2015 Ram 3500 TFL Ike Gauntlet

NC Hauler wrote:


How do you KNOW, FOR FACT that Fords towing standards were ACTUALLY HIGHER than the J2807 standards?....so Ford HAD to LOWER their standards to meet J2807:h..So then, Ford LOWERED it's towing standards, THUS, RAISING their tow rating:h You must be a super insider to have this information....WOW...lowering one's "standards" to comply with a higher type tow rating...I got to admit, I'm impressed....I don't think GM or Ram actually had to LOWER their standards to meet J2807...in fact, they kept doing what they were doing and their tow ratings ALSO went up using the standards already in place...:h

Yes, it is true. Fords speed limit and stopping standards(which they updated in 2011) were higher than the J2807 which is why their tow ratings are lower than the J2807. This is why you see an increase in tow rating for almost all of their trucks going to the new standard.

I don't know what GMs standards were before the J2807, but when GM complied their ratings went down on many of their trucks. The very same truck that they rated to tow 10,000 lbs in 2014 was lowered to tow less in 2015.

I don't know what Rams standards were before either, but Rams case was a bit different as far as tow rating year to year. Knowing that the J2807 was coming since 2011, they gradually started to lower tow ratings each year for certain vehicles while also improving the trucks either by adding more gears to their transmission, adding more power to their engines, or adding new more powerful engines all together. Essentially in some cases a less powerful Ram 1500 in 2010 was rated to tow the same as the new 2014 Ram 1500 with a more powerful engine and more gears in the transmission. In other cases they gradually lowered tow ratings(or raised in some cases) since 2011 each year until 2014 just so they can say that they didn't have to lower any ratings when applying the J2807 in 2015. Don't believe me, take a look at each years tow rating and truck improvements for yourself in the Ram Bodybuilder.

NC Hauler wrote:

Guess being an old Engineer I don't understand this....but do feel enlightened at this point on just how good Fords standards are....I'm impressed to say the least....But with such high standards, why would Ford lower theirs to comply with J2807??? Would think if one's standards were higher, they would meet minimum requirements easily and exceed them working with higher standards in place already....

man, my head hurt's...I'm going to take a nap.:)

Yes, Ford had a higher speed limit standard when towing than the speed limits in the J2807. By having a higher speed limit requirement, it meant that they tow ratings were lower than the J2807. Let me put it in a different way to make it easier.

Lets say Fords requirement for towing was that it had to be able to go up Davis Dam(which Ford has been using as a standard long before J2807) at a minimum speed of 55 mph. Lets say they test their F150 towing 12,000 lbs, but it is only able to do it going up at a minimum of 45 mph. This means they have to lower the amount that it is towing. So now they lower the amount the F150 to 11,000 lbs to run the test again, and it is able to keep within the minimum of 55 mph going by their standard so that is its rating for that section of their tests.

Now with the J2807, the speed limit is set to a minimum of 40 mph. This means that Ford can now add more weight to the tow ratings while still being within the new lower J2807 minimum speed requirement for that section of the standard so you have a higher tow rating. Raising the minimum speed requirement will give you a lower tow rating and lowering the speed requirement will give you a higher tow rating depending how the truck does in the other tests.

That is how they do these tests. They keep adding or subtracting weight to see what each truck will do meeting the test requirements. The lowest weight in all the tests is the tow rating. You may have a truck that is able to easily do the acceleration portion of the test with a 30,000 lb trailer, but can only do the brake portion of the test with a 25,000 lb trailer. In that case since the 25,000 lbs is the lowest then that is its ratings. This is why I said lowering the standards will raise tow ratings while raising the standards decreases tow ratings.