Boost tow capacity (a little?)

[Dieseldean1]

Hi, we're eying a travel trailer for our 2021 Ranger XLT that would push the tow rating if fully loaded (7,850 lbs). We're not heading anywhere mountainous, just local, fairly flat terrain, and probably not fully loaded. But still, is there a way to boost the tow rating? We already have the brake controller installed and weight distribution hitch.

It’s not always about if you can pull it, but can you stop it?
our little rigs tow quite a lot for their size. If you need to pull heavier, you really should upsize.

Hi, we're eying a travel trailer for our 2021 Ranger XLT that would push the tow rating if fully loaded (7,850 lbs). We're not heading anywhere mountainous, just local, fairly flat terrain, and probably not fully loaded. But still, is there a way to boost the tow rating? We already have the brake controller installed and weight distribution hitch.

not a good idea.
Buy a larger truck.
These are great rigs for daily driving and occasional towing.
not sure about other’s mileage, but my mileage truly SUCKS when towing. Honestly- I didn’t think a 2.3 could use that much fuel!

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[Bsthroop]

After towing multiple hitch trailers I would agree not to push the max limit on your truck. Tow behinds are much less forgiving as you near limits and everything such as wind, load balancing, braking, semi's passing become a bigger factor. Drivability, reliability, and safety will be better if you are not at maximum limits.

 

[Frenchy]

not a good idea.
Buy a larger truck.
These are great rigs for daily driving and occasional towing.
not sure about other’s mileage, but my mileage truly SUCKS when towing. Honestly- I didn’t think a 2.3 could use that much fuel!

Welcome to Towing with a Gas Engine instead of a Diesel Engine. It's not uncommon to drop fuel mileage like that with a Gas Engine when Towing

 

[mtbikernate]

When I first bought my squaredrop trailer, my only tow vehicle was a subaru. The trailer was just below the max capability for the car. On long road trips, it was absolutely a taxing experience. I couldn't really just relax on the drive. I had to be on high alert for all kinds of things that could affect the tow. Terrain, wind, passing vehicles, the list goes on. On shorter drives? It was fine and not a problem.

I treat my Ranger more or less the same. When I consider a camper, I have in mind longer trips so I want a LOT of room for error. Windage on campers is the biggest issue, anyway. Having the wind as a factor AND being at or near max tow? Still going to be a stressful drive. Probably fine if all you buy the camper to do is to go to the nearest "camping resort" a couple times a year. But if long trips are on your radar at all (for me, this is the whole point of pulling a camper), then driveability of the setup is going to be a bigger priority for me than hitting all the luxuries in the camper. If comfort in the camper becomes my biggest concern, then whatever I end up with, I won't be pulling it with the Ranger.

My own somewhat vague guideline for this is that I want to be close to 50% of towing capacity for the Ranger. Part of it is general ease of driving, but another part of it is how much the fuel economy is going to suffer. With the Ranger's smaller tank, the increase in stopping frequency for fuel is something that I really don't want to push that hard. Again, not such a big deal for short drives. But irritating AF for long ones.

When I went to New Brunswick this summer, I averaged between 21-22mpg for the whole trip while pulling my little trailer. My stopping frequency was pretty reasonable. In a few years I'll probably be sizing up on campers so that I have an indoor toilet (and maybe shower) so I'll have to accept more frequent fuel stops, but I'm definitely going to be prioritizing a small, lightweight, aerodynamic trailer that meets those needs.

I would not hesitate to push the max capacities of my Ranger for short drives across town towing equipment on a flatbed or getting materials. I've done so with loads of topsoil and mulch and the Ranger handles it well. But I wouldn't drive halfway (or all the way) across the country like that.

 

[ccasanova22]

Considering my fuel economy halves when towing a moderate sized trailer < 70% of towing capacity, I don’t want to know what full capacity does to the MPG.

I bet it would be single digits especially in the mountains.

 

[Frenchy]

Considering my fuel economy halves when towing a moderate sized trailer < 70% of towing capacity, I don’t want to know what full capacity does to the MPG.

I bet it would be single digits especially in the mountains.

There are other factors to consider besides weight. A great example is the shape of said weight. In the attached picture you see my Ranger pulling 5500 LBS. If you simply change the shape of that 5500 LBS you will either increase or decrease the MPG. Same idea applies at 7500 LBS.

 

[Big Blue]

There are other factors to consider besides weight. A great example is the shape of said weight. In the attached picture you see my Ranger pulling 5500 LBS. If you simply change the shape of that 5500 LBS you will either increase or decrease the MPG. Same idea applies at 7500 LBS.

This!
The actual weight has very little affect on mileage. The air resistance caused by the frontal area and speed has the most affect. The weight will only come into play when climbing hills and changing speeds, but is still less than the frontal area. Speed seems to have an exponential affect as well. Anything over about 55 mph and your mileage will plumit drastically. It really doesn't matter what your towing with either.

 

[Frenchy]

This!
The actual weight has very little affect on mileage. The air resistance caused by the frontal area and speed has the most affect. The weight will only come into play when climbing hills and changing speeds, but is still less than the frontal area. Speed seems to have an exponential affect as well. Anything over about 55 mph and your mileage will plumit drastically. It really doesn't matter what your towing with either.

As much as I want to agree with you on the speed, I still feel the shape of whatever is being towed is going to be the biggest factor. Even with towing the old 280ZX with both the Ranger and the 2016 Frontier I had it didn't seem to impact the MPG as much as one would think.

 

[Big Blue]

As much as I want to agree with you on the speed, I still feel the shape of whatever is being towed is going to be the biggest factor. Even with towing the old 280ZX with both the Ranger and the 2016 Frontier I had it didn't seem to impact the MPG as much as one would think.

Towing that car you are showing is adding virtually no frontal area to the truck. It is practically all in the slip stream of the trick. I would not expect that it would affect the mileage much, only real factor is accelerating the extra weight. If you had a 9 foot high by 8 foot wide box trailer that weighed the same or less it would have affected your mileage much more, even with some aerodynamic shaping of the front.

 

[bRaptor]

I have towed close to Max 3 times moving myself 4 hours. The Ranger could probably pull twice the max tow, but I felt like I was in a death trap when I got on windy roads. I'm no boomer, but the ranger is too light to consistently tow close to its max weight even with a TBC and Tow bars. This is why I drive a 1/2 ton now

 

[Dieseldean1]

Considering my fuel economy halves when towing a moderate sized trailer < 70% of towing capacity, I don’t want to know what full capacity does to the MPG.

I bet it would be single digits especially in the mountains.

Yep, towing in mountains (northern Nevada) single-digit mileage is a thing. Absolutely no lack of power- but it comes at a cost.
Still- I love my Ranger.

 

[subquark]

The Long, Long Trailer was a movie. Buy a bigger truck.

Oh man, that's one of my all-time favorite silly movies!

Probably good advice not to have anyone making sandwiches in the trailer as you're going down the road (unless you're really hungry and you're making an extra for @Grumpaw). =D

But, those old trailers were so stout and heavy and to think that so many were pulled by sedans. Of course, the sedans of the '50's were stout too! But drum brakes all around were scary (they sure were in my '72 FJ40 pulling a way too heavy load of my home-welded heaviest duty 16-foot trailer loaded with a John Deere, a six-foot bush hog or grooming mower, a 4-foot back blade, loads of small gear (backpack blower, weed eater, hedge trimmers, gas cans, oils cans, shovels, rakes, hoes, 5-gallon water jug, chains, come-along, etc)).

I'll always defer to Grumpaw for towing insight. I, myself, would be nervous with most anything over the Ranger's own weight of 4,500 pounds (or in Soupie's modded case, 2 tons!) but would likely consider towing up to 6,000.

LOL, and the brake thing that was mounted in the convertible was also a hoot!

 

[9zero1790]

when i see the older trailers like that i always think geez what a beast to tow. esp with old school brakes etc. i think folks were more careful drivers in those days.

 

[Grumpaw]

Those cars from the 40's, 50's never had the real ability to carry the heavy tongue weight from those trailers. Most used a "hitch helper".....basically an assembly with it's own smaller tires and it's own "hitch" for the trailers coupler.
Front of trailer hitch/coupler mounted to the helper which supported much of the tongue weight and the helper was than hitched to the car's ball which was usually nothing more than a bumper hitch.
In the pic that subquark posted, you can see the hitch helper just below the trailers front coupler.
In fact, if you watch the movie carefully, you'll see the helper in several shots.
Their are still companies that make a similar assembly now.

 

[dtech]

I watched the long long trailer for the 1st time ever recently, probably wouldn't have watched it except that I recently had bought our 1st TT - 4,200 lbs NOBO and it makes the Ranger suck down gas, to the OP I considered a Grand Design 17mke , really nice stuff but passed owing to the weight, but now concur the frontal area of these things is what hurts mpg the most, but then there are other concerns regards weight like overall safety.
Now back to the movie - bought our TT in Ohio, around 2800 mile round trip from home, so had to let the wife drive some of the time - she drivers a turbo Sante Fe - and lays into the throttle way more than I , so much of our trip was on interstates and I noticed that when towing she was consistently accelerating to try and beat merging traffic, until I said "WTF" are you doing, but then again there must have been a reason I don't recall Lucy ever being behind the wheel as back then a woman's place was in the home.

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