Thor Forums

[rynosback]

Heavy-Duty Hodgepodge
Heavy-Duty pickup tow ratings are still in flux. The first published version of J2807 caused arguments that led to an immediate revision that exempted most of them. But a new draft version now covers pickups with Gross Vehicle Weight Ratings as high as 14,000 pounds, which brings them back in again.

Ram has certified its 2014 and 2015 Ram 2500 and 3500 products to J2807, but General Motors has not done the same with its 2015 Chevrolet and GMC 2500 and 3500 HD models.

Ford went ahead and certified the 2015 F-450's tow rating using J2807 because of its upgraded engine and substantially upgraded underpinnings. But it decided not to do the same with the carryover F-250 and F-350 lineups, which will be fully redesigned next year.

GM's new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon were certified to the new standard, so their tow ratings can indeed be compared with the Toyota Tacoma, which has been in compliance for four years. But the carryover Nissan Frontier is expected to remain outside the standard until it is redesigned.

Toyota's Sequoia SUV is J2807 compliant, but the new-in-2014 Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban and GMC Yukon/Yukon XL are strangely not. It seems that they, too, are waiting for Ford, which won't roll out a new Expedition for a year or two.

It's harder to pin down the crossovers, minivans and cars, though. SAE J2807 test procedures apply to all of them, but these vehicles were never embroiled in the same sort of towing arms race that gripped the pickup and full-size SUV segments. Their ratings were never pushed to the absolute limit, so it's hard to imagine them changing much even when they do get rated according to the new procedure.