I posted back when I bought the truck and several members were interested in what I thought of it. After several months now of pulling trailers, cows, and campers I will give my honest observations.

It’s not a bad daily driver. I’m at about 13 mpg daily. Coming down from Maryland with a 5k# load I got 11 miles to the gallon. Mostly highway. That trailer didn’t really impact my speed or trans at all, the truck never slowed down.

Pulling my 9k# loaded camper you can tell the difference between gas and diesel. It’ll still hit 70 uphills but you can really tell the torque isn’t as good. I’m droppping to 5th or 6th gear on hills and hitting 3k rpms. Not something that happens in the Ram 2500 diesel.

If I was towing often, I’d 100% go diesel. But this engine is pretty tough, and for the person who only tows 1-2 times and month, the savings of gas mileage vs diesel in all aspects is well worth the lose in towing performance.

As also previously mentioned a few months ago, the engine is well designed. Oil changes take 15 minutes, most simple repairs and maintenance seem to be easily accessible.

The suspension on the F350 seems almost overly robust. I’ve got an aftermarket airbag kit on the rear, comes in extremely handy with heavier loads bumper pulled. Feels like I get better response out of the steer wheels with 60# in the airbags. Without a load or airbags a stock suspension would be a very stiff ride.

Overall I’m very happy with my decision to go with the gas over diesel. But that’s caveated with my towing needs being sparse and not something I have to base my livelihood on.

Cool evaluation!
We bought our first camper back in September, 30 foot pull behind and my wife decided she likes it a lot….a real lot! We squeezed in five trips this fall, pulling with a Silverado 1500 and it did ok. The trailer is 7500 lbs loaded, I figured we are ok in the northeast for now. The wife informed me she wants to upgrade the camper and go cross country in two or three years….I told her that will be an upgrade in truck as well. Now I’m keeping my eyes open for a Silverado 3500 dually diesel…figured that wouldn’t have a problem cross country…but damn! When did trucks get so expensive?!?!! Of course the wife says “shut up and go buy one” lol
Buying a diesel does give me pause, I’ve heard horror stories on some very expensive breakdowns….it appears gas engines are a lot cheaper on repairs….guess it’s gonna be a journey of decision making

Thanks J, I tow occasionally my 11,000lb mini ex. That weight includes the trailer. What gear ratio do you have? Thinking that a lower gear ratio would help me at the sacrifice of some top end speed with the 7.3 gas power plant.

Would be sweet in the Mustang.

The Ford build your truck website shows that only 3.73 and 4.30 ratio axles are available with the 7.3L engine on the F350.

I appreciate you reviewing this truck/engine combo. I am looking at moving from a 16’ F250 6.7 to a newer 7.3 because I want to move to a 5th wheel. Our current TT toybox is about 12.5k full load. Looking at a trailer that is about 14k max. We tow about 5-6 times a year usually from Indian to WY for a couple of weeks every July. Thoughts on how the 7.3 would do?

My Ram diesel can tow your house if it has wheels or not. (Smiley face)
I got about 11.5 towing from Ohio to Florida in December.
The mountains were no problem at all.
I get about 21 unloaded on the highway and 18 combined.
I put about 40K towing in the last 3 years around the US.
Love the diesel and ease of fueling at truck stops.
We camp/Travel about 8 months a year.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
Would be sweet in the Mustang.

Factory five mentions it in the build options for their Cobra kit.

I am also considering this truck/engine combo for a bigger travel trailer as well. Any hesitation about taking it to the mountains vs a diesel (CO, etc)?

I'll be honest gentlemen, MAYBE with the lower gears I would go with the gas but if you're pulling 5-6 times a year, that's 10-12 trip, that's probably doable. If you're pulling 2-3 times a month I would definitely go diesel.

I was able to pull the same trailer side by side with a Diesel Ram 2500 and it pulled better, no questions about it.

Where the gas performs better is as a daily driver and ease of maintenance.

In town I got not less MPG than the diesel just daily driving, but towing the Diesel will have way more torque and better gas mileage.

So if your daily driving will offset your lose in fuel pulling then I say go for the gas.

None of this is to say that I can't keep the 9K trailer at 65-70 MPH up hill, it's just that I can't do it at 2000-2500 RPM.

I'm VERY happy with my decision and doubt I'll ever save enough over the diesel and maintenance to make my decision non-frugal.

For 40K~ I got a truck that can pull anything I will ever need to pull. So the sale price, usage, and lifestyle will have to dictate yalls decision.

ETA: After reading this it sounds very useless for the questions yall asked. I hope yall can see where I'm trying to come from. It's really hard to answer this over diesel. For everyone who asked, I'd pick the gas. I don't quite think the usage dictates diesel, but I also wouldn't fault you for getting the diesel.