James Caper
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Anyone found a ball you can actually use. Ive tried 2 and they are not long enough to bolt down. They all seem standard size.
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FULLSCALE
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I know at work (CarQuest) we sell a Curt 2” trailer ball with a 3” long shank. That should be plenty long enough! Part number 40074 or 40020... either of those should work if it’s a 1” hole in the bumper.
Noseoil
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Better to use a regular receiver hitch for anything but very light towing. I don't trust bumpers...
MasiJC
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Ditto
James Caper
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thank You 3 inch just fits. Its not for towing but for ease of getting pulled out from rear. it goes through the same semi trailer hitch as the tow eyes.
MT19RANGER
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#1 Light Duty Trailer Hitch: 3500# for a bumper pull.
Used to be the only way we towed things, but the bumper on my 84' F-150 was steel back then and no one ever really checked that they were rated for back then.
weasel1
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That bumper is NOT a recovery point. A hitch can be because it's attached to the frame. Either hook up to a hitch or the frame, not the bumper. If you're ever stuck in mud/snow it can take much more power that what the vehicle weighs to extract it. There's a very good reason off roaders have 10k+ winches on them. Make sure you have a camera rolling if you ever need to get pulled out. I want to see that bumper go flying or gold up like a tin can.
HenryMac
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While I agree... have you seen the extensive bracing Ford has done on the rear bumper? I was impressed, I bet you will be too. It's basically a light duty structural hitch that the bumper ball attaches too.
Here are some photo's:
weasel1
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Impressive, but I still wouldn't use it for recovery of any kind. Just start doing the math and you'll see why. Without googling the exact number, what does the Ranger weigh? Betcha it's more than the 3500lbs the bumper is rated for. Then factor the extra strain if your stuck. There's a damn good reason tow truck drivers hook onto the frame. Unless there is a dedicated recovery point, of course.
James Caper
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The bumper mount on the ranger is attached to the frame.
weasel1
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Just because its attached to the frame, doesn't mean a damn thing. Its rated for 3500lbs, period. Your truck weights more than that, period. The bumper mount and a ball is an unsafe recovery point. Clearly you are not understanding this. Do what you will, but please make sure the camera is rolling when it happens.
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Hi James,
Derek is spot on...Blunt maybe, but I agree that the trailer ball attached to the bumper is not a good idea.
Lets imagine you had a chain attached to the truck's frame, now lets say you cut a link half way through the link on each side. This is now your "weak" link as likely failure is where the link was cut. In using the trailer ball, the bumper becomes the weak link, thus is not really suitable as a recovery point. Hope this makes sense.
Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
LightingBlue
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I'd like to point out one other factor that hasn't been brought up, a ball on top of the bumper is about 9' off the ground (not really, but it's ridiculously high for the size of truck the Ranger is), you're going to be exerting a ton of downward force in addition to the lateral force to tow with that.
Unless your trailer hitch is also 9' off the ground (an exaggeration, but it should be equal to the ball height), trying to tow anything from a bumper mounted hitch is pointless.
We're using a 6" drop-hitch for our 5,000 lb trailer and there is still a bit of rake to the trailer. Obviously this is a small little single axle trailer, but unless you're using some stout car haulers with a massive hitch height (which the trailer alone will be darn near the 3,500 lb load rating for a bumper-mounted ball) then, again, what is the point of a bumper mounted ball?
Unless your trailer hitch is also 9' off the ground (an exaggeration, but it should be equal to the ball height), trying to tow anything from a bumper mounted hitch is pointless.
We're using a 6" drop-hitch for our 5,000 lb trailer and there is still a bit of rake to the trailer. Obviously this is a small little single axle trailer, but unless you're using some stout car haulers with a massive hitch height (which the trailer alone will be darn near the 3,500 lb load rating for a bumper-mounted ball) then, again, what is the point of a bumper mounted ball?
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