Propane?

[Purebred Redneck]

Hey does anyone know if you can still convert new trucks to run on propane?
Any idea of the cost of such thing?

If gas prices stay high, it might be worth doing --- IF gas prices stay high.

[Bill]

Ask Dep Don about that one. He and a bud of his converted a truck to propane a few years back. One that was still carborated that is. Seems to me the vehicle got poor milage but with the cost of propane it worked out better than gas. They had this huge tank in the bed of the truck and didn't leave a lot of room for much else and used it for a hunting trip if I remember right.

[Purebred Redneck]

Has a huge tank, but I think you can get like 5000 miles without filling up.

[jabba]

I know they suffer performance loss.

Propane ain;t cheap either, but I know it's not too bad to do to a carburated engine.

Jabba

[jimiowa]

I considered that back in the 70`s.
When I did an inquiry, I found out that by the time they added road taxes to the fuel cost. Uh yes you still have to pay the taxes.
There was little savings.
The real advantage would come from little or no contaminates dirtying your oil, since it burns real clean.

A better alternative,IMHO would be E85 alcohol blended fuels. Most cars made in the last 10 yrs will burn it w/o modification(check your owners manual).
Biggest problem is that the distribution network is very weak. I only know of two filling stations in Iowa who sell it.

[dan]

Here in Australia all the taxies use LPG which I think is the same as propane. they are all fuel injected

[klsm54]

Propane costs are tied directly to crude oil prices, just like gasoline. So, as gas goes up so does propane.

And like Jim said, you also have to add the road fuel tax to it if you are burning in an on-road vehicle. Here in my neck of the woods, gas is at $2.39 a gallon, and propane, for home heating, is fluctuating from $2.00 to $2.15 a gallon, WITHOUT the tax.. ...so as far as a price advantage, there isn't one.

On the upside, it is VERY clean burning, increasing the life , and service intervals, of your engine.

On the downside, it is gutless, produces a considerable drop in horsepower. And, it can give you real fits if the mercury gets down near zero. The liquid propane stops, or very nearly so, vaporizing, and you can't go no mo'..

[deputydon]

bill said:

Ask Dep Don about that one. He and a bud of his converted a truck to propane a few years back. One that was still carborated that is. Seems to me the vehicle got poor milage but with the cost of propane it worked out better than gas. They had this huge tank in the bed of the truck and didn't leave a lot of room for much else and used it for a hunting trip if I remember right.

It wasn't my idea!!!
IT WAS A BAD BAD IDEA to say the least. Mileage went from 12-14 to 4!! trying to find someone to sale us propane in Denver,CO. was next to impossible. That how far we made it before deciding we needed propane. We also never bothered to worry about installing duel fuel so we couldn't burn gas, an even bigger mistake when we hit the mountains...... LOW LOCK FIRST GEAR and we weren't sure we were gotta make it up and over the passes west of Denver !!!!
Course it was a Chevy. After that "bright" idea for the next ten years we took my Ford. And made Elk camp in half the time. The only advanage.......... plenty of time to drink beer and site see while in the propane powered truck!!!!!

[klsm54]

deputydon said:

....... trying to find someone to sale us propane in Denver,CO. was next to impossible. .........

I forgot about that drawback... ...I was in the propane business for 20 years, and we could never justify the steep price that one had to pay to sell propane as road fuel. Then on top of the cost of the license, you had to collect and pay the taxes, subject yourself to state and federal audits.... ...Nope, it will be a long time , if ever, until you see propane readily available for road use, even though almost every town has several places that sell it for heating and/or cooking..... ... The fine for selling it without collecting the tax is pretty steep too, not worth the risk.