Trailer for the 1st time!

[BlancoRaptor]

Hi all
I'm gonna trailer a 6×12 UHaul trailer for the 1st time from AZ to Utah mountains on my Ranger Raptor .
Anyone have any advise on Transmission settings, Camera angles, hook up etc.etc.etc.??
Advise appreciated!

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[fordtrks4ever]

Keep you Tongue weight under 500lbs
On my lariat I keep it at 350lbs with my 7x14 cargo trailer
Keep you weight under 5510lbs max of you Raptor
Use tow haul mode on the transmission

 

[BlancoRaptor]

Hi
Is the "tow haul mode" in the center of the round transmission dial?
Any other thoughts?
I'm not familiar with tongue weight. Is that something I tell the Uhaul people when they hook up trailer?
Thank you!

 

[John E Davies]

U Haul trailers are cheap to rent crap, they are used hard and abused (overloaded) and are VERY poorly maintained. When you get there, look it over and take pics of any previous damage. Buy the optional trailer insurance!!! Look for bald tires and bad (dry and worn out) wheel bearings - you can just shove hard sideways on the top of each fender using a foot, do this to both sides and watch for clunks and movement at the hubs. Look under the trailer - see if there is any fluid staining any of the brakes, this is very bad. It is up to you to decide whether to accept that unit or not. Before you load up your cargo, check and adjust the trailer tire pressures, that will show you if there is a leaker, you can keep an eye on it or have them replace the entire wheel and tire.

I had a blowout flat tire on a U-Haul box trailer with worn out tires on a lonely highway and had to wait many hours for a tow truck, and I have also had a bearing get really hot on an Interstate trip. They advise you to keep your speed at 55 mph for a reason, these trailers aren’t safe at 75…. Just a month ago I rented a flatbed and I rejected the first one they tried to give me because the bearings were completely shot. I asked the yard drone “Don’t you routinely check this stuff?” and he acted very surprised at the idea.

Test the trailer brakes by braking the truck hard, the trailer has a hydraulic actuator that applies them, make sure they are functional!

Allow extra time on your trip in case things go sideways, and don’t travel when repair shops are closed….. treat it like an adventure.

Cargo loading is entirely up to you, the dealer can’t help at all with that! Watch some videos about tongue weight and be careful, your RR will squat like crazy if you have too much weight on the hitch, it was never intended to be a good tow vehicle. How much stuff are you bringing?

https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Towing/Trailer-User-Instructions-122/

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[stemplar]

I'm not familiar with tongue weight. Is that something I tell the Uhaul people when they hook up trailer?

No, please spend some time reading forums and online resources about tongue weight. There is no magic number to be considered, like "keep it under X pounds", with the exception of the maximum that a hitch can handle. Once you load a trailer it needs to be balanced; too much weight behind the axle and the tongue/hitch weight will be lower and if too low can lead to trailer sway. Too much, especially without a distribution hitch, and you negatively affect the vehicle's handling. A general rule of thumb is that the hitch weight will come in around 10%-15% of the gross trailer weight with cargo.

 

[superj]

measure how off the ground your hitch is and then load it so the hitch only is about an inch or two lower when the trailer is full. that will keep you from getting beat up by the trailer or from getting spun out by the trailer trying to drive you.

you don't want to be loaded improperly, or your trailer will start swaying and spin you and possibly roll you. but don't get really anxious over it, just watch how much your truck sits when the trailer is loaded and hooked up. if you keep it close, the truck will drive just like normal, minus feel slower on take off and braking. take wider turns so you don't scrape anything and make sure where you park, you can pull through instead of trying to back up.

other then that, you will be fine. drive carefully and you will get there like you weren't pulling a trailer.

you can measure the tongue weight with a bathroom scale and a piece of 2x4 so the foot doesn't go through the scale

 

[entoptics]

Tow/Haul is accessed via the drive mode wheel (twist the outer ring counter clockwise a couple of modes from "Normal").

https://www.futurefordofsacramento....n-drive-modes-of-the-2025-ford-ranger-raptor/

The button in the center of the drive mode wheel is trailer backup assist, which probably isn't helpful unless you go to the trouble of outfitting the Uhaul with the stickers.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/Catalog/owner_information/24MY_Ranger_QSG_ENG_V1.pdf

The RR is big and powerful, so it will handle its rated towing capacity with ease. That's a good thing, but also means you need to be careful, as you'll have plenty of power to thrash the trailer around if you're heavy footed. It can also lead to forgetting the trailer is there, which means you need to stay vigilant when turning, changing lanes, etc.

The best advice for a newbie pulling a trailer is to PLAN AHEAD! Be sure to assess ingress/egress for anywhere you're about to pull into (e.g. gas stations, driveways, parking lots), and be sure you can pull through without having to back up, with plenty of clearance for turning.

If you have time after picking up the trailer, find a big empty parking lot and practice maneuvering the trailer for a little while. You can even put out some "cones" (empty jugs or cans), and learn the turning radius and how the trailer will track the truck steering. Practice backing the trailer. If you plan properly, you'll never need to, but having at least a basic idea of how to reverse is important if something goes wrong.

Putting a half hour of practice at the front of your trip will go a LONG way toward preventing an embarrassing (or even dangerous) situation once you're on the road.

 

[JLOracer]

Get this hitch, will make it easy to get the tongue weight below 500lbs. I use this hitch to tow my trailers, small enclosed and aluminum open car trailer. Set drive mode to towing, and put in trailer information, it will walk you through those steps. I have towed up to 4600lbs so far with my ranger raptor. I keep the tongue weight at about 450lbs for the car trailer, 10% of gross weight, and it tows great and doesn't squat much at all.

https://a.co/d/3LcFH1k

 

[Satex]

Hi
Is the "tow haul mode" in the center of the round transmission dial?
Any other thoughts?
I'm not familiar with tongue weight. Is that something I tell the Uhaul people when they hook up trailer?
Thank you!

The trailer icon isn't to select tow/haul mode. You use that dial, but you have to "spin" the outer dial to find your mode among eco, sport, etc.

The center trailer icon is a button to enact the advanced towing/backing features.

 

[John E Davies]

Get this hitch, will make it easy to get the tongue weight below 500lbs. I use this hitch to tow my trailers, small enclosed and aluminum open car trailer. Set drive mode to towing, and put in trailer information, it will walk you through those steps. I have towed up to 4600lbs so far with my ranger raptor. I keep the tongue weight at about 450lbs for the car trailer, 10% of gross weight, and it tows great and doesn't squat much at all.

https://a.co/d/3LcFH1k

Unless you plan to also tow with a full sized truck, do NOT put an 8” drop hitch on your RR, the 4” version will work way better and not risk dragging on the ground (as much). An 18” to 20” ball height (from top of ball to ground) is a good starting point, with a 2” ball rated at 7500 pounds. It will work fine for any rental trailer. If you buy your own trailer, you might want to fine tune the height to make the trailer ride more level, for a one time rental it doesn’t make sense to stress about that.

John Davies
Spokane WA UsA

 

[JLOracer]

The 8" drop is no where close to dragging the ground on RR. I bought 8" because it put my lowest trailer at level when loaded when ball is in second from lowest hole. I haveultiole trailers though of varied tongue heights.

 

[fordtrks4ever]

I have a 6" drop I use with my lariat and have no issues with dragging.

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