Did RamTrucks.com remove the VIN lookup tool?

[John Jensen]

On a positive note my towing number increased by 92 pounds from 16620 to 16713 pounds.

I also noticed a buddy’s 2018 HO went up 247 pounds.

So its not all doom and gloom.

Mine increased 386 lbs. Max load stayed the same

 

[snayte]

On a positive note my towing number increased by 92 pounds from 16620 to 16713 pounds.

I also noticed a buddy’s 2018 HO went up 247 pounds.

So its not all doom and gloom.

My towing dropped from 14,906 to 14,548.

 

[AH64ID]

Mine went down by 7lbs.

 

[snayte]

Mine went down by 7lbs.

Sounds like a reason to upgrade.

 

[superjoe83]

My max tow dropped by 29lbs

 

[Grateful Dad]

Max tow on mine went up 216lbs, first time it’s changed since all the “shenanigans” started.

 

[Brewbud]

Apparently I lost 30lbs of payload. No worries, I'm doing keto and gonna make that back up.

 

[marine6805]

Thanks for the update, I had that same link book marked and it quit working. Strangely, still can’t get to it if you just go to Ram.com and “look” for it………..

Sadly that link is only good for 5 years. I used it to validate, but I am looking at 6-7 year old dinosaurs!

 

[Sixtime43]

Man, Ram is having struggles... I put in my VIN and it came back as a Lone Star Crew Cab when my truck is a Big Horn crew cab. It is a Hemi 4x4 with the 6'4" box., however I have the offroad package as well, so do these numbers reflect that too?? Logged into my owners dashboard, and it doesn't tell me the model at all anymore like it did before. Just tells me I have a 2500 Ram Truck. lol

I'm not sure if I should trust these numbers or not?

 

[CdnHO]

Man, Ram is having struggles... I put in my VIN and it came back as a Lone Star Crew Cab when my truck is a Big Horn crew cab. It is a Hemi 4x4 with the 6'4" box., however I have the offroad package as well, so do these numbers reflect that too?? Logged into my owners dashboard, and it doesn't tell me the model at all anymore like it did before. Just tells me I have a 2500 Ram Truck. lol

I'm not sure if I should trust these numbers or not?

View attachment 58477

Those numbers should be accurate as it came from factory.

 

[BlueOx2500]

Just checked mine and the payload is down 75lbs from what the sticker on the door says.

 

[AH64ID]

Just checked mine and the payload is down 75lbs from what the sticker on the door says.

Despite many ridiculous things in modern society, we are still a ways out from a website trumping a door sticker. Not that 75lbs is a big deal, but rest assured you are safe at the what is printed on the truck.

Even then, GVWR isn’t legally binding in most states. Axle weight ratings and tire ratings are.

 

[Sixtime43]

Despite many ridiculous things in modern society, we are still a ways out from a website trumping a door sticker. Not that 75lbs is a big deal, but rest assured you are safe at the what is printed on the truck.

Even then, GVWR isn’t legally binding in most states. Axle weight ratings and tire ratings are.

Whatever data is created and used to print the door sticker is the same data that should be used to create the website info. That is certainly not rocket surgery, and is done millions of times a day in other industries. Ram has a poor reputation right now with their electronics and technology... this kind of stuff doesn't help.

 

[AH64ID]

Whatever data is created and used to print the door sticker is the same data that should be used to create the website info. That is certainly not rocket surgery, and is done millions of times a day in other industries. Ram has a poor reputation right now with their electronics and technology... this kind of stuff doesn't help.

That data has yet to be wrong, or change, on the website. The payload indicated is always correct, meaning the door sticker data in the system is correct.

Unfortunately they keep changing things that effect tow rating, which isn’t a legal rating anyhow. It really doesn’t matter, it’s just a tool and even if it shifts up or down a few thousand pounds the truck isn’t any more or less capable in the real world.

 

[Expospy]

I know this is an oldish thread but I've been researching trucks and I've found one, but every time I look up the vin on this tool it comes up with "No VIN data available". Is there another source where I can look up the towing capacity of a particular truck? It's a 2019 3500 Limited Mega with the SO motor.

 

[Redfour5]

They used to put "charts" out that will give you the ballpark on it. https://www.ramtrucks.com/content/d...w_Excel_2019_D2_OFFICIAL_INTERNAL_2-06-18.pdf

But consider the adjustments based upon how many bells and whistles it has or does not have. You could also maybe call and ask the dealership to take a pic of the sticker on the door

Usually that message they gave you is for new ones still in transit not yet in the system. But there have been a lot of problems with that site. My 2500 has changed in there. Not be a lot, but definitely different numbers.

 

[Grateful Dad]

I’ve found it’s only been working on 2021’s and up lately

 

[dieselscout80]

Unless there’s a different link the place to put your vin in to get your tow rating is MIA.

 

[Redfour5]

Morning,

Unless I'm missing it somewhere or completely missed that there was information this was being removed, but I can't find on the Ramtrucks site under "towing and Capability" the area where you can put a VIN in and see the payload, max tow ect. Anyone else notice this? or was this out there as being removed at some point? Certainly not the end of the world but it was nice while looking at new trucks. Thanks.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) "revised" the standard in 2020. Thus anything "figured" prior to that change might not be accurate as of the change. Most of the changes in the standard that ALL major manufacturers use were in how you determined the ratings by testing and clarifications. Could be that the manufacturers learned how to game the standards just a bit to get higher numbers and once the Society of Engineers saw what they were doing, they fixed that thereby making the posting of numbers "prior" to 2021 "problematic." Remember that members of the "society" are the same engineers that make the cars. Within a given manufacturer there is ALWAYS a dynamic between the engineers, bean counters and marketing pukes. That and lawsuits is why the SAE finally got the manufacturers to accept the standard in 2015. Prior to that, the Marketing pukes ran the show and told consumers they could tow most anything up to the Empire State Building with an SUV. You could be seeing some of that going on in a simple thing like not showing numbers prior to a change in the SAE standard. Politics within corporations using consumer safety as a lever. When FCA sold to Stellantis, there was a change in corporate culture and likely disarray within the corporation as a whole as they transitioned from one management structure to another. That is when politics at lower levels often play out. The Engineers or Marketing pukes or bean counters get the upper hand in a given situation and make a point to the others. If you look at Iacocca at Ford, and why he left, you can read about these kinds of human socio-political dynamics. The bean counters won that "battle" and we got the Mustang II. But that failed so horribly that the engineers got back and at the worst, the engineers and the marketing pukes worked together, until the marketing pukes over stepped their bounds in their zeal to sell cars... This kind of thing is always going on... Subaru was a company run by engineers. Their cars were NOTED for the engineering and quality. Then they hired a Marketing puke as a CEO. He started selling cars hand over fist whereas the engineers couldn't sell them, but at the expense of engineering. I had a gen of the Forester when this happened. So, I had an early gen and then a .5 version. They changed the springs and the wheel to wheel turning radius on the steering and the shift points. It was all done by the marketing pukes to appeal to a certain demographic... Soccer Moms basically. I had a former Subaru Engineer tell me this... My 2004 Forester towed a 1900 lb pop up camper like a beast. My 2007? Not so much. I remember going up the IKE with the trailer in the 2004 and it just went at 45mph. I did it in the 2007 and the car was like Excuse me? at 35 and hurting... So, I moved one while the soccer moms bought them hand over fist and still are...

Excuse me my political science background is showing. I can't help it...

I noticed on my 2022 that the numbers changed at one point on the website. My payload dropped like 30 lbs. I was like what? But, if you read the standards, they are a nightmare to figure out and you would HAVE to be an automotive engineer to do so. The website is an algorithm. Likely with an ungodly amount of math and testing behind it. It looks at the VIN, looks at what is on the vehicle as in accessories. And then it makes adjustments to the base payload (as determined by the SAE standard) and the weight and or engineering of a given accessory. So a sunroof weighs two hundred lbs, reduce payload in the algorithm. Get a 3500, dually, with heavier everything, increase the payload... There are so many variables all interconnected providing many areas to...manipulate them... And that is why they use the testing method as their way to establish the standards and they set them relatively high (Run up a 3.5 mile 8% grade at x number of mph in 100 degree heat or stop on a 6% grade in x number of feet or emergency brake hold x number of lbs on an 8% grade for half an hour...etc. and to oversimplify If this then that unless this or that, then this but... So, figuring an accurate "number" is a total mess and since manufacturers are "liable" for what they say is so, they decided to just not publish changes... I bet within a couple years there will be no VIN based website for getting those numbers AND, when you look at your sticker you will see an asterisk next to them with a reference to whatever particular "revision" of the standard they were based upon at a given point in time.

Wanna bet?

 

[daemonic3]

I'm researching Ram 3500's for a potential purchase and wanted to check payload ballpark on upper trims. A few weeks ago I found this through a google search, and the link worked. Now, the URL hits that "you've come to the end of the road" error that the Ram website gives for any invalid URL.

Has anyone found an alternate tool or the new URL? At least a few weeks ago, it seemed to have no navigable path to get there from the Ram website itself, you had to just "know" or have it bookmarked from back in the day (2022 apparently).

Thanks!
-T