why do tow vehicles need those axle ratios?

[TheEnemy]

I'm not sure exactly how big of a truck you are looking at, but you might consider looking at getting a transfer case out of a heavy duty pickup truck. Many don't need the front output shaft connected to anything. It might be a bit pricy still once you adapt everything you need to put it in so researching what you have and what you can get will be important.

As far as transmissions for loads though I prefer a wide ratio where I can start in second when unloaded or not go into high when pulling loads, but that is my preference.

[stillsearching]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Several dozen loads over the next few years, maybe even 50 or 60 of them, saving $100 or more each time I need to use a truck over some length of whatever will pay for itself.

This is where you want to come to an understanding of ownership and operational costs: cents-per-mile.
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None of my loads are IRS writeoffs (this is not a for-profit farm/ranch... nor is it nonprofit, it might become so in the future but wont be yet/too much hassle with paperwork and rules if not followed cost more in fines than money saved and similar so just gentlemans agreements for now.. this is for a communal off grid living experiment for which my contribution is hauling all the stuff... someone else will do the growing paying me in food from the greenhouse, etc etc) so the other part is whats relevant to me. Having no finance cost is saved vs acquiring a newer vehicle - but the biggest savings is not even fuel efficiency but the cost of renting a pickup from someone or some company to haul what I need every time. Especially considering I often cant get one on short enough notice or late at night when i've found myself doing light trailer runs before. :P The mileage improvement is just gravy, but gravy worth having. I probably wont match a Cummins under load, but I can probably beat it without load, which is half the time during expected loads anyways.

I'm also using a slightly different standard to calculate by - since I consider it essential to have a 2nd vehicle, the cost I have to justify is compared to the additional cost a tow-capable vehicle adds, rather than one which is not tow capable. So it's vehicle cost + any modifications done up front. The primary ongoing cost is then fuel and maintenance, and I have to spend fuel if I rent a pickup to pull something with anyways so the sole costs are really just maintenance vs extra money into the vehicle at the outset. Even without running the numbers i'm not worried about my ability to break even within 2-3 years if I don't spend more than $2000-3000 in modification. Saving $750-1500 of vehicle rental per year is quite possible, if I were already able to act on all the loads i've wanted to haul.


By the time i'm into the probably $5000-8000 required for a 4bt and such I have to start looking alot more carefully at the numbers, guesstimating whether I will really do enough loads to even break even let alone put money back in pocket. The extra gas savings of a 4bt over say a GM 6.2 wont save it, that i'm sure about. Ultimate lifetime of driving plus towing will not be hundreds of thousands of miles. So it's just an exploration to see whats possible right now...

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Actually let me clarify for a moment... since I have a few threads semi-related and I sometimes forget what I posted in each.

As it is, straight up stock, a 93 Cadillac Fleetwood with the desired tow package tows 7000lbs. I could buy one tomorrow (used theyre in the low $2k range) for my 2nd car and that by itself handles all the tow needs I need. So that's basically my baseline. I'm already considering doing that, no mods, no messing around, nothing. Having this at all saves me on most of those vehicle rental costs I mentioned, and is already a planned purchase once I find one.

The primary reason for wanting to go diesel is not so much economy improvements (although it is possible they can become more significant at lower speeds and around town) but the ability to run SVO. The SVO conversion is for the future, not so much the present. The ability to run SVO by itself, is something I cannot do with the rental pickups I might occasionally use. Especially with most loads being a 500mi radius, extended range tanks mean the SVO I make at home will be used to do most jobs. Saving 25-50 gallons per trip, likely $75-200 or more in the future, starts making a rapid difference. That kind of cost savings from that pays for the diesel conversion pretty readily. The only reason to go 4bt instead of 6.2 GM would be for extra mileage and power, and the numbers don't work out so well.

If I do the work of a diesel conversion I want a little double duty for ecomodder type improvements, I see no reason not to already being that far into the conversion by then. Why NOT boost it from 20mpg to 30mpg?

I'm first working on a less expensive way of getting SVO though, if it's JUST to run diesel, the few thousand i'd spend for a diesel conversion alone may or may not pay back the mpg saved in a reasonable period of time because its not going to get enough miles put on it. Even if it does, the 3x I could spend on a powerful cummins 4bt conversion probably wouldn't be enough additional mpg to pay for itself. If my fuel cost goes from (whatever it is probably 35c/mile just for fuel at 10mpg laden) for gasoline while towing to (basically free on SVO) that by itself probably pays for the conversion by the time I hit 60-100k miles. Even faster if fuel prices rise.