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I'm thinking about trading my Tundra for a little heavier truck. In an F250, should I go 6.2 gas or 6.7 diesel? Having trouble making economic sense of the diesel with modern emissions equipment. When things go wrong, it seems to get expensive fast.

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What do you tow? If it isn’t super big/heavy I would get the gas. I just traded a diesel Duramax for a gas 2500 6.6L and put about 5,000 miles towing this summer. A fairly light 26’ bumper pull camper and a bay boat were no problem. I didn’t even miss the diesel at altitude over Cottonwood pass. My diesel was great but the emissions BS was enough for me to be ready to send it down the road. If you are towing heavy and big miles, I would consider a diesel. My mileage was a bit worse than my diesel, but I have never gotten very good mileage with anything I drive (at lease as compared to what everyone else *says* they get).

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20 foot tandem bumper pull with up to an 8,000 pound tractor

Also, in the market for a 16 foot bumper pull stock trailer.

Drive 30-35,000 miles per year with about 10 percent or slightly more towing.

Last edited by DesertMuleDeer; 08/02/21.
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How do you like the GM 6.6 gas?

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So far I like it a lot. It has more grunt than the old 6.0 gas and the 6L90 has been very good when shifting and has been great with grade shifting. I honestly don’t really notice much of a difference accelerating with a trailer between it and the 2011 Duramax. The 6.6 gas actually is rated at 4 more HP than my old Duramax (397 vs 401). It will rev sometimes to get the job done up a steep hill but the cab it quite and most of the time it loafs along at 2,000 rpm or less. I towed the camper over cottonwood pass at 12,000 feet and had absolutely no issues with a lack of power going up or a lack of control going down.

Acceleration empty is better than my old Duramax and it seems to me to be a very peppy motor with a nice subdued exhaust sound. I missed the throttle response of the gas motor when driving the diesel.

Mileage towing isn’t great. 8.5/9.5 pulling the camper at interstate speeds of 70-75. More at 55-65. The boat gets about 9.8-10.1 at 70-75, and quite a bit more at 55-65. My old Duramax was maybe 1 mpg better with the camper and 2-3 better with the boat. Empty is between 12.5 and 14.5 or so mixed city and interstate. Best I got was an all interstate trip or 150 or so miles at 65 mpg where it was 18.5. My old Duramax empty did about the same, while my 6.0 gas is actually worse.

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DDM,

Just my opinion here. If you're thinking of going from a Tundra to an 6.2 Ford in order to gain power, don't do it. You may gain some but not enough to be of consequence. Go diesel for power.

If you're thing of going from a Tundra to an F250 for additional stability with heavy loads and heavy towing, just go with the 6.2. The Ford gasser might even do a smidge better on fuel mileage than the Tundra.

I drove diesels (Cummins) from 1998-2019 and love 'em. In 2019 I downsized my hay trailer from a 27' gooseneck to a 20 foot bumper pull. I also went from towing 4 horses to 3. At the same time I sold my diesel and found a 2016 F250 crew cab with a 6.2 gasser. I like my Ford alot but I miss the diesels when I'm going uphill with a load.


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What's the word on Ford's 7.3 gas? Are they even available now?


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Power is not the issue. The Tundra really squats and rides harsh when you get weight on it and I'm towing a little beyond its rating.

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Originally Posted by DesertMuleDeer
20 foot tandem bumper pull with up to an 8,000 pound tractor

Also, in the market for a 16 foot bumper pull stock trailer.

Drive 30-35,000 miles per year with about 10 percent or slightly more towing.


I pull a 20ft bumper pull with approximately 7000# tractor for a total of a little over 10,000# with a 6.8l V10 Super Duty and it will pull it OK but I only pull it once or twice a year for less than a few hundred miles. If I pulled 3000 to 3500 miles per year as you suggest I think I would be looking for a diesel, although Ford has a new 7.3l V8 with a lot of low end grunt that may be worth a look. The diesel will also give you some compression braking which would be important to me if I towed in the mountains much.

Those of us who haul heavy stuff, like a tractor to the dealer to get worked on get by with a gaser just fine and the are much better to live with daily but 3500 miles towing is a lot of miles.

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I would choose the new 7.3 gas over the 6.2 gas in an F250. Vastly superior power and fuel mileage about the same.

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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
What's the word on Ford's 7.3 gas? Are they even available now?

They are about as available as any other new truck, which is very few.

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My friend has a Tremor 7.3 in stock at one of his dealerships and offered it to me for a few days to try with no strings attached. I told his manager at the dealership I thought I would prefer a 6.2L.

My heaviest load is the tractor, and I don't have a need to pull it much. Mostly, I end up pulling a side x side, utility trailer, etc. I'm hoping mileage on the 6.2 if I go that route will be similar to my Tundra, which is pretty consistent 15 mpg plus or minus one mpg empty and usually around 10 mpg with a trailer. I do some town but the majority of my driving is highway.

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Originally Posted by DesertMuleDeer
My friend has a Tremor 7.3 in stock at one of his dealerships and offered it to me for a few days to try with no strings attached. I told his manager at the dealership I thought I would prefer a 6.2L.

My heaviest load is the tractor, and I don't have a need to pull it much. Mostly, I end up pulling a side x side, utility trailer, etc. I'm hoping mileage on the 6.2 if I go that route will be similar to my Tundra, which is pretty consistent 15 mpg plus or minus one mpg empty and usually around 10 mpg with a trailer. I do some town but the majority of my driving is highway.


I have a friend who has both the 6.2 and a 7.3 in F250's. Actually the 7.3 is an F350. They get the same mileage empty and the 7.3 he said actually gets a little better towing, probably because it doesn't have to work as hard as the 6.2.

We have one F250 at work with a 6.2 and I drive an F-350 with 7.3 gas and there is no comparison.

The 7.3 was only a $1700 option

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The new and improved gas engines from the big three are far and away better than the outgoing ones. I believe they will slowly increase in popularity relative to the expensive and problem prone diesels as a great choice for medium duty towing. Like I said, I already have nearly 6,000 miles of towing on mine this summer and didn’t miss the diesel once. If you are a hot shot and tow for a living that’s one thing, but if you tow recreationally or in a construction/landscape/farm capacity I think the new large displacement gas motors make sense. For the cost of some of the repairs a diesel might incur (Busch CP.4 fuel pump at nearly $10,000) you could probably drop a new crate engine in a gas truck.

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If you research the new Ford 7.3 you might consider it. Depending on what you tow and how often, it comes down to the rear end you choose.

3.55, 3.73 or 4.30

I hear the 4.30 does under 2000 RPM at 65 MPH. There is a you tube on this very thing.


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Originally Posted by DesertMuleDeer
My friend has a Tremor 7.3 in stock at one of his dealerships and offered it to me for a few days to try with no strings attached. I told his manager at the dealership I thought I would prefer a 6.2L.

My heaviest load is the tractor, and I don't have a need to pull it much. Mostly, I end up pulling a side x side, utility trailer, etc. I'm hoping mileage on the 6.2 if I go that route will be similar to my Tundra, which is pretty consistent 15 mpg plus or minus one mpg empty and usually around 10 mpg with a trailer. I do some town but the majority of my driving is highway.

If that’s what you’re looking for performance and economy wise the 6.2 will serve you fine. Mine gets 15.5 on the interstate and about 13.5-14.0 mixed mpg unloaded. 8 to 10 pulling depending on speed and load.

Before buying mine I spoke at length with our head mechanic at work. We have a fleet of 3/4 and 1 ton Fords equipped with the 6.2s. He’s been in charge of the fleet for 23 years and has seen trucks from all the big three come and go. He said that bar none the 6.2/ 6 speed combo was the most reliable and trouble free he’d ever had. So far in around 80 trucks and millions of miles they’ve replaced one transmission, one T case, a few coils, and one truck that broke a valve spring. Of course being company vehicles they aren’t treated nicely with lots of towing and off-road flogging in right of ways.

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I've read that the 7.3 is designed as a truck engine. They're expecting considerably longer life than the 6.2. I don't think it's been out long enough to know in the real world, though.


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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
I've read that the 7.3 is designed as a truck engine. They're expecting considerably longer life than the 6.2. I don't think it's been out long enough to know in the real world, though.


Ford went back to the basics with the 7.3. It's an OHV design, not DOHC. Said you get better low end torque with the OHV and that's where the 'truck design' came about. Ford is putting the 7.3 in trucks up to the F650/F750 series.

Also, a buddy has a new F-250 with the 7.3. He really likes it.


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I looked up the torque curves for both the 6.2l and the 7.3l and the 7.3 makes considerably more power in the lower RPM range than does the 6.2. They both peak up around the 4000 rpm range but the curve is much flatter for the 7.3 with considerable more torgue at 2000 rpm.

Having the torque in the 2000 to 3000 rpm range where we operate the engine most appears to me to be a big advantage.

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Sold my 2016 Ram Cummins,with 50,000 miles on it and bought a 2021 Ford 250 with the 7.3 gas motor. Having been a Mopar guy my whole life ,I was thinking of a retirement truck and went with the gas motor. I pull a 8000 # TT and the new Ford pulls it very well. I liked the diesel, but was thinking ahead on the cost of repairs in the future. I think the 7.3 and the 10 speed transmission,is a great combo. If Ram had put an 8 speed tranny in their 3/4 ton truck,I probably would have gone that route. But so far very happy with the Ford

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