Ranger Towing Capacity W/5th Wheel

pkjorlie · Post by **pkjorlie** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:15 pm

I have a 93 Ranger 4x4 Ext. XLT. It runs like a top and no smoke even at 210K. I just redid all of the front end, brakes and put in a new clutch.
Dave has a spare 4.0L for me if mine poops out.

I'm thinking about fixing up with Rear Duals and a Fifth Wheel Setup for a Three Horse trailer.

Anyone know what the towing capacity is for a Ranger and 5th wheel? The Fifth wheel hitch for the Ranger is rated 15-16K lbs. (Kieferbuilt XLA 3H weighs about 4800# Trailer only and with three horses and gear would probably push 9000#)

Paul

broncobowsher · Post by **broncobowsher** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:07 am

Legally you cannot exceed the GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating), although may do. We are having to deal with all the legal stuff about GVWR, GAWR, GCVWR. Just because you liscene your behicle for 20,000# that lets you run down the road and be legal, sort of. When you hit someone because the brakes die, and they know you are over the GCVWR, you are liable. Ah the fun stuff.

Realisticly, the axle housing does have a load limit. Fith wheels have a lot of tounge weight. It is not as apparent as a bumper pull as it loads the truck over the axle and not leveraging the bumper.

Also, the Ranger brakes are not the best in the world. They are rather small really.

Do yourself, your truck and the rest of use you are sharing the road with a favor. Get a truck that is rated to pull the fith wheel. As they guy at the tranny shop was telling my cousin, "just because they sell you a hitch for this doesn't mean you should be pulling with it"

To counter that, I do know of a monster triple axle 4 hourse with living quarter horse trailer that was bought off my uncle. It was a strain for his F250. They guy that was looking at it was in a Ranger. When he bought it my uncle though he would come back with a big truck. Nope, he backed the old beater 4 cylinder Ranger under the trailer and drove off never to be seen again.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:28 am

Hey Paul,
Welcome back! You could use the BII, it's got the power and do something like the master of engineering did! I would say don't do it, you know my expierence with horses and trailers. Pulling that much weight, think you are asking for trouble, especially with a manual, Horses tend to move around, not like pulling a dead weight. Get that trailer swaping and it's like the tail wagging the dog!
Mac

pkjorlie · Post by **pkjorlie** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:03 pm

I wouldn't even consider doing it without dual rear wheels, Electric trailer brakes and beefing the suspension. The mods to the truck are gonna cost far less than the trailer will. Besides the trailer I'm looking at is only 16' long (behind the truck) and the horses wouldn't cause that much sway because it is a "slant load", meaning the horses ride at an angle.

I just can't justify a Superduty that will only be used once a month or so for trailering and that I can't afford the fuel for as a daily driver.

I also can't believe a 4cyl would tug a 4 horse triple axle trailer like that. I'm looking at a 3 horse dual axle gooseneck slant load converted to fifth wheel maybe with living quarters.

pkjorlie · Post by **pkjorlie** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:03 pm

The trailer I'm considering now is a 2 horse rated at 7000#.

Duals and a stiffer suspension. Maybe a stronger 373 rear axle?

Rebuild and chip the 4.0 or replace with a Explorer V8.

Paul

plowboy34 · Post by **plowboy34** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:14 pm

There is no way I would pull either with a Ranger. I pull a stock trailer on a regular basis and do it with a F-250 and it can be a handful with that. If it wasn't for trailer brakes there has been a few times things would have been out of hand. Them horses could just change the weight from one foot(hoof) to the other and throw you around. I just don't believe you can do it safely.

pkjorlie · Post by **pkjorlie** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:49 pm

Well, regardless, I still want to be able to tow a 7000# trailer with a small bobcat (553) or my 3000# Tractor Loader Backhoe.

I'm getting rid of my Astro and I need to to revamp the Ranger so it will tow the TLB.

I don't think I can talk the wife into a new Silverado.

Paul

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:55 am

As long as you aren't planning on getting up any speed with it, I think the Ranger with a V8 would handle the load OK. But your tranny and rear would need to be able to handle a towing load. From my experience, sticks make terrible load-hauling trannys since you either need a granny gear to get the load moving or accept that takeoffs, especially from an incline, will be burning the hell out of the clutch.

If the truck is currently a 4cyl, it probably has the smaller 9" brake drums. You'll definitely want to upgrade the rear to a 3.73 with 10" brakes or do an Explorer rear conversion to get rear discs.

And there's no way in hell I'd consider pulling something as heavy as a single horse & trailer without trailer brakes. I towed trailers without trailer brakes behind my Ranger back when it was a V6, and I didn't like the brake response at all. If I wanted to stop, I really had to think ahead. After my step father got a trailer with brakes, he showed me how with a load on the trailer, the trailer's brakes could stop the trailer AND truck almost as good as the truck's brakes without the trailer. And then he tangented to his semi hauling days where he talked about never using his truck brakes and instead used the customer's trailer brakes all the time. I don't know how many times I've heard that story. But back to topic, I have no clue how sufficient the brakes would be on a 3-horse trailer with quarters. That's far more weight than I've ever hauled with any vehicle.

MalcolmV8 · Post by **MalcolmV8** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:24 am

Wow 7000 lbs is a lot. Way to much in my opinion. I have a 12x6 trailer I pull my race car with and that's about as far as I want to go. It's a dual axle trailer with electric brakes and really the race car doesn't weigh much at all.

Over the weekend I helped out a neighbor get some brick and we loaded 3000 lbs of brick on the trailer and I tell you what that was pushing it. By far the heaviest I've ever towed with the Ranger. Even with the v8 it was dogging and really feeling that load. Luckily the electric trailer brakes worked like a charm and stopping was no problem. I have 5600 lb axles on the trailer with 12" brakes.

How much does a bob cat weigh?

Malcolm

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:37 am

One thing I didn't mention is turning. Making turns wasn't exactly easy with a loaded trailer (brakes or no brakes). With a 5th wheel tongue load, I'd have to believe this would be even worse unless the 5th wheel could be mounted far enough in front of the rear truck axle that it would actually add some weight to the front wheels as opposed to shifting weight off of them like bumper-mounted trailers tend to do.

pkjorlie · Post by **pkjorlie** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:12 pm

Actually, my stock Astro with 4.3 has no problem towing my 3000# TLB plus 6x12 trailer w/o electric brakes. That has to be at least 4500# total. I would guess your race car and trailer is at least 4500-5000#. I'm only upping the ante by half to a third but adding electric brakes, duals, a V8, and probably stiffer springs and swaybar.

I would think a 7000# 5th wheel is more road stable than a 7000# bumper pull.

I think a Bobcat 553 is about 2700#. A 773 is about 5800# which is too much for a 7000# trailer.

MalcolmV8 wrote:Wow 7000 lbs is a lot. Way to much in my opinion. I have a 12x6 trailer I pull my race car with and that's about as far as I want to go. It's a dual axle trailer with electric brakes and really the race car doesn't weigh much at all.

Over the weekend I helped out a neighbor get some brick and we loaded 3000 lbs of brick on the trailer and I tell you what that was pushing it. By far the heaviest I've ever towed with the Ranger. Even with the v8 it was dogging and really feeling that load. Luckily the electric trailer brakes worked like a charm and stopping was no problem. I have 5600 lb axles on the trailer with 12" brakes.

How much does a bob cat weigh?

Malcolm

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:33 pm

Interesting...well you have far more experience with towing than I do. And it sounds like you have a pretty good feel for how this is going to work for you. So yeah, new rear springs or perhaps those towing leaf setups that have the springs that don't "kick in" until the suspension drops so far is probably what you are looking at.

Being this will be starting with a 4x4, I assume you'd be using an Explorer 302, 4r70w, and AWD T-case? In that case, you'll probably get far better turning control and handling than I did with my 2wd Ranger trying to pull a trailer.

Also are you planning for a stock V8 or are you putting a few mods on the motor to help with the towing effort? If you are planning mods, a stroker kit to 331 or 347 would probably be the single most beneficial thing you could do...IMO. And of course if you are stroking, ditch the stock cam.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:48 pm

Hey Old buddy old pal!
How about up grading that tired old Ranger to a 2000 V-8, ext. cab 4x4, with an auto? Some assembly required, battery not included!
PM me with you latest "E-mail" address, lost it.
Dave (Mac to you)

Adam McLaughlin · Post by **Adam McLaughlin** » Sun May 04, 2008 10:13 pm

Hey Dave,

Where the he!! did you find those pictures of the S-10 and the trailer? That's miraculous that someone thought that would work!

Reminds me of the lift kit that the neighbor kid put on his jeep that had the brake line UNDER the axle U-bolt!!

Adam

dagger · Post by **dagger** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:29 am

Really its more than just the fact of if your truck can tow something, its that what your trying to tow weights more than the truck. It will toss you around like nothing. I'd really consider getting a tow pig for a truck. Just some full sized older truck because it would be much better to tow with.

V8-Ranger.com

Ranger Towing Capacity W/5th Wheel

Ranger Towing Capacity W/5th Wheel

Still determined to work a way to pull a small 5th wheel