Towing a car with a B4000

[bobbywalter]

i may have missed it....what year taurus?



the difference between a 2000 and 2018 can be about 1000 pounds


the current loaded super car is 4300 plus....my ma's old car was a bit under 3500 actual... i weighed it when i towed it to work on it...dolly was only rated to 3800.

 

[don4331]

I'd like to know a bit more about your truck too; there's a significant difference between pulling with a regular cab 2wd and supercab 4wd - its about 500lbs for my personal vehicles and it makes a world of difference on what they tow comfortably. Both the weight and the fact that the 4wd has bigger brakes (12" fronts/Explorer rear discs).

I would have just went to pick n pull and found a Ranger with hitch rather than build my own - probably same amount of work. Any hitch from '94 to 12 should fit.

I haven't towed a Taurus, but I did tow both my Focus SVT on a dolly with my 2wd, and my Ranger with the 4wd. More tools on the farm, and I was going to be on the farm anyways.

U-haul wouldn't rent me a trailer to transport my '10 Escape behind my '17 F-150 (with tow package), so you might have some issues there.

 

[SumoPsycho]

I won’t tell you you should or should not tow a car trailer & Taurus with your Ranger, as I have overloaded/exceeded towing capacity on every truck that I’ve owned. I’ve always chosen a dolly over a trailer because of the dolly being lighter (the straw that broke the camels back).

I think your first step would be to check with u-haul and see what they say about you towing a trailer w/car using a Ranger with a bumper hitch..... I’m guessing it’ll be a no go.

PLEASE BE SAFE what ever you decide.

 

[91stranger]

I get the feeling the guys gonna do whatever he wants and I'm not really sure why he asked everyone's opinion. Everyone knows the ball on the bumper is not a safe/smart choice for a trailer+vehicle towed behind it. Oh well. let people learn the hard way. Lets hope a state trooper doesn't see the tuck towing without a hitch. They are really good at giving tickets and wasting an hour or two of your time. Not to mention, the slightest attitude and they are looking all over your truck for tickets to write up. Good luck with whatever you do. Everyone has given you the right idea. Sounds like if the car is in as bad a shape as you make it seem then it can wait till you are ready with the proper equipment. It's not just you on the road either, people now a days like to be right up on your ass and checking their facebooks instead of paying attention to the trailer coming at them. Have fun.

 

[RonD]

Up here in Canada, if you are overloaded, you get the ticket but also MUST LEAVE the trailer or even Camper(take it off the truck) at the side of the road and then come back, or get someone else to come, with correctly rated vehicle to move it from that spot.

They do these roadside "inspections" on Long weekends mostly

Don't remember them doing these in the states but I would avoid long weekend travel

And +1 on checking with U-Haul FIRST about the car dolly, when they plug-in the towing vehicles numbers, i.e. Model, year, engine, trans and hitch, it will either allow them to continue or stop the rental, so not up to "the guy, or gal", doing the rental, its U-Haul's national software, and liability is the big concern.

You can do this on-line just to check

 

[fordrangerforumuser]

Unfortunately I can't make it happen this weekend like I wanted. (90F+ and no AC so not a bad thing)

I did some looking around however and found 2 pieces of steel to build a bumper. My options are 4-5" x 1/4" wall pipe (didn't bother to measure) or a piece of 3/8" plate thats bent at a 90 so 4" angle iron with a soft corner. Brackets will be 3/8" x 4" flat bar bolted directly to the side of the frame, receiver recessed into the bumper and shove it up as close to the bed as possible for maximum departure angle.

Should be able to hold more than the truck will ever be capable of towing.

 

[91stranger]

Unfortunately I can't make it happen this weekend like I wanted. (90F+ and no AC so not a bad thing)

I did some looking around however and found 2 pieces of steel to build a bumper. My options are 4-5" x 1/4" wall pipe (didn't bother to measure) or a piece of 3/8" plate thats bent at a 90 so 4" angle iron with a soft corner. Brackets will be 3/8" x 4" flat bar bolted directly to the side of the frame, receiver recessed into the bumper and shove it up as close to the bed as possible for maximum departure angle.

Should be able to hold more than the truck will ever be capable of towing.

Sounds like more work than bolting on an actual hitch. Not to mention you then have to paint it with a few coats of paint to keep fresh metal from rusting. Sounds like it would be a tough bumper. Is the frame on the truck in good shape? I'm in Ohio so if something is 10 years old and not maintained it has frame rust. I remember I used to tow everything with my 91 ranger that only had a 1" reese hitch. Truck had no rear brakes, no exhaust, no park, terrible gas mileage (4.0) but I towed a heavy duty car trailer with an 89 s10 on it, a stratus on it once, a 20' camper. I was well over what that little 1" hitch was rated for and with no rear brakes but I never really had much issues. That ranger was a beast. Had 7 inches of lift and 33's with 3.55 gears. There was nothing I could tow that I tried towing.

 

[Craig0320]

Just buy rusty ol ranger's 460 ford to pull it with.