Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives tell me about Ford gassers...

The 6.2 and 7.3 in a F-350 crew srw 4x4. How they pull, mileage, quirks, hints. Bossman won't dump anymore money on the '08 6.4 and is looking at gassers. The 6.4 soured him on diesels.... I live on the flats and the heaviest trailer is a 24' gooseneck stuffed with 1000 pound steers, 70 miles to the sale barn. Most miles are hiway and ranch.

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.

Thanks. He seems to be having a hard time finding 7.3's. His guy is working to get one locked in north of me, but other than that one truck, all he can find are 6.2's. I'll see how it shakes out in the end....

I had a 6.2 and it averaged around 12-14 MPG. Had the big trans and breaks but definitely did not have the power of my 6.7 diesel of course. It was an awesome truck until I had transmission issues and it was never the same so I sold it. If I did not have those issues I would still have it. Went back to a half ton but may revisit in the future. My buddy has the big 7.3 Godzilla and not sure I would want one.

As I’ve said before on here, the company I work for runs a fleet of 6.2 gassers. Our fleet manager says they’re the most trouble free trucks he’s seen in his 25 years in the mechanic shop.

They tow deckovers and bumper pulls, probably averaging around 8k. The guys who drive them every day like them due to reliability. They aren’t paying for the fuel and will all tell you that you just have to put your foot in it, ignore the tach, and let her eat. They do say they prefer the older 6 speed auto over the new 10 speed, it shifts less and is more comfortable for a guy who came up when the trans hunting was a sure sign it was going to be short lived.

I know probably half a dozen guys who’ve bought 6.2 and 7.3s for feed trucks. Every one I’ve asked about them say they can tell they aren’t a diesel, but they love the reliability and the cheaper intial price. They go better out in the pastures when it gets wet too due to the lighter front end.

And lastly Dad and I both have 6.2 3/4tons and they’ve been trouble free aside from mine attracting hail storms and deer. We don’t haul a backhoe around but they handle a 20’ gooseneck full of cattle or a 6 bale trailer fine. Unloaded mileage is about 15 and loaded 9-11.

Got a 7.3 on order, its built, but stuck in shipping. Seems Ford can't ship built trucks very well these days. Reading your post, sort of wondering if I should have just gone 6.2 on it. Guess we'll see in a few months.

Well, it don't appear Donnie is gonna get a new ranch truck. Boss decided to fix the '08 because the 7.3's are scarce. Said he'd get me a new truck when he can find one. So my truck will be fixed, and if and when he gets a newer one, this'un will be a back-up feed truck and used for snowplowing.

If I were forced to get a different truck to replace my current one, and could afford one in these crazy times, I'd be looking for an F250 with the 7.3.

We're looking for a F-350 with one.....

Friend of mine ordered a HD f-250 4dr 4wd with the 7.3. Says he gets 14 mpg on the highway empty and 9-10 pulling his 30' bumper pull rv trailer. He is very happy with it. I think he said it took 5 months to get it ,58k...
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Not sure what the Ford’s are like but when I was looking for a new truck, the gas Chev/GMC’s 3500 vs 2500 weren’t much different. The 2500 was rated to tow more than the 3500 if ur towing a gooseneck and bumper rating were the exact same between the two. The cargo capacity was 700lbs more for the 3500 I believe.

Maybe it would be easier to find a F250 with the 7.3.

Just a guess but I bet they’re looking for a 1 ton dually to put a bale bed and cake box on.

I have 2 friends with nearly identical 2020 F250 4x4 crew cab trucks. The only difference is one has the 7.3, the other has the 6.2. The 6.2 has enough power for what either of them do. But based on what they are telling me there isn't any noticeable difference in fuel mileage. Other than initial cost there doesn't seem to be any real downside to the 7.3. If I needed to haul much weight, I'd go 7.3. For most people diesel doesn't make sense anymore.

Did they put the 10 speed behind the 6.2, or just the 7.3?

I bought the 7.3 f250 last year in July .... has 20k on it now and I love it. Like others have said, it ain't a diesel but unless you are towing 10k plus every day I don't see how the diesel pencils out.... the only factor I can't compare yet is long term dependability ..... we'll see but so far hasn't had ANY issues. You just have to get used to driving the hell out of em again.... like the old 460's.... everyone got used to the low end torque with the diesels.... you gotta get these gassers wound up.... no low rpm crap. My mileage is like others 13-15 on the highway 8-12 loaded.... I also have the 3.55 rear end with the 10 speed auto..... feels a little sportier with the lighter front end as well.

Ps... I went to Corwin Ford in Nampa,Id.... my father in law was in there last week and said they have a ton of trucks on the lot.

https://www.corwinfordnampa.com/sea...d&Model=F-350SD&Displacement=7.3

FYI .... they currently have 9 f350's with the 7.3 in stock.

Assuming they fixed the lower end issues they were having with the 7.3 when they first came out?

Good luck on finding one. I have a '22 F250 diesel that is racking the miles up and thought I would replace before it gets to 50,000 miles. I can't find anything similar with a reasonable price, gas or diesel. Would order a 2023, but they are over a year out according to our dealers.

Just drove through Eastern Colorado, where it appears you live. I had no idea how sparsely populated that area is. We saw a random tornado cruising through the pasture outside of Limon and apparently doing no harm to anyone and then drove into a hail storm.

I'm 30 miles west of Limon, and you didn't stop?......

I should have. From your posts, I think we share an addiction--.22 handguns and could have had some great discussions. There is nothing I would rather own or shoot than a good .22 handgun.

Though, it was a tough trip and you wouldn't have wanted to be exposed to me that weekend. We moved my daughter from Lubbock to Boulder. We left Central Texas Friday morning and headed to Lubbock and then loaded and to Lamar. Saturday was Lamar to Boulder and unloaded and assembled furniture and then to Amarillo. Got up Sunday and drove home. Along the way, I discovered I was sneezing and coughing the whole time because I had one them viruses the Chinese supposedly invented.

To make all this semi-applicable to the thread, I cleaned the manure out of our 16' foot Big Bend gooseneck to haul her stuff to Colorado. I would guess loaded we were running 10-12k trailer weight and got 17 MPG between Dumas and Lamar and 15.5 MPG from Lamar to Boulder with my 2022 F250 6.7 Powerstroke. The rest of the trip was around 14 MPG. Diesels definitely have their drawbacks, but I feel I get as good or better MPG loaded than most people report with gas 3/4 tons empty. And with the 6.7s torque, I have to be careful not to forget I'm towing a trailer because it's not that noticeable.