towing a 3000# car with a 3.0.

[millermayhem]

long time no post

Kind of tring to figure this shit out.

My assets are a 2000 3.0 Ranger 4x4 with automatic. Base. very base. no ac.

there is a car I am looking at that is 300 miles from my home. This would include a mountain pass and the temps have been in the 100s recently. could cool off next week. I feel like I would be sentencing the ol Ranger to death asking it to pull a 3000 lb car plus trailer for 300 miles. or am I underestimating the power of the ranger. my god this truck is gutless on the highway and I towed a palet of sod (2000-2300 lbs) and it felt surgy. but I never got over 30 mph. I do not know if I was doing something wrong or what.

 

[veefer800canuck]

If it was short distance on level ground, you'd be fine. 300 miles over a mountain pass would be tough.

I pulled a 2200Lb tent trailer with my '94 4.0 over the continental divide, and it was slow going. Temp gauge was creeping upwards on the long climbs, and cooled right off on the following downhill stretches.

But a 3000 lb car PLUS the car trailer would not be good.

 

[mattpresley]

Here's about that weight on my bed a few months back. 3.0 Auto but not 4x4. I think you'll be ok towing but be careful and cruise slow. Remember you won't have much in the way of brakes.

 

[martin]

Don't even consider it without brakes on the trailer.

 

[don4331]

I'm going to assume you have a frame hitch; don't even think of using the bumper. Not lifted; not s/c? Does it have a good transmission cooler?

Can the car in question be towed on a dolly, rather than a trailer? Dolly (650lbs) is about 1/4 the weight of the car transporter (2,300lbs). U-haul's dolly's have surge brakes (don't get into situation where you need to reverse; there is no lock out).*

If it has to be trailer-ed; you need a bigger towing vehicle. (For safety, not ability). Even with a dolly, you will be within couple hundred pounds of towed load equaling Ranger's weight (and the 3,800 lb limit Ford put on 3.0 4x4) <Can you move any weight from car to the truck e.g. battery>

Patience is the operative word. I put the Explorer on U-haul car transport post 5.0,axle, etc removal to take to the recycler. My son's '98 4.0 4x4 was within ounces of Ford's limit. We drove 90km/h (felt like we were doing backwards on local freeway) down to re-cycler with no issues.

Plan regular stops to check everything; an extra day is worth arriving in one piece.

*Not intentionally promoting u-haul; they just happened to be close/affordable so they are who I've used.