Is J2807 worthless?

wilber1 wrote:
Question. Why do RV'rs think they should be able to tow anything up any hill within 5 mph of the speed limit? If so, all the 18 wheelers I pass going over the Siskiyous on my way home shouldn't be on the road

Recreational RVer's using personal vehicles is a completely different thing than a professional truck driver using a commercial vehicle. Which is why the J2807 does not apply to anything over the 14,000 GVWR trucks that gets into medium duty commercial truck territory. Commercial trucks should have a separate SAE rating (or the current one) since they are usually driven by professional drivers with experience handling such weights.

Although I would have to ask why is it bad to expect your truck to perform well within its ratings? I know that not everyone's expectations are the same therefore "performing well" would be different between each person. Some are okay with lower standards and expectations while others have higher expectations and standards. Still, what is wrong with wanting or expecting that a truck should maintain within a reasonable speed limit?

To ask a question back, I would have to ask why would you want the tow ratings so high? What is the point? If the speed limit requirement is raised then all it is doing is lowering the tow rating to a more reasonable number... nothing more.

Here is how it currently works. Take a Ram 3500 (or Ford F450) rated to tow 30k per current J2807. Say it passed all the other J2807 tests(since they are fairly easy) and the only thing that limited the tow rating was the gradeability test of towing up Davis Dam at a minimum of 35 mph. Of course the manufacturer is going to stack as much weight on this test for marketing reasons just so they can say their truck tows some ludicrous amount so their commercials can label it "best in class". So they stack as much as they can (30,000+ lbs) to the back of this truck even though no one without a commercial driver's licence has any business pulling this amount of weight all because the truck will still pass the test since the speed limit is a low 35 mph.

Now, the very same truck, but with a speed limit of 55 mph. Since the speed limit is raised, then they will not be able to stack so much weight to the back of the truck to get it to pass therefore the tow ratings will decrease to a more reasonable number. Say that truck is only able to tow 23k up that Davis Dam test while maintaining a minimum speed of 55 mph therefore the J2807 tow rating with the increased 55 mph speed would be 23k instead of 30k with a lower 35 mph speed. It is the exact same truck, but the only difference is the tow rating dropped to being closer to a weight most that buy these trucks would tow because the test standards were raised.

If one was against raising the speed limit standard for non commercial vehicles, then I would have to ask why when the only thing having a lower speed limit does is allow manufacturers tout higher tow ratings that these trucks shouldn't be towing without a professional driver behind the wheel. Why are lower tow ratings for non-commercial vehicles so bad especially when they are still reasonable to what most people tow if the standard was rasied?