I actually was surprised... by how poorly Ford did! They have some work to do on their calibration at high altitude, it seems.
Almost makes me wonder if the Ford was in regen or something? It used the most fuel and went up the hill the slowest. By the numbers, it should have been a dead heat with GM (5 HP is a rounding error), yet Ford got destroyed by everyone. Oh well, them's the breaks in the real world.
GM said the frame and brakes on the 17 are essentially the same as 11-16, so they were not going to increase the tow ratings. So they have the power to do it, but the rest of the truck isn't up to the engines ability. Dodge and Ford both improved the rest of the trucks to handle the extra weight. Keep in mind, it wasn't that long ago a semi rated to tow 80,000 pounds would only do 10-20 mph up grades like these. So it's not about having the power to run 70 up these grades that gives them the higher tow ratings, it's about having the frame and brakes to handle the weight when the poop hits the fan that matters.I watched that last night. I was expecting the Ford to win by a small margin.
Also, remember the Ram and Ford are "rated" to tow ~30k lbs yet where pulling the same ~23k lb load as the chevy and still lost. That either says that Ram and Ford are not truly safe, rated or capable of handling more then the Chevy or that there is a lot more left in the Chevy to grow if they felt they wanted to play that game
If you're tuning for a 30k load it'll be a lighter tune than for 23k load.
that doesnt matter when they post HP and torque numbers. the truck is not adjusting power by its self based on load
I think he is suggesting that the ford and dodge have higher HP potential but were tuned back to keep them together with 30k behind them. The dmax can be cranked up a bit since it 23k will put less strain on the motor.
it may also be the fact the allison still only has 4 clutches for the c3's.