Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/625735
24 commercial carrier journal | january 2016 Plenty of Power Ram showcases Cummins- powered 3500 series pickup By Jack RoBeRts I t wasn't long ago that if you wanted to tow a 30,000- pound payload, you needed a Class 5 or 6 truck. Today, a Ram 3500 pickup can handle that job with ease. Ram has upped the ante in the ongoing towing wars now being waged among medium-duty manufacturers. Thanks to its longstanding partnership with Cummins, Ram's 2016 3500 Series trucks now are rated with towing capacities of 31,210 pounds. While much fine-tuning of the suspen- sion and transmission went into achieving this goal, Ram engineers are quick to give the lion's share of the credit to the exclusive Cummins 6.7-liter turbodiesel engine that cranks out an amazing 900 pound-feet of torque. Cummins and Ram have a long history. Today, embedded engineers at both companies' development centers work closely together to deliver high-performance powertrain combinations that translate into serious workhorse trucks on the jobsite. Cummins has introduced several performance-enhancing features on its 6.7-liter engine that debuted in Ram mod- els last year, including a variable air intake system. Most diesel engines in medium-duty applications draw air into the turbocharging system through the front wheel well. In normal operating mode, the Cummins 6.7 does the same, but in inclement weather – notably snow – the system senses restricted airflow and switches to drawing air through the front grille. The system ensures the engine always is getting optimal airflow for peak performance. Another nice touch is the integrated Smart Exhaust Brake developed by Cummins. This "intelligent" engine brake allows a driver to set downgrade speeds independently of the cruise control. If you select 65 mph, Smart Exhaust will engage once you take your foot off the throttle and hold your Ram truck at that speed down a grade until you add throttle again. On the Ram side of the equation, standard backup cameras help expedite backing and hooking up trailers. An automatic air-ride suspension compensates for heavy towing loads and optimizes the suspension to provide a smooth ride regardless of road speed. Ram also has stepped up its interiors. Noise levels are ex- tremely low, and even true work-truck Tradesman trim levels offer a level of comfort that would have been reserved for top- end pickup trucks just a few years ago. In the higher-lever SLT, Big Horn and Laramie trim packages, Ram offers a host of luxury options such as leather seats, Alpine sound systems and a center-dash driver display screen that doubles as the backup camera screen when the truck is in reverse gear. Models equipped with Ram's new 8-speed automatic transmission come with a standard dash-mounted gear-se- lection lever that saves a considerable amount of center con- sole space, which Ram engineers have reconfigured as storage for tablets, phones and other items. Running at highway speeds around Ram's test track in Chelsea, Mich., I was impressed with the 3500's performance, even while towing a full trailer weighing a whopping 31,200 pounds. The Cummins diesel got the heavy load moving easily and still provided an astounding amount of available power at cruising speeds to accelerate and pass. Hauling that much weight behind a Class 3 truck could create handling problems if the vehicle isn't set up prop- erly. As it happens, Ram engineers have put a considerable amount of work into the 3500's steering and handling char- acteristics. The truck doesn't wander with a heavy trailer in tow; there's no juttering back and forth, and any lane chang- es or steering adjustments come off smoothly and precisely. The combination of this powertrain and suspension is not a truck that can handle 31,000 pounds if needed; instead, this is a truck designed and built to tow 31,000 pounds easily without breaking a sweat. T E S T D R I V E : R A M 3 5 0 0 Thanks to Ram's longstanding partnership with Cummins, its 2016 3500 Series trucks now are rated with towing capacities of 31,210 pounds. A center-dash driver display screen doubles as the backup camera screen when the Ram 3500 is in reverse gear.