How big is too big?

[Grumpaw]

I'm with you here, that seems like you're pushing your luck. If it was staying local that would be one thing, but proper road-tripping with that much trailer on that small of a truck sounds like an accident waiting to happen...

It's really not a problem towing a trailer like we're referring to. The Ranger isn't a "small" truck....actually around the same size and weight as the late 90's early 2000's F-150 give or take a few hundred lbs.
Back in them there "olden days" we towed larger, heavier trailers with regular cars. I towed a 28 foot Holiday Rambler thousands of miles with a standard size 1971 Buick Skylark station wagon with a 350 V-8 and a 3 speed auto.
The Ranger is fully capable of towing what we have.

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[RangerTX]

"1971 Buick Skylark station wagon with a 350 V-8 and a 3 speed auto. "

Man... they don't make em like that anymore!!!! Love those old beasts.

 

[Juany118]

It's really not a problem towing a trailer like we're referring to. The Ranger isn't a "small" truck....actually around the same size and weight as the late 90's early 2000's F-150 give or take a few hundred lbs.
Back in them there "olden days" we towed larger, heavier trailers with regular cars. I towed a 28 foot Holiday Rambler thousands of miles with a standard size 1971 Buick Skylark station wagon with a 350 V-8 and a 3 speed auto.
The Ranger is fully capable of towing what we have.

I think you point out something rather important. The size difference between a 2001 F150, and a 2023 Ford Ranger is negligible. The F-150 was between 3,935 to 4,994. A 2023 Ford Ranger is between 4,145 to 4,441 lbs. People also often dont look at the physics involved. They will often think that bigger is better in terms of simply stopping a trailer, thinking that the momentum of a heavy vehicle stopping automatically translates to the trailer stopping. They forget that that hitch is a pivot point and that the physics says that trailer will want to keep moving, if it doesn't have its own brakes, and if that means pivoting, to the left or right, to keep moving it will. Another example of this is the pivot point of a wheel. Ride a motorcycle, or bicycle, really fast and then apply only the front brake. The back of that cycle wants to keep moving forward. If that means flipping butt over tea kettle, using the front axle as the pivot point, it will.

PS I had a 74 Chevy Impala Station wagon back in my early 20s. God they were battle wagons lol

 

[Grumpaw]

"1971 Buick Skylark station wagon with a 350 V-8 and a 3 speed auto. "

Man... they don't make em like that anymore!!!! Love those old beasts.

Bought both the Buick and the trailer brand new in 71. Took that rig thru half the country. Best trip was the old Rt 66 out of Chicago....followed it as far as you could back then....probably twice as far as what you can do now.

 

[RangerTX]

Amazing.

Coolest car I had from that erra was a '67 Impala... those were the days.

 

[Juany118]

Bought both the Buick and the trailer brand new in 71. Took that rig thru half the country. Best trip was the old Rt 66 out of Chicago....followed it as far as you could back then....probably twice as far as what you can do now.

I wonder how my '74 Impala Wagon would have towed, I was only in my early 20's, in the mid '90s, when I had it though so towing wasn't on my mind.

 

[Grumpaw]

I wonder how my '74 Impala Wagon would have towed, I was only in my early 20's, in the mid '90s, when I had it though so towing wasn't on my mind.

That 74 Chevy would have been way down on HP as opposed to the 71 Buick 350. By 74, teh V-8 engines were way down on power due to the new EPA reg's. You might have even had a 305 ci which was better used as a boat anchor.
71 Buick 350 was still putting out an honest 250-275 hp, and adding a nice manifold, good carb and some headers and dual exhaust and 300-325 was easy to get.

 

[9zero1790]

if the ranger is near its limit skip the half ton trucks and go to a 3/4 or larger.

 

[Juany118]

if the ranger is near its limit skip the half ton trucks and go to a 3/4 or larger.

Honest question. Since the 2024 "short bed", Supercrew, F150 has a payload of 2445 lbs and 13,100 lbs towing (short bed with tow haul package) why should I feel the need to jump to a F250, unless I am going for a 5th wheel, or a 30+ ft TT? Here I am looking for nothing longer than 28 ft, ever, because we like to do a lot of State Park camping and while I see people rolling in with crazy 5th wheels and everything else, that's just not my speed.

 

[9zero1790]

The ability of the heavier truck as well as safety make it worth it. 3/4 ton and up come with stronger sturdier everything that matter for towing like brakes. The stability and brakes alone are worth skipping the half Ton trucks. You can use a half ton for a lot of things and it will work fine. But if your towing something a ranger can't handle and do it often a bigger heavier truck is going to be a smarter bet in all ways but money most likely lol.

 

[Frenchy]

Many individuals here will claim that you're going to be stressing the Ranger. Here's the thing you need to understand. The 2019 through 2023 Ranger has a max towing capacity of 7500 lb with a max tongue weight rating of 750 lb. There is nothing specifying on how long the trailer can be at maximum. There's a reason they state that because there could be many different lengths of a trailer within that weight range. Even though others will disagree I say who cares how long the trailer is as long as it's going to be within your towing specifications and as long as you are being smart while towing. Obviously you want to be smart when towing regardless what size the trailer is. Just understand that if you take things slow and easy you'll be just fine. Of course make sure you have the trailer brakes set up and the correct equipment like a weight distribution hitch and all should be good

 

[Frenchy]

I wouldn't do 6995 with a Ranger for a travel trailer. No way.

I have towed travel trailers with a 150 and a 2500... Always go bigger for safety. Don't ever tow right at the limit. When doing so, you have no room for unusual situations where you need more power , breaking, or maneuverability. Just how I do things, your mileage may vary.

Why not till it's 7,000 lb when the Rangers rated for 7,500 lb at max? Clearly Ford has stated that it is a safe towing capacity. Obviously there is certain equipment you need to make sure you have when towing that much. I always laugh when people try to say it's too much. I remember when a guy at U-Haul tried telling me that I shouldn't go anywhere near the max tow rating of my 2016 frontier that I had years ago. If I remember correctly it had a max towel capacity of 6,300 lb. If you ask me I'd have no problems towing anything at that level with that particular truck. Just have to keep in mind all the different safety measures when doing so

 

[Frenchy]

Honest question. Since the 2024 "short bed", Supercrew, F150 has a payload of 2445 lbs and 13,100 lbs towing (short bed with tow haul package) why should I feel the need to jump to a F250, unless I am going for a 5th wheel, or a 30+ ft TT? Here I am looking for nothing longer than 28 ft, ever, because we like to do a lot of State Park camping and while I see people rolling in with crazy 5th wheels and everything else, that's just not my speed.

If you don't have the need for a fifth wheel I will agree that you have no need to go to an F-250 or bigger. Understanding You're once and needs tell me that you should stick with the ranger. Obviously you're already looking at a travel trailer that's within the specifications. Just stick with the obvious of all the safety equipment and driving safely while Towing

 

[ArizonaRangers]

Do what I did and rent a few TTs near the same size and weight of what you want and tow them yourself before buying. See for yourself how the Ranger handles the TT you want with your particular driving skills. The three biggest problems towing with the Ranger are 1) No brake controller 2) no towing mirrors 3) tiny gas tank. Through the mere application of money, I've fixed all those problems in my Ranger and you will want to in your as well, if you haven't already.

Here's a review I wrote about a very long road trip I made towing near max with several crossings of the continental divide. https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/6464-miles-towing-7200lb-tt.25658/

 

[Davidjc]

Hey all. Right now I am towing a Forest River Salem FSX 178bhsk with zero problems., it's 23" long and max 5000lbs real weight, the GVWR of the trailer is ~5200. It tows this like a champ across the entire state of PA, over the Appalachians, etc.

In a few years when our kid heads off to college my wife and I are planning on trading this bunk house in for a larger, rear kitchen, couples model so we can snowbird. All of the options we are looking at are between 25-28ft long and a max GVWR of 6995. Is going to this a bit of a stretch for the Ranger? Now in a few years designs, and materials, may have brought the weights down, but just planning based on today's tech. The stats for the couples trailers are from Flagstaff and Grand Designs so I believe them.to be reliable.

Hey, Flagstaff is a Forest River model so you may find someone in a similar setup on the forest river forem. They may have hands-on experience with range towing.

Thus link should be directly to the flagstaff thread.

https://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/f33/

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