Gas or Diesel?

By Mat

Date 05-15-2007 10:40 Edited 05-15-2007 10:43

Two things, actually.

When it comes to gas or diesel, does it even make a difference?

I was looking at in the near future, investing in either a miller Trailblazer 302 or a Lincoln Ranger 305g (gas, to match my truck), and the biggest difference I've seen is that the diesel is twice the expense of the gas version. Now there's probably a reason for that which I'm not getting (I openly admit that I know almost nothing about engines :P)

To make a long story short, my long term goal is to set up a starter rig and get into some line of field work, and was hoping to score some input or personal experiences. All my past experience has been in shops, and from what I hear, field work and working out of a truck in general is a whole different world.

Thanks guys!

By Kix

Date 05-15-2007 15:48

Well, disels tend to last longer and last why there more expensive. Diesel is cheaper then gas right now so thats an expense right there.

By aevald

Date 05-15-2007 16:01

Hello Mat, there are a couple of things to consider between the diesel/gas choice. Most diesels run at lower rpms than a lot of their gas counterparts, this possibly means less wear and tear on the mechanical parts of the machine, in some cases this lower rpm can mean less noise. Generally the fuel economy of the diesels is substantially better than a gas, so less fill-ups and hence less downtime and worrying about bringing enough fuel, on this same note diesel is much less flammable/explosive so less chances of accidents that can lead to fires. I also feel that in some instances the diesels have a smoother arc, certainly arguable, I make this reference mainly to machines such as the Ranger 8&9, Bobcat, and other like smaller machines, the same would not be true for most of the full-size welding machines. From the maintenance end of things I also believe you will have less issues with machine starting, stalling, and other quirks that gas engines have that diesels do not. I suppose you could say that I am a big diesel fan, but I have run a number of different brands of machines and have also had the best luck with the diesels. Just my $.02 Regards, aevald

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 05-16-2007 04:49

In the compact machines You mentioned the gas and diesel engines both run 3600 RPM, this is fast, and the engines will wear out in fewer hours than the 1800 RPM or lower speed engines on large format machines. The diesel engines are more complicated to manufacture, and in the case of the modeles You mentioned are water cooled, this is responsible for the price difference. There is more energy in diesel fuel, diesel engines produce 16-18 horsepower per gallon per hour of fuel consumption, where gas engines give 10-12 HP per GPH. So at the same load the diesel burns less fuel per hour. I don't know how much longer the diesel will last, how long it will take for the fuel savings to cover the increased cost or what value You would place on having to pull up to different pumps to fuel the truck and machine. "You pays Your money and makes Your choices."