mtofell
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2014
- Posts
- 2,648
- Reaction score
- 2,293
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- Hemi 6.4
People are getting confused about what the law is and what it means. There is no law that says that a 3/4 ton truck HAS to stay below 10,000 lbs. The law simply says that to be considered a class 2B truck, it has to be at or below 10,000 lbs.
For a variety of reasons, manufacturers chose to sell trucks in that 2B class;
lots of HOAs don't allow class 3 trucks,
some states consider class 3 trucks to be commercial, therefore they have to follow commercial regs,
class 3 trucks typically have a higher registration cost,
lots of highways don't allow vehicles over 10,000 lbs in the left lanes,
etc.
For that reason, manufacturers sell the class 2B (3/4 ton) truck to fit that market. Its FAR cheaper to simply "derate" the 3/4 ton truck on paper, rather than actually derate the truck in reality. Rather than R&R slightly cheaper parts, its easier and cheaper to use the same parts (and not stock twice as much) and simply change the numbers on the sticker. While Ford and GM only removed a spring pack in the rear, Ram decided to listen to customers who wanted a better ride. Ram put coils (with slightly less carrying capacity) on the 2500. The 6.4 Ram is rated to carry 900 lbs more than the Cummins, so Ram is pretty confident that the coils will carry that extra 900 lbs over and above what the Cummins equipped truck is rated to carry.
Great info.... another one I stumbled upon in my state (Oregon) has to do with tire chains in the mountain passes. A truck over 10,000 GVWR (so a 3500) needs to put on chains while a 10,000# and under GVWR (so a 2500) can get by with "traction devices" which is tires or even 4WD. Pretty crazy that essentially the same truck has two different rules but I guess they have to draw the line somewhere. All I know is if I had a 3500 I might have to get on Ebay and get a set of 2500 logos for driving over the mountain pass.