2015 Ram 3500 TFL Ike Gauntlet

ShinerBock wrote:
To add to my last post. I also think they should add to the brake portion of the J2807. Instead of just a 35 to 0 mph stopping distance requirement, they should add being able to go down the same 11.4 mile hill(that they test going up) without brake failures or overheating the brakes. Better yet, being able to hold a certain speed going down the hill without any failures or overheated brakes too.

I also think they should add a stopping requirement with just the truck stopping the truck/trailer combo for those cases where the trailer brakes fail(yes, that has happened to me). Wouldn't you guys rather know before hand that the truck alone could stop X amount of weight if it needed to in an emergency rather than going down a 6% grade with the 30K lb trailer that the manufacturer said it can tow going by the J2807 because it does not have this as a requirement? Yes, all these things would probably lower a lot of tow ratings for some trucks, but is that necessarily a bad thing? After all, having higher standards would force manufacturers to improve to meet them and what is so wrong with that?

You have to agree that J2807 is a start. It's better than having in-house standards that are ambiguous at best among all truck makers. Totally unknown at worst. However, as with all things in life, there is room for improvement. Did you by chance ever check out the test that pickuptrucks.com did in 2014? They do a much better job of testing evenly among all the manufacturers and getting solid numbers up for everyone to see: Pickuptrucks.com test. I think all 3 trucks are mighty competent at 21,000 lbs for the duallies.

They even did the Ford and RAM at full load. I'm sure the Super Duty would hold a higher speed with 40 more horsepower on tap in 2015. The 2015+ Super Duty also has a much better exhaust brake setup.