Ram 2500 vs 2500 Power Wagon

[GordonThree]

Stopped by a dealership for some door stickering

Both 2016 model year, crew cab, 6 ft bed, 4x4, 6.4 hemi (round numbers)
Ram 2500 payload 3000 lbs
Power Wagon 2500 payload 1200 lbs

What's happened here? Why does the Wagon have a 2500 badge yet such a low payload?

The wagon was about $10000 less than the other truck, mostly due to a stripper interior (no nav, no parkview, no parkassist, no auto hvac, no heater seats and wheel, etc)

[Grit_dog]

PW will tow and haul as good as any 6.4 Ram 2500 with a little bit of shoring up the soft springs if needed.
If you can get a comparable PW for $10k less than a reg 2500, go steal it and tow away!
You get so many more cool, useful hard parts with a PW, not to mention decent OE tires and maybe lower gears?

[GordonThree]

Thanks everyone for the information. The Wagon looked nice on exterior specs and mainly a 2500 truck for a lot less than the other 2500s.

my main usage being #1 tow, #2 grocery getter, I guess it's not the right fit. My idea of off-road is more forest service fire trail than Utah slickrock.

edit: I should add, between trailer tongue, 450lbs of passengers and a bed full of tows, I've maxed out my 1500 Outdoorsman's payload, and since I'm just borrowing it from Fiat, time to look for something else.

[BenK]

Goes in line with the 'half ton' mentality, but few understand that 'half ton'
spans 'currently' from +6K GVWR to +8K GVWR...

Still pitch that to avoid this confusion because of using marketing badging...use their
GVWR's...that does NOT change from model era to model era and is a constant over
time and is definitive

[TurnThePage]

According to Ram's website, you can still get a Power Wagon with over 3000lbs of payload too.

[Fast_Mopar]

IdaD wrote:
The PW isn't really built to tow, it has a different suspension. It's heavy and has a lower GVWR, hence the low payload.

This is correct. It is designed for other types of activities. Likewise, many Ford F-150's have a decent payload, but my friend's Ford Raptor has a payload of around 900 lb.

[RoyB]

I added one of these POWER WAGON chrome decal emblems to both side of my 51 Willys Jeep back in the late 60s and it really gave me a bunch of off-road power... Looked great too...



Roy Ken

[45Ricochet]

My Canyon has more payload then the PW :B

[Old-Biscuit]

YEP......

It harkens back to days of old.
A stripped down off-road 4X4 BRUTE that you open the doors and spray ut with garden hose at end of weekend

Right tool for the right job.....towing isn't one of it's intended jobs

[IdaD]

The PW isn't really built to tow, it has a different suspension. It's heavy and has a lower GVWR, hence the low payload. It's a bad-a$$ truck offroad, however, with two solid axles, lockers on both ends and swaybar disconnects. Which is better depends on your purpose, but if offroad prowess is what you're looking for the only thing holding the PW back is sheer size.

I'd say that the PW and Wrangler Rubicon are your two best vehicles for offroad travel right out of the box that you can buy right now.