that 07 Ranger should pull that... just keep you distinct from the vehicle in front of you. i've been hauling heavy loads now for 10 years. in everything form my little ranger to 1.5 ton trucks. just use your common sense. it would be nicer if you had a bigger truck, but if you don't that ranger will do. my 87 is a lighter duty truck then yours... the D.O.T. said i'm good up to 3,500 lbs for towing. or put it this way. i have a GCWR of 6500 lbs.

so IMO you will do just fine.

 

yeah ive towed a few thousand lbs before. just wanted to double check.

 

thats ok
double check is a good thing

 

ty, you're going to be fine, just take it slow, especially around corners, keep lots of distance... don't push your truck... i think you have a manual, right? if so, be really gentle with the clutch... don't ride it at all, unless you are at a stop... let the motor lug a bit... if you have an auto, make sure you are monitoring your trans temp, that's a good way to blow stuff... but all in all, your truck can do it...

the items you gentlemen are referring to are called surge brakes, and essentially have a master cylinder on them, so when the momentum of the trailer pushes on the back side of the ball, it does the same thing as when you step on the brakes of a car... puts pressure on the brakes of the the trailed... it's an incredible invention, and i think will be on all trailers requiring brakes, shortly... brake controllers are going to go the way of the wind... the problem with electric brakes are they are either on, or off, they don't have a mid section, where as the surge brakes, the more braking power you put to your truck, the more the trailer will put on it's wheels

 

i like them., but Maryland outlaw them on most trailers. i don't no why. well it's Maryland, they do things like that... well that's what i heard

 

I have an auto. and dont really have a way of monitoring my trans temp..

 

scanguage, or install a stand alone guage...

 

Uh, what are you talking about? They have electric brake controllers that monitor how much electricity goes to work the trailer brakes.

Surge brakes are junk. The one Uhaul trailer I used them on felt like they didn't even work.

 

uhaul has also been sued thousands of times for renting out vehicles and trailers that are unsafe... so the fact that the one you used didn't work, doesn't mean surge brakes don't work... it means that uhaul doesn't give a **** about maintenance...

 

yeah ive felt how the brakes work on the uhauls. you start stopping hard enough and they really really help out. and its definitely noticeable

 

Ive towed several cars using a standard tow dolly, most of the cars measured in around 2700lbs and my 99 w/ the 3.0l 6 did perfectly fine.
what I havent seen mentioned, but that should be taken into consideration, is even though it is all hwy, how much elevation changes are you going to face ?
Im in FL, where its completely flat, the only uphill/downhill I had to deal with is overpasses, so essentially it was pretty easy to do, but if your going to have some decent elevation changes your much better off using your fathers truck, and make sure there are brakes on the trailer.

 

there will be some elevation changes. probably about 3 major hills.

 

Surge brakes are garbage. Electric brakes will not be replaced by surge brakes.

 

then Id recommend your fathers truck, its better to be safe.

 

tyler you're fine get that thing towed already. It'll be one hell of a bouncy ride and let your friend pay for the gas.

 

i will whenever my friend is ready. and hes paying for my gas and food lol

 

Should be ok, will be iffy with a shorter trailer but if you granny it and be safe you shouldn't have any issues. I would suggest, if there is a lot of stop & go, manual shifting 1-3 (if the newer Rangers can), as keeping the RPM up will reduce lugging/raising the trans temps with the torque converter unlocked.

The Surge/Feedback/Pressure Input/etc. brakes on the U-Hauls are a great feature, given they have been maintained. We used one once before, a U-Haul car trailer, (tow rig didn't have 5th wheel for our own trailer) and the brakes worked beautifully. They were a bit on the sensitive side as they were dragging slightly when engine braking down hill/to a stop, but otherwise, they are a great feature, when working and maintained.

 

^ if this is the case, why not borrow your Dad's truck? If you can it is better to have more truck than you need than less truck, IMO. Ranger, S10, tacomoa trannys have relatively weak clutches on their auto tranny's. Me personally, I have towed My Cadillac on a heavy steel car trailer because I had no other options and it was less than 20 miles (and I was yound and stupid) What you are proposing to tow is within the rangers capability, but if you have the opportunity to tow with a vehicle that won't even break a sweat I would go with it.

Plus if it is a Uhaul, you might be SOL. They wouldn't approve me using a 2003 expedition to tow my Impala on one of their trailers, even though the car and trailer combo was about 2000 less than the expedition was rated to tow. I ended up borrowing a heavier trailer from a buddy.

RE: surge brakes. They are not new, they are not better than electric brakes. they have been around for decades. The only people who use them anymore are the rental industry, otherwise they would have to require all cars have a brake controller that rent their equipment.

~HJ

 

that's a good point, i rented a 6x10x7 enclosed trailer to move out here, about 2-3 years ago, and when i picked it up back home, i used my dad's truck (only truck with a hitch) and they wouldn't let me take anything bigger, and were sceptical letting me take it, but i told them the f150 was only going to be pulling it when it was unloaded, and that when i was going to be loading it, it would be getting towed by my 250 (which was somewhat true) anyways, i pulled it about 700 miles (it was 1200km) with my buddies sport track, dropped it in my driveway here, and returned it to u-haul, with my 250 (which ended up having no electrical on it)

that being said, they will allow an s-10 to pull that same trailer... uhaul had a lawsuit between them and ford a few years back, i don't remember the details, anyways, u-haul lost, so they are bitter and won't let ford tow any of their trailers, unless it's absolutely over kill of a truck... go on uhaul.com there is a search engine on there, where you can put in your vehicle type and it will show you the trailers you can tow... the f-150 has less, i think, than the s-10

 

i did all the info and it approved the car trailer for my truck.

 

i stand corrected then...

it could be because i'm in canada... i kinda doubt it though, because all of the uhauls up here have american plates... i forget which state

 

surge brakes definately are not going to take over electric brakes... it'll be the other way around. surge brakes have been around for a super long time and have a major flaw... try backing up a steep hill... electric brakes are the way of the future, just not perfected yet but already better than surge brakes from my powerboat towing experience

 

I would borrow the Sierra, better safe than sorry I always say. 2200 lbs + trailer + 3 hour drive would be a bit much for me..