Coupe427
Junior Member
What changed causing Ram to lower the towing capacity in 2023 for the 1500?
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Towing capacity varies with equipment selected. Be sure your comparing apples to apples.
No. It's been like that with all half ton trucks, regardless of manufacturer, for a long time now. Tow rating is based off moving a certain amount of weight through a certain distance I believe from a dead stop, in a certain amount of time. I don't recall what the parameters are. As they've increased horsepower and torque, they have been able to increase towing capacity, but they've basically reached a point where the towing capacity exceeds the payload capacity of the vehicle, which is based off spring rates, frame and axle strength, tire capacity, etc. etc. To achieve a properly balanced load you should have 10-15% tongue weight for a bumper pull, but 15% of 12k is 1800 lbs, which is over the payload of many half ton trucks.Maybe they realized their trucks can't reach those mythical numbers with the trucks they actually build?
Unless you're driving a VW bug, your towing capacity will always exceed your payload capacity. There has never been a truck with a towing cap less than its payload cap. It wouldn't make any sense to have a truck that can haul 3000# in the bed, but only tow 2000# behind it.No. It's been like that with all half ton trucks, regardless of manufacturer, for a long time now. Tow rating is based off moving a certain amount of weight through a certain distance I believe from a dead stop, in a certain amount of time. I don't recall what the parameters are. As they've increased horsepower and torque, they have been able to increase towing capacity, but they've basically reached a point where the towing capacity exceeds the payload capacity of the vehicle, which is based off spring rates, frame and axle strength, tire capacity, etc. etc. To achieve a properly balanced load you should have 10-15% tongue weight for a bumper pull, but 15% of 12k is 1800 lbs, which is over the payload of many half ton trucks.
Will the truck blow up if overloaded? Most won't. Is it safe? Not really. For some drivers, absolutely not.
No. It's been like that with all half ton trucks, regardless of manufacturer, for a long time now. Tow rating is based off moving a certain amount of weight through a certain distance I believe from a dead stop, in a certain amount of time. I don't recall what the parameters are. As they've increased horsepower and torque, they have been able to increase towing capacity, but they've basically reached a point where the towing capacity exceeds the payload capacity of the vehicle, which is based off spring rates, frame and axle strength, tire capacity, etc. etc. To achieve a properly balanced load you should have 10-15% tongue weight for a bumper pull, but 15% of 12k is 1800 lbs, which is over the payload of many half ton trucks.
Will the truck blow up if overloaded? Most won't. Is it safe? Not really. For some drivers, absolutely not.
I think his point was it's very easy to exceed the cargo capacity while towing with a 1500. Putting you overloaded from the start.Unless you're driving a VW bug, your towing capacity will always exceed your payload capacity. There has never been a truck with a towing cap less than its payload cap. It wouldn't make any sense to have a truck that can haul 3000# in the bed, but only tow 2000# behind it.
Cargo/payload cap is something you almost always run out of long before you run out of towing cap.I think his point was it's very easy to exceed the cargo capacity while towing with a 1500. Putting you overloaded from the start.
That's why I gave up on the old F150 and surrendered to the "Dark Side".Cargo/payload cap is something you almost always run out of long before you run out of towing cap.
I think it maybe a testing change as the HD trucks took a hit, same grumblings with Ford trucks alsoWhat changed causing Ram to lower the towing capacity in 2023 for the 1500?
Quite possibly, yes. They make updates to the parameters pretty frequently, in an attempt to take into account trends in the market. They're usually several years behind, though.I think it maybe a testing change as the HD trucks took a hit, same grumblings with Ford trucks also
Quite possibly, yes. They make updates to the parameters pretty frequently, in an attempt to take into account trends in the market. They're usually several years behind, though.
And for those who were saying something, yes, my point was with a half ton it is EXTREMELY easy to be over payload (or close to it) just by hooking up to a trailer. I believe there's someone running around on here with a 1500 that has a sub-1k payload, but he's got a loaded out truck.
That said, after a little research because I was a kid when he had it, my dad's '79 F150 had a payload of something around 2k, while his towing, depending on options (again, unsure) was rated at most 6k. 15% of 6k is only 900 lbs tongue weight, so WELL within his payload rating. Heck my parents' 1990 GMC Suburban was rated to have a payload of over 3700 lbs but only rated to tow something like 8k of a trailer, which would by the 'guidelines' be a 1200 lb tongue weight.
So yes, there WERE trucks that could pull their max rated towing and still have payload left, many years ago when trucks didn't have much for horsepower or torque. My statement stands, that as manufacturers have been increasing power, they have drastically upped the towing capacity but haven't done much for payload, and that you can easily get over your payload, and likely your RAWR, in today's half tons without getting anywhere close to your advertised max towing capacity.
No. It's been like that with all half ton trucks, regardless of manufacturer, for a long time now. Tow rating is based off moving a certain amount of weight through a certain distance I believe from a dead stop, in a certain amount of time. I don't recall what the parameters are. As they've increased horsepower and torque, they have been able to increase towing capacity, but they've basically reached a point where the towing capacity exceeds the payload capacity of the vehicle, which is based off spring rates, frame and axle strength, tire capacity, etc. etc. To achieve a properly balanced load you should have 10-15% tongue weight for a bumper pull, but 15% of 12k is 1800 lbs, which is over the payload of many half ton trucks.
Will the truck blow up if overloaded? Most won't. Is it safe? Not really. For some drivers, absolutely not.
Hey 2003F350, that is something I've been wondering about for a while...Tow rating is based off moving a certain amount of weight through a certain distance I believe from a dead stop, in a certain amount of time. I don't recall what the parameters are.
What was the max before 23? I think my 23 is rated at 12,750 (?) with 3.92 rear.
There's more to the testing than just acceleration of a load, the testing standard is the SAE J2807.Where is this weight through a distance metric coming from? Is there a SAE standard, or such? If there is, then we should all start lobbying for the manufacturers to publish their test data on this.
Crash is right, there's more to it than what I said, but if I recall it's one of the few things that have truly changed drastically over the years. Yes, brakes have gotten bigger, rims have changed, tires have changed, ABS is better, but the biggest change has been going from a barely 200 hp V8 to V8s capable of almost 400 hp, and V6s capable of almost as much in some cases.There's more to the testing than just acceleration of a load, the testing standard is the SAE J2807.
Most manufacturers have adopted this standard, Ram trucks were as of the '15 model year
Hey 2003F350, that is something I've been wondering about for a while...
To read about this on the forums, most people are pretty cynical about this. Many people believe that the big three all come up with tow ratings that are primarily driven by the marketing department, not the engineering department!
Where is this weight through a distance metric coming from? Is there a SAE standard, or such? If there is, then we should all start lobbying for the manufacturers to publish their test data on this.
Regards,
The Tow Rat