Ok I want to make my truck a better hauler. Ive got a good size boat and i can tell its back there. Stopping Starting Everything. I want to beef things up. Do you guys have any suggestions besides buying a bigger truck. BTW I have an 01 Ext. Cab 4.0 Auto. Please dont post if you dont have a clue waht your talking about! Thanks

 

Honestly, you need a bigger truck. What size boat are you hauling?


Stronger? Hm....Exhaust and intake will put a little more power to the ground, but not much.

 

swap out the rear drums for disks would be a start in the stopping category. What gearing do you have? if you dont already have them, 4.10's would help with pulling the boat.

 

buy a fullsize.

 

id say a tuner for one.

maybe exhaust and intake for cheaper power adders that will help some

also focus on brakes. like andrew mentioned disc brakes for sure.


you can switch to chevy 1/2 ton springs to beef those rear springs up. or add bags.

 

Explorer rear axle with disk brakes out back with upgraded disk/pads up front for stopping.

As for more power:
Exhaust
Intake
Xcal 2 tuner
Headers
Under pulleys
Supercharger
Built Tranny

 

korey89 read my post one more time! How big of deal would it be to do rear disks? Cost? Under Drive pulley? What is the tuner going to do for me? Im not sure waht gears are in back how do i find out? Im in school I dont have a ton of cash best bang for buck?

 

Check the door code for the axle ratio, and google it.

 

as an avid "tower" myself...I'd say tuner, drop in filter, exhaust, pullies, and keep the tires stock.

thats all i got...short of "buy a fullsize" I'm about to do that myself...

 

use the "search" feature of this site it works pretty well

How much are you towing anyways?

 

Chill out, I didn't read the whole post. If you are towing a decent sized (20'+) boat you would be crazy to keep the Ranger unless the boat is a pontoon boat or a flats boat.

 

I have the 4.10s Ive got a 19foot bass boat on single axle trailer! Ive searched cant find anything very good!

 

can't be that heavy...

i have towed a 21 a few times back when i was a little lower...it was easy compared to what i tow all the time.

it's a ranger...your going to feel it. buy a fullsize.

 

19' can't be that bad. Go with rear discs, and a few engine mods. Shouldn't be that bad.

 

Yeah, you'll be ok with a 19' bass boat. Bass boats aren't too heavy so you shouldn't have a problem as long as you take it a little easy.

 

If you want something a little cheaper, you can get a helper spring, or even an add-a-leaf for that matter. This will certainly help with rear squat and stability. However, when not towing, you will be sacrificing ride quality.
Its lucky that you have 4.10! I would agree not to get any bigger in tire size. Don't know if your trailer has brakes...prob not. I bet you could install brakes on their if you wanted and get a brake controller for your truck. IMO going that route is better than trying to beef up the brakes on your truck. I think it could be more effective... that is assuming you actually have an axle and not individual wheels on the trailer. Power....that seems to covered pretty well above.

 

A 19ft boat is a walk in the park...just get used to towing it. It's a ranger...your going to get about 12mpg while towing, your going to FEEL the weight behind you, etc.

 

The main reason you feel it is because the Ranger is much lighter then a full size. No matter what you do to the Ranger you'll always get tugged around a bit. It's simply a weight ratio / simple physics thing.

Now, all the suggestions that have been stated are good idea.

Rear discs would be great for stopping power. If you hunt for parts well enough and don't ghetto rig it, you can probably get it done for under $400.

A chip / tuner will allow you to get more out of engine. You can tune it for better shift points and things like that.

With 4.10's, re-gearing isn't really an option. Your not going to want to go any higher then that with stock tires.

Pretty much everything that has been stated in this thread is what you can look into. Least as far as I see it.

 

How do you manage to afford a bass boat and a truck and still go to school?

Just take it easy and give yourself lots of room to stop. If you're towing it so often that you're worried about your tranny or about getting "pushed around" by your trailer you're wasting $ by trying to make a .25 ton do a .5 tons work. Just bite the bullet and get a fullsize.

 

Agreed... I pulled a 22 foot (5500 pound) boat with my ranger often and it did great. You are going to know any type of load is back there, its just the way it is. Does your trailer have brakes? If not, I would look into adding them. As recommended, exhaust, intake and tuner would be my first mods. I also switched to synthetic fluids all the way around. My truck pulled my boat great, even with 3.55 gears...

 

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ad.php?t=68752

 

do a solid axle swap and swap out the master cylinders.. that would fix the braking problem... the expensive way

 

hmm...my master is going.....mushy mush. Time to do the 'beard master mod'.

 

If your going to be towing then the best bang for your bucks is going to be a tuner and an explorer axle. You'll get rear brakes (your going to need to get a proportion valve for the rear brakes) with 31 spline axles. I believe I read that you have 4.10's already which is great, I'm guessing you have a 4.0L SOHC engine from the picture but I really can't tell much.

The tuner should firm up the shifts on the truck and your gearing should be fine. I'd say tuner and axle and your going to be fine.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. Sounds Like a tuner and rear disc brakes is the answer. So how big of deal is it to do an axle out of an explorer. Wait Ill SEARCH! :)Anybody know where i can find a cheap setup on brakes?

My dad and i went down the middle on the boat and the truck payment isnt to bad but along with rent tuition and all that good stuff with no student loans the answer to your question..... I work my assssssssss off.