2021 Ram 1500 TRX Suspension Flex Test - Using My Frame-Twist Ramp To Measure Off-Road Articulation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2020
- The new 2021 Ram 1500 TRX 4x4 pickup is a purpose-built off-road truck with a long-travel suspension and an extremely wide stance. If that sounds familiar, it should because this truck is gunning for the Ford F-150 Raptor. But the T-Rex has two major advantages over the Ford. Its supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat Hemi V8 makes a stunning 702 horsepower that beats the Raptor's 450 horsepower by a mile. The TRX also benefits from a coil spring 5-link rear suspension that makes strategic use of certain heavy-duty Ram 2500 Power-Wagon running gear components.
The goal of all this factory engineering is to deliver superior stability and composure when hammering along on desert dirt roads with deep whoop-de-doos and washboard. But the same long-travel suspension bits that make it excel on high-speed desert terrain should also allow the rear suspension to flex diagonally in low-speed rock-crawling "frame twist" situations. How much does it flex? That's what we're about to find out.
In this video you'll see me drive the TRX up my purpose-built ramp to see how far it will go before its left rear tire begins to lose traction and leave the ground. This is the point of maximum articulation at which I always stop and take my measurements.
The idea of a Ramp Travel Index (RTI) like mine ramp is simple. It creates an artificial but repeatable frame-twist situation that allows you to safely reach the point of maximum suspension flex and quantify what I prefer to call the Flex Index score. Numerical scores are based on a vehicle’s performance on a 20-degree ramp, an angle that was chosen some time ago. It works well for stock and lightly-modified vehicles, but I'm not sure the TRX counts as lightly modified even if it is an in-house factory off-road suspension.
You can get a detailed walk-through of this suspension by watching another video I made with this same truck: 2021 Ram 1500 TRX Suspension Walkaround - A Better Off-Road Pickup Truck Than The Ford F-150 Raptor? Link: • 2021 Ram 1500 TRX Susp...
The TRX has front and rear suspension track widths that are 6 inches wider than a regular Ram. Its 13 inches of front suspension travel and 14 inches of rear travel are a huge step up from the 9 inches found on a regular Ram 1500 4x4. The pounding of the 35-inch Goodyear off-road tires is controlled by specially-tuned coil springs and exclusive computer-controlled and continuously adjustable Bilstein Blackhawk e2 shock absorbers with remote reservoirs and a hydraulic bump stop built inside the ones mounted up front. The Ram’s link-coil rear suspension has been given extra beef in the form of a full-floating Dana 60 rear end that is located by certain heavy-duty components that were adapted from the 2500-series Ram Power Wagon.
Why am I doing this? I can't get enough of this stuff. I'm a former suspension development engineer that worked for years on truck and SUV suspension development projects for two automakers at their remote desert proving grounds. Later on, I somehow stumbled into auto journalism, and for several years I created a popular photo feature called a Suspension Walkaround for Inside Line, a now-defunct offshoot of Edmunds.com (no relation). Today I have resumed writing these features under the name Suspension Deep Dive for Autoblog. Between the two outlets, over 100 of them have been published. Along the way I managed to grow a good-sized fan base, and one question I often heard was, “When are you going to make video versions?”
I never seemed to have the time, the equipment, or the confidence to get in front of the camera, but I got over that by hosting at least 80 professionally-produced videos over three years on the Edmunds You Tube channel. If you like it, please tell your friends, click subscribe, share links, give it a like and check out the other videos on my channel, which is simply called Dan Edmunds. You can also type in the channel’s alias: SuspensionTuna. And I take requests. I can't promise that I can get my hands on any car or truck, but the odds are good. And the more views I get, the more horsepower I'll have when requesting cars to examine. - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Man, that Land Cruiser is killing them!
I thought it would beat the land cruiser untill i saw the rank :)))
@@nguyenduc8966 I know, but this got up the ramp the farthest!
@@bradleyscarreviews it's true. The Ramp is a beast too
@Carl Alfred you guys need to stop spamming
@Brian Roberto stop spamming. I’m gonna report you
Love how the land cruiser beats them all.
Ram
And yet nobody cares
@@adrian-lifts You prob don't but a lot of people do.
Nope don't think so
You are right...
Very impressive for an independent front suspension
You finna have me at work doing thing I’m not supposed to be doing in the trxs💀💀
Great Video, Sir.
Glad to see my 2020 LC HE rules the Ramp!!!
Bring on the Power Wagon...
So we have all seen the new 2021 Raptor teaser, and we know several things that will be of interest to us here:
1) Unlike the rest of the F-150 lineup, the 2021 Raptor will have coil spring suspension in the rear. I'm eager to examine it and show you what's similar and what's different between it and this TRX.
2) 35-inch tires are standard, 37-inch tires are optional. But suspension travel is artificially restricted by a full inch for tire clearance if you get the 37s, so the 35-inch truck will almost certainly flex more on the ramp than the 37-inch version. More travel = more maximum flex.
3) The new 2021 Raptor will only be available in the SuperCrew aka crew cab configuration, so you can forget any SuperCab aka extended cab Raptor flex index numbers you may have previously seen. And you can bet that all of the old Raptor's RTI claims were based on the short-wheelbase extended cab version, because that's the best-case setup that marketers love to dwell on as if they're all like that. They're not. Now, with the crew cab being the only cab, the Raptor's sole wheelbase is 145.5 inches, which is only a hair longer than the 145.1-inch wheelbase of this TRX. The Raptor vs TRX ramp battle -- when I can arrange it -- will be apples to apples in terms of the critical wheelbase factor.
More twist ramp! Your videos are so good. Thank you for them
Would you be willing to do a Power Wagon for this flex test vs AEV Power Wagon conversion? Great Video !
I have a request in for a Power Wagon, but no confirmation. The AEV one might be a bit trickier. Good idea, though.
I love the Land cruiser!!
Thanks for the great VIDJA’s & real word testing !
1:20 yo THAT HEMI!
Now that’s impressive!!!!!
Very informative video - keep up the excellent work!
Do the raptor next kinda curious what it gets
Just found your channel, really cool video!
it was so amazing i subscribed
There's only one thing left to do..
climb back into the drivers seat! 😂
Not that easy here, and I'm 6'2" tall.
@@DanEdmunds I love your height i am 6ft 2" too xD
Good job mate
Great channel!
Thank you!
What a truck!
Hello dan big fan you are the best keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot!
BEAST!! Need to find someone out here in Southern California to put the truck up against mine. Interested to see how it compares on the dirt.
The profile picture through me for a loop. I knew it was some kind of fish and some suspension, but it took a minute to land on suspension tuna. That's good!
Nice video
Ohh that's good. You're ready for rocks brotha.
awesone video! you surely know what are you talking about.
Want to see more cars and the chart fill up more. Love it!
I agree what I don’t understand is why the Raptor that has been out for all these years and isn’t on his chart.
I only just started doing this halfway through the year. I have been trying to get a Raptor since the beginning but have not yet been successful.
Amazing!
Excellent videos and well explained.
Comparo with previous: minute 9:00
Interesting stuff.
I cant wait to see a T4R Pro on the ramp
AWESOME !!!!
thanks for the video... and still looking forward for JL/JK Rubicon :)
Yes. I'm working on that.
That's pretty damn impressive.
For such a long-wheelbase, yes, it is quite impressive.
GO GO !!!
длинная база делает свое дело
Heya! What speeder wrench do you use? I saw on your vid when you took off the wheel on the raptor, your speeder wrench handle flipped to give you more leverage
Like the color
You should do a test on the rav4, 4runner, and TRD Tacoma, and tundra if you have not yet.
I'm working on the 4Runner and Tacoma over the next few weeks. I shot a RAV4 for Autoblog with stills, and the Tundra came and went before I got the ramp. I'm trying to bring one back in.
Can you do one with the new land rover defender?
Great video as always mate, really interesting to get an engineers perspective on this. Out of interest does this model of truck have a lower tow rating than the others in the range that are fitted with a rear stabiliser bar? I'm from Aus and we don't really get any of these larger "utes" here.
The TRX does have a lower payload or tow rating than other RAMs in the model range, but the missing antiroll bar is just one of the aspects that likely influences that difference (others being general suspension geometry, spring rates, shock dampening curves and overall weight of the vehicle being others).
Such extreme high-flying baja-racing inspired off-road packages usually do have lower tow and payload ratings than their working counterparts. This one is 8,100 pounds towing/1,310 pounds payload (3,672 kg tow/ 594 kg payload). Ram 1500s normally go higher, especially in terms of payload where the weight in the weight on the suspension is highest. In the US an 8,100-lb tow rating would equate to a 810-lb (10%) nose load on the hitch.
Here, Ram can get away without the rear stabilizer bar because of the reduced load ratings, but it's also because of the 6-inch (152 mm) wider track width that this truck has. The substantially wider footprint has perhaps more to do with it, in fact.
FYI The Raptor is 8,000 pounds tow/1,200 pounds payload (3,626 kg/544 kg).
Here in the US payload includes passenger weight, and towing includes the effects of tongue weight on the truck's suspension. It's an either/or, to a certain extent, too. If you have four heavy blokes in the cab, you won't have enough remaining payload to account for 810 pounds of tongue weight, so the situational tow rating goes down accordingly. Put a couple of dirtbikes in the back and you might not be able to tow anything. Our truck makers aren't good an making that obvious. They only talk in terms of best-case maximums.
@@DanEdmunds Yep, we're very similar here. Both of those trucks have a much lower payload comparable to the Japenese "utes" we get sold here which is surprising given the difference in size. A Toyota Hilux can have a payload of up around the 1000 Kg mark (inclusive of a tray/ bed). The marketing is also misleading as like your manufacturers ours also neglect to mention that the ball weight (~10% of payload) needs to be added to the vehicles payload. The hilux is rated to tow 3.5 tonnes which seems insane to me given its size- The towing number has become somewhat of an arms race here between manufacturers though.
Could you do one episode for Nissan Armada? It is based on the Nissan Patrol Y62 platform, a long time competitor of Land Cruiser.
I asked for one, but was not successful. I'll try again, but with IRS here in the US, it might not fare as well.
AMAZING +++++++++++++++
how is the landcruiser the winner when the ram got so much high up the ramp
Awesome job. You need to get a hold of a ram power wagon. I think it may be at the top of your board
Very impressive. And the door closed really well while on the ramp. With a nice and correct sound.
Thanks. With the angle, I have to be careful to let it go carefully so it won't slam.
I remember when you had freaking 700 subscribers!!!, well you had a toyota tundra or land cruiser last I watched idk lol
Yeah, that Tundra one was the first one I did in this format. Before that this was a dormant channel that I only used to host short video clips so I could get a URL I could imbed in a blog. I still have a long way to go to make this pay for my time and equipment, so please keep watching and posting links! Thanks very much.
Nice truck but can you jump it like the Ford Raptor ?
I’d like to see what you get with a Power Wagon.
It is on my list. Will be interesting to try that one.
COOL ++++++++++++++++
Wow
Do one for old defender and new defender please!
New Defender on the schedule. Old one? I know where one is in my neighborhood, but I don't know the owner and he's not a viewer. Maybe I can change that...
@@DanEdmunds sounds like the start of a new friendship!
@@DanEdmunds Looking forward to the episode!
How about the new Tundra? 2nd Gen Tundra?
Will driving in mud void the warranty like jeep?
My anxiety level when i see that left rear wheel
Try with 90's Vitara
😍
Was anyone else thinking stuff like, your good, just a little bit more, yeah that's it, when he put it on the ramp 😂
Exactly like I park
Dan, mind sharing what your fuel economy numbers were with the TRX? Curious if driven gingerly if you can in fact hit the EPA figures. Also curious how driving it in real world conditions, punching it here and there, etc, how its economy looks. I get MPGs aren't the most important to TRX owners, but just curious.
I am sure its under 10 mpg city. Such a waste
I didn't drive it a long-enough distance over a range of speeds and terrain, so I didn't get a real good idea. The EPA rating is 12 mpg (10 city/14 highway). I averaged about 12 mpg over about 75 miles. This was a loaner, not my own vehicle.
@@DanEdmunds Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I know loaners don’t stick around too long, so totally get the lack of time for an accurate idea of mpg...12, not as bad as I would have guessed. Thanks for all the technical info, love it!
I'm getting 11.5 driving like a normal mannered commuter. I use the horses to get around unskilled drivers.
If you can afford a ram TRX you probably have the money to buy fuel. You can’t expect a 3000 pounds truck with 702 HP to be eco. However if you put it in snow mode you can get abt 14 mpg
Why does no one talk about the shock that in ontop of the differential going forward towards the cab??
I have no idea. I talk about it at length in my Suspension Walkaround Video, the one I put up just before this one. I think that few reviewers really look underneath and get into the details. More for me to talk about!
I'd like if you could borrow a cherokee XJ and do this test...up country off-road package if you can find one with it.
I have two friends with XJs, but they're both modded up. I'll have to ask what they have really done to them.
The Up Country package was the equivalent then of the Trailhawk now. It was the factory off road package. For this test the biggest difference would just be that it had a 1" lift and no rear sway bar compared to the non Up Country Cherokees. I have a '96 XJ with the Up Country package and the rear sway bar delete makes a big difference in rear suspension articulation. Keep up the great videos!
Hi Dan... can you do Tahoe Z71 or Yukon AT4 2021...
Tahoe Z71 is on the schedule
i think we need a new ramp and some new competitors for the land cruiser..... :D
Yes, I have already sketched up a bolt on ramp extension. And the Land Cruiser's days at the top may well be numbered.
Brand new truck already has a squeak??? Sheesh
Please do a raptor please
The new one is being announced next month. It might take a few weeks after that to get my hands on one.
That driveway can’t even hold the damn thing 🤣 it probably took an hour getting it in safely
You must have been peeking over the fence. I needed a spotter to get through the gate. The mirrors don't stick any farther out than a regular Ram 1500, though. It's more about not being able to see around the front fenders. And getting it lined up and staged behind the ramp (which is angled) without backing into the gate post.
@@DanEdmunds props to u for getting it done lol. Thanks for the video
Lol the front suspension didn’t do anything while the rear is fully stretched out. Ifs problems
With the truck like that can you still open the tailgate on the truck
Yes. The bed has more than enough torsional stiffness to prevent the tailgate from getting jammed. In fact, the last scene with the leaderboard shows me sitting on the open tailgate, and it opened and closed with no problem.
My Jeep grand Cherokee what would the numbers be ?
I have not done a GC before. Added to the list.
Please do with. F150 rapter ford
New Raptors are not yet available to me, but I will bring one here when they are added to the press fleet. I did drive one, though. You can read about it on Autoblog. www.autoblog.com/2021/08/31/2021-ford-raptor-review/
Do you already have delivered or just testing?
It was a loaner. It's already gone. :(
Most of these are loaners. That's why I can do so many different vehicles.
Do the 2021 raptor
When it comes out, sure. The 2021 F-150 is on sale, but there's no all-new Raptor yet. Rumor has it the Raptor might have link-coil rear suspension even though the mass-market 2021 F-150 still has leaf springs in back.
Can you test the ford rapter?
I need to get my hands on one, first. That's always the issue.
@@DanEdmunds i was thinking that but if you ever do get the chance i would love to see how the rapter stacks up against the TRX
Would love to see you do a new chevy z71 lt trailboss please.
What is that covering coil springs?
Because the springs are intended to compress progressively, with the soft upper coils bottoming out before the middle and upper ones do, there will be coil-to-coil contact that would make a clanging noise and rub off some paint to get rust started. So they have these nylon coil covers on every other loop one so there's no metal-to-metal contact when they nest together. Look at the right rear under-truck shot near the end. You can see the fully compressed coil all wadded up with those covers doing their job.
Wow! i could never sqeeze my ram that in that driveway😲❗❗
It is tight. The mirrors had about a half-inch clearance on each side.
Bro she was flexing
I think we need a bigger ramp.
Yep. I have an extension design sketched out.
Love the board very top gear lol
Yes. I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about. ;)
@@DanEdmunds lol. The board of all the flex index’s looks like the lap time board from top gear
Whats with the squeak?
Did you watch the video?? He literally shows the source of the squeak 🤦🏻♂️
Wonder which would increase in 5 years this or 100,000 condo. A friend has 2019 hemi ram alot electrical problems.
That calculator beats both.
Are there a lot of people cross shopping a truck and a condo? ? 🤦🏼♂️
Who cares? It’s your money spend it how you like.
Wow 1:50
I thought he was going to go through that garage
Risky..
Do it whit the Toyota tacoma
You have to do a tacoma now.
It's in the works.
I wonder if the Toyota Hilux was tested at once
When yer trx costs as much as yer house. Lol
Cheap ass house...
@@bpl101 well, look at the neighbors house. Cant be that expensive
@@Sticks1680 oh I thought you were saying just in general lol
Raptor RTI is 627 on the SCREW. Just sayin.
Imagine this, the trx and raptor are modded from factory to the max(pretty much) they have 35in tires ECT, and the LandCruiser still destroys them, but imagine if that LandCruiser had a lift to Accommodate 35in tires. Or even better a 79 series pickup on 40in tires(which are illegal here but I like to dream) 😂😂
The Land Cruiser's short wheelbase helps it here. Its dimensions favor rock crawling and overlanding - shorter wheelbase, narrower, tighter u-turn radius), the TRX and Raptor are more about high-speed baja-style desert offroad (suspension travel, damper designed to for heavy impacts and taking whoop-dee-dos at high speed. Apples and oranges.
Only rear flex
try ford raptur
1 Land Cruiser to rule them all…AND rides like a Cadillac off road.
It has a 60 point higher RTI score but climbs 4 inches lower.
I bet you could get that to the end if you disconnected the front sway bar. Running no rear sway bar would give the rear axle more grip for that big motor too.
Possibly, but this ramp gets unstable if I get close to the end, which is why I didn't disconnect it here. As I said, I need a bigger ramp. I may design and build a bolt-on extension.
@@DanEdmunds When you add the extension you can make outriggers to make it more stable.
Ok this is the second video I watched with the TRX that turns me off. I can hear a squeaky pulley on a brand new truck! The last video I watched the breaks were pretty much on fire...
It wasn't a pulley. There were stones in the skidplate that I show, and others I noticed after I stopped shooting.
This truck was a press loaner, as my subject vehicles usually are. It was very clean, but a previous press outlet had driven it through some deep mud that hadn't been completely discovered and rinsed away underneath.
@@DanEdmunds well from my experience rocks rattle and pulleys sqeak and squeal. I’m hearing a squeal.
@@DanEdmunds well that could and probably be why I hear what I hear but you should go check out Throttle house drag race the TRX and check out the smoke....concerning to say the least.
@Darvin Stjohn well bud I already stated what video to go watch and you can clearly see the thing smoking like my uncles VW van in the 70’s. And yah, roots blowers will squeal there belts when under load just like my Jackson racing supercharged Prelude did all to much. Buy it sure the f**k shouldn’t be slipping going up an rti ramp! And lastly you shouldn’t take it so personal.
Throttle House. Drag racing a TRX vs Shelby F150.
Raptor is in the 620’s
The Raptor comes in two lengths: extended cab w/5.6 ft bed on 134.2-in wheelbase; crew cab w/5.6 ft bed on 146-in wheelbase. The TRX is not available in the shorter wheelbase. I am certain the shorty will earn a higher score, but I'm not sure about the crew cab.
@@DanEdmunds You can test the 2020 Raptor. It would be interesting to see how the SuperCrew scores.
Is that a belt or pulley squeaking already?
But this is impossible. Only sfa is allowed to flex. It has a chirping sound from the engine already? You should do a tundra. I’ve never seen one run up a ramp. Land cruiser still reins king.
Toyota land cruiser would be 1 mile behind in 2 mile race ! Lol. Let's see a land cruiser jump ! Lol
@@layne4376 of course it will. Rams are pretty reliable!
People are saying that the land cruiser is king, but this thing made it up all the way on the ramp! The land cruiser didn’t!
That's due to the longer wheelbase but in the scoring system the land cruiser beat the trx
Wheelbase matters a lot here. Distance up the ramp isn't as important as how close your rear tire came to touching it.
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