Turbo gas or Diesel?

Thought about asking a general question and opinions on a future decision. Wife and I currently own a 2003 Silverado extended cab 2500 2WD 6.0 nearing 200k mi. It's a solid truck and tows what we need it to (open steel car trailer for a C5 and a 2 horse bumper pull trailer) at a frequency of maybe once a month on trips at most 2-3 hours. End game is a 24-26' enclosed car trailer and a 2 horse gooseneck with a small tack room or living quarters up front.

Once we kill a good amount of debt, we will look to retire this truck and get a newer one. I can't justify a NEW truck. Money no object would be a 2020 GMC 2500 4x4 Denali...but $70-$80K and factoring in depreciation that's a tough pill to swallow. EVEN though the next truck would be THE truck for the unforeseeable future and not be sold.

To the question, realistically we would be in the 2015-2018 Silverado/Sierra 2500 4 door 4x4 range (before you ask, no we don't like Ford or Dodge trucks...but that's not the point here). Diesel is the obvious choice for towing but I'm skeptical (read scared) of diesel maintenance and not knowing jack sh!t about diesels. Enter option 2...a 6.0l gas with a custom turbo setup to get some HP/TQ bump functional for towing....around 500 mark seems reliable and realistic. It will NEVER be raced nor am I looking to push the limits. It's a tow truck that needs to remain functional while offering some amenities and "just works".

A friend of mine owns a local speed shop for LS motors and a turbo setup is extremely doable to be done correctly without breaking the bank. So it got me thinking. I would do all gas motor maintenance, anything outside my ability will go to my buddies shop.

Given the options, what would you do? I don't care much for towing gas mileage since I accept it to be terrible either way....pay to play with these hobbies lol. I know a "modded" 6.0 would have inherent weaker points than a 100% stock diesel truck (I have no interest to mod a diesel or "delete" it for more HP/TQ than it would offer stock).

I figure a gas truck is at least $5k-$10k cheaper than a diesel truck of similar condition so the money "saved" could be used to toss a turbo on it and gain some towing "efficiency".

Thoughts? Opinions?
Thanks!

If it were me id get a diesel and forget about it. Maintenance isnt THAT bad on diesels. I bought a 2015 f350 6.7 specially for towing and I put 10k miles on it in the year I owned it and sold it for what I paid so re-sale is something to consider. A turbo gasser will get the job done but I would never fully trust it. No matter how well the truck gets built its still a modified truck at the end of the day and will fail on you at some point.

Hell, you can make 500 with heads and cam so why complicate with a turbo setup?

If you need more power than what a stock 6.0 can put out to tow, I think you might need the diesel.

You can really push the limits of the other moving parts while under load for extended periods of time and not even realize it.

Jeez. I just bought a 1 year old Ram Limited. It had 25k miles and original sticker was $71k. One year old with a $5k trade in, I drove off the lot for $41k

Diesel. Follow maintenance manual. Make sure it’s not a first year model.

Deezel

Mpoitrast87 said:

If it were me id get a diesel and forget about it. Maintenance isnt THAT bad on diesels. I bought a 2015 f350 6.7 specially for towing and I put 10k miles on it in the year I owned it and sold it for what I paid so re-sale is something to consider. A turbo gasser will get the job done but I would never fully trust it. No matter how well the truck gets built its still a modified truck at the end of the day and will fail on you at some point.

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Good points, and in the back of my head I can agree.

AustinJ427 said:

If you need more power than what a stock 6.0 can put out to tow, I think you might need the diesel.

You can really push the limits of the other moving parts while under load for extended periods of time and not even realize it.

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We have a "weight" in mind when we went from a 1997 1500 Silverado that was her grandfathers truck. STUPID low miles, but we needed something bigger. So we looked for a truck/trim "that could tow 10,000 lbs" which was specified by my wife for horses and horse trailers. No cars/trailer combos I own or will own will be 10,000lbs lol.

I can only assume the 6.0 trucks of today are more callable of 6.0 trucks of early 2000's??

Malern28us said:

Jeez. I just bought a 1 year old Ram Limited. It had 25k miles and original sticker was $71k. One year old with a $5k trade in, I drove off the lot for $41k

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Exactly my point. If I was buying a new truck...I'm never selling it. It will be the last truck I buy.

In order of "wanted" trim levels:
Sierra 2500 Denali
Sierra 2500 HD
Silverado 2500 HD LT or LTZ
Ram 2500

I don't mind the look of newer Ram's but the ride seemed pretty rough and the seats were horribly stiff. We'll need to drive more though. Another downside to a Ram is I've become familiar with LS stuff, so a Ram gasser or diesel is completely unknown to me.

I've owned a 04 GTO LS based, or truck is LS based and my C5 is LS based. Something to be said for having vehicles that share similarities and tools required to fix them.

My wife just HAD to have a 08 Lexus IS250...damn Toyota product LOL

Back on topic...I DO think about "buy once cry once" so to buy something that is "more" than we ever need is nice to not worry about...

gas motor will ALWAYS be cheaper cost and maintenance wise. That being said the 7.3 is the king of diesel and reliability.

I’d vote diesel. If you do the maintenance they are fine. Though you said you wouldn’t delete one, I’d 100% recommend it.
But if the gas route is the way you’re leaning, I’d put a Whipple on it lonnngg before I’d do a turbo setup. There’s little to no failures that can occur with a pd blower in comparison to a custom turbo setup.

Question. Have you ever towed with a diesel?

The difference is night and day. Rolling 80ish in tow/haul mode I’m turning 23-2500 rpms vs 5-5500 rpms and feeling like I’m about to see a rod launch through the hood when you pull a small grade...never again.

The maintenance on a diesel isn’t bad at all. I do it all myself and it is very straight forward and easy. Oil and filter every 5k (13qts), fuel filters every 10k. Really nothing else to it.

I would definitely recommend deleting as well. Diesel exhaust pushed back through the intake leads to a hell of a lot of carbon buildup and more problems down the road. That said, anything 2020 or newer is a PITA to delete, as most require a new ECM now.

98 svt said:

Deezel

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Dayzul

Neither.

Skip the diesel and all the headaches associated with it. Towing with a turbo gasser is asking for trouble too.

So just go with a lightly modded gasser. Might be slightly slower than the diesel while towing, but you will make up time not needing a tow or a month in the repair shop!

Rubenk said:

Neither.

Skip the diesel and all the headaches associated with it. Towing with a turbo gasser is asking for trouble too.

So just go with a lightly modded gasser. Might be slightly slower than the diesel while towing, but you will make up time not needing a tow or a month in the repair shop!

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None of mine have ever given me headaches.

I tow daily with a 6.7.. 7k pound man lift..

truck itself hasn’t given me one issue, or the people who used it in past. Has 115k oil field miles on it

I have a '17 Denali HD and tow/haul a lot. From your list I wouldn't go with the LML Duramax (2011 - 2016) due to their widely known issues with the CP4 fuel system unless you're willing to shell out $4-5k for a CP3 retrograde. The L5Ps (2017+) are fantastic stock (445 hp and 910 tq) and absolute animals deleted/tuned. Maintenance is the same as any of my previous gasser trucks, just takes a few more quarts of oil. Fuel filters are cheap and super easy to replace. DEF tank is 7 gallons so it lasts me several thousand miles before I need to fill it again.

If you absolutely must go diesel and GM, get an early ‘07 LBZ. Damn near bulletproof and have the 6 speed Allison. It will pull more than you sound like you’ll ever need to and won’t break a sweat doing it. I just absolutely hate not having a sfa in a 3/4 & 1 ton truck but you’re looking for comfort it sounds like.

As an owner/operator of a large farm, I use nothing but diesel powered trucks. There's a reason tractors and heavy equipment use diesel motors.

Your other option sounds like a fun toy, but a turbo gasser will not be ideal for towing. It's not built for it, and problems will arise.

Junior00 said:

If you absolutely must go diesel and GM, get an early ‘07 LBZ. Damn near bulletproof and have the 6 speed Allison. It will pull more than you sound like you’ll ever need to and won’t break a sweat doing it. I just absolutely hate not having a sfa in a 3/4 & 1 ton truck but you’re looking for comfort it sounds like.

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LBZ is the way to go. I bought mine with 115k miles and has been solid. No DEF and I get to swing my big LBZ dick around in diesel talk because everyone knows it’s the best duramax, lol.

I know its not a big diesel but my Colorado Duramax is hands down better to tow with than the 3.6L V6. I drove both and a friend has a Canyon work truck with the V6 in it and while it will tow the trailer/car it just hangs the RPMs up in the 4500-5000 range for way longer than i feel comfortable with. While my truck can handle the 5000ish lbs quite easily at 2000-2300ish rpm. Mileage is worlds better also as i average around 20-22mpg with 5000lbs loaded on a flat grade while the V6 got between 12-14mpg on the same drive.

Maintenance costs are quite a bit higher though as i spend around double per regular service visit(i still take my DD to a dealer) than a V6 version.