Newbie to towing with a bunch of questions!

[RangerOwner86]

I’m using the Andersen WDH set up. Also serves as a anti sway. Light weight and easy setup. We pull around 6000 and are very pleased with the setup.

That is an interesting looking setup, never seen this style before.

Sponsored

 

[Stevedbvik1]

I've seen those for sale over here but never seen one in use. Most people tend to favour the spring bar ones instead.

I’ve used both styles and prefer the Andersen. Light weight, easy setup and no need for an extra anti sway device.

 

[Grumpaw]

That is an interesting looking setup, never seen this style before.

I looked up the specs on the 194...empty tongue weight of 360 lbs. Add the battery to the front and your at 400 lbs. add maybe 100 lbs of "stuff" and gear to the front pass thru storage compartment and your at 500 lbs. Then start adding your personal items to the interior, and some of it is obviously going to be stored under the front bed....bedding, towels, shoes, clothing....it all adds up.
You now can see how weight quickly adds up to the rig, especially the front....360 hitch weight can quickly become 550 easily.
After getting numerous advice from us all, I would suggest you get your dealer to fit a proper drop shank with a ball to fit your trailer....without a WD set up. Dealer may have one you can try before deciding on your own set up. Try it out and if you feel the need, go to a WD set up.

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

Rear shocks and air bags, springs, bump stops, ect ect ect are all fine mods for the truck......but it dose DIDDLY SQUAT for the trailer , it's handling and how it reacts to wind and what that does to effect the truck. The trailer will/can still sway, bounce up and down which will still be transferred to the truck.
A WD set up simply eases the effects of what the trailer's movements are transferred to the truck. It does much more than just "transfer weight"...it adds a lot of stability to the entire rig, truck and trailer.

To the OP....if all your travel's were on usual roads and never got over 45 mph, the need for a WD set up, well you could most likely get by without it.
Once you get on an interstate or roads 55mph and over, you will definitely feel the need for a proper set up. Try towing on an interstate once either in windy conditions or getting passed by big rigs and I guarantee your first stop will be to buy a set up.....and by "windy conditions" I don't mean gale force....just simple 20-30 mile gusts especially hitting from the side, can give you all kinds of sway problems.

Disagree, it does a whole lot, including stability and all the junk you mentioned above, from experience using both. For our size trucks it is not a huge difference

OP just has to decide if he wants to put some air, hook and go, or mess with the attachments each time. Should try towing without either setup and just see how it goes without investing in either system

Not about to have a bent a-frame from the WDH either

 

[TxOTRRanger]

This is all very good information about towing with our trucks, and honestly, things that I would not have ever thought about. Growing up on the family farm the only trailers that I have ever towed were Grandpas old bumper pull cattle trailer and his 25 foot long round bale hay trailer. Both of them being pulled behind his old 91 F150 farm truck, which I have posted a picture of in the Pic whore club.

 

[brroberts]

I do really like my Equalizer hitch, but there are other good hitches as well. The Equalizer is heavy, so keep that in mind.

 

[JeffD]

This is only my thoughts and da

ta. I installed a RedArc controller and love it. Biggest enemy to mpg is aerodynamic drag. Trailers with a large frontal area kills mileage. 30mph wind at 60 mph I get 7 or 8. 65 with no wind I get 10 to 11. I now use only premium fuel.

My Grand Design 17MKE is 4700 empty with GVWR of 6400.

If your tongue weight exceeds a few hundred pounds definitely use a WDH. It keeps your steer tires firmly planted in higher speed cornering.

 

[Rock squirrel]

I haven’t used that brake controller (I have a Primus), but make sure to go through the manual and set it up. I had to increase the gain quite a bit to balance and sometimes need to tweak up and down. The Ranger has some driver assist settings to check out as well - anti sway, blind spot monitoring, etc. An important detail to know is that cruise control won’t activate non-factory brake controllers, so be mindful of that using cruise control.

I have a GeoPro 20BHS that’s pretty close in size to yours. I have not had any issues towing up and down mountains and in windy conditions without a weight distributing hitch. However, I was careful to know my loaded trailer weight and tongue weight so I could have that 15% tongue weight.

The truck squats a little bit (not as much after I installed the Ford Performance OME kit), but the biggest issue with that is driving at night and people thinking I have my brights on (led on lariat doesn’t help - I get flashed even when I’m not loaded and have checked my lights are aligned).

Maybe try it with and without and see what you prefer? For me, the truck performed well enough without it that I didn’t want to deal with the extra weight and complexity since Ford doesn’t require for trailers our size.

Gas mileage is poor from the drag, so plan on stops every 150 miles or so. I also use premium and found better performance towing and daily driving with 91.

 

[Ranger Mel]

I tow an '88 Prowler Lynx we've had for 22 years. Had two different F250 diesels I towed it with before my Ranger. The trailer came with a WDH when we bought it from some friends of my parents. I always used it unless we were just moving the trailer a short distance real quick. The GVWR on the trailer is 4100 pounds. I have the chain style bars Grumpaw mentioned and it is easy to hook up. One little trick is once the coupler is locked in raise the tongue slightly with the jack to make camming up the chains easier. Works really well if the ground isn't very flat and you have no other option. Since our Rangers weigh only 4400 lbs give or take, the WDH helps going down the highway or interstate. Peace of mind if nothing else. Mine all loaded with the WDH sits level. We camp off grid so we carry fresh water in the trailer tank and it sits forward so there's that weight. We spread everything else out pretty well. I carry a small generator, saw, gas, tools, etc. in the bed so there's that weight, too. We towed twice this summer for the first time (bought the Ranger last August) over one pass and a couple more substantial hills with no issues. I got 13.5 mpg last trip and it would have been much better if we lived in Nebraska or something! Your RV dealer should be able to get you set up with exactly what you need to be safe and enjoy towing. For its size the Ranger is a tow beast! I am impressed. I installed the Tekonsha Prodigy P3 brake controller. It is amazing! Best unit I have used to date. If the Curt doesn't work to your liking get the P3. Easy to install. There's plenty of info here on the wiring part. Likely you can see which colors are attached with your current set up to the left of the brake pedal and just match those wires up.

Sponsored