Winner of the 2014 Ultimate 3/4-Ton Heavy-Duty Challenge

[MM49]

The editors of the PickupTrucks.com website have named the Ram 2500 the winner of their 2014 Ultimate Three-Quarter-Ton Heavy-Duty Challenge. The contest is a comprehensive head-to-head competition against the Ford F-250 and Chevy Silverado 2500 heavy duty pickup trucks.

Winner

[ib516]

That would make the actual GCWs:

19,000# x 90% = 17,100# actual load for Ford F250
20,500# x 90% = 18,450# actual load for Chevy 2500HD
22,500# x 90% = 20,250# actual load for RAM 2500
-----------------------------------------------
Ram had:
1,800# more load than the Chevy 2500HD and
3,150# more load than the Ford F250

Make sense now that the F250 was fastest up that grade (time wise), followed by the Chevy, then the Ram? :S
The Ram still got to the fastest peak speed however.

[ib516]

wintersun wrote:
This is a towing forum and yet people overlooked that the Ram 2500 came in dead last in towing up the Eisenhower Pass. It took the Ram truck 20% longer than the GM to make it up the grade.

The Ram came in 3rd in the Eisenhower tunnel test because it had much more weight than the other two during that test.
Always have to read the fine print! :B

From the article:
"We knew we wanted to do something special here, so we opted to run each truck as close to its manufacturer-stated GCWR — meaning all it can carry and tow. Simply put, we wanted to see how well or poorly they performed at their limits. We know most people aren't likely to do this kind of towing (and if they did, they'd probably buy a one-ton dualie turbo-diesel), but how well a pickup does near its limits is likely to say a lot about how well it will do when things aren't so tough.

Our trailer for this event, when empty weighs, about 6,000 pounds but we had two 330-gallon water tanks (each weighing 2,800 pounds) wedged inside, bringing the total weight close to 12,000 pounds, near but not over each truck's stated maximum conventional tow ratings.

The F-250's GCWR is 19,000 pounds; the Chevy's is just more than 20,000 pounds, and the Ram 2500's is just more than 22,000** pounds. We attempted to adjust each max trailer weight by dumping a certain amount of water from each truck or trailer, getting as close as possible to 90 percent of the vehicle's GCWR number."

{** The Ram's GCWR is actually 22,500#)

So the Ram had more weight than the Ford, and more than the Chevy during that test.

Dumb test I know, but that explains the difference.

Also, the Ram's tow ratings are SAE J2807 compliant in 2015 models, and none decreased from the 2014s, in fact, some increased slightly.

[goducks10]

wintersun wrote:
This is a towing forum and yet people overlooked that the Ram 2500 came in dead last in towing up the Eisenhower Pass. It took the Ram truck 20% longer than the GM to make it up the grade.

The Ram truck was also dead last in the braking test segment whether the bed was empty or with its rated payload. And this test should have been done with a trailer in tow as well.

Even the towing test was truncated and not done in the same manner as the 3500 testing which is quite stupid. 1-ton trucks have more payload thanks to more leaf springs and the DRW option with two more tires but in general towing both the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks can haul 13,000 lbs. with a ball mount so why test with anything less than that?

Who would pick as "best" the truck that came in last in towing and last in braking and last in MPG when towing, for use as a tow vehicle? How does this make any sense at all? How does coming in first place for chrome and cup holders equate with the use of these vehicles as "work trucks" - answer is that it does not. Nor does 0-60 MPH times or 1/4 mile drag times and top speeds which are irrelevant to towing.

The only two well done tests on heavy duty pickups were done by the people at Car and Driver and eTrailer.com. Odd that even late in 2014 the people at pickuptrucks.com are unaware of the existence of the SAE J2807 testing standard.

They new about the J2807 2 yrs ago. http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2012/07/j2807-tow-ratings-may-be-off-for-years.html

Who would pick a truck as Best that came in 3rd"? Me:)

[N-Trouble]

wintersun wrote:
This is a towing forum and yet people overlooked that the Ram 2500 came in dead last in towing up the Eisenhower Pass. It took the Ram truck 20% longer than the GM to make it up the grade.

The Ram truck was also dead last in the braking test segment whether the bed was empty or with its rated payload. And this test should have been done with a trailer in tow as well.

Even the towing test was truncated and not done in the same manner as the 3500 testing which is quite stupid. 1-ton trucks have more payload thanks to more leaf springs and the DRW option with two more tires but in general towing both the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks can haul 13,000 lbs. with a ball mount so why test with anything less than that?

Who would pick as "best" the truck that came in last in towing and last in braking and last in MPG when towing, for use as a tow vehicle? How does this make any sense at all? How does coming in first place for chrome and cup holders equate with the use of these vehicles as "work trucks" - answer is that it does not. Nor does 0-60 MPH times or 1/4 mile drag times and top speeds which are irrelevant to towing.

The only two well done tests on heavy duty pickups were done by the people at Car and Driver and eTrailer.com. Odd that even late in 2014 the people at pickuptrucks.com are unaware of the existence of the SAE J2807 testing standard.

Your confused... THis thread is in regards to the 3/4 ton gasser comparison posted last week, not the 1-ton diesel test that went live today.

[wintersun]

This is a towing forum and yet people overlooked that the Ram 2500 came in dead last in towing up the Eisenhower Pass. It took the Ram truck 20% longer than the GM to make it up the grade.

The Ram truck was also dead last in the braking test segment whether the bed was empty or with its rated payload. And this test should have been done with a trailer in tow as well.

Even the towing test was truncated and not done in the same manner as the 3500 testing which is quite stupid. 1-ton trucks have more payload thanks to more leaf springs and the DRW option with two more tires but in general towing both the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks can haul 13,000 lbs. with a ball mount so why test with anything less than that?

Who would pick as "best" the truck that came in last in towing and last in braking and last in MPG when towing, for use as a tow vehicle? How does this make any sense at all? How does coming in first place for chrome and cup holders equate with the use of these vehicles as "work trucks" - answer is that it does not. Nor does 0-60 MPH times or 1/4 mile drag times and top speeds which are irrelevant to towing.

The only two well done tests on heavy duty pickups were done by the people at Car and Driver and eTrailer.com. Odd that even late in 2014 the people at pickuptrucks.com are unaware of the existence of the SAE J2807 testing standard.

[Cummins12V98]

Interesting. But if it don't RATTLE I don't care!

[ib516]

I am really enjoying mine :C

[Sandia_Man]

Wasn't surprised with the results when I read about it on the forum a couple of days ago. That 6.4 Hemi sure is a brute, looking to get a heavier rig in the next couple of years and this 3/4 ton Ram gasser has certainly caught my eye.