2019 Ram Heavy Duty Tradesman

We all love the beauty, but some of us also love the beast. When applied toRam Truck’s 2019 Heavy Duty truck lineup, which we’ve recently gotten behind the wheel of, we feel an unashamed affinity to both ends of the spectrum—the high-end trims like the decked-out Limited as well as the entry-level Tradesman trim. There’s just something special about brand-new base-trim trucks that make them completely awesome and oddly desirable among workers and enthusiasts. Although they’re generally cheaper because they lack the “content” of the high-end trims, don’t be fooled—today’s base trucks are bad-to-the-bone and contain the same engineering, powertrain, safety, security, and design as their decked-out brethren. Plus, many people don’t realize the base trucks often carry the big payload and towing numbers precisely because they lack some (literally) weightier options.

Ram debuted its 2019 Tradesman trim for the 2019 Ram Heavy Duty 2500/3500 at the 2019 NTEA Work Truck show in Indianapolis, Indiana; we can’t think of a better venue for the introduction of its vocational offering. The2019 Ram Heavy Duty Tradesmanis jobsite-durable with its black exterior accents, vinyl or cloth seats, crank windows (two-door configuration), and standard 17-inch steel wheels, but it also includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Warning, and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) so that no safety is sacrificed. For those looking for a little more bling, exterior chrome accents and 18-inch chrome wheels can be optioned. A little added bonus comes in the form of Construction Yellow gauge needles and a new 3.5-inch gray-scale screen in the gauge cluster.

As mentioned earlier, these base trucks can be the big-number trucks, and that’s the case with the 2019 Ram Heavy Duty Tradesman. Ram touts the highest gooseneck towing capacity (35,100 pounds) and heaviest payload (7,680 pounds) amongst its 2019 model year competitors, numbers achieved through Tradesman trucks. The configuration for the astronomical towing capacity is a two-door, 2WD Ram 3500 Tradesman longbed powered by the 1,000 lb-ft, 400 hp 6.7L Cummins diesel engine with 4:10 gears. The configuration for the payload king is a two-door, 2WD Ram 3500 Tradesman longbed powered by the 429–lb-ft, 410hp 6.4L Hemi V-8 gasoline engine.