Ram Ports The Rebel Package Over To Its Heavy Duty Line
The most surprising thing about the new 2023 Ram Heavy Duty Rebel is that it didn’t already exist. Tradesman, Big Horn, Laramie, Power Wagon and Limited… wasn’t Rebel already among them? And the half-ton Ram 1500 series has had a Rebel trim since before time began. Of course, there’s a Ram Heavy Duty Rebel. Hasn’t there always been?
But no, the Heavy Duty Rebel Crew Cab is new for 2023. It’s the Ram Heavy Duty for those who aspire to a Power Wagon, but need a slightly more civilized ride and/or who want the Cummins turbodiesel engine. It’s an almost diaphanous bit of the market. Micro-segmentation – a wonderful system for doing the garlic using a razor to slice it so thin that it would liquefy in the pan with just a little oil.
Hemi V8 with a big plastic cover…
Stellantis
or big diesel six under a plastic cover.
Stellantis
As Ram explains it, the Power Wagon is available only with the 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 because the standard nose-mounted, 12,000-pound capacity Warn winch takes up space needed to mount the 6.7-liter Cummins straight six turbodiesel. Also, the Power Wagon’s off-road suspension sacrifices some towing talent in exchange for rock crawling ability. So, the Power Wagon is rated to tow 10,520-pounds which seems tame compared with a maximum lugging capacity for other Ram 2500 models of up to 20,000-pounds – ten full tons. The Heavy Duty Rebel, when running the 410-horsepower Hemi, is rated at 16,870-pounds of towing capacity.
Maybe frustratingly to some potential Reb owners, when the Cummins is ordered – which brings 370-horsepower and a stomping 850-pound feet of peak torque – the towing rating drops by about a ton. The Cummins has almost twice the total torque production of the gas-fired Hemi V-8, but it’s also so heavy that it uses much of that to haul its own self around.
Sorry, the “high output” version of the Cummins – with 1075-pound feet of peak torque – isn’t offered with the Rebel package. So much for four-digit torque production bragging rights.
The Hemi is lashed to Stellantis’ license-made version of the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic while the Cummins feeds a Stellantis-made six-speed automatic. The Hemi’s eight-speed is controlled by a dial mounted on the dash, while the Cummins’ six-speed has a reassuringly old-fashioned column shifter. Dials are going to dominate any electrified future, so a big lever like that hooked to the Cummins’ transmission is almost nostalgic. And it’s likely to be one of the last opportunities to indulge in such throwback tech.
The HD Rebel comes only as a Crew Cab with the 6-foot, 4-Inch box.
Stellantis
As the only ¾-ton pickups with a coil sprung rear suspension, every Ram HD has an advantage in ride quality. That in mind, the Rebel is still a ¾-ton truck and that means the cush-factor only extends so far. The cab is finished like a Chrysler Imperial, but it sits atop a chassis built to replace teams of oxen. Work trumps luxury.
But it is an improvement over the dang-near-mil-spec Power Wagon. The Rebel’s springs combine with 33-inch tall Goodyear Wrangler 285/60R20 tires for a comfortable, if not quite poised, ride on pavement. Unladen, the tail can be felt squirming around on road undulations and cornering is not something this 149.5-inch wheelbase beast does eagerly. But point this thing at the horizon with a toy hauler lashed behind it, and it’s going to be fine. And stunningly quiet, despite the deep, off-road tire treads.
A rear air suspension system is optional, but back-to-back on-road comparisons weren’t possible during the press event in glamorous Pioneertown, California. The Rebels on hand were always driven without a payload beyond a couple of journalists aboard and never towing a trailer. This is limited exposure.As to off-road ability, what’s present on the Power Wagon but missing on the Rebel is a front sway bar that disconnects for greater wheel articulation, and a front locking differential to go with the rear locker. The transfer case is an electronically controlled unit with low and high ranges that operates almost invisibly. The basic suspension design is also the same with solid axles front and rear. The forward axle being stitched to the chassis with three beefy links, and the aft one getting five links.
Off-road, the Rebel is nearly a Power Wagon. Without the military heritage… unless you count that nasty war between 1861 and 1865,
Stellantis
In the light off-roading at this introduction, the big Rebel performed perfectly. The hydraulic power steering is slow, but precise, the suspension never went goofy, and the structure never creaked or groaned while torqued amongst boulders. A truck this huge isn’t likely to pick its way through a forest, but bound across more open terrain. Ram trucks have long been good at this, and the Rebel is too.
It’s a not Raptor/TRX bounder, but Power Wagon Lite.
Stellantis
While the Hemi V8 is being replaced by the new, 3.0-liter Hurricane twin-turbocharged straight-six in some lighter duty Rams during the 2023 model year, the big iron lump will live on in the Heavy Duty line into the indefinite future. Commercial customers rely on this simple engine to deliver without interruption. The naturally aspirated V8 doesn’t have the low-end wallop of modern turbo engines, but it’s very easy to modulate power delivery and it operates quietly. And it’s the only engine to get if the Rebel is going to be equipped with that massive Warn winch.But the Cummins is more impressive. Dodge began installing the Cummins back in the 1989 model year when their trucks were also-rans (and still Dodges). That first Cummins straight-six displaced 5.9-liters, didn’t have a turbo or supercharger, produced only 160-horsepower and almost made the Ram relevant again based on its renowned longevity. Now, 34 years later, the 6.7-liter version with its turbos is rated at 370-horsepower and that aforementioned 850-pound feet of peak torque.
That diesel output is thick, but its more stunning how well-behaved the Cummins has become. Banished is that fishing trawler drone or the rugged clatter of the valvetrain. This is a lovable lunk of compression ignition goodness. Cummins’ reputation for quality and longevity is such that it could get away with a less refined unit and still have happy customers. Instead, the steady evolution of the Cummins has paid off with an engine usable every day whether that’s towing, rock crawling or running over to Walgreen’s to pick up a prescription. All it takes is the commitment to spend $9595 on the diesel option and the stomach to handle current diesel fuel prices and the need for diesel emissions fluid.
Pickup outside, Chrysler Imperial inside.
Stellantis
Like any modern pickup, the Ram Heavy Duty Rebel can be ordered with enough cameras, screens, and sensors to irradiate Iowa and then track all the mutant cattle fleeing it. One new tech feature is a video feed cable end set into the center of the rear bumper. With this outlet, an available 70-foot cable can be attached and run across a trailer to a special camera which will send video up to the digital rear view mirror in the truck. Aftermarket cameras sending signals forward to monitors inside truck cabs make this system seem, well, kludgy. Does anyone really want to string a long cable across their trailer attaching it in a way to guarantee it doesn’t flap in the wind? What a hassle. Instead Ram should make access to the virtual digital mirror open to aftermarket cameras including those that deliver their pictures wirelessly.
Wire is, after all, so 1977.
The video rearview mirror is better because vampires may be gaining on the Rebel and they don’t have reflections.
Stellantis
The cabin can be furnished in anything from tasteful tract home to indulgent, leather-lined pleasure palace. The option list is long and restraint isn’t necessarily something American pickup buyers are known to exercise regularly. So, while prices start at $68,940 for the Hemi and $78,535 for the Cummins, most of these Rebels will carry final stickers near (or above) $90,000.
This is a truck built for a thin market slice. But that price is dang thick.
John Pearley Huffman Senior Editor John Pearley Huffman has been writing about cars since 1990 and is getting okay at it.
Keyword: 2023 Ram 2500 HD Rebel: Same As Its Never Been