towing things

Listen to the folks at U-Haul. They have been sued so many times for bad hitch-ups they are going to play it safe.

If you are concerned about “suicide”, then think about murder. Consider the other people on the road, please. You may escape an injury, but what about an accident you might have caused? A '99 Ranger is only a 1/4 ton pickup.

I know you will do what you will, but I'm saying don't do it.

I concur. You are talking about bringing a knife to a gunfight. I've sweated heavily when towing a car trailer behind a half ton long bed Chevy full size pickup on the highway (when the trailer decides to do that sway back and forth thing). Now if you were only going around the block, OK. But I don't think that's what you're intending.

Totally agree, don't do it.  Been there , been pushed across traffic lanes with an over weight trailer. You really need a bigger tow vehicle.   BG 

I'm glad you acquiesced on the side of safety.

Hydraulic surge brakes have come a long way. The latest incarnation will let you back up an incline without getting out of your vehicle. The electric-over-hydraulic system is a little better. Full electric (drum or disc) still seems to be the most popular.

Lots of great information. I initally hauled my 354 with a Ford Expedition  and currently with a Chevy 1/2 ton on a car hauler trailer. No matter the pulling truck one also has to be extremely careful on wet or snow / icy roads. The same effect as a light tow vehicle is felt on wet roads. Extreme awareness has to be the safety rule as well. Best to all…

I'd say get a heavy-duty 3/4 ton pickup with the 8' bed – why have only half a truck?  Something like the Toyota Tundra, maybe.  Get the trailer towing package if offered as an option, as it gets you a bigger cooling system, heavier brakes and usually a slightly different transmission/rear end setup.  If you can spring for it, diesel is better for towing.  Put an equalizing hitch on it and good 6-ply C-range tires and you ought to be fine with your trailer, provided you have a CDL if you cross any state lines or weigh stations. 

Grumpy,

I really hope the trailer in question has a greater GVW than 2,000 lbs.!

Your statement about loading the Ranger like that and finding it “tolerable” disturbs me. Apparently you are concerned only about yourself and not other people on the roads.

I agree with Rich except for the 1/2 ton Tundra example. I had a brand new '05 and it had a very hard time pulling my empty dump trailer that weighed 4,200 lbs.

Full size 3/4 ton minimum. Dodge Ram 2500, Ford F-250 Super Duty, Chevrolet 2500HD, etc. You want a full floating rear axle.

I may have the model name designation of the Toyota wrong, Bob.  My buddy has one he bought recently – a full-size 3/4 ton monster that easily and safely pulls a cargo trailer with 6,000 pounds of machine tools in it.  That's why I specified a 3/4 ton full-size PU – I know I'm not much good with names of vehicles.  Tacoma, Tundra, Tomato, what's in a name?  It's a beefy truck.

Get a good ¾ ton pickup I would not settle for less. You have to plan for when things go wrong in advance. A few years back I had an almost new Dodge dully pickup and a brand new 20,000 goose neck trailer with electric over hydraulic brakes. I pulled off the freeway to get fuel. Ahead of me was a stop sign and lots of traffic. I pushed on the brakes but it was not stopping as normal. I really laid on the brakes to get it stopped before running the stop sign and crashing into the other cars and a semi truck. When I checked it out I discovered that at the factor they had mounted one of the trailer brake hoses so it rubbed on the inside dual and had rubbed a hole in it. The brake reservoir on the trailer was empty. If I would have had “just enough pickup to get by” I probably would not be here to type this. Electric trailer brakes are not 100% reliable. I always plan for the “what if” the truck has to do all the stopping.

Rich,

Toyota may well have a 3/4 ton pickup, not really saying they don't, just not in the North American market. A full 3/4 ton pickup will have a full floating rear axle and at least seven lug wheels. Glossy brochures sometimes stretch the truth.

I bought my 71 Chevy 3/4 ton from the original owner, he special ordered it to his specs. He showed me a weigh scale slip from the mid seventies that got my attention for two reasons. He used to tow trailer loads of cement statues from here to Idaho, and this truck and trailer crossed the scales at a little over 18,000 lbs! The weight was the first thing that made me think “Wow”. The second thing was how did they let him through?

Well there's no way in the world that a 3/4 ton pickup will have a GCWR of 18,000 lbs. My F-350 dually only has a GCWR of 15,000 lbs., and that's with a class lV hitch too.

When I moved to the VI from Arizona, I rented a U-Haul tandem axle box trailer and pulled it with my Chevy S-10.  I toasted a full set of axle bearings on the trailer about halfway there, too.  U-Haul had told me (in writing) that it wasn't possible to overload that 12' trailer – wrong!  I made them put new running gear under the same box as I was unwilling to reload all the stuff in it. 

I took it across a set of private scales at a quarry in Louisiana and the trailer alone was a hair over 17K. 

I was 25 years younger, much poorer and some dumber in those days and would never do that again.  I did drive only at night to minimize traffic and always drove well under the speed limit, but it was still a really dangerous, foolhardy thing to do.  If I was just a regular guy and not a tool freak it wouldn't have been such an issue, but all those blacksmithing and construction tools get heavy really quickly.  My S-10 did have the trailer towing package, and 6-ply tires, but it was still only a 1/2 ton rated truck.   I consistently made it work like a 1-ton and only got 335,000 miles out of it.

You can rent a truck with a 18K GVW at UHaul or Ryder pretty cheaply — $20-$30/day plus mileage. If you're only towing occasionally that might make more sense.

Come to think of it the weigh scale ticket I was shown could have been a private scale, I don't remember. At least back in the seventies you would probably see no more than a dozen other cars on the road from here to Idaho 

The truck does have the heavy duty disc brake package, heavy duty spring w/overload package (leaf springs that mount at the rear of the frame and rest under the track bars where the coils mount), 4.10 gears and a compound 4 speed. If not loaded and not on a hill I take off in third, shifting into fourth at around 20mph or so. 

Anybody can abuse something and get away with it for a period of time. I pull started a CAT 633 scraper (100,000) lbs with a 72 Ford ½ ton pickup. I would not do it again because the clutch was so hot the truck would not untrack itself when I was done. Anything can be overloaded.

Here's the breakdown. Almost all pickups use Dana rear axles.

½ ton truck: Dana 44 Made in semi-floating only

Ring gear diameter 8.5 “

Pinion shaft diameter: 1.375″

GAWR 3,500 lbs

¾ Ton truck: Dana 60 Made in both semi-floating and full floating. (Semi floating in light duty ¾ ton)

Ring gear diameter 9.75 “

Pinion shaft diameter: 1.625″

Semi float axles have GAWR up to 5,500 lbs and the full float axles are rated up to 6,500 lbs.

1 Ton truck: Dana 80 Made in Full float only. Made for class 3 trucks.

Ring gear diameter 11.25″.

Pinion shaft diameter: 2.0″

GAWR 11,000 lbs.

Nice job Larry.

Ring gear diameter and pinion shaft size are very important considerations for towing vehicles. The larger the better. More tooth contact absorbs higher constant torque much better.

The Ranger shares the same drive train as the Explorer, or at least it used to.

Addendum: The longer the wheelbase the better also.

I purchased a used F250 Heavy Duty truck. Could not find any specs on towing but have been told 10,000 max. which includes weight of truck. Does not leave much room for towing tractors.

Phil,

There should be a sticker on the door post just under the latch (if it’s a fairly late model) that gives the towing capacity, GAWR and GVWR.

The 10,000 lbs. you mentioned would be the maximum combined weight of the trailer and it’s load, not including the truck, which seems in line with late Ford production specs for an F-250 Super Duty.

Here is all the straight skinny from Ford.

Bob,

My F250 Heavy Duty is a 1983 with a GVWR of 8600 pounds. The only other information on the sticker is the front GVWR (3305#) and rear GVWR (5862#). It has a C6 transmission and a 3.54 geared Dana axle. I was told that the GCWR is 10,000 pounds. Does that not mean truck and trailer?

The point I was trying to make is that it is more than a good used F250. You need to know the rated towing capacity.

You’re correct Phil. GCWR equals how much everything weighs. Truck, trailer, load on truck, and load on trailer are all inclusive. Brain fart here.

General truck classifications.

Bob,

How were you to know I had such an “old truck” but since it replaced a 1960 Ford 4×4, it is new to me. Still miss that old Ford with its granny gear. It would go anywhere on our property and carry anything I put in it.

So when I found a F250 Heavy Duty 4×4 with automatic transmission (wife spec) and without a catalytic converter, I bought it. Had the 351 engine rebuilt but to me that was not a problem. Even with its higher weight rating, it cannot haul the weight up hills I did with the 1960 Ford with its granny gear. Still I considered this truck a “good used F250”.

Once I saw a middle age fat man climb a telephone so I went out and bought some tree climbing gear. I had trouble getting the spikes out with each “step” and half way up the tree I asked myself what am I doing. Gave the climbing gear away to a much younger person and decided to pay someone who knew what they were doing. I feel the same way about towing.