Can I Tow This?

rangerdrive

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The wife is concerned that this travel trailer, although within the Ranger's stated towing capacity, will put too much stress on the truck. I believe that it's not an irrational concern but that the Ranger is more than capable of handling it. What say you? Anyone have experience towing something of this size with one of your trucks?

2020 Starcraft Ultralight 241BH
  • Gross Vehicle Weight (GVWR)
    7,400 lbs.
  • Unloaded Vehicle Weight (UVWR)
    5,530 lbs.
  • Dry Hitch Weight
    605 lbs.
  • Exterior Length
    29 '9"
  • Exterior Width
    8' 1"
  • Exterior Height with A/C
    11' 0"
  • Interior Height
    6' 9"
  • Fresh Water Capacity 51 gals.
  • Gray Wastewater Capacity 29+29 gals.
  • Black Wastewater Capacity 29 gals.
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Lunchbox88

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Im not as familiar with these type of trailers so someone more knowledgeable about these will probably chime in, but are the weights of the full water tanks included in the gross weight? (EDIT: They are) If you arent maxing out the trailer I dont think you will fall out of the weight rating for the truck. But one thing to consider is that in the towing guide they spec the Ranger for 50sqft of frontal area. Assuming the main front panel of the trailer is 8'x8' that puts you over the recommend max at 64sqft.
1593033936517.png
 
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rangerdrive

rangerdrive

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Im not as familiar with these type of trailers so someone more knowledgeable about these will probably chime in, but are the weights of the full water tanks included in the gross weight? (EDIT: They are) If you arent maxing out the trailer I dont think you will fall out of the weight rating for the truck. But one thing to consider is that in the towing guide they spec the Ranger for 50sqft of frontal area. Assuming the main front panel of the trailer is 8'x8' that puts you over the recommend max at 64sqft.
1593033936517.png

Thanks for responding. I think that the GVWR includes full tanks. The tow guide I looked at showed 55 sq ft. frontal area as the max... I'm not sure what the trailer's is but it is rounded on the front which should help some. I have seen some others with similar sized trailers posted on here so I assume they made it work but I also don't want the truck to be stressed to the max every time I tow.
 

Ace Holliday

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The wife is concerned that this travel trailer, although within the Ranger's stated towing capacity, will put too much stress on the truck. I believe that it's not an irrational concern but that the Ranger is more than capable of handling it. What say you? Anyone have experience towing something of this size with one of your trucks?

2020 Starcraft Ultralight 241BH
  • Gross Vehicle Weight (GVWR)
    7,400 lbs.
  • Unloaded Vehicle Weight (UVWR)
    5,530 lbs.
  • Dry Hitch Weight
    605 lbs.
  • Exterior Length
    29 '9"
  • Exterior Width
    8' 1"
  • Exterior Height with A/C
    11' 0"
  • Interior Height
    6' 9"
  • Fresh Water Capacity 51 gals.
  • Gray Wastewater Capacity 29+29 gals.
  • Black Wastewater Capacity 29 gals.
We have been looking at Travel Trailers. My max UVWR is 5,000 pounds. I really would like to stay at 4,500 max. I have never been comfortable towing near the maximum capacity of the tow vehicle. When you get that baby ready to rock for a vacation you will be close to the Ranger's max.
 

Lunchbox88

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Thanks for responding. I think that the GVWR includes full tanks. The tow guide I looked at showed 55 sq ft. frontal area as the max... I'm not sure what the trailer's is but it is rounded on the front which should help some. I have seen some others with similar sized trailers posted on here so I assume they made it work but I also don't want the truck to be stressed to the max every time I tow.
Interesting, I have the one from 2019 but maybe they updated it? Sometimes Fords documentation differs from itself or is copied from other models.
That said if you can maybe the best thing to do would be to go try towing it. See how the truck handles it. Maybe get a more accurate measure of the trailer frontal area and see if you feel confident with towing it. If you are within the trucks ratings and know how to tow a trailer (understand hazards and risks) then you should be able to tow it. The test manufactures are using to certify the towing capabilities are pretty extreme.

A good read about the the towing standard: http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/towing/1502-sae-j2807-tow-tests-the-standard
 


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Im not as familiar with these type of trailers so someone more knowledgeable about these will probably chime in, but are the weights of the full water tanks included in the gross weight? (EDIT: They are) If you arent maxing out the trailer I dont think you will fall out of the weight rating for the truck. But one thing to consider is that in the towing guide they spec the Ranger for 50sqft of frontal area. Assuming the main front panel of the trailer is 8'x8' that puts you over the recommend max at 64sqft.
1593033936517.png
Curious question. Does the trailer frontal area account for only the portion of the trailer exposed beyond the truck's (i.e. how much of it sticks above the truck)? Or is it considering the whole trailer front as you have calculated? Because essentially anything within the truck's slipstream will have very little drag effect. One reason why our teardrop pulls so nicely behind our topper laden truck (low weight is another nice part) is because it is lower than the truck and essentially experiences very little wind.
 

Lunchbox88

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Curious question. Does the trailer frontal area account for only the portion of the trailer exposed beyond the truck's (i.e. how much of it sticks above the truck)? Or is it considering the whole trailer front as you have calculated? Because essentially anything within the truck's slipstream will have very little drag effect. One reason why our teardrop pulls so nicely behind our topper laden truck (low weight is another nice part) is because it is lower than the truck and essentially experiences very little wind.
They are using the total front area of the truck and trailer combined. So its the area of the truck + what sticks out around the truck. Heres the quote from under that spec I posted:

"Frontal Area is the total area in square feet that a moving vehicle and trailer exposes to air
resistance. The chart above shows the maximum trailer frontal area that must be considered
for a vehicle/trailer combination. Exceeding these limitations may significantly reduce the
performance of your towing vehicle."
 

t4thfavor

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I tow a Keystone Passport 2920BH Grand Touring edition (to help you find it on Google). It's 5385 dry, the dry weight never includes water (hence dry).

The GVWR includes the trailer, and the interior/exterior contents. You "should" never to with full tanks unless you can't help it, then they should be all the way full to prevent sloshing around.

I can get a picture of mine if you want (it's already in the towing thread), but it's 33' 10" overall length, 8' wide, and 10'9" tall. Tows like a dream compared to my smaller trailer (Forrest River 207BH which is also on here somewhere).
 
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rangerdrive

rangerdrive

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This is the camper.

camper.jpeg
 
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rangerdrive

rangerdrive

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t4thfavor

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Very similar. No issues towing?
Only towed it about 100 miles so far, it felt much better than my shorter single axle. Truck felt fine with 87 octane and was able to maintain speed limits without trouble. I’m leaving tomorrow for about 240 mile round trip, I’ll post back how it goes. I have an fx4, and I run the tires at 36psi while loaded.
 
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rangerdrive

rangerdrive

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Well I ended up buying the trailer. Towed well on the way home (45 miles). Still a little nervous about it...
 

gbritt89

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Well I ended up buying the trailer. Towed well on the way home (45 miles). Still a little nervous about it...
- Personally I would shave off 8% of the 7500lb max rating for the 5%/1.5" difference in tire size. If my math/train of thought is correct... that would mean nothing more than 6900lbs /690@ hitch
-What are the specs on the tire?
-<fud>Why not use the trailer brake controller intended for your truck? the RV looks a lot more expensive than the 300$ correct part made for your truck.. seems odd trusting a $30,000 TT to an 80$ controller...</fud>

Not familiar with your truck, do you have the factory tow hitch or the draw tite? IIRC the Curt offering had a lower rating than the truck is capable of. Something to think about if so for loading purposes.

I don't think you're going to die towing it... But there's some things you could change at a safety perspective.
Lots of good tires in the OE size offering.
You will know so much more about yout truck if you tackle the ford tbc IMHO
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