Max towing advice

[ghostdev137]

i wonder if places just lower the numbers in the usa since people here are so sue happy

Likely, yeah, and they use SAE J2807 in the US for ratings, which every country differs. They also want to "market segment" their trucks to not "eat into" F150 sales, etc, not that towing overweight is a good idea as your arse is on the line if you wreck as insurance will take any out they can.

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[chasc]

It's interesting that Ford Australia does not recommend the use of a WDH, and I understand why. Their popularity in the US intrigues me.

Care to share why you understand they are not recommended? That may be the first time I’ve ever heard anything bad said about WDH (other than the increased setup time).

 

[chasc]

A Jayco 19 is 8’ wide and 10 feet in height without AC. Deduct maybe 15 square feet to account for the open area under the frame, and you still get about 65 square feet of frontal area. The Ranger towing guide recommends no more than 55 square feet with Tow Package.

https://www.vdm.ford.com/content/da.../towing/pdf/2024-Ford-Ranger-Towing-Guide.pdf

Regardless of the weight, your trailer is a little too large (width and/ or height). I recommend that you start looking at a pop-up, teardrop or a narrow fiberglass trailer like a Casita or Oliver (single axle). Or buy an F150 and don’t stress about frontal area.

You can overload your Ranger and get away with it in the East, but you will be very unhappy when towing in the Rockies on 12 percent grades. Pick a trailer you want, then choose an adequate tow vehicle for it, not the other way around.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

I’ve never seen anyone who could give a rational explanation for Ford’s stated maximum frontal surface area specs. If you conservatively say that this Jayco with AC is 70-80 sq-ft then that would barely be within spec for an F-600 SuperDuty pulling a 5th wheel. Clearly people with F-150’s pull way bigger than a 21’ Jayco every day and nobody bats an eye, so something doesn’t add up.

The paragraph right next to the table of max frontal areas in the Ford Towing Guide ends with “Exceeding these limitations may significantly reduce the performance of your towing vehicle”, which I assume just translates to “above this your fuel efficiency goes way down”, and makes total sense given the exponential nature of aerodynamic drag. Notably it doesn’t say it will cause damage or is not allowed.

 

[superj]

I had a nice 19 foot travel trailer that barely weighed 3k. I always wonder if i should have kept it since it was so light and a perfect lay out for two people. It had a queen bed up front and a full bath in back. You couldn't feel it pulling with a nissan titan but you sure couldnt miss it in the mirror.

I bet the new ranger would tow it with ease.

Here is my 04 pulling it while we rearranged the yard. That ranger has a 4k tow limit and no wdh on it in the picture and it hardly lowered the back.

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