Ram News: Spying: Ram 1500 Sporting A Split Tailgate?

[William Maley]

A few years ago, reports popped up about a patent filed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It was a tailgate that could be folded down or split open into two swing-out halves. That patent has now become reality as a new set of spy photos reveals a next-generation Ram 1500 sporting one.

Compared to the original patent filing which showed a 50/50 split, the one shown in the spy photos appears to be a 70/30 split. We're assuming this to allow Ram to use the same handle mechanism on this and a standard tailgate. The one item the spy photos don't tell us is how you open the split tailgate. There might be handle on the top of the tailgate, but we're speculating here.

There were some other Ram 1500 mules capture who had their tailgates covered up. But they did reveal that the RamBox storage system would be making a return.

Source: Autoblog, AutoGuide

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[G. David Felt]

OK, Cool Factor is there and the ease of dumping stuff and not having to clean out the tail gate gape is cool, but from a commercial stand point, I wonder how many will get broken, bent, etc. and not be able to close and then you have people using rope or bungee cords to keep it somewhat closed.

Plus I hate that the body lines are already off from the sag of the doors. For an SUV, I love stagecoach doors, but for the Pickup Truck, I am truly on the sideline about this.

[surreal1272]

Howfully they fix the massive misalignment  in that tailgate. 

[Drew Dowdell]

Neat idear. I was really intrigued when I tried out the swing out tailgate on the Ridgeline. 

[A Horse With No Name]

6 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Hopefully they fix the massive misalignment  in that tailgate. 

They have to show off their Fiat parentage somehow...

2 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Neat idear. I was really intrigued when I tried out the swing out tailgate on the Ridgeline. 

It is a neat idea.

[G. David Felt]

5 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Neat idear. I was really intrigued when I tried out the swing out tailgate on the Ridgeline. 

But is the Honda not just one big door rather than two different size Stagecoach doors?

Much like how the 70's and 80's station wagons were? I loved that feature on my parents Delta 98 Station Wagon.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 minute ago, dfelt said:

But is the Honda not just one big door rather than two different size Stagecoach doors?

Much like how the 70's and 80's station wagons were? I loved that feature on my parents Delta 98 Station Wagon.

Yes, it's one big door, not split like the Ram.  Yes, it swings out or folds down like the old wagons.  I immediately saw the usefulness of it when I tried it out. 

[balthazar]

Having logged a few hundred thousand miles in pickups, I personally can't think of a use, but perhaps others can. A lot more sense on a wagon tho.

[Robert Hall]

Clearance issues when towing a trailer is what I've heard as far as preference for barn doors vs. tailgate.

[balthazar]

interesting- every trailer I've pulled has been below tailgate level (the jack handle). Maybe a 1500-level issue.

[Robert Hall]

The specific scenario IIRC was a friend w/ a Suburban and a travel trailer..said a tailgate would hit the propane tanks on the hitch tongue while barn doors would clear the tanks...(esp. if the Suburban was at an angle to the trailer).  I'm sure there are other reasons for preferences..that's the only one I've heard.   Rearward visibility w/ a Suburban was better w/ a tailgate than barn doors.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

Having logged a few hundred thousand miles in pickups, I personally can't think of a use, but perhaps others can. A lot more sense on a wagon tho.

Reach and lifting. Having the tailgate swing out puts you 18" - 24" closer to that bag of mulch you're trying to reach without hopping up into the bed.

[ocnblu]

Not a fan.  Too much possibility of turning to crap with heavy use.

[Robert Hall]

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Reach and lifting. Having the tailgate swing out puts you 18" - 24" closer to that bag of mulch you're trying to reach without hopping up into the bed.

I could see that especially useful on modern full size trucks where the bed floor seems to be 36-40 inches off the ground.  Absurdly high liftover..

Edited November 17, 2017 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Not a fan.  Too much possibility of turning to crap with heavy use.

oh this is totally a "lifestyle" truck option.... You know, someone who needs a 1500 to haul their kayak and 6 bags of mulch.

[Robert Hall]

8 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

oh this is totally a "lifestyle" truck option.... You know, someone who needs a 1500 to haul their kayak and 6 bags of mulch.

LoL... I carried one bag of potting soil and a bag of grass seed in my Jeep a while back. 

[balthazar]

I only get into the bed of my truck (which I use nearly daily) not even once/quarter. Mostly when I carry long ladders- I use a tension bar near the head of the bed over the ladder as insurance, and the latch is in the center of the bar. I brought home 10 bags of mulch in the spring, I stacked them at the rear of the bed and reached them easily over the dropped gate. 2500HD bed floor is decently high and I'm not tall.

Wednesday I had a table saw, chop saw, sawhorses/an old door, pile of small lumber and a compressor/air hose in the bed- all loaded/unloaded from the ground.

The only time I am 'aware' of the tailgate protrusion is shoveling a bedfull of dirt/stone dust out. Even so, on a 6.5' bed, I do it all from the ground... but that's the one scenario I can see a swing out gate would be useful.

[Drew Dowdell]

As always. Your mileage may vary.

[ccap41]

Neat, but I don't understand why? What is the benefit of this over a regular tailgate? Is it worth the additional complexity? 

[Robert Hall]

I'm sure if this goes into production, there will be an explanation.  It's  a product differentiating feature.  

[G. David Felt]

12 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Neat, but I don't understand why? What is the benefit of this over a regular tailgate? Is it worth the additional complexity? 

Simple, less back strain of getting things out when you do not need the tailgate down. Easier to dump bark, rock, dirt, etc. out of the bed and not have to deal with a dirty space between the tailgate and bed to close. Many advantages to this.

With that said I can also see a high failure rate especially by just normal people who do not take care of their auto's.

[ccap41]

Yeah, those issues don't seem like real issues. They're more made up issues they decided to solve a problem for.

Fixing something that wasn't broken. Making up a problem to find a solution for. 

[G. David Felt]

1 minute ago, ccap41 said:

Yeah, those issues don't seem like real issues. They're more made up issues they decided to solve a problem for.

Fixing something that wasn't broken. Making up a problem to find a solution for. 

Tell that to the medical community that sees plenty of overweight out of shape humans that strain their back reaching for stuff over lips of car trunks, truck tailgates, etc. Very surprising the amount of medical problems caused by it.

You would be amazed also how much of personal injury happens from pushing and pulling stuff especially over a tailgate. OSHA has stats on this. They say 36% of all back injuries are from improper lifting and lack of ease in getting items into and out of trucks, cars and other delivery formats. Amazing reading the statistics OSHA has compiled on back injuries.

Until you posted your statement CCAP41 I also gave it a grain of salt feeling till I started to go through the various OSHA and other gov web sites.

[ccap41]

I could care less about lazy pieces of sh!t. Our vehicles shouldn't cost more because of them.Yes, R&D for this for fat people is costing everybody who buys the truck whether optioned with it or not. 

Also, it's a tailgate, you drag the item to you before lifting with your arms straight out, like an idiot. I had to do the little learning stuff

As long as you and I know how to lift something up, this isn't an issue.. If people weren't stupid, this wouldn't be an issue. They'd know how to lift something up without hurting themselves. 

Can't fix stupid. Wait, sure you can, here's a Ram SpltGate! 

[G. David Felt]

5 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I could care less about lazy pieces of sh!t. Our vehicles shouldn't cost more because of them.Yes, R&D for this for fat people is costing everybody who buys the truck whether optioned with it or not. 

Also, it's a tailgate, you drag the item to you before lifting with your arms straight out, like an idiot. I had to do the little learning stuff

As long as you and I know how to lift something up, this isn't an issue.. If people weren't stupid, this wouldn't be an issue. They'd know how to lift something up without hurting themselves. 

Can't fix stupid. Wait, sure you can, here's a Ram SpltGate! 

Wish I could give ya a upvote and a laugh vote as you nailed it. Sadly we cannot fix stupidity or as I like to call it, a lack of common sense.

[balthazar]

It's the lifting, which any tailgate design discussed here doesn't address. The sliding in & out is not the majority of back injuries. Frankly, the closer you can get to a heavy item the better, and a fold-down tailgate bridges any bumper protrusion, so that's a better scenario, not worse.

I think Cubey & ccp nailed it- it's a product differentiating feature that answers a question no one is really asking.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

Yeah, those issues don't seem like real issues. They're more made up issues they decided to solve a problem for.

Fixing something that wasn't broken. Making up a problem to find a solution for. 

There have been plenty of automotive options that fit that definition

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

Wish I could give ya a upvote and a laugh vote as you nailed it. Sadly we cannot fix stupidity or as I like to call it, a lack of common sense.

Haha thanks!

I also realized I stopped mid-thought on the second "paragraph"

What I meant to say was I had to learn "lifting techniques" when I worked at wal*mart and if you're not completely retarded, it's just common sense. Lift with your legs and keep the weight tight against your body. 

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

There have been plenty of automotive options that fit that definition

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what do you think fits that description? There are probably thousands, really. But how many of those just slightly change what was already there for a more complex way that could(and most likely will) make the part in question less reliable? 

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Frankly, the closer you can get to a heavy item the better, and a fold-down tailgate bridges any bumper protrusion, so that's a better scenario, not worse.

I think that is 100% spot on! 

[Drew Dowdell]

15 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Haha thanks!

I also realized I stopped mid-thought on the second "paragraph"

What I meant to say was I had to learn "lifting techniques" when I worked at wal*mart and if you're not completely retarded, it's just common sense. Lift with your legs and keep the weight tight against your body. 

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what do you think fits that description? There are probably thousands, really. But how many of those just slightly change what was already there for a more complex way that could(and most likely will) make the part in question less reliable? 

I think that is 100% spot on! 

Ford's "man" step:

Chevy's step

 

Chrysler swivel seats.

 

Nearly every electronic shifter that isn't just a dial. 

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Ford's "man" step:

Chevy's step

 

Chrysler swivel seats.

 

Nearly every electronic shifter that isn't just a dial. 

The Chevy corner step doesn't compromise the bumper though. The Ford step i agree with as it just complicates things and there's more to break, same with that swivel seat. That's like the definition of a fat person thing hahaha.

[balthazar]

• MoPar swivel seats were only around I believe 2 or 3 years. The funny thing is that they were on those huge full-size cars, where there was plenty of room to bop in-n-out. They might be useful on a -say- accord today.

• The Silverado bumper step is only a few inches lower than the bumper top- not much of a noticable difference at all. I strongly dislike the Ford step, but at least it's lower...

[ocnblu]

The Chevy bumper step is brilliant, simple and elegant.  It sticks out just enough past (and below) the body of the bumper for a man to catch his boot on, grab hold of a stake pocket hole and climb into the bed with the tailgate up or down.

They've been called "step bumpers" for generations and there was a time when they were husky and useful.  Then they got smaller and much more "fared in", diminishing their functional value.

The GM bumper step makes the step bumper great again.

The Ford step is a Rube Goldberg contraption that misses the point... and continues to relegate the pickup truck bumper to mere "license plate bracket" status, while adding complexity to the truck, while GM simply adds function back in to a component that has been losing said function for yerrs.

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

The Chevy bumper step is brilliant, simple and elegant.  It sticks out just enough past (and below) the body of the bumper for a man to catch his boot on...

It doesn't stick below the body of the bumper; it's WITHIN the body of the bumper.
It's also only about 4" below the top of the bumper, which is in the same spot it's been for 60 years; at the bottom edge of the tailgate. It's simple, it's functional, but I'd not go so far as to call it 'brilliant'.

Ford's 'Man Step' is embarassing, IMO.

Wonder if some sort of ratcheting tailgate-lowering platform is possible. Crank a lever and the 'gate remains horizontal but extends out & downward half the distance to the ground. That would be 'brilliant'.

[Robert Hall]

Some of today's pickups sit so high they should offer steps like these..

[Drew Dowdell]

On 11/17/2017 at 5:09 PM, ccap41 said:

The Chevy corner step doesn't compromise the bumper though. The Ford step i agree with as it just complicates things and there's more to break, same with that swivel seat. That's like the definition of a fat person thing hahaha.

The Cheby picture was a comparison to the over-complex Ford solution... I wasn't citing it as an example of a solution without a problem.

I had the Chevy example on my Avalanche and it did lower things just enough to make it more comfortable getting in and out of the back. The Avalanche also had a convenient grab handle at the top of the bed wall... no need for a post sticking out of the top of the tailgate Man-Step. 

[ccap41]

On 11/18/2017 at 6:24 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

The Cheby picture was a comparison to the over-complex Ford solution... I wasn't citing it as an example of a solution without a problem.

I had the Chevy example on my Avalanche and it did lower things just enough to make it more comfortable getting in and out of the back. The Avalanche also had a convenient grab handle at the top of the bed wall... no need for a post sticking out of the top of the tailgate Man-Step. 

The chevy corner step seems pretty much perfect, imo. 

I assume you've used one, but that Ford Man Step is actually really nice. Definitely more complicated than it's worth but a buddy of mine has one and I had to try it out. It's nice but it's like this Ram tailgate thing. Almost making a solution for a not-real-problem. 

[Robert Hall]

I'm sure the Ford Man Step works well..I can see how it would be useful in loading boxes, furniture, etc in and out of a pickup bed.....back around 2011-12, I rented an F150 from uHaul to haul some furniture to the storage unit, and the damn thing was so high off the ground I had to position a stepladder behind the open tailgate to walk stuff up and into the bed and vice versa...it's absurd how high even 2wd pickup beds are today.

[balthazar]

If/when I load into a pickup, I always place the item on the tailgate, then (the 1% of the time I have to put myself in the bed too) I climb into the bed. No way would I attempt to climb the Ford Man Step carrying a large box; easier the other way. Just brought a grandfather clock to my house Friday, in my pick-up bed. No reason to get into the bed to load/unload.