A viewer reached out to us with photos of his stock Ram 1500 RHO next to RHO and his truck was inches shorter. What the heck? Turns out new truck height shrinks due to a variety of things.
Turns out this isn’t so unusual for high performance trucks.
New truck height shrinks?
The owner, James C, said he came across another Ram 1500 RHO and noticed it was shorter. He was shocked to see how much after pulling out a tape measure. These trucks were similar in all other ways.
He took his truck to his dealership and was shocked to hear their explanation.
What did they say? It was because one of the trucks had a full tank of gas and the other didn’t.
Wait, what? A full tank of gas can make a Ram 1500 RHO sink by up to 1-1/4″ inches. That’s crazy?!
Ram engineering explains
This riled up my curiosity and I reached out to the Ram public relations to see if engineering could further clarify.
They said:
- Anything in the bed and the fuel fill level could contribute to the height difference. With a 33gal tank, there’s almost a 200lb difference between an empty and full tank.
- We see that RHO’s and TRX’s are sensitive to weight differences, because part of what makes these trucks really capable at high-speed off-road is handing over a lot of control to the shocks vs. the springs. This means softer rear springs, especially near curb height, which softens the ride and allows the continuously adaptive shocks to have greater influence on the control.
- Another contributor is the natural settling of the truck during break-in. If one of the trucks is brand new, and the other 6mos old or so, it would not be uncommon to see the truck set into height.
Well there you go. As you drive around a sport truck like the RHO and TRX, the overall height can change due to several factors including gas. Nothing is wrong with the truck, then, it is normal then for the height to change.
What do you think? Are you satisfied with this answer?
The post New Truck Height Shrinks with Full Tank of Gas and Age? Wild Ram 1500 RHO Comparison appeared first on Pickup Truck +SUV Talk.
