hello,
just curious. how much have you towed with your 2003+ 4cyl ranger?
I have a 5 speed and a few mods. it seems to tow 2000lbs ok. anyone tow more weight than that for any distance?
thanks

half ton of stone in the bed

worst idea ever

i needed a wheelie bar

On my 06 I towed 3500, car on tow dolly. Did alright on the flats but the steep hills had to take it down to third. For as often as I tow did good enough.

follow what the owners manual says, and YES, it is listed in there.

I usually have to stay in 4th gear too. 5th is just slightly to much when I hit any kind of incline. i let the engine run at 3k rpms and it does fine. I usually still get 18-20mpgs when towing 2000 lbs. i get 28mpg when not towing anything.

5th gear is OD it isn't for towing. :)

nothing compared to alot of others but i have towed a 6-7 hundred pound jet ski and trailer with no problem at all with my auto...seemed like nothing was even back there

I have pulled a couple of seadoos with my 06 Supercab and that's about it. The maximum towing number in the manual is there for a reason.

none of you guys list what gearing you have. i have the 3.73 rear, i haven't towed anything yet

none of you guys list what gearing you have. i have the 3.73 rear, i haven't towed anything yet

What year you have?

I have a 02 with the automatic and 4.10 gears.I've towed a 95 Camaro on the shop's car hauler,my 94 super cab Ranger on my 14ft trailer,and my son's 86 Ranger on the same trailer.

none of you guys list what gearing you have. i have the 3.73 rear, i haven't towed anything yet

I've got 3.73's and while I haven't towed anything, I've had about 900lbs of scrap in the back several times and it pulled it without issue. 4.10's would definitely be better though.

just pulled over a huge palm tree!! its so heavy three off us couldnt even pick one side up. now i have to haul it away to get it out of the front yard

what is the most you have towed with your 2.3 duratec ranger?

My Mother-In-Law on roller skates.

I just upped my personal tow record too 6700+ lbs pulling concrete paversfor my father yesterday.

I just upped my personal tow record too 6700+ lbs pulling concrete paversfor my father yesterday.

That might be cool to brag about until you kill someone.

Just how the hell will I kill somebody?My trailer was not overloaded(7000lbs max load).I do have working trailer brakes.Also I know what I'm doing,even if I did tow more than the book said I should.Bean asked a question and I answered it.

Trailer brakes are good until someone pulls out in front of you. Then someone could tell you "I told you so." That's a lot of weight for a ranger and I don't care if it's on a trailer or not; with or without brakes. Pulling 6700lbs with a ranger is just dangerous. That's a lot of weight even for an F150.

It may be but when its all you have to work with,what do you do.

Easier (and safer) to just pay to have them delivered.

Rent a bigger truck :thumbsup:

O.k. heres what happened.Short version,father sales old home to mother-in-law.He needed to move pavers by this weekend.So I had planned on half last weekend,and the rest this wkend.We get there to load.She says get them now or I don't sign papers on house toclose on house on Monday.So no time to get another truck.And it was only a half mile down the road.So I did what I THOUGHT was best.If I had known it would cause a war I wouldn't had said anything.

I pulled my singlewide with my ranger! (there now they'll attack me while you escape, run rebel run!)

The 2.3L in the Rangers is really starting to impress me. I pulled 16ft old stock trailer (empty) 30 miles yesterday. My initial thought was man this is going to take forever to get going but in all truth it pulled about as good my 00 5.4L F150. It maintained a steady 55mph and probably could of done more if it wasn't for the sway. It sways no matter what truck it's attached to, probably something wrong with it.

I figure if you compare my dad's 86 f150 to my Ranger.. the 5.0 in the f150 makes 150 some odd horse and has 3.55 gears. The duratec makes almost that and has 3.73's. Also if you compare the brakes and driveline the Ranger is almost built as heavy duty as the F150 back in that generation. The Ranger might be a bit lighter though. I almost feel safer pulling it my Ranger... could be wrong on the specs though.

I put my 225 pound yamaha yzf dirtbike in the back along with about 30 pounds of gear and a ice chest didnt even notice it lol.

hey this thread is back from the dead lol. i just towed a 4x8 loaded with crap yesterday. felt like there was nothing back there load wise but the damn thing bounced around like all hell so it gave a crappy ride

"78 F150 with a 14' trailer full of empty 55gal steel drums NOT FUN. My clutch hated me after that cause i wasn't paying attention and didnt let it all the way out for like ten minutes for some reason didnt mess it up though but god that smell.

two sport quads wet at about 380 lbs a piece on an 8x8 flat trailer

probably just under 1200 behind me
with 2 people, a dog , huge cooler and gear

tows fine can get to 70 and stay there

i have noticed that it more the aerodynamics that kill me on the highway then the load

if i have the two quads side by side i cant stay at 70 and im between 4th and 5th

if i load them on sideways in front of the other centered on the trailer (kinda in the trucks slipstream)it tows like a dream no prob only have to downshift for the uphills

You do know you're not supposed to tow in 5th, right?

The most I've towed? A WaveRunner with a bit of gear. I'm not sure what it weighs (1,000lb maybe?) and the truck didn't even feel it. I've been really impressed with the Duratec!

a couple months ago i towed an 8ft trailer with 3 motorcycles and all kinds of camping gear. i would guess nearly 1500lbs total. it was slower but i could still pass uphill on the freeway but i didnt want to flog it that much.plus i didnt want to get a ticket lol. i got to 80uphill just to see if i could do it but then i slowed back down to 55-60ish.

i didnt have much weight in the truck though so ti was pretty interesting going on the freeway! kinda squirrely(sp?).

About 6 mo. ago I moved from a house that I sold to an apartment. The apartment was about a 2 hrs. away from the house....so a 4hr (180 mi.) round trip. I used my truck (dura,5sp.) to pull an enclosed 5X8 trailer with the torsion suspension setup & everything....easily 7-800lbs. And then, throw a bunch of my crap on top of that (approx. 800-1000lbs) in the trailer, & I had my (sleeping)bed in the bed of my truck. All-in-all, I would say I was somewhere around 2000lbs. That's not to mention the fact that the enclosed trailer was like pulling the broad side of a barn at about 70mph. That amount of weight, along with interstate speed, & 90 degree temps were all contributing factors to the blown radiator that happened 1hr. into one of the trips. The truck took forever! to get up to speed, & 5 gear was not usable (I realize it isn't to be used while towing, but you gotta try just once). This was all done with 135k miles on the truck.

I guess I just got lucky that the radiator was the only casualty of that move.... I was not kind to my truck.

How much have I towed? About this much...

http://www.leanangle.com/pictures/ranger/rangertow.jpg

Plus all of our gear in the back around the blue TLS.

Here's what I did with a 2.5L.I think a Duratec should be able to do it with a little less effort.My 2.5L is weak.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17/ben_2_go/Ford%20Ranger%20Parts/0929072310.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb17/ben_2_go/Ford%20Ranger%20Parts/0929072310a.jpg

How much have I towed? About this much...


How did the truck handle it? highway speeds, stopping, turning etc...

ben_2_go I've towed a Festiva and couple Aspires on tow dolley. No problem in 4th gear 60-65.

What I'll be towing tomorrow. Granted the tow dolley doesn't weigh much but the bed is fully loaded with wood. Unfortunately I put some E10 with MMO without thinking so it may be a slow trip.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a58/ericsmith32/100_0690.jpg[/IMG]

I towed thru the high mountains of Kentucky thru switch back curves.One mountain I couldn't go but a few hundred yards before I had to stop and let the truck idle.The transmission and engine got hot enough that it started to spark knock real bad.I always run 93 octane gas.The truck has an automatic.The mountain was so step, in low gear pedal on the floor,I could walk faster than the truck could pull.Like I said my 2.5L is weak, the Duratec engine is much better,IMO.

It's probably not so much the 2.5L but the automatic. I had a 88 s15 with auto and could never pull anything, not a good comparison I know. Manual has a advantage by putting more of the power to ground.

It's probably not so much the 2.5L but the automatic. I had a 88 s15 with auto and could never pull anything, not a good comparison I know. Manual has a advantage by putting more of the power to ground.


True,but I have been having engine issues for 3 years now.

How did the truck handle it? highway speeds, stopping, turning etc...It was fine. Actually, having my buddie's bike in the bed really helped things out a lot. When I have just my bike on the trailer and my gear, the trailer tends to bounce a lot and transfers that through the hitch to the back of the truck making for a bouncy ride. Having his bike in the back helped keep a nice steady ride.

Stopping and turning, no problems at all. Highway speeds were normal through Dallas evening traffic.

All in all I was probably still well under the limits. That's maybe just under 1K pounds of motorcycle, plus the trailer, gear and two passengers.

I'll let the pictures do the talking


http://www.rangerpowersports.com/gallery/data/500/medium/SNV10109.jpg


http://www.rangerpowersports.com/gallery/data/500/medium/SNV10112.jpg

The green 49 was obviously heavier, having a complete cast iron six in the engine bay made for quite a bit of tongue weight. When these cars were being pushed up on the trailer by a forklift, the truck was sitting in a litle bit of gravel and slid for a few feet before the car actually made it up the ramps.
Surprisingly, i can pull this weight at 60 mph no prob, it seemed almost easier than keeping my 6x12 enclosed trailer at highway speeds(granted, our highway speed was 80-85mph).

Wow fast&furious your braver than I. I thought about doing that with a sixteen footer and a Aspire but I chickened out. Just I should of tried. How far did you travel with that?

It was only about 15 miles from where these cars were purchsed to my dad's house, a little bit of in town driving then just a country highway.

That's nuts. Bet you have to be careful with the brakes to keep the fronts from sliding. I have a hitch on mine but have never towed with it. Depressing.

600 lb jet ski with small heavy duty steel magnum trailer (not sure of its weight), and some ice chest, gas can etc. Stock gears, 32" tires. It does totally fine on moderate hills, but some places near me I had to go into 3rd it's so steep! Last boat ramp I went to was extremely steep too, truck struggled a little bit going up that. Good enough for me, but in steep hills, a/c blasting, and 32" tires, it's gets sluggish. :)

Well since this is back from the dead, I towed a 3500lb man-lift (the kind with the basket you get in and it raises you up in the air).

The truck didnt like it too much. I didnt want to do it, but I used that truck for work and at the time I didnt have much choice. The worst part was that once I got going about 50 or so that trailer would sway really bad. It was so heavy that it would move the truck side to side pretty good. Needless to say I stayed under 40mph after that and made sure I had a whole lot of stopping distance. Other than the stopping and abuse on the clutch while starting off it wasnt that bad.


Oh yeah, 03 Reg cab, Duratec 2.3L 5 speed with 3.73.


Joey

Damn..thats pretty sick.

What kind of things do you normally tow?
Boats? Trailors filled with garbage or other stuff?

I have towed a small utility trailer with a 1000 lbs of corn in it and about 1000 in the bed of the truck with an automatic.Pretty heavy but only about a 20 mile round trip.