First off, the nishiit pickup was a turd on most of not ALL accounts, specs etc.
What I'm trying to describe, is typical HD DOT class 2 truck chassis. IE the typical 8600-8800 gvwr truck most or many of us grew up with. DOT range of 8400-10,000 lbs gvwr.
My 2014 GM with it's 7200 gvwr has been labeled a std 15 as mine is, a LD 2500 in the early 90's, HD 15 in the 70's to 80's time frame. Falls in the LD DOT 6001-8399 range. Same emissions etc as DOT class 1 of 0-6000gvwr.
My opinion, of course I'm probably hairbrainded on this. Manufactures with today's smaller higher powered small engines, higher than most BB V8 of your rigs, could up the springs of my truck, out a 9.5" RA like the V8 rigs have. Put a 5-6k set of rear springs, us the smaller V6 diesels, in GMs the cylinder shut off 4.3, 5.3 and 6.2 motors. One might not get the whole 22-26 mpg freeway empty miles the 15 series are getting. The V6 diesel instead of 30-40, 25-35 mpg. Yes towing no one gets much more than 12 maybe 14 on a blue moon day.
A CC SB truck will wieght in at 5509-6000 empty, vs 8-8500 for the current 25/35sw truck equals. My 96 sw3500 was 6600. 05 DA DW 7300 empty.
Yes GVWRs are now in the DOT class 3 relm, ie 10,001 to 14k.
Cummins12v's DW 3500 has a chassis etc on par with 1990's GM/Ford 45 series trucks. Is that truck truly a 1ton DOT class 3 truck? My 89 dw R3500 was in reality class 2 truck with it's 10k gvwr.
I'm sure I've gone on a different tangent than OP was thinking. But as many note, marketing vs reality are two different creatures
Marty
