The big rigs: Class 4 and 5 trucks are coming

An engineer and communications man from Chrysler have been crossing the country, spreading the word about the new Dodge 4500 and Dodge 5500 trucks. These are very impressive trucks, and they follow on the heels of the Dodge Ram 3500 Chassis Cab which, amazingly, has taken the #1 sales position in Class 3 trucks for two months in a row - coming from out of nowhere to steal Ford’s long-standing sales lead (and GM’s long-standing #2 status).

Some say that people don’t buy a Dodge truck; they buy a Cummins diesel engine with a truck wrapped around it. That’s undoubtedly a huge part of these rigs’ attraction, but there’s more to it than that - though I wouldn’t have known exactly what else there was until today. Yes, Chrysler put out a long press release bragging about unique features, but some of them are “more than meets the eye.” One major draw is the fact that you can take a huge fitting developed for another truck, say a Ford F-450 that’s being retired, and just move it onto the Dodge and expect it to fit — because Dodge has not only gone with industry-standard electricals and rails, but has gone one step further and pushed everything, that is everything, beneath the rails, without the protrusions of some competitors. Part of that, the engineer explained (we’ll have his name and picture in an article next week), is because Dodge was developing the truck knowing what the emissions rules would be from 2007-2009 (and, indeed, past 2009, into the very tightly controlled realm that will see urea treatment become almost standard). Therefore, they were able to engineer the emissions controls into the body from the start - and nothing seems “added on” or “in the way.”

Another interesting story is the brakes. The press release noted that an engine brake is now standard, and the front brakes are the biggest in the industry. Not mentioned was why this is important - namely, cutting back on brake jobs. The Dodge was engineered with long-term cost of ownership in mind, and if you can cut the number of brake jobs in half, that gives you more productivity (the vehicle’s not out of service) and lower costs. Between the in-service items and the Cummins engine, which is powerful but surprisingly quiet - just a little louder than a Hemi - it’s no wonder the upfitters have been lining up to get behind the new Dodges.

Then there’s another advantage - flexible manufacturing. Apparently these rigs can be built on the same assembly line as regular Dodge trucks and the Class 3 chassis-cabs, interchangeably; the diesels take a little longer to build, but they don’t need a separate line (presumably lowering costs) and they don’t need to be run in huge batches, which means that if a customer orders a truck in November, they can get it in November or December. Turnaround time is important in this industry, and Dodge has it.

By the way, these Rams are also sold as the Sterling Bullet; earlier I said that this was a joint effort, but I’ve been corrected — it’s a 100% Dodge engineering feat. That makes it even more impressive.

If you want my guess, this will be a winner - a truck that puts Dodge onto the commercial-vehicle map for the first time since the 1970s. Yes, it looks good, inside and out; but to many the beauty is where you can’t see it (at least not after it’s been fitted out).