Towing RV with 2019 Ranger

JPAG1957

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Good day. I'm a new owner of a Ford Ranger XLT. I am looking for buying a RV and the one I'm looking at right now has a dry weight of 4500 lbs. Given that I want to do a lot of traveling with it (not just carrying on the RV from my home to a nearby camping site), I suspect it's too heavy. I heard somebody telling me I should not go beyond 4000 lbs. Does anybody can help me with this? Thanks in advance.
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dmeyer302

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t4thfavor

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My camper is 4500# loaded, it has a frontal area of 8'6"X10'2" and tows like a dream. If you keep your load sensible, you should be completely fine with something that heavy granted you aren't towing a 7% grade for 11 miles. That said, would you be better off with a half ton? Probably.
 

Jamiko

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I'm towing a Winnebago Micro Minnie 1706FB travel trailer. Around 17ft long box (20ft bumper to hitch), only 7ft wide, and about 3800lbs ready to tow. I have a Husky Centerline weight dist. hitch with sway control. When semi trucks go by I feel the back end swaying a lot. Sometimes its scary. I've been towing RV's for years and my last truck was a Titan towing same RV without weight dist. hitch. It towed much better. I'm not sure what's going on as others seem to tow ok with wider and longer trailers.
 


t4thfavor

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I'm towing a Winnebago Micro Minnie 1706FB travel trailer. Around 17ft long box (20ft bumper to hitch), only 7ft wide, and about 3800lbs ready to tow. I have a Husky Centerline weight dist. hitch with sway control. When semi trucks go by I feel the back end swaying a lot. Sometimes its scary. I've been towing RV's for years and my last truck was a Titan towing same RV without weight dist. hitch. It towed much better. I'm not sure what's going on as others seem to tow ok with wider and longer trailers.
Mine tows fine, my guess is it's your past experience betraying you.

For example, I towed the same trailer with a Jeep Liberty Diesel, and it swayed crazily. So I'm used to that, and when I got to the Ranger it's exceptionally less crazy. So my experience is good.Yours is a slightly less extreme version of the reverse of mine.
 

Jamiko

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Are you using a weight dist. hitch and/or sway control?
 

Marshal.

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My camper is almost identical to size and weight of yours. I use a WD hutch and a sway control bar. I found having more tongue weight made a significant improvement(towing with water in the tanks). I’ve got different tires than stock, and I air up to 45-48psi. In windy conditions, I still notice sway. A change in suspension And the addition of a rear sway bar may be in order to further improve things

9E170E80-1CD6-4F80-8A2E-9D04F43D644A.jpeg
 

Jamiko

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I think my problem might be my tongue seems high. My trailer is not level after connecting to the truck. The front of the trailer sits high. The RV place that put the weight dist hitch on for me says they do it that way so you can put more weight in your truck bed. I typically don't carry much weight in my bed when towing. Maybe I'll try adding more weight to get the trailer level and see if that helps. Your trailer does look about same size as mine except mine is tandem axle.

blue-minnie.jpg
 

Marshal.

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I’d certainly adjust the nose of the trailer down. With a tandem axle, you should be much more stable than my single axle
 

dceggert

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I think my problem might be my tongue seems high. My trailer is not level after connecting to the truck. The front of the trailer sits high. The RV place that put the weight dist hitch on for me says they do it that way so you can put more weight in your truck bed. I typically don't carry much weight in my bed when towing. Maybe I'll try adding more weight to get the trailer level and see if that helps. Your trailer does look about same size as mine except mine is tandem axle.

blue-minnie.jpg
Can you get a hitch for the receiver with more vertical drop?
 

Booner13

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Ive been looking for an Rv to pull with my new Ranger, and have been looking at the Winnebago micro Minnie for not only build quality but also it being 7ft wide and the biggest model being only 4100lbs dry weight.
What ive learned thou is, they have to sit level when being towed seeing they are equipped with the torsion axles. With your hitch being high, you're probably putting to much weight on one axle which will cause more sway as well as going over the max weight that axle can handle.
im no expert, just been doing alot of research before making my rv purchase. Big reason I'm on this site..which has been very informative.
 

t4thfavor

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Can you get a hitch for the receiver with more vertical drop?
I would read the manual for the hitch height of the rv, then load your truck to the typical weight and then reset the head height (either yourself or make the rv dealer do it).

they probably weren’t expecting the tiny bit of squat that the ranger has.
 

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We're looking into getting a RV as well. The specs on the one we want is
Gross Dry Weight 4450 Lbs.
Hitch Dry Weight 440 Lbs.
Axle Weight 4010 Lbs.
Cargo Carrying Capacity 1750 Lbs.
GVWR 6200 Lbs.

Making sure this won't be a problem.
 

t4thfavor

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We're looking into getting a RV as well. The specs on the one we want is
Gross Dry Weight 4450 Lbs.
Hitch Dry Weight 440 Lbs.
Axle Weight 4010 Lbs.
Cargo Carrying Capacity 1750 Lbs.
GVWR 6200 Lbs.

Making sure this won't be a problem.
some will say yes, I say no, not a problem at all.
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