A more civilized Power Wagon is so obvious that it barely feels new.
StellantisThe most surprising thing about the new heavy-duty 2023 Ram 2500 Rebel is that it didn’t already exist. Tradesman, Big Horn, Laramie, Power Wagon, Limited . . . wasn’t Rebel already among them? The half-ton Ram 1500 series has had a Rebel trim since before time began. Of course, there’s a heavy-duty Ram 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 or who want the Cummins turbodiesel engine, an almost diaphanous bit of the market. Microsegmentation—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-lb-capacity Warn winch takes up space needed to mount the Cummins 6.7-liter 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—10 full tons. The heavy-duty Rebel, when running the 410-hp 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 hp and a stomping 850 lb-ft of peak torque—the tow 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. The high-output version of the Cummins—with 1075 lb-ft 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’s license-made version of the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic, while the Cummins feeds a Stellantis-made six-speed automatic. A dial mounted on the dash controls the Hemi’s eight-speed, while the Cummins’s six-speed has a reassuringly old-fashioned column shifter. Dials will dominate any electrified future, so a big lever like that hooked to the Cummins’s transmission is almost nostalgic. And it’s likely to be one of the last opportunities to indulge in such throwback tech.
The HD Rebel 2500 comes only as a crew cab with the six-foot-four-inch box.
Stellantis
As the only three-quarter-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 three-quarter-ton truck, and that means the cush factor extends only 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.
It is an improvement over the dang-near-mil-spec Power Wagon. The Rebel’s springs combine with 33-inch 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 149.3-inch-wheelbase beast does eagerly. But point this thing at the horizon with a toy hauler behind it, and it will be fine. And it’s 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 for off-road ability, what’s present on the Power Wagon but missing on the Rebel is an electronically disconnecting front sway bar for greater wheel articulation and a front locking differential to go with the rear locker. The transfer case, an electronically controlled unit with low and high ranges, operates almost invisibly. The basic suspension design is also the same with solid axles front and rear, the forward axle stitched to the chassis with three beefy links and the aft one with five links.
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 among boulders. A truck this huge is unlikely to pick its way through a forest, but rather might bound across more open terrain. Ram trucks have long been good at this, and the Rebel is too.
It’s a not Raptor or TRX competitor, but Power Wagon lite.
Stellantis
While the Hemi V-8 is being replaced by the new Hurricane twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter 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 V-8 doesn’t have the low-end wallop of modern turbo engines, but it operates quietly, and modulating power delivery is easy. And it’s the only engine to get if the Rebel will be equipped with that massive Warn winch.But the Cummins is more impressive. Dodge began installing the Cummins for the 1989 model year, back when its 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 hp, 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 that aforementioned 370 hp and 850 lb-ft of torque.
That diesel output is thick, but what’s more stunning is how well behaved the Cummins has become. Banished are that fishing-trawler drone and the rugged clatter of the valvetrain. This is a lovable lunk of compression-ignition goodness. With its reputation for quality and longevity, Cummins 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 for towing, rock crawling, or running over to Walgreens to pick up a prescription. All it takes is the commitment to spend $9595 on the diesel option, the stomach to handle current diesel fuel prices, and a willingness to refill its diesel exhaust fluid.
Pickup outside, Chrysler Imperial inside.
Stellantis
Like any modern pickup, the Ram Rebel 2500 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 outlet set into the center of the rear bumper, allowing an available 70-foot cable to be attached and run across a trailer to a camera that will send video up to the digital rearview mirror inside 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 and attach it in a way to guarantee it doesn’t flap in the wind? What a hassle. Instead, Ram should make access to the digital mirror open to aftermarket cameras, including those that deliver pictures wirelessly. Wire is, after all, so 1977.
Stellantis
The cabin can be furnished in anything from tasteful tract home to indulgent, leather-lined pleasure palace. The options 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: I Can't Believe It Took Ram This Long to Make a Heavy-Duty Rebel 2500