My partner and I are shopping on a new 2024 Chevy Silverado 2500HD ZR2, non bison edition. We narrowed down our choice to this one specific model. We are having a hard time deciding between the gasoline and diesel engines.
Our primary use is big game hunting Western states like Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, etc. We do all kinds of hunts including december-january late season cow elk hunts in frigid, snowy, muddy conditions. We'd like to go offroading as well. We might go up mountain altitudes as easily as 7,000 ft to 12,000 ft. We're both retired. We apply for all the tags in all the NFA friendly suppressor friendly western states every year. We don't know what each year will bring hunting wise. On average we might have 6-12 camping/hunting road trips a year.
We also have a four season off-road capable camper trailer we desire to get, a Blackstone Mountain/Titanium Series 280KVS by Outdoors RV. It's dry weight is 8,400 lbs and its GVWR is 11,000. It's floor length is 31', full length including the hitch is 34'. We'd like to take this on all our hunts.
My partner has never towed anything. I have some experience towing boats and other stuff about 10~ years ago. I've driven 2500 class trucks a lot in the past. We both feel very comfortable in the Chevy 2024 2500hd ZR2 out of test driving a ton of trucks. We really like all the safety features and new cameras with it plus the ride quality.
Both gasoline and diesel has the same tow rating on the truck of 16,000 traditional, 18,000 5th wheel/gooseneck. However payload capacity on the gas is 3,397 lbs. The heavier diesel engine is only 2,928 lbs payload capacity. It might not seem like much to other people, but it's significant for us.
We decided against any 3500HDs/duallys. We really do feel we need the differential lockers and suspension the ZR2 non bison has. There is one road in one of my favorite units my friend's 3500 dually got stuck in width wise that I know a 2500 can take.
We might bring two other adults with us at times. We might also want to put our small ATV in the bed of the truck (vs adding a 2nd trailer.) With those factors involved the gas can possibly safely tow up to 12,648 lbs, while the Diesel can only tow 8,896 lbs. If we don't have the ATV in the back and only take 4 adults the Diesel can only tow 11,272 lbs safely. If it's just us two - both can tow the full 16,000 rating safely. Gas has 631 lbs of payload left while the diesel only has 162 lbs payload left for us before we lose our tow rating.
All the above calculations are calculated with a safe 12.5% tongue weight. At a 10% tongue weight both can tow our desired trailer + passengers + atv in bed. We don't feel comfortable doing that as we want to minimize swaying though. We're also willing to install a better load distribution hitch/etc on the truck.
We're also concerned with dififculty of the diesel starting up in the cold vs the gasoline. We're also concerned that the higher torque of the diesel might be a hinderance for off roading.
So all of this has us really leaning towards the gasoline engine.
It's a hard decision though as the diesel is 975 ft-lbs of torque and 470 hp, while the gas engine is 460 ft-lbs and 401 hp. The 2024 diesels are surprisingly quiet as well vs older models. Chevy has done an amazing job at really soundproofing the diesel engine and the cabin.
What engine do you recommend for our use case? Do you prefer gas or diesel? Thanks!
Our primary use is big game hunting Western states like Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, etc. We do all kinds of hunts including december-january late season cow elk hunts in frigid, snowy, muddy conditions. We'd like to go offroading as well. We might go up mountain altitudes as easily as 7,000 ft to 12,000 ft. We're both retired. We apply for all the tags in all the NFA friendly suppressor friendly western states every year. We don't know what each year will bring hunting wise. On average we might have 6-12 camping/hunting road trips a year.
We also have a four season off-road capable camper trailer we desire to get, a Blackstone Mountain/Titanium Series 280KVS by Outdoors RV. It's dry weight is 8,400 lbs and its GVWR is 11,000. It's floor length is 31', full length including the hitch is 34'. We'd like to take this on all our hunts.
My partner has never towed anything. I have some experience towing boats and other stuff about 10~ years ago. I've driven 2500 class trucks a lot in the past. We both feel very comfortable in the Chevy 2024 2500hd ZR2 out of test driving a ton of trucks. We really like all the safety features and new cameras with it plus the ride quality.
Both gasoline and diesel has the same tow rating on the truck of 16,000 traditional, 18,000 5th wheel/gooseneck. However payload capacity on the gas is 3,397 lbs. The heavier diesel engine is only 2,928 lbs payload capacity. It might not seem like much to other people, but it's significant for us.
We decided against any 3500HDs/duallys. We really do feel we need the differential lockers and suspension the ZR2 non bison has. There is one road in one of my favorite units my friend's 3500 dually got stuck in width wise that I know a 2500 can take.
We might bring two other adults with us at times. We might also want to put our small ATV in the bed of the truck (vs adding a 2nd trailer.) With those factors involved the gas can possibly safely tow up to 12,648 lbs, while the Diesel can only tow 8,896 lbs. If we don't have the ATV in the back and only take 4 adults the Diesel can only tow 11,272 lbs safely. If it's just us two - both can tow the full 16,000 rating safely. Gas has 631 lbs of payload left while the diesel only has 162 lbs payload left for us before we lose our tow rating.
All the above calculations are calculated with a safe 12.5% tongue weight. At a 10% tongue weight both can tow our desired trailer + passengers + atv in bed. We don't feel comfortable doing that as we want to minimize swaying though. We're also willing to install a better load distribution hitch/etc on the truck.
We're also concerned with dififculty of the diesel starting up in the cold vs the gasoline. We're also concerned that the higher torque of the diesel might be a hinderance for off roading.
So all of this has us really leaning towards the gasoline engine.
It's a hard decision though as the diesel is 975 ft-lbs of torque and 470 hp, while the gas engine is 460 ft-lbs and 401 hp. The 2024 diesels are surprisingly quiet as well vs older models. Chevy has done an amazing job at really soundproofing the diesel engine and the cabin.
What engine do you recommend for our use case? Do you prefer gas or diesel? Thanks!
