2009 Dodge Ram 1500: Rambox -- Brilliant Idea, Sorry Execution

That looks like they broke from being dropped in there, not worn away from movement.

That looks like every time you hit the gas or the brakes hard that thing was slamming around. You're supposed to secure heavy items. Still, that plastic looks flimsy.

That is a design failure. Chrysler should have made it durable & designed it tough enough that it could withstand the expected use of the rambox.

1487, before you go off on me, remember I'm no domestic hater. This IS a genuine issue with the design. Fair or not, things like this get the domestics the reputation they have.

(PS: Before anyone starts with 'Yeah? What about the Tundra tailgate flexing??' whining, I'm no Toyota fanboy either. So, save your breath)

Wow, that is superthin plastic.

The Rambox is designed for beer

Not for big heavy stuff

Use it right

Any storage box on a pickup has to handle rough treatment. A $10 Igloo cooler would have done better. This is fail with a capital F!

Go to the Ram web site, look at the heavy, unsecured tools they show in the box!
http://www.dodge.com/en/2009/ram_1500/storage/exterior/

Now I'm glad I got a second Tribeca (built in USA) instead of a Grand Caravan or a Town & Country. And I do like American cars just not Dodge, Chrysler, 0lllllll0, products. And I like Lincoln, Mercury , but for some reason Fords don't appeal to me. I like all GM products minus Saturn/Saab (which are now both gone).

@wrinklebump: beer is heavy.

"Worn a hole through" is not what I'd describe here. That's cracked/broken plastic.

When Hellwig was complaining about the Rambox, this is exactly the kind of think I had in mind as what you'd keep in there.

That stuff is waaaaaaaay too thin for the intended use. That looks like interior trim plastic, not a rugged load-bearing container.

That said, I'd say the workaround would be to throw a towel around anything particularly sharp and heavy. Looks like impact damage from the corners of the hitch, not so much an overload thing.

"Go to the Ram web site, look at the heavy, unsecured tools they show in the box!
"

After a week you'd have a wheel well full of garden equipment!

I'll agree with most here. You may or may not have abused the rambox, but this is a truck. The rambox should be designed for heavy duty use. Unless there's something I'm missing here, this is a disappointment.

If it is as bad as this article makes it appear, rambox's are going to be failing left and right. I smell a class action or recall.

It is pretty thin plastic, I wonder if this is an issue that people are having on the Dodge Ram forums, or if it's just from throwing a 30 lbs hitch in it!!

I'm at a loss of words for this "oversight" I honestly wonder who at Dodge suggested this material.

not cool... This is the kind of use that I would expect a Rambox to get. I wouldn't want to worry every time I threw my hammer, hitch, tire iron or whatever that it's going to punch a hole in it.

The Ram Box container should've been made out of industrial sheet metal with a rubber sealant (similar to a truck's bed) to prevent rust. Plastic just too flimsy especially when people intend to store tools, hitches and other items not suitable for the interior.

You should use the "FAIL" stamp on this one.

lol, looks like the RAM has gone soft...

Two grand for the Rambox and they build it like a flowerpot from the dollar store. You've got to be kidding me.

I have to wonder if it failed so easily in warm California how much damage would it sustain in someplace like Chicago where we get lots of very cold days in the winter. Would the plastic become even more brittle and prone to cracking.

Like I said before, this is a great concept but failure in the real world.

A locking bed box would hold just as much but be much more durable (steel). It would give you the full width of the bed, full length underneath it, and be removable.

These belong on lighter duty vehicles. The Ram should be a solid pickup.
Too bad about the poor construction but at least it's an option and the rest of the truck is fantastic.

wow, very flimsy plastic storage box on a heavy duty truck!

subaru123....enough with the Tribeca...you have bought the only two sold in North America and I am glad you are happy.

As for the Rambox.....I will have to actually SEE AND FEEL one before I make a judgement....unlike others on here. It sure looks like they could be sturdier. But it is obviously abuse in this case. Trucks are made to be USED not ABUSED. Just like a lot of the brake wear and tear on the IL fleet.....Take it to the dealer and see what they say...how hard is that?

ditto to thin plastic!
At least it should have a second lined or sprayed layer like truck beds do to protect the box'x floor.

@Bodyblue How is having a Draw bar (that's the proper term I should note) inside the Rambox abuse?

By your logic the IL staff should have either loaded it full of random tools to the point that nothing could shift much or if they just wanted to have the draw bar in there then they should have filled the Rambox with rolled up towels and then put in the draw bar.

Now again I ask how is this abuse?

Looks like surprisingly thin plastic used in the Rambox.
If it's true that Dodge claims the Rambox (does it really cost $2 K ???) is only good for a 6 pack of beer, sponges, or other lightweight fare, you could tie a $15 rigid plastic cooler in the back and get something far sturdier and versatile.

If I ever buy a truck, it will have to haul heavy stuff in cargo bays, bed and storage boxes without complaint.

I hope you plan to take this back to the dealer and have them replace it. This should be warranty covered. In a full-size truck this is clearly a design problem. Should be able to handle heavy objects. They'd probably just replace it with the same thin plastic but at least it wouldn't have holes in it.

@kurtamaxxxguy

Did you not go to the site as texases suggested? They literally show heavy items and sharp tools being dropped into the box, some point first. Legally, that would well negate any warnings printed in the manual.

In a truck that is sold with options such as the rambox, I fully expect that I can toss beer, animal carcasses, expensive tools or heavy objects without having to worry about them growing legs or damaging my truck by coworkers, predators, crackheads or terrain, respectively.

With the seams running to the top left and to the right of the holes in the middle picture it looks to me to be more of a design defect.

With the seams running to the top left and to the right of the holes in the middle picture it looks to me to be more of a design defect.

LOL, and some people complain about the quality of things made in China...

As others have said: That box should be riveted sheet metal with the spray-on thick rubberized truck bed liner. It would be nearly impervious to damage from all elements and the rubbersized material would deaden the sound of things moving around in there.

No functional part of a truck should be made like that.

Joe

That's just inexcusable. I can't believe Chrysler engineered this. Oh, wait, did I say Chrysler???

Yes, thicker plastic. Yes, a rubberized coating.

Man, I love this concept but this is a fail. Hopefully it will be addressed in subsequent model years. And to think, "RAM BOX" sounds so tough...

I had a friend that put a Rhino spray liner in the bed of his truck and was shocked when he dented the bed while throwing boulders in it. If you throw or drop a heavy piece of metal into a plastic bin chances are it will break. I agree it is flimsy but not all the blame is on the material. I would be interested to see if other people that BOUGHT their truck have had the same issue.

hybris: @Bodyblue How is having a Draw bar (that's the proper term I should note) inside the Rambox abuse?

By your logic the IL staff should have either loaded it full of random tools to the point that nothing could shift much or if they just wanted to have the draw bar in there then they should have filled the Rambox with rolled up towels and then put in the draw bar.

Now again I ask how is this abuse?"

"having" is an interesting term....how about "throwing" or "dropping" the drawbar into the rambox? None of us know HOW this was done. all are jumping to conclusions about this incident. There sure was a lot of silence about the Ram until this post. Anything can be broken, even on a truck.

I would figure that the Ramboxes should be made of the same material that the bed is made of - like stated above, with the rubberized coating. There would be no chance of breaking it then. Do you see trunks or truck beds being made out of this plastic material? Why would the Rambox be made out of anything different?

Anything on a pickup truck has to be ready for a good ole' country bushwackin' and if it can't stand up to that then it ain't fit to be in the running. Foreign or domestic, trucks gotta be tough - no excuses.

"I haven't looked, but I'd bet the Ram's owner's manual says something about keeping items like this in the Rambox."

Take a glance and let us know; but somehow I think they're gonna try to pin the damage on you.

And for those who haven't looked at what texases linked:
"The industry-exclusive[1] waterproof, drainable, RamBox™ Cargo Management System. Load the cargo box with sheet rock and RamBox™ remains accessible. Have a road party: both sides fit up to 240 soda cans with ice. Or valuable equipment. Or whatever. No other truck even comes close. RamBox™ fits:

120 cans of soda with ice
Power tools
Sports equipment
Shopping bags
Golf club bag
Helmets and gloves
Muddy boots and work clothes"

So it seems that (oddly enough) the RAMBOX was designed for light-duty items and cargo. Hmmm....

For less than the cost of the RamBox ($1,895) you could buy a truck bed box made of stainless steel that is much more durable and can be removed when needed. The RamBox makes the truck bed 15" narrower.

If the RamBox was a $500 option, I might be inclined to purchase it. But then again I'd never by a full size truck with a 5'7" truck bed.

"Do you see trunks or truck beds being made out of this plastic material? Why would the Rambox be made out of anything different?"

Ummmmm because it was not designed a truck bed or trunk. Metal is heavy and it rusts and it is expensive. Costs do matter in real life and this is an expensive option already. If they were made of plutonium it would be very dense and durable but rather radioactive. Maybe a bit heavier plastic or a rubber coating would be better, but for what it was DESIGNED for it works just fine. This model of Ram with its coil rear springs, leather interior blinged out with chrome and Rambox is obviously NOT a work truck. A work truck has vinyl seats and floor mats and steel wheels and leaf springs......and no Ramboxes. It is what it is and nothing more or less.

And now the ram has another motive, another post to go down the sissy route...well done dodge!

Hey, if there is a market in sissy trucks (and there is) why not go for it? They make heavy duty work trucks (battling it out with Ford for the 2500-3500 class) why not pick up some coin wherever you can?

@bodyblue

MrRyte stated this before, but I'll reiterate.

Dodge advertises the RamBox to be able to hold 240 cans of soda with ice (120 each container), tools, golf clubs, etc. If the container cracked due to a 25 lb - 50 lb trailer hitch, then I'd be skeptical of it holding 90+ lbs of soda & ice without it cracking & leaking within the 1st year of ownership.

do you know how the hitch was placed in the Rambox? Will you concede the hitch is much denser than a can of soda with much sharper edges? Drop the hitch on your foot from 24 inches then drop a can of soda on it then get back to us :)

Pathetic. Dodge (and every other truck maker from GM to Toyota) market their trucks as big tough he-manmobiles that are able to carry heavy loads through a boulder field and up a cliff, and yet they make the built-in toolbox that is supposed to last the life of the truck out of the same type of plastic that's normally used to store Tic-Tacs.

Unfortunately, the hitch of a boat trailer fell on my knee and then onto my foot last year when the truck driver pulled too far forward before the trailer was secured. Painful, but I didn't get injured...though oddly enough I broke my foot last summer when I kicked my sparring partner in the head. Knocked him out cold, but I was on crutches for 3 weeks.

Of course a hitch is much more dense than a soda can, but will you concede that 120 soda cans is much heavier than a hitch? Since the RamBox is shaped around the wheel well, most of the weight will be distributed to the bottom of the arches (where the hitch was placed). If the container cracked from a hitch being dropped and/or moving around...then I'm certain the same will occur when dropping 120 soda cans plus ice into each container.

Will you concede that the Dodge is falsely advertising the advantages and capabilities of the RamBox?

120 cans of soda is heavier than one hitch, sure. But who would drop 120 cans of soda? IF you dropped them hard enough to break the Rambox then the soda cans would also spring leaks, also you are CERTAIN the Rambox would break?? I am not...just as I am not certain in the manor of how the hitch broke the Rambox. I am certain I would not break the Rambox by putting soda in it because I am not in the habit of throwing soda cans into trucks. A soda can weighs around one pound....the hitch 30 or so with sharp edges......you really cant see the difference????

Nope I wont concede that 120 cans of soda and ice overload the Rambox, sorry. Now if Dodge said that the Rambox "could be used for hammers, nails, chainsaws, barbed wire, llamas, swallows, African swallows and jackstands" then I would be bitching like the rest on here. But I guess I tend to look at something before I decide to abuse it.....I also read owners instructions.

@bodyblue

LOOK AT DODGE'S WEBSITE. GO TO DODGE.COM AND LOOK AT THE RAMBOX GALLERY & ANIMATION.

Steel toolbox, loose power tools, pitchfork, sawzall, shovel, etc
There is no way it is going to hold up as advertised.
That flimsy plastic is not going to hold up to anything for very long. If it can't handle a tow hitch, it can't handle much at all.

The liner needs to be made out of SMC or steel. For the price of this option, the cheap plastic is a real disappointment.

No surprise. I live in one of the pickup truck capitals of North America, and Dodge Ram has always had this reputation. Perhaps the nicest engines and best looking trucks in the industry but also the one with the thinnest metal. They are not sturdy trucks at all. I you want sturdy, Ford is it, followed by GM and Dodge is a distant third. Nissan and Toyota don't even count because owners don't keep them that long. This is from talking to truck owners everyday most of whom use their vehicles for real work.

Didn't this truck blow a tire on a gravel road? And now this. American engineering at its best.

Looks like the Rambox is as durable as the Dodge Ram transmission.

Looks like the Rambox is as durable as the Dodge Ram transmission.

"Didn't this truck blow a tire on a gravel road? And now this. American engineering at its best."

You ARE kidding right? LOL

Ok the Rambox is a light duty option for sure. It is not for heavy duty use. I surrender the point.....but unitll the tranny falls out like the Silverados did I wont concede that it is a bad truck. no vehicle is perfect..that is the point I was trying to make. For someone to dismiss the Dodge as "not sturdy" or "poorly engineered" over the design of the Rambox is really an un-intelligent and biased statement. I think that Fords are probably the best trucks but I never dismiss another vehicle (like 1487) just because where it is built. I am surprised that I defended the Dodge as much as I did but with all of the anti-American car wing-nuts that came out of the wood work with this post I could not resist (oh and it was my day off) :) I also feel that when a grown up person buys something as expensive as a new car or truck, one should treat it like a grown up. That means you take care of it...drive it sanely, read all operating instructions and treat it in the manor it was designed to be treated. I like the IL eds a lot but they often beat the crap out of something then whine that it broke like little kids. Standing up to abuse says less about the car and more about the driver/abuser. (remember the video of the BMW being speed shifted and the ed pulling it out of gear before putting the clutch in?? That guy needs to lean how to drive fast)
So yes, the Rambox is not built for heavy use, but that does not mean it is not useful, now does it?

@bodyblue

Reality check. This is a full-size pickup truck. It is not a carton of eggs.
Heavy use IS normal use. That is the reason people buy a pickup truck!

Reality check #2. This is a nearly $50,000 vehicle. It needs to work, at the very least, as advertised.

Other than that, I agree that the rest of the truck seems fantastic. I hope the Rambox is just an isolated poorly engineered, cost cutting option and does not speak to hidden cost cutting all over the Ram.

Agreed cruiser.....but this Ram is not optioned for heavy duty work use....that is the reality I think. It is a luxurious family car with a big engine and a large trunk/bed that can tow a nice boat or camper. It is not a work truck. A 1500 truck by definition is not heavy duty. the 2500/3500 is for that use. If I was going to buy a work truck I would get any Ford or Dodge with a vinyl or heavy cloth bench seat, vinyl floor mats, a tow package and not much else. THAT is a work truck. (oh also a long bed). The time and money spent on the rear suspension does not speak to cost cutting to me.