Filed under: Truck, Ford, Ram



The ongoing heavy-duty truck battle between Ford and Ram is showing no signs of slowing down. The Blue Oval is trying to remove at least one point of contention between the two brands by testing its 2015 F-450 Super Duty using the Society of Automotive Engineers J2807 towing standard, which Ram also uses. In the new evaluation, the F-450 is rated at a max towing capacity of 31,200 pounds. That's an identical amount as under Ford's own, previous test.

"We leave no doubt with customers that the F-450 pickup truck has best-in-class towing of 31,200 pounds - whether tested using our own internal towing standards or SAE J2807," said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president for Global Product Development, in the company's release.

At the same time, Ford is also changing how it calculates the F-450's payload. Instead of using its minimum curb weight as before, the brand is now using the truck's base curb weight. The revision lowers the pickup's rating to 5,300 pounds, compared to 5,450 pounds previously. The company said in its announcement that the reason for this is "aligning its payload rating practices with other manufacturers to make it easier for customers to compare vehicles." General Motors made a similar switch for its pickups in August.

The SAE J2807 evaluation is somewhat different from Ford's previous test, and the new standard requires about 400 pounds of additional weight in the pickup than before. Still, the towing figure is the same 31,200 pounds in each analysis. Because of the new test, the company is also re-rating the F-450's gross combined weight rating to 40,400 pounds.

Ram is already firing back with the following statement: "Ram Truck stands firm on our claims within the 350/3500 segment with best-in-class 30,000 pounds of towing capacity, best-in-class 865 lb-ft of torque and best-in-class payload of 7,390 pounds. Additionally, unlike our competitors, our entire 2015 Ram Heavy Duty line up adheres to J2807 test criteria, not just one model."

No matter where you fall in this debate, it seems like customers are getting the best out of truck makers fighting to top each other's specs. Scroll down to read Ford's complete announcement of its new figures for the F-450.Continue reading Ford F-450 claims best-in-class towing, company abandons practice of removing items to boost payload number

Ford F-450 claims best-in-class towing, company abandons practice of removing items to boost payload number originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Sep 2014 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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