I was begining to think that going for a Diesel would be good for you, but when you said you live about 5 miles from work, you would kill the engine. And going off-road, I will say the Cummins is a deffinate boat anchor when you stop in soft stuff. as long as you keep going you have the power to plow through, but stop once in soft stuff and your done. the dry weight of my engine is 970pounds, once you add oil, water, fuel, and other stuff needed to run it your looking well over 1000#.

another thing that you need to worry about if you do happen to toss a turbo in your hemi is when you hammer it, there is a pant load of heat that is being generated. if you stay on it long enough you will overheat. Aluminum does not handle the heat as well as cast iron.

now, as long as I keep my foot out of my engine, I can see nearly 20mpg. that is unloaded. loaded I realy dont know since I dont tow enough, but most of the guys I know that do tow (10-15K) are in the 12-14 range with the heavy haulers(20K+) are around 10-12. Also that upfront cost you pay for the diesel is made back when you sell the truck since a diesel 4x4 is highly sought after.

your best bet is this. look for an older 94-98.0 2/3500 with a 12 valve engine. these can be made into some serious ground pounders and can easily pull loads up-hill that your power wagon has problems with and use this truck for only pulling your 5vr.

 

So is there anything new out there yet for those of us that use the truck for towing on occasion? I tow a 28' trailer loaded with my race car, tools, and mics other items (maybe about 9000#) about 7-10 times a year as far away as 16hrs one way, The Hemi can handle the local hauls just fine but forthe longer ones I was looking to help it out like canadianpowerwagon was looking to do, anything out there yet?