I drove Dodge diesels for about 20 years. I had 2 3/4 tons and a 1 ton dually. Mostly I run empty but also do a fair amount of pulling horse trailers and hauling hay. I also towed tractors and equipment. Loved the diesels. A few years ago I got rid of a couple horses, downsized to a 3 horse trailer and got a smaller hay trailer (20' bumper pull). I also went from a diesel truck to a 2016 F250 crewcab with the 6.2 gasser. I have 170,000 miles on the Ford. The 6.2 has been totally trouble free and I intend to run it for at least another 100,000 miles. Gas mileage is 12-18 (empty) depending on how heavy your foot is and what direction the wind is blowing. Put a load on the truck and the mileage craters (7-10 mpg). Earlier this summer I made a 2,000 mile trip with a fairly light camper and averaged a little over 9 mpg mostly running interstate highways. Ive made a number of trips with a large (heavy) overhead camper and dragging 3 horses over Togwotee Pass - mileage was about 7.
I think you'll like a gasser when your running empty. I know many disagree but I prefer the lighter gas engine crawling around in the hills. On the other hand, you'll miss the diesel torque anytime you hook onto a trailer. A gasser will get you where you're going but it'll work much harder to do it. You'll spend lotsa time looking at a tachometer pointing at 4000 RPMs. You'll feel like there is a bumble bee in a mason jar under the hood.
Diesel? Gasser? Its a trade-off. The 7.3 gas might be a viable compromise.
The Ford 7.3 gas does not spend all its time at 4,000 rpm pulling a load, it makes a lot of power down low.
