GM's 2020 tow rating question for all
GM as we know recently announced their '20 tow ratings which is about time they upped things. Anyways, what get's me is how their SRW can now tow 18,000. Seems odd that there can be that much of a jum...
Forum Discussion
GM did offer different ratios in their Medium duty trucks in the mid 2k"s. My 5500 4X4 CC had 5:19's. I dont think the motor liked those high RPM's, outside of those trucks, they have been pretty adament about staying with the 3:73's. Whatever the internal reason for staying with that ratio, it was worth it for them to give up the higher ratings to Ford and Ram that would run 4:10's. Comparing like ratio trucks to each other, they were about the same as shown above. The one thing that 12V proclaims that I do agree with is that GM verbally justified their lower tow ratings by stating that their ratings capture all but 5% of the buyers requirements.
While that may be true (I have no idea how that data was captured), but all other things being equal, do you want a truck that is capable of 30K which maybe 15K more than what your pulling, or a truck that is speced at a max of 23K even though it still covers your 15K, it would appear that the 30K is more capable. More is better, even if your not using it. It would be like saying I may only need 750 pound/feet but why wouldnt I buy a truck with a 1000 cause more is better (all things being more/less equal). This point is made by the Nissan 5.0L Cummins motor option.
This flawed thinking in the HD headquarters of GM always bothered me. I am a 5% outlier that choses to run the GM trucks. My personal experience at max weight has been positive, but without that, I may have chosen something else. I didn't expect them to address their previous position and to somehow offer a Mia Copa. But, knowing the reason for the 3.73 only position would make me feel better, even if I didn't like the answer. Whatever their real rationale was in the past, it is obviously gone now. We can speculate on the why, but I doubt anyone outside of GM really knows. I built a 3500 DRW a couple weeks ago, and the build sheet showed that as I speced the truck, it would have a gross combined weight of 40K. It is about time that they came to compete, without excuses. The 2020 is without a doubt one heck of truck from a capability standpoint. I think it reflects what GM is really capable of from an engineering perspective. They just too took long to "Bring it".
While that may be true (I have no idea how that data was captured), but all other things being equal, do you want a truck that is capable of 30K which maybe 15K more than what your pulling, or a truck that is speced at a max of 23K even though it still covers your 15K, it would appear that the 30K is more capable. More is better, even if your not using it. It would be like saying I may only need 750 pound/feet but why wouldnt I buy a truck with a 1000 cause more is better (all things being more/less equal). This point is made by the Nissan 5.0L Cummins motor option.
This flawed thinking in the HD headquarters of GM always bothered me. I am a 5% outlier that choses to run the GM trucks. My personal experience at max weight has been positive, but without that, I may have chosen something else. I didn't expect them to address their previous position and to somehow offer a Mia Copa. But, knowing the reason for the 3.73 only position would make me feel better, even if I didn't like the answer. Whatever their real rationale was in the past, it is obviously gone now. We can speculate on the why, but I doubt anyone outside of GM really knows. I built a 3500 DRW a couple weeks ago, and the build sheet showed that as I speced the truck, it would have a gross combined weight of 40K. It is about time that they came to compete, without excuses. The 2020 is without a doubt one heck of truck from a capability standpoint. I think it reflects what GM is really capable of from an engineering perspective. They just too took long to "Bring it".
