The standard
won’t be for half-ton pickups only. SAE J-2807 will
cover truck segments up to a gross vehicle weight (max base curb weight
plus passengers and cargo) of 19,500-pounds (Class 5). And each segment
will have a max towing capacity assigned to it.
One participating
OEM rep on the committee tells PickupTruck.com that, "We
don't want to push the trailer weights on a single rear wheel to
a point where they are overlapping with dual rear wheels. We want have
half-ton, three-quarter-ton, and one-ton differentiation. In some cases,
it might even set a percentage of the vehicles back in how they are rating
their trailers."
The role
of the trailer and hitch manufacturers is to help set usage and test
parameters for their products. Part of the standard covers trailer
tongue weight, the percent-amount of a trailer’s gross weight
pushing down on the hitch. In the past, trucks tested with fifth wheel
trailers had tongue weights that might have varied from 15% to 25%.
The committee has tentatively settled on a 20% standard tongue weight
for all fifth wheel tow testing. And a 10% tongue weight for conventionally
hitched trailers. All manufacturers would be expected to test and certify
to these weights.
The trailer
companies are also helping establish standard frontal area charts for
trailers pulled in each truck class, to make sure aerodynamic loads
are defined, while the hitch companies are recommending acceptable
vehicle dynamic metrics for sway damping and stability.
A year after
it was proposed, J-2807 is getting ready for the first of two rounds
of balloting before the committee’s OEM, trailer,
and hitch reps - an amazingly short period of time to arrive at this
stage, according to Mr. Pokrzywa.
"You
rarely have such an agreement come together so quickly. And sometimes
it's difficult and lengthy to reach because the process is very scientific.
But these guys jumped on it very fast," says
Mr. Pokrzywa.
Committee
reps have 28-days to make comments on the standard. The comments must
be addressed and answered before each round of voting. After the second
round, the standard will be made publicly available for final comment
before becoming official.
It's expected
that by the middle of 2008 all the tow ratings cited in truck commercials
will have been measured under the new standard and guidelines. Truck
shoppers will finally have an apples-to-apples comparison to refer
to before reaching a purchase decision. It'll be fair
- without the fairies.
