What are you towing with your 6th Gen Ranger?

[Sammy]

Just finished a 4500 mile road trip to Texas towing our 17' (3000# wet) Casita trailer. Pic is outside of Big Bend National Park, Texas. Truck doesn't look the greatest wearing about 3000 miles of road grime. The Ranger pulled like a champ. Computer MPG of 19.1., hand calculated 18.5. That beats our previous tow vehicle (VW Touareg with 3.6lt V6) which averaged 15.9 MPG, hand calculated. The Ranger tows better and has more usable power though both engines are rated at 270hp.

Picking up my new Casita on Monday. Will be traveling back to South Central TN. Looking forward to seeing how my Lariat does with it.

Sponsored

 

[superj]

Boy, you have no excuse for not going. Corpus Christi is a lot closer to Big Bend than central Virginia.We visited Terlingua which certainly had a long mining history.

I know. Its only like 10 or 12 hours from my house but i cant get my wife to go

 

[HotPepperLariat]

Picking up my new Casita on Monday. Will be traveling back to South Central TN. Looking forward to seeing how my Lariat does with it.

You'll be impressed in how well it does pulling a Casita. In some areas of Texas we hit 40mph headwinds and sidewinds. While I certainly don't like towing in that sort of weather, the truck was unfazed except to downshift to 8th gear (Tow mode normally locks out 10th, so usually cruise in 9th). FYI: we bought our Casita from the factory in 2005. It has been a phenomenal camper and so impressed with its quality. Also, definitely don't need a WDH.

 

[superj]

That is the kind of stuff i hear from all casita owners.

 

[Sammy]

You'll be impressed in how well it does pulling a Casita. In some areas of Texas we hit 40mph headwinds and sidewinds. While I certainly don't like towing in that sort of weather, the truck was unfazed except to downshift to 8th gear (Tow mode normally locks out 10th, so usually cruise in 9th). FYI: we bought our Casita from the factory in 2005. It has been a phenomenal camper and so impressed with its quality. Also, definitely don't need a WDH.

I did splurge on the Anderson weight distribution hitch. Pretty much checked all the options! I figured if I'm getting a new trailer I might as well go all in and get all the bells and whistles. ?

 

[ADVNTURR]

Took a 950mi round trip to go pick up a new to me Futura Super-Sport trailer this weekend to tow my cars to the track. Managed 23.3mpg in Eco mode at 75mph on the way down and 16.3mpg at 75mph in Tow/Haul on the way back. May have to look into tow mirrors of some kind because with the stone shield on this trailer I can't see anything directly behind me.

 

[jgruben1134]

We bought a 5x10 utility trailer about a year ago to pull behind our CX-5, which maxes out at 2,000lbs. The Ranger doesn't even know its back there when we pull with it. Had I known I'd be buying a truck so soon, I would have gotten a little bigger trailer.

Pulled closer to 5,000lbs in an enclosed single axle trailer just fine as well.

 

[Sammy]

We bought a 5x10 utility trailer about a year ago to pull behind our CX-5, which maxes out at 2,000lbs. The Ranger doesn't even know its back there when we pull with it. Had I known I'd be buying a truck so soon, I would have gotten a little bigger trailer.

Pulled closer to 5,000lbs in an enclosed single axle trailer just fine as well.

I pulled an enclosed 5x10 trailer loaded to the roof with household items from Northern WI to South Central TN and averaged 16. 2 MPG.
This trucks really great with towing.

 

[chasc]

Yeah ran into the is same thing when i was looking at it. sounds pretty much like it's to cover there butt and explain why you ate getting 12mpg instead of 20 .

It doesn't say you can't.

Came here to say the same: The whole manual is full of safety warnings and cautions, but this just says “reduce the performance”. I also read that as “expect terrible MPG”.

 

[jgruben1134]

I pulled an enclosed 5x10 trailer loaded to the roof with household items from Northern WI to South Central TN and averaged 16. 2 MPG.
This trucks really great with towing.

I get 20+ with the 5x10 open trailer. The loaded enclosed one took me to 14MPG. It had a pretty high frontal area.

 

[Sammy]

I get 20+ with the 5x10 open trailer. The loaded enclosed one took me to 14MPG. It had a pretty high frontal area.

Mine has the v nose frontal area.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

You'll be impressed in how well it does pulling a Casita. In some areas of Texas we hit 40mph headwinds and sidewinds. While I certainly don't like towing in that sort of weather, the truck was unfazed except to downshift to 8th gear (Tow mode normally locks out 10th, so usually cruise in 9th). FYI: we bought our Casita from the factory in 2005. It has been a phenomenal camper and so impressed with its quality. Also, definitely don't need a WDH.

Please tell me more about not needing the Anderson WDH. Wife bought the camper/we pick up in a bit less than a month. When she priced out everything she selected the WDH. She asked my thoughts at the time/did a quick google and figured it was another insurance policy so why not. I'm getting Timbrens put on the back of the Ranger next week for another dose of insurance.

 

[ShadowDragon24]

my pup camper, my utility, and the heaviest was my old parts rig when I brought it to the recyclers, loaded with 10 sets of old rims and tires, like 10 old vehicle/power sport batteries, and old parts I replaced but had in my shed.

 

[crawford]

You'll be impressed in how well it does pulling a Casita. In some areas of Texas we hit 40mph headwinds and sidewinds. While I certainly don't like towing in that sort of weather, the truck was unfazed except to downshift to 8th gear (Tow mode normally locks out 10th, so usually cruise in 9th). FYI: we bought our Casita from the factory in 2005. It has been a phenomenal camper and so impressed with its quality. Also, definitely don't need a WDH.

i had a 2020 ranger and towed my 3500 lb trailer no problem. i have a new 2025 with the 2.7 and waiting to get over 1600kms before i try towing with it.

i am always confused about weight distribution hitches. the ford tow guide doesn't mention a WDH for ranger. other vehicles it says tow X amount without WDH and some larger amount with a WDH. so i take that info to mean that a WDH is not recommended or necessary with a ranger. lots of people argue with me that i am wrong and a WDH is always needed. i am curious what is the right answer here, but i don't own a WDH or plan on getting one. i am pretty new to towing...i think part of the reason the rangers backend sticks up so much is to help with squat for towing.

 

[chasc]

i had a 2020 ranger and towed my 3500 lb trailer no problem. i have a new 2025 with the 2.7 and waiting to get over 1600kms before i try towing with it.

i am always confused about weight distribution hitches. the ford tow guide doesn't mention a WDH for ranger. other vehicles it says tow X amount without WDH and some larger amount with a WDH. so i take that info to mean that a WDH is not recommended or necessary with a ranger. lots of people argue with me that i am wrong and a WDH is always needed. i am curious what is the right answer here, but i don't own a WDH or plan on getting one. i am pretty new to towing...i think part of the reason the rangers backend sticks up so much is to help with squat for towing.

I'm not sure how you meant it, but when I hear "not recommended" that suggests it could be harmful. Looking over the 2024 towing guide again I can't find anything suggesting you "should not" use a WDH with a Ranger, only several places that confirm it's not "required". Page 41 does have an example where WDH is "not recommended" for the Transit van, but for Ranger it just says "Not Required". There is also a suggestion in the guide that small travel trailers are usually towed with a WDH (screenshot attached).

I weighed my 2021 Ranger and trailer at a CAT scale. The published base weight for my 20' trailer is 3,400 lbs. Without WDH bars installed the weight on my rear axle was 3,120 lbs, which is only 250 lbs away from the rear GAWR of 3,370 lbs. This was empty trailer, single person, empty truck. Any more than 250 lbs of payload in the bed or truck and I'd probably be over my GAWR.

Compare that to with the WDH spring bars installed: Now my rear axle is 2,640 lbs and my front axle 2,680 lbs. I have a ton of usable payload capacity left without exceeding GAWR and I've got equal weight on the front and rear axles (instead of removing 280 lbs from the front, steering wheels).

So could you tow 7,500 lbs without a WDH? Probably yes, but you'd likely need the truck to be completely empty to avoid maxing out your rear axle. That's not realistic for most people taking a trip with their camper though. Add in the benefits of the sway control you get with most WDH and it can add up to a much more comfortable/enjoyable (and probably safer in emergency situations) experience.

Sponsored