Hi, Why is the towing capacity of the RAM 1500 SPORT Model substantially (5,030lbs vs 8,000lbs and up) lower than similar RAM models? Using the towing guide on RAM’s official site I entered my truck’s specs: 1500, 5.7L Hemi, Reg Cab, 4x2, 3.92 gear ratio (other models have 3:21 ratio). The Night Model is the same as the sport - both have 43% less towing capacity than the Express, Tradesman, Lonestar, Big Horn…I’m baffled, this makes no sense at all…Thanks for your help!
My guess, The Night and Sport have 4 link rear suspension and 20 inch low profile tires, meant to ride and handle more like a car.
Instead of leaf spring rear suspension and 16 to 18 inch standard profile tires like a truck.
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All Ram 1500’s have the 4-link with track bar suspensions no matter what package they have. No more leaf springs on the 1500 nor the 2500 Ram truck.
The 20 inch tires, lower ride height, softer rear springs and just generally “car-like” tuning are the likely reasons why RAM lowered the tow ratings
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Does the Sport have the air bag rear suspension standard and the other models have coil springs standard, air ride optional? I think the Express is sort of a base model and air ride isn’t even an option. That would be my only guess. Otherwise, you’d think the tow ratings would be similar across the 1500 line.
There’s a quad cab version of your Sport model that is rated at 10k+ towing w/2.91 gears. Same engine. Beefier frame than reg cab version.
That’s an excellent question. For Fiat/Chrysler.
Because of liability laws the manufacture of these vehicles has set the specifications to where if an owner exceeds them they have there selves covered incase of lawsuit. Simple enough.
While that is definitely true in many cases, the technical reasons are due to mechanical differences. For example, the exact same truck with the 3.21 gears is rated much lower than the 3.92 rear gears. The reason is obvious. Same for the crew cab v reg cab. If you dig into it, the answer is usually there in some combination of features; suspension, total gearing, chassis, cooling capacity and so on.
I don’t think they design a totally (less “beefy”) frame for the reg cab short bed. It’s most likely just shorter. The regular cab long bed frame (if they still offer it) is probably the exact same frame as the quad cab. And the crew cab frame is longer still. It wouldn’t make sense for them to manufacture a lighter duty frame just for the reg cab short bed truck.
could be the P rated tires too. if you search online for this issue quite a few theories pop up
They don’t make a lighter duty frame for the regular cab, they make a beefier frame for the crew and quad cab. It has to be reinforced to handle the loading on the longer beams. Even the snowplow mfrs will disallow certain configurations due to relative strength of frames in them. Of course it makes sense. It’s less materials and therefore less cost. No awards for overkill…
Well you got me curious. 2018 big horn extended cab is 10k ish lbs. 2018 big horn reg cab short bed is 9k ish lbs. Both with the Hemi and 3.92 gears. So the difference is 1k or so lbs for the cab (frame) difference, apparently. You taught me something there, as I don’t see any difference other than the frame. But it doesn’t explain the 5k vs 8-10k difference the poster is talking about. I didn’t even see a 2018 Sport in the towing guide.
Scratch that, I found the Sport. The tow rating on the Sport reg cab is indeed around 5k. Tow rating for the Sport Crew cab, same engine and gear ratio, is around 4K.
So I’m lost, unless Sport comes standard with airbags vs coils. Or something goofy.
Ok, kept looking and there’s a Sport crew with a tow rating of 10k lbs. 3.92 gears and Hemi. There’s also a Sport crew cab with a 4300 lb rating. 3.92’s and Hemi.
Ram has a ton of different option packages. And the towing guide is pretty confusing.
I’m back to the he’s got airbags guess.