gooseneck for ford ranger

What wuz it?

I went the wrong way soon after this discussion. I traded my tag trailer for a monstrous 3-axle goose. Having the trailer hooked right over the axle is the best way to pull it. I still want to build a little scale model goose and get rid of the jolly green giant. But two things fight against it.

One--the big green truck is the most useful thing in the world. It does everything. When we had the big snow, even though it's 2wd, I loaded the bed with junk for weight, put the winch on the rear hitch and rescued people. It was invincible. Even though it's 2wd, it's an old school truck and is very high as built. It has a Detroit Locker in the rear and mud terrains. Anyone knows even in good weather nothing beats a pickup for utility. Especially an 8' bed and a crewcab--mine seats 7 as I put a 4-seat from a 15-pax van in the back. I just haven't been able to get rid of this truck--and a big trailer is always better than a small trailer and if I have to have this truck, I'm going to keep using the big trailer and not build the small one.

One of my friends owns about 40 acres of land and has had 4 ponds dug on it and landscaped it. He bought a wide area mower--16 foot cut with wings--and was trying to get it home. He asked me and I said no problem. He was still reluctant. This mower is huge--sitting on the trailer it's semi-trailer tall. He was really worried that it would tip over on turns, or that the truck couldn't control it. I told him not to worry. He did worry until we started going with it. Rock solid--I cranked the wheel around to show him. It's a totally different thing than a tag trailer that has a lever back there to thrash your truck with. It's a mini semi--and with trailer brakes, the trailer does more of the stopping than the truck does. A gooseneck takes all of the adventure out of towing.

And yes, the lowly 6.2 with a turbo easily motivates 20,000# to interstate speeds. The thing that slows you down is the EGT. Best guess, it's a 250hp engine that will hit scary EGTs over 200hp. It's very quick empty when you don't have to worry about EGT, but when you load it, you drive off the EGT gauge. Just pulling an RBV on a car trailer doesn't matter enough. Pulling that big mower on the big trailer, the engine is making boost and singing a strong song and the truck hasn't even moved yet. It's digging into the torque converter.

he had a neat little 5th wheel trailer.

i seen toyotas and rangers pulling little trailers like that from greenville to hillsdale a few times in the 90's. but they were not as small as wanderers. its only weird or notable if you know better.


maybe he still has that trailer. i have not talked with anybody in quite some time...wonder if he is even around.

I'd like to see it.

I always thought the 1.9tdi in my Passat would make a great replacement for a pushrod 4.0.
Very thick engine down low. You can put it in 5th gear at a stop, let the clutch out, and it will get up to 26mph without ever having touched the accelerator. It's like a steam engine. My Passat was chipped by a previous owner and I can destroy the pickup trucks that try to smoke me out. They see the tdi emblem and hit the smoke on me--and I pass them back in an even bigger black cloud.