What's the biggest towed?

[Tonka]

I've towed, more than once, 3000 pounds of sand or gravel in my single axle dump trailer (1800 pounds empty). The trailer has brakes and I've got the brake controller turned up high enough to help slow the truck instead of the other way around. I put in a 160 degree thermostat, and I already have the rear axle from a 96 explorer with the 8.8 and disk brakes to throw on if the one on the truck gives up before I'd like it to.

Honestly, the truck doesn't seem to mind level ground but with that much weight it's not happy about climbing.

1987, 2.9L, 5 sp, 4x4

Have you had the leaf spring mounts relocated to the top of that Explorer axle yet? I wanta do that with my ranger. There's a metal fabricating shop 1/4 mile away. What happens if you don't swap over to the Explorer master cylinder? I'm wondering how well that works. You'd lose metal when you (torch?) them off, then you'd mess with the tampering of the steel on the axle housing when you weld them back on. I'm curious to see if that would weaken the axle housing at the welds.

 

[CaseyVR6]

I just bought new spring perches and shock mounts, I've started brushing and sand-blasting the axle and welding on the new perch. As far as I know the master cyl. for the Ranger is more than adequate for the Explorer rear but if it looks like it'll be undersized I'll probably try to bump it up to the Explorer or even F150. The trouble for me has been finding a rear drive shaft, apparently they're picked pretty fast from the yards.

 

[Tonka]

You need a different drive shaft for the explorer axle?

 

[CaseyVR6]

The drive shaft for the 8.8 rear is larger than mine (87 with a D28 front and 7.5" rear), so I've either gotta find the larger drive shaft or have an adapter made... I'd rather make it stronger. Also looking for a D35 TTB front to swap in, but no luck yet.

 

[andystamey]

I really hope everyone here who is overloading their rangers to retarded levels is ready for the legal problems you'll face when someone dies because you couldn't stop in time. "It pulls fine, but didn't stop well" THEN DON'T PULL IT!

 

[bttlscrs00x]

I really hope everyone here who is overloading their rangers to retarded levels is ready for the legal problems you'll face when someone dies because you couldn't stop in time. "It pulls fine, but didn't stop well" THEN DON'T PULL IT!

So did you only join to ridicule members?? Maybe you should find a new forum.

 

[andystamey]

Nope but I just bought a ranger today, joined, and that was the first post I saw. I'll just move along to forums where people don't feed a need to brag about overloading their truck. And besides, I'm just hoping people realize acts like that can and do kill people.

 

[bttlscrs00x]

Nope but I just bought a ranger today, joined, and that was the first post I saw. I'll just move along to forums where people don't feed a need to brag about overloading their truck. And besides, I'm just hoping people realize acts like that can and do kill people.

I'm sure they realize. No need to bog someone else's thread down with your negativity. Maybe you should create your own thread explaining your concern.

 

[Tonka]

Intelligent people can tow heavy stuff with a ranger if it's done right. Electric trailer brakes are important.

I towed a 1976 Ford F-100 around the block with a towbar once. I was going to tow it 35 miles. The Ranger didn't seem to have a problem getting it moving, but turning corners was SCARY, it felt like it was going to rip my axle off the leaf springs. Braking was next to impossible. I considered having somebody ride in the F-100 and operate the brakes whenever the ranger's brake lights came on, and steady the steering wheel if it started swaying or something.
But I decided just to tow it with my dad's underpowered, poorly geared 1979 Chevy C-10. It had a better braking ability and a heavier duty chassis. So even though the ranger had more pulling power due to it's gearing, the full size piece of Chevy was the better vehicle for towing a 5500 lb full size truck with a tow-bar.

 

[Tonka]

This is a 25 foot trailer my dad pulled home from New Jersey with my ranger (about 900 miles) containing an airplane. His trip coincided with a trip I was making to Philadelphia and back in an 18 wheeler. So I put that crusty old cap on the Ranger to help streamline the trailer. A storm had blown the cap around the yard and shattered the windows, so I put plywood in there. The old man wanted to keep his stuff dry too.

My load home came from Newark, NJ so we were able to link up at a truck stop in White Haven, PA and the old man followed me home. In some places he was tailgating my truck so I could break the wind, and in Ohio and Indiana he rode along side me in the middle lane so my truck would block the strong winds from the north.

I'm not sure if that trailer is heavier than my camper. All I do know is that my piece of **** F-150 won't pull either one.

This pic was taken in the morning, at the Flying J in Brookville, PA. My electronic log book made me shut down there for the night. Old man parked next to my truck, I offered to let him sleep on the upper bunk in the truck but instead he opted to sleep in the back of the ranger.

 

[starshooter10]

dont have any pics of my best load... but a 2 axle Uhaul and my roomates impala for ~50 miles...

dont want to do that again simple becuase I still have the 1.5" receiver only good for 3500 lbs... and I think the car alone weights that.

 

[Tonka]

Don't worry about it, man....

I towed my 1976 Ford F-100 with a tow-bar behind my dad's old 79 Chevy.

The Chevy got rear-ended and the old man was too cheap to buy even a USED bumper from a junkyard, ... so he had me make one out of a 4x4..

Then he missed having a trailer hitch and the only one we could find that would fit that truck's frame was a 1-1/2" receiver, ... same type he had on his Honda Goldwing, LOL...

Anything you can safely tow with a Ford Ranger, you can tow with that hitch. That 1-1/2" solid steel stuff is stronger than it looks.

I would bet good money that you could hang your entire truck by that hitch.

 

[cdawall]

Don't worry about it, man....

I towed my 1976 Ford F-100 with a tow-bar behind my dad's old 79 Chevy.

The Chevy got rear-ended and the old man was too cheap to buy even a USED bumper from a junkyard, ... so he had me make one out of a 4x4..

Then he missed having a trailer hitch and the only one we could find that would fit that truck's frame was a 1-1/2" receiver, ... same type he had on his Honda Goldwing, LOL...

Anything you can safely tow with a Ford Ranger, you can tow with that hitch. That 1-1/2" solid steel stuff is stronger than it looks.

I would bet good money that you could hang your entire truck by that hitch.

most 1 1/2" receivers are class one hitches rated too a max of 2000lbs. that is NOT safe to tow a large anything with a class one hitch. last thing i would want to see is some yahoo going down the interstate towing an 8000lbs trailer with a class one hitch and the hitch letting go because it will. that is not what that is rated for.

 

[jcd302]

Hauled about 250 miles from Indiana to home in West MI.
4.0L 2wd auto. 3.08 gears(trac-loc from a GT Stang). Truck had like 175k on it at the time and was in desperate need of a tune-up.

 

[Will]

Fortune City doesn't like to let you host your pictures there and link to them here, it seems. I had to take a screen shot to get the picture at all, and then saved it into your attachments.