Propane

Case e · Jan 30, 2012

Anybody have any experiance running propane in a pickup? I am in the process of buying one that has it. Its a 1997 ford with the fuel sipping 7.5 liter. It can be run off of gas or lp, I was wondering what price lp has to be to make it worth using? I do think I have a source to buy lp by the gallon and would pay the road tax. I am also wondering if there is any problems or things to watch for with the lp. Any help would be great, I guess I didnt buy it for the lp but would use it if it was a benifit to me. Tanks Case e

tomNE · Jan 30, 2012

I have a propane pu. I like it. propane price difference will make it cheaper to drive.
will lose approx 1mpg. but has more octane and burns cleaner.

rustred · Jan 30, 2012

and the dryness is hard on the valves and seats ect. dont think you will have a saving when its time to o/h the heads.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2012

Bet you have stories about ethanol to. Schwan trucks have run on propane for years, numerous tractors from 50s,60s,70s ran on propane from the factory, many conversions for p/u and heavier were sold in the days of carbs, not so many now that computer controls fuel/air ratio.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2012

And if you tap the home heating tank you sometimes don't pay road tax, and it gets way more economical ;>)

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2012

Had a friend that had a 79 ford pickup on lp and regular, but complained about the taxes for licensing, was charged twice at the courthouse. He later removed the lp. Was in NE Nebraska.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 30, 2012

In the area I live most of the propane delivery trucks burn propane. There must be a reason. Just my 2 cents worth.

Fred2 · Jan 30, 2012

Have a 66 Ford pickup has been on propane for years,had no problems.

Ken Macfarlane · Jan 30, 2012

Dual fuel trucks don't get as good of mileage as they have low compression for gas, something like 70% power and mileage running on 'pane. If you don't care about keeping the gas ability, get the compression ratio up nice and high and you can regain the power and most of the fuel economy.

rustred · Jan 30, 2012

sure they run for yrs, but i have seen a many propane vehicles come through the garage that were on propane and needed complete heads rebuilt. first hand experience , not a story. maybe have a look at a propane engine when its tore down.you will not get the same amount of miles on a propane vehicle as compared to a gas job. i am talking about the gas jobs converted to propane.

dabees · Jan 30, 2012

If a motor was equiped when new for LP,it has hard seats on the exhust valves and higher compression ratio compared to same engine on gas.
If you refer to a tractor service manual the same is true. Bottom line,an old tractor on lp origionaly back in the day and converted to gas now is actualy better off now that gas has no lead in it.
On the whole in the 50s we rebuilt gas engines much sooner than LP.

Jon Hagen · Jan 30, 2012

Really should not be a head wear problem on anything built 71 or newer which already have hard seats and valves for running on equally dry lead free gas.
Also a propane burner does not have the cold engine cylinder wall washing that a gas engine sees, so ring and cylinder wear is usually much less than a gas burner.
Some propane mixers have crappy air cleaners that allow dirt into the engine and cause wear, otherwise a propane vapor burner is a very long lived engine.

RB70D · Jan 30, 2012

Had a 1978 Ford F250 7.5 setup as dual fuel. Put 200K miles on it and sold it, last I knew it is still going. Ran great.

Dean · Jan 30, 2012

In my area all of the propane suppliers changed over to diesel trucks years ago.

Dean

Steven-Id · Jan 30, 2012

I worked for a company 30 years ago that had pu that ran on just propane and some set up for dual fuel. The ones on only propane ran great. The ones on dual fuel never really ran good on either fuel. The propane company that set them up said that the propane needed more timing advance. When you set the timing for the propane it didn't run so good on gas. When you set the timing for gas it didn't run so good on propane. They just never got them set to where they ran good on both. I won't say it's not possible but with the setup they had it didn't happen.

Steven

John A. · Jan 30, 2012

Case e, If you were buying the truck and the LP system them it would be hard to justify the cost, you would need around a $.50/ gal difference in Gas to LP to really get a head in the game.
But since this truck all-ready has a LP system on it already then That will not really matter.
I have run several trucks on LP My best one was a 82 GMC, 1/2 ton, 305 V8 auto tranny. Gas was costing about $.80/gal and my LP was $.34/gal I put that LP system on when the truck had 11K miles and was getting 18 mpg on gas, On LP was getting about 15/16 mpg on LP that 305 was a higher compression engine and the Vaporizer / Carb combo just worked!
I am sure you will need a State Permit to buy LP as a motor fuel in your state!!!!
On some motors LP will cause valves/seats to go bad for LP is a Dry fuel and not wet thus keeping the the valves/seats from wearing too much!
Considering the 460 CID Ford engine will drink gas like a 4 year old on a grape soda water........Fast & Furious! then the LP set up will allow you to use it a little more economically. Good luck with it.
Later,
John A.

Gun guru · Jan 31, 2012

Gasoline has 125k btus per gallon, Propain has 92k btus per gallon, Propain is $2 per gallon and gasoline is $3,50 per gallon now. You do the math to figure in the savings.

swood043 · Jan 31, 2012

I ran a 69 ford truck for years on propane and never had a problem except that the carb gaskets dried out and it didn't want to run on gas anymore.

Leroy · Jan 31, 2012

That is because the truck makers quit making a gas engine entirely so no way could they do the conversion. So diesel was the only way to get the size truck they wanted. Years ago local gas company had that problem, good truck that got wrecked, went to buy a new one exactly like it, sorry no longer made, they ended up with a slightly smaller truck to keep the LP.

Mike M · Jan 31, 2012

Same with me here in Ohio. I like to tease my delivery guy about it once in awhile. LOL

elmersooner · Jan 31, 2012

when I was still in high school I bought an old ford that was duel fuel with the 300 six in it--didn't check the oil and spun a bearing. had a 302 from a racecar with 12.5 to 1 compression and put that in there instead. that was 21 years ago. That truck is still running on LP only and the friend I sold it to still wouldn't sell it back to me--he has put over 300,000 miles on it and has only had to replace alternators and starters and one tranny.

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