My towing set up

[Philb]

Bought my truck at the end of December. Finally got a break in the weather so I could get everything set up just incase I need to bug out due to Corona virus. Starcraft Mini Extreme. Measures at 20ft including tongue. Dry weight of 2971. Current tongue wght of 445 with electric jack, second battery and second propane tank. I am using a Tekonsha Voyager brake controller. I don't use cruise when towing. I live in the mountains. Also I better be paying attention while towing and not rely on AEB to save me so didn't even consider the Ford controller. I got 1.5 inches of sag without the wd hitch which is actually preety good but am use my wd hitch which reduces this to about 0.5 of sag. Also have a friction sway control which I am leaning towards using Wyoming winds being what they are. I had been towing this set up with my 2011 Nissan Frontier for a couple of years without any problems other than horrible mpg. Any way will take it out on a 75 mile dry run tomorrow and post my thoughts.

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[Rviator]

FYI, Looks good, I wouldn't mind going back to a setup like that. I just want to add there's nothing wrong with 1 1/2 inch of sag. Just be sure the WD isn't transferring too much weight back onto the trailer springs. My preference was to put as little tension as possible onto the spring bars to ensure that doesn't happen.

 

[Philb]

FYI, Looks good, I wouldn't mind going back to a setup like that. I just want to add there's nothing wrong with 1 1/2 inch of sag. Just be sure the WD isn't transferring too much weight back onto the trailer springs. My preference was to put as little tension as possible onto the spring bars to ensure that doesn't happen.

Good point. I think I have everything equalized. The wd hitch when applied brings the front end down an inch vs no wd hitch. Tomorrow I will stop at a scale too.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Good point. I think I have everything equalized. The wd hitch when applied brings the front end down an inch vs no wd hitch. Tomorrow I will stop at a scale too.

Hi Philip,

Smart move to weigh! Recommend you weigh the whole truck/Trailer Then with out uncoupling,
weigh the truck...and then the trailer. Armed with this data, you can extract the information contained in this data to understand where you are for different aspects of the ability to tow. Tire pressures, how much load you can add etc. So much better than guessing... Kudos for your approach to towing!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Philb]

Just got back from a 78 mile trial tow. Stopped at the port of entry and got weighed. I was shocked at how balanced I had everything. Front axle 2620, rear 2600, and trailer axle 2640, for a total wght of 7860. This was with no water in the trailer or gear in the bed.

The route I took was there and back. Had a steady 20 to 25 mph heading cross wind on the way out. Pretty typical Wyoming winter day. This route is not flat. Also included a 4 mile long 6% grade. going out got 7.2 mpg. This increased to 8.7 mpg on the return. I was driving 65 to 70 mph except for the 3 or 4 miles getting out of town. The truck generally stayed in 6, 7, and 8 gears. I kept it in tow haul mode and used my friction sway control in addition to the trucks electronic sway control. RPMs stayed below 4300 and were under 3000 the majority of the time. I am running lt265/70 r17 c load tires. Overall I was happy with the performance. I would have liked better mpg but even this was OK considering the conditions. Towing on this route in similar conditions in my Frontier I would have been a little over 5 mpg

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Just got back from a 78 mile trial tow. Stopped at the port of entry and got weighed. I was shocked at how balanced I had everything. Front axle 2620, rear 2600, and trailer axle 2640, for a total wght of 7860. This was with no water in the trailer or gear in the bed.

The route I took was there and back. Had a steady 20 to 25 mph heading cross wind on the way out. Pretty typical Wyoming winter day. This route is not flat. Also included a 4 mile long 6% grade. going out got 7.2 mpg. This increased to 8.7 mpg on the return. I was driving 65 to 70 mph except for the 3 or 4 miles getting out of town. The truck generally stayed in 6, 7, and 8 gears. I kept it in tow haul mode and used my friction sway control in addition to the trucks electronic sway control. RPMs stayed below 4300 and were under 3000 the majority of the time. I am running lt265/70 r17 c load tires. Overall I was happy with the performance. I would have liked better mpg but even this was OK considering the conditions. Towing on this route in similar conditions in my Frontier I would have been a little over 5 mpg

Hi Phil,

Congrats on doing a fine job of weighing your trailer/Ranger. You now have a baseline from which to operate which most do not have! Kudos!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[NotAloneRanger]

Thanks so much for your posting and data! I echo the kudos for taking her to a weigh scale, I’m not sure where the closest is here in Durango. We bought a 20 foot Vintage Cruiser (17SCD) last fall, and towed it home with a 2012 TRD off-road Tacoma, and struggled pretty bad coming home over the passes. So in late January we bought a 2020 Ranger (FX4, tow pkg...similar ho but more torque), and haven’t had it camping yet, but I’m certainly chomping at the bit. We have a EazLift WDH which I have leveled like you to within 1/2”. Your report gives me confidence that I’ll be OK, maybe a little slow over the passes (but less so than the Taco with those twin turbos at altitude) and the mileage hit, as I did with the Tacoma.

I sold my Tekonsha P3 controller with the Tacoma and had the dealer install the Ford controller (above my right knee on the dash). What did you mean by “not rely on AEB”?

 

[Philb]

AEB - automatic emergency braking. Since I am not using the Ford brake controller I wont get full functionality of the AEB system or the Adaptive cruise control.

 

[BReeves61]

FYI, Looks good, I wouldn't mind going back to a setup like that. I just want to add there's nothing wrong with 1 1/2 inch of sag. Just be sure the WD isn't transferring too much weight back onto the trailer springs. My preference was to put as little tension as possible onto the spring bars to ensure that doesn't happen.

how many links on the chains are you using? I use 6 or 7

 

[Big Blue]

Nice looking setup, very similar to my RPod. I use a Husky WDH with built in sway control. Did a 4700 mile trip last year and got 10.5 mpg doing 70 mph on the hiway. I too congratulate you on weighing the rig and looks like you setup is good. I would recommend reweighing it loaded for travel as a double check, so you know your trailer is balanced correctly.

Mileage sounds a little low, how many miles on the truck? It should improve a little once you get some more miles on it. Also keeping it under 65 mph will get you some gain. Mpg drops like a rock over that.

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