can a ford ranger tow trailer on steep mtns rds?

[EASY_RIDER]

I want to use this 2021 ford ranger, with a 4 cy engine with turbo on it to tow a trailer, while traveling in mountain roads, pulling about 4500 lbs.
I also will tow it behind my motorhome in some cases. thanks, Tom

[mkirsch]

What is all this malarkey about "engine braking?"

I've owned several full size pickup trucks, all with small block V8's except my '03 Chevy 3500, and NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM could hold ITSELF back on any sort of incline using the engine alone. Downshift downshift downshift, rev rev rev, faster faster faster... I ALWAYS had to control the descent with brakes.

The ONLY truck I've ever owned that would control itself on a hill is the '03 Chevy 3500 with the 8.1L and Allison. Turn on tow haul mode, hold the brakes for 3 seconds, and the hill would have to be EXTREMELY steep to need brakes, and then only a brief tap. However, the truck still needs frequent application of brakes to maintain speed with any sort of trailer behind.

Unless you're throwing out a ship's anchor at the top of the hill, you're using brakes.

[wing_zealot]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
The Ranger comes with a 10 speed automatic transmission. It can be shifted manually. USE IT ! Down shift early going up hill or down hill.

If it has the 10 sp transmission you don't have to shift manually. It has a Tow/Haul mode which incorporates engine braking and it works great. No need to overthink it, use Tow/Haul.

[theoldwizard1]

The Ranger comes with a 10 speed automatic transmission. It can be shifted manually. USE IT ! Down shift early going up hill or down hill.

[n0arp]

I think other people have answered this appropriately, so I'll just add an example:

Just yesterday we drove eastbound over Monarch Pass in Colorado. The east side is 10 miles of 6-7% grade -- if you try going down that using nothing but your service brakes, you're going to end up on the runaway truck ramp halfway down. Driving in the mountains, the irresponsible thing is using your service brakes to maintain a fixed speed on the downhills rather than engine/transmission braking. Brakes fade under continued use and if you ride them to control your speed, they won't be effective when you actually need them to suddenly slow (like to make it around a curve) or stop the vehicle.

Oh, and the drum brakes that come on most trailers are much worse about fading than disc brakes - on my fifth wheel, I converted over to disc many years ago, and suggest you do the same if you think you're going to be using the trailer brakes on any long grades. Most trailers come with barely sufficient brakes for the hill country.

[valhalla360]

On a long steep downhill, if you use the truck & trailer brakes as the primary means of controlling speed, they will heat up (especially if you just ride them). Then when you have a situation where you need hard braking (reach a sharp curve or someone pulls out in front of you, etc...), there is the risk that the brakes overheat and lose braking power.

Instead, if you use primarily engine braking to keep the speed under control, you have fresh cool brakes on the truck & trailer that have their full capability available in those situations.

If the engine braking isn't enough, you want to do a short but fairly hard braking for a few seconds, then let the truck slowly gain speed before repeating. That will allow the brakes to cool off a bit between uses.

[wing_zealot]

Without a doubt you can tow a trailer up to the max tow limits of that Ranger without exceeding any other max limit. Now all you need to know is things like GVWR, GAWR (front and rear), Payload rating, how much "extra" weight you will be carrying in the truck, etc. None of that information can be determined by anyone but YOU! So you have to read up and see how it all works, or give us all of the numbers and we can help you work through it. Anything else then working through the "real" numbers is just SWAG. Clicky for Learning about it all

[JRscooby]

Millions of miles of driving here, and I wonder who should be deciding who should be towing. All my life I have been told to control speed on a downgrade with gears/compression/jake. You spare the service brakes so they will work when needed.

[blt2ski]

My diesel in my dump truck hits it's 3000 rpm redline holding it down some of our local 15-20% grades at 26,000 gvw. I've never had it scream holding going down a typical 3-4% freeway grade. None of my trucks scream at redline on the steepest 6% freeway grades unless I'm trying to hold less than 35-40 mph due to switchbacks etc.
I've gone 15mph up the 15%grades in yellowstone pulling my Tt with a BB 454 at its 15000 gcw. Same trailer 10 yrs later with a 6.5td at 16000 lbs, 4000 OVER its gcwr, doing 35-50 up those grades, because of the turbo not losing HP at 9-10k ft elevation. If I would have had an auto, same rig was rated to 14500. The auto was lower in performance all around vs the NV 4500 trans set ups.
Current Rangers a bigger than previous models. Way more HP and heard to work with.
Besides, if murderstor Barney can tow a big gooseneck trailer with his Harley, I'm sure OPs truck will tow a 4500-6000 lb rv trailer just fine. Some think you need a tandem axle Kenworth or equal to tote 5000 lbs of trailer. Yeah right!

Marty

[MFL]

EASY.RIDER wrote:
I should have added, with the tow pkg added it is rated capable of towing 7500lbs. however I am very concerned weather this truck can handle my load going up steep inclines and also going down hill. This same pkg has been used in the 2019,2020 and now the 2021 models. Tom

IMO, this setup would not be a good choice for mountain towing. Not saying won't work! The length of inclines may make a difference, as well as the sharp curves, often encountered in MT towing, which makes slowing a necessity.

With the turbo, good power should be available, unless a lengthy climb of 3-5 miles caused excess heat, due to a small engine working hard.

On the long steep downhills, you will not get good engine braking from a small engine (4 cyl, or V6). Again, from my experience in MT towing, most times, these ups/downs are full of sharp curves, which require very well maintained trailer brakes, and yes, you need to use them properly. I hope everyone knows to not ride the brake pedal in this type scenario.

Jerry

[pitch]

The trailer brakes are supposed to be sufficient to control the trailer. Used properly, in my experience they are with few exceptions.
If the trailer is within the specs weight tongue weight and frontal area that Ford recommends go for it.
You ain't gonna set any speed records in the hauling Olympics,but if you were the kind of guy that was impressed by that,you would own a power stroke or cummins.

Will you be happy? Only you can decide.

[JIMNLIN]

The OP says he is looking for something more HD.

Many of us pulled rv trailer 40+ years ago when most smallblock V8 gazzers pushed maybe 180-200 hp and maybe 290-300 torque. We pulled our 8k-9k trailers all over the Rockies up all the majors 10k-12k passes and down the other side. Those old under powered trucks had pizz poor brakes...small radiators....hot running auto trannies compared to what we have today.

IMO a 1/2 ton truck with a small block V8 or a V6 would be a good choice for a 4500 lb trailer in the mountains or worse yet in the flat lands fighting 35-40 mph head winds on all day runs.

[dodge_guy]

I had a 95 4dr Explorer with tow pkg rated for 5k lbs with 160 HP. I towed a 5k lb loaded TT and it was OK here in flat IL. With 270HP I doubt you will have any issues even in the mountains.

[valhalla360]

EASY.RIDER wrote:
I should have added, with the tow pkg added it is rated capable of towing 7500lbs. however I am very concerned weather this truck can handle my load going up steep inclines and also going down hill. This same pkg has been used in the 2019,2020 and now the 2021 models. Tom

What's the payload on the door sticker and how will the truck and trailer be loaded?

Is 4500lb the empty of fully loaded weight?

7500lb tow rating is going to take a magic combination of loading.

4500lb (fully loaded), it can likely be done within the ratings but you will have to watch how you load both truck and trailer.

[n0arp]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

jshupe wrote:
When I said screaming, I was referring to my experience with engine/transmission braking on downhill grades with a... 2014 3.5 Ecoboost. The engine had more than enough power to make it up (without screaming), but struggled to keep speeds under control coming down without the brakes.

No trailer brakes ?

Downshift early on long downhills !

Of course I had trailer brakes - I prefer not to use them to maintain a fixed speed on long downhill grades. I reserve them for tight turns, traffic, and stopping.

I always downshifted on long downhills. Doing so increases RPM, resulting in the screaming I mentioned.

Gas engine braking is proportional to displacement. Smaller engines have less of it and I doubt this engine would have enough to handle the trailer in question alone on a 6% grade without riding the brakes. Modern 3/4T+ diesels have exhaust or engine brakes from the factory, which are extremely effective. Not sure about the smaller diesels.

[theoldwizard1]

jshupe wrote:
When I said screaming, I was referring to my experience with engine/transmission braking on downhill grades with a... 2014 3.5 Ecoboost. The engine had more than enough power to make it up (without screaming), but struggled to keep speeds under control coming down without the brakes.

No trailer brakes ?

Downshift early on long downhills !