What's the biggest towed?

[Divh]

i pulled a ford e250 electrical van got suck in brothers back yard in mud had to pull it about 60 yards was full with tools and wire some of the spools takes 2 people just to pick up to give ya idea of what i was dealing with

 

[redneck_rainey]

My buddy buried his 3500 Cummins and all we had was my truck. We were trying to get to the little red Durango in the background. How the Hell huge got it there we can't figure out. My ranger came up about 100 feet short, which was way further than the Cummins, but never the less I strategically tugged and pulled until I unstuck the big bastard

sent while I should be working, or fixing something,,,

 

[Will]

I like days like that. My entire military career was mostly centered around trying to free enormous objects mired in enormously deep mud or sand.

 

[RangerNielsen]

Loads towed with my '94 3.0 5speed 4wd: 1979 yota hilux 4x4 thing. Brother blew up the engine on the way home and his engine crapped out about 1/8th mile from home. Still towed him up a gravel hill in my driveway and through 18" deep of water and i have the power of about 5 cylinders... Also towed my friends 94 ext cab 4.0 4x4 off of a downed tree he was high centered on. I offered to pull him off if he got high centered. Both were done right off the tow bar with no hitch, oh well. attempted to tow my '93 f250 diesel, but i couldnt get a bite in the gravel and 4wd wasnt working properly at the time, so i come along'd it.

Biggest load with '88 ranger: '94 ranger 3.0. stater went out on the 94 so i had to tow it up my driveway when compression starting failed me too. the '88 blew the master cylinder so i had no clutch during this time. I think i pulled something else with that truck but i cant remember.

 

[99rangerunner]

i towed a 99 explorer sport on a u-haul behind my 99 ranger handled it without an issue

 

[Will]

I did lots of "barely" things before I ended up with a real truck. I was always, and still am, proud of what my Ranger did. But life moved me into needing more seats for my family--we are 7 now--and with a 4-pax seat from a Ford van in the back of my crewcab, we seat 7.

The difference between 165" wheelbase and 108" wheelbase--that's a lot. The difference between a 2,650# semi-float rear axle and a 7,500# full-float rear axle--that's a lot. The difference between a 3L80HD (TH400 with truck fixings) and any Ranger trans is a lot.

I know what you can get away with, because I've done it. But this thread seems to mean that this is the real capability of a Ranger. It isn't.

You got away with it is different than it was totally competent with it.

I don't even see a Ranger as a real truck because it has a car axle under it. A semi-float axle is a car axle. The big difference is that a car axle carries the weight on the actual axle shaft. A truck carries the weight on the axle housing. A truck axle shaft floats--it carries no weight. The bearing on a truck axle is huge as it fits over the spindle--the machined end of the housing. The axle shaft that drives the wheel passes through it.

No full-float axle is going to break. The tires would pop first. The drive axles just twist with no load on them. The weight is carried on bearings that ride on the outside of the tubes.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

Ahh, good to see Will is still on his better-than-thou-my-way-or-the-highway horse.

How ya been bud?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I did lots of "barely" things before I ended up with a real truck. I was always, and still am, proud of what my Ranger did. But life moved me into needing more seats for my family--we are 7 now--and with a 4-pax seat from a Ford van in the back of my crewcab, we seat 7.

The difference between 165" wheelbase and 108" wheelbase--that's a lot. The difference between a 2,650# semi-float rear axle and a 7,500# full-float rear axle--that's a lot. The difference between a 3L80HD (TH400 with truck fixings) and any Ranger trans is a lot.

I know what you can get away with, because I've done it. But this thread seems to mean that this is the real capability of a Ranger. It isn't.

You got away with it is different than it was totally competent with it.

I don't even see a Ranger as a real truck because it has a car axle under it. A semi-float axle is a car axle. The big difference is that a car axle carries the weight on the actual axle shaft. A truck carries the weight on the axle housing. A truck axle shaft floats--it carries no weight. The bearing on a truck axle is huge as it fits over the spindle--the machined end of the housing. The axle shaft that drives the wheel passes through it.

No full-float axle is going to break. The tires would pop first. The drive axles just twist with no load on them. The weight is carried on bearings that ride on the outside of the tubes.

And in the grande scheme of things your "real truck" is just a big fish in a little pond that is just as capable of being as overestimated as a Ranger. Probably moreso because of its larger physical size.

I have moved many a 1500lb large round bale on my 1950's semifloat rear axle tractor and haven't broken anything yet. That is almost half again what the tractor weighs unweighted with me on it. Gotta steer with the brakes because even with 300lbs of cast iron added above the front bolster the front wheels don't have more than a few pounds of pressure on them. As a side note most (all that I can think if) farm tractors have semi float "car" rear axles. Even the big 4wd ones that weigh 30k+.

If you overload ANYTHING you do so at your own risk. Semifloats are designed to do what they are rated to do... just the same as a floater. There is a reason they don't have 14b's under semi trucks and it isn't only because they are worried about twisting shafts.

 

[Jay'94]

I don't know about towed, maybe Ranger SVTs old dually loaded with scrap to the scrap yard. I think total weight on that one was 19,000 lbs.
Pulled=Here's a recent shot out at Lake Travis of a 36,000 lb (empty, but it wasn't) trash truck that buried so deep in the sand, only half the frame was showing from in front of the rear axles back. Snatch block on the Champion Power equipment 10,000 winch, a big rock under the driver's front tire=NO luck! Hook the second trash truck to the rear for an anchor and pick my Ranger up off the ground, while I winched out the other one!! SUCCESS! A guy with a dually drove up right as climbed in the cab and said "want me to get that." Told him just a minute, let me give it a tug. I started winching, my truck came off the ground and the trash truck started moving. He said "never mind, I'm embarrassed and out of here!"


My Brother Steve does some logging and has had me hook to several old oaks or cedars to keep them from falling on a house or shed. Sometimes when I start winching the tree starts moving and I just keep winching till them fall over! The 1st time a tree started moving, he runs up "let me make a cut." I told him "what for, I'll just winch it over." He just shook his head. Then said "well that saved a cut on the chain!"

 

[doorgunner]

My turn! Sometimes things happen......and we gotta do what we gotta do.

A Home Depot (unloaded) lumber truck with a 30 ft. tilt/flatbed trailer WITH a 15' by 20' wooden utility building got stuck in my daughter's back yard while making the delivery. The driver couldn't get the truck to rock back & forth because it was sunk too much & the trailer was starting to bog down too.

My truck was on the pavement with a 50' tow strap connected to the rear of the trailer. I managed to get everything rocking back and forth in the ruts while the lumber truck driver handled his truck/trailer.

After about a minute my tires heated up enough to get traction and finally everything pulled out onto the street.

Moral of the story: Stupid is as stupid does.........LOL.

 

[forzda]

My turn! Sometimes things happen......and we gotta do what we gotta do.

A Home Depot (unloaded) lumber truck with a 30 ft. tilt/flatbed trailer WITH a 15' by 20' wooden utility building got stuck in my daughter's back yard while making the delivery. The driver couldn't get the truck to rock back & forth because it was sunk too much & the trailer was starting to bog down too.

My truck was on the pavement with a 50' tow strap connected to the rear of the trailer. I managed to get everything rocking back and forth in the ruts while the lumber truck driver handled his truck/trailer.

After about a minute my tires heated up enough to get traction and finally everything pulled out onto the street.

Moral of the story: Stupid is as stupid does.........LOL.

pictures would be good

 

[94 lngbd]

My 2.3 L,5spd equipped with Firestone 3000# air bags , 8.8 4.10LSD,standard oem clutch, 30x9.50/15LT tires pulling 6x12 1200 lb trailer. Truck had 1800 lbs on it & trailer had 3200 lbs . So total hauled was 6200 lbs I also towed my 28ft camp trailer when I moved 42 miles away.

Its a 94 long bed 2wd lifted 5.5" with 2003 front end & power dome hood,2007 mirrors & 258,495 miles on original engine with out any smoking or using any extra oil between oil changes @ 7500 mile changes


Several years ago I had a 76 F250 4wd with 1 ton suspension, D70 rear D60 front, 2 ft side boards including front & back panels. I had 6.53tons of 5/8 gravel on it. Made 2 loads with it. On 2nd load broke a rear universal joint at diff. yoke. Pulled driveline & locked up front hubs to travel 5 more miles. Front tires spun on leaving traffic lights & each time I shifted gears.

 

[MPRanger]

2005 4.0L with 245/75r16 tires and 4.10 gears I pulled 8000 pounds worth of drywall sheets on a 16 foot trailer at 60 MPH with no problems. Breaking was a little more taxing but the truck had plenty of power to get it moving.

 

[Will]

My 2.3 L,5spd equipped with Firestone 3000# air bags , 8.8 4.10LSD,standard oem clutch, 30x9.50/15LT tires pulling 6x12 1200 lb trailer. Truck had 1800 lbs on it & trailer had 3200 lbs . So total hauled was 6200 lbs I also towed my 28ft camp trailer when I moved 42 miles away.

Its a 94 long bed 2wd lifted 5.5" with 2003 front end & power dome hood,2007 mirrors & 258,495 miles on original engine with out any smoking or using any extra oil between oil changes @ 7500 mile changes


Several years ago I had a 76 F250 4wd with 1 ton suspension, D70 rear D60 front, 2 ft side boards including front & back panels. I had 6.53tons of 5/8 gravel on it. Made 2 loads with it. On 2nd load broke a rear universal joint at diff. yoke. Pulled driveline & locked up front hubs to travel 5 more miles. Front tires spun on leaving traffic lights & each time I shifted gears.

You win just from the picture. Last time I saw something like that was during the LA riots back in '92.

 

[Tonka]

I towed a 76 F-100 around the block with a towbar behind the ranger in my avatar. 2.9L on a 5 speed, 2WD. The F-100 had a 302 & and blown C4 automatic.

I didn't mash on the throttle but only attempting neighborhood speeds it did just fine. Better than I expected.

Stopping & turning corners was scary though. So scary that it was a deal breaker. I was going to pull it 40 miles when I was moving but I ended up borrowing my dad's full size Chevy to pull it simply because it had the ability to track a straight line without fishtailing. It was a bare-bones C-10 with no power anything, and just a 250 inline 6 with 3-on-the-tree but it had some seriously heavy duty leaf springs for some reason. It's brakes weren't any better than the ranger's, .. I had my dad ride in the F-100 to work it's brakes in case I had to make a quick stop.