These new Chassis Cab trucks mix brains and brawn.

The interior of most chassis cab trucks are treated with the same amount of respect as a discarded coffee cup, bearing the brunt of a hard day’s work and tough jobs. Ram seeks to change that with new trims and features baked into their 2019 Chassis Cab lineup, a series of trucks including 3500, 4500, and 5500 models.

More than just standard Ram HD trucks with their beds left at the factory, Chassis Cabs are built specifically to accommodate a vast array of upfits ranging from wrecker bodies to flatdeck haulers. It’ll not escape your notice that these rigs now share much in the way of front-end styling with their HD counterparts unveiled recently.

However, most customers in this sphere seek to answer the question of power before loading their workhorse up with creature comforts. In this department, the 2019 Ram Chassis Cab trucks are available equipped with the inline-six Cummins diesel, making 360 horsepower and 800lb.-ft of torque in this application. This is less than the consumer-grade trucks which makes a headline-grabbing 1000lb.-ft; blame the deficit on an engine tune that considers the unique duty cycles faced by commercial machines.

Your author believes this is the first time he has used “800lb.-ft” and “deficit” in the same paragraph. Safe to say these machines will have more than enough grunt for their operators. A gasoline-powered 6.4L Hemi is also available, making a familiar 429lb.-ft of twist and either 410 or 370 horsepower depending on trim.

Depending on how the rig is optioned, payload capacity tops out at a towering 12,510lbs. Towing capability can reach 35,220lbs, driving the Gross Combined Weight Rating to a pavement-bending 43,000 pounds. Helping move the needle on these numbers northward compared to last year is a regimented weight-reduction program, in which the truck was fed a diet of Slim Fast and ground up Priuses (not really). In actual fact, the weight savings were realized from a move to high-strength steel and a few other tweaks like a new aluminium hood. Styling will mimic the new HD pickups introduced earlier this year.

Realizing that not all Chassis Cab owners want to spend their day in a sparsely equipped penalty box, the 2019 models are offered with much of the luxury that appears in Ram’s consumer-grade trucks. The brand’s enormous 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system is available, as are snazzy gauge displays and interior trappings.

A new Limited trim is layered on top of the Tradesman, SLT, and Laramie models, meaning the Site Supervisor can enjoy a similar level of luxury as they would find in a top-spec Ram HD. New camera systems and parking sensors are designed to keep body damage to a minimum.

Pricing will be released closer to the truck’s release date, which is scheduled for Q2 of 2019.