towing with 99 ranger 2.5

The manual downloaded off of the ford directed site says that an automatic has a gcwr of 5500 and can tow 2240lbs. My sticker says I have a gcwr of 4800 the same as what the manual says is for a manual trany. The tow weight is 1600 for the manual. That seems like a big difference. Is my sticker wrong or is the manual wrong?

I'm trying to tow across country. Does anyone have a trailer recomendation. I'm on a budget and was hoping to be able to pull an 18' but It seems like I would be pushing it. Any advice would be of help. Thanks for your time.

Brih

Your sticker is giving GVWR, not GCWR. GVWR is the max weight allowed on just the truck. GCWR is the max allowed combined.

If you have an auto the 2240# would be about right--and that assumes an empty truck.

An 18' open utility trailer made of steel angle weighs 1,600# empty. An enclosed 18' utility trailer weighs 2,000# empty.

A 4' wide, 6' long Wellscargo enclosed mini wagon weighs 600# empty and has a 2,200# axle.

If you are going to follow the Ford towing guide, that might be doable. But if you have just yourself and a truck filled with 600# of you personal effects even that isn't going to fall under the guide.

It's going to be impossible to tow something substantial and meet the guidelines. I would probably set a limit of 3,000# total trailer weight. The frontal area is much more important than the weight. If you make sure you aren't using more than 1/4 throttle on hills--that means downshifting and being humble, you will keep the heat under control.

This trailer was 6'8" wide, 16' long (13' box length--cargo trailers give the box length travel trailers give the over-all) and 7'8" high. It weighed about 3,000# when loaded for camping. I pulled it everywhere with that little pickup, which was a 2.6 liter auto. It went from 26mpg at 65mph to 19mpg at 60mph. Going up hills required downshifting to keep that light throttle touch, and accelerating wasn't spectacular but I would have hauled it cross country.



Later, I used my 4.0 Ranger and it woud hold the cruise on any hill with it. You can definately see that you could hurt a 4-cylinder by trying to keep up with traffic and that's why they recommend against. The 4-cylinder has the power, but you would spend a lot of time with the pedal to the carpet. But if you replace the cubic inches with cubic gray matter you can get by.