dislike them...i can tell you i would rather drive a gas motor than a diesel. i have a 305 in my truck and for what i need it to do it does just fine. and if i keep my foot out of it i get 18 mpg...so unless im hauling a goosneck or camper or something of the sort i would stick with a gas engine

[Hottrucks]

fleetside dude I hate to tell you ut in most other countries they are running on ALOT of diesal engines...look at the new TDI vw's tons of power and 40 mpg..

[71meangreenc10]

[QUOTE=Hottrucks;3903719]first off keep in mone the cumming is a Bad Azz engine..to bad it came in a D**** I can't even say it

Dodge Dodge Dodge.....Said it for ya HT

I love my 03 Cummins and with the lift pump mod moved to the tank for free, hopefully I wont have any injection pump problems. I do all the maintenance myself and if it breaks, it breaks. Its paid for and with only 83K it still looks like a new one. Best riding 3/4 ton I have ever road in.

Dodge's AC sucks but the truck is a beast.......

Smitty

[thirdstreettito]

Originally Posted by Hottrucks

fleetside dude I hate to tell you ut in most other countries they are running on ALOT of diesal engines...look at the new TDI vw's tons of power and 40 mpg..

68 you mean. New record.

Originally Posted by 87fleetsidedude

in my opinion...if diesels are so freakin amazing why doesnt every run a diesel?...i personally dont like or dislike them...i can tell you i would rather drive a gas motor than a diesel. i have a 305 in my truck and for what i need it to do it does just fine. and if i keep my foot out of it i get 18 mpg...so unless im hauling a goosneck or camper or something of the sort i would stick with a gas engine

Everything you own got to you by a diesel. America lives on diesel and rides on gas. Plus look at Europe, great economy in all those countries, all those countries also have %85 diesel vehicles.