Can my Ford Ranger tow my caravan?
A very common question is “can I tow…?” and in this case, it’s a Ford Ranger with a camper pulling a caravan.
Here’s the question:
Hi Robert, I was told by a couple of people to contact you for some unbiased advice. I am looking to purchase a Ford Ranger 4×4 XLT Super cab chassis and attach a slide on camper dry weight of 400kg and tow a full height single axle 2.5t caravan with independent suspension.
I have calculated the load on the Ute to be 890kg including 300kg ball weight. I intend to have Lovells do a GVM upgrade on the Ute (300kg). The camper would be near empty when towing and loaded when unhitched.
Towing would be on made roads and reasonable dirt roads. This set-up would be used for touring and short trips.
Should I install a Transmission Cooler or rely on Ford to have the cooling correct for towing a 3500kg load as specified? My main concern is the safety of the setup and the capability of the Ute. Is this possible or is it a bad idea? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your assistance. The caravan’s ATM is 2659 kg, GTM 2500 kg
[ the title picture is not the reader’s rig, it’s my car and a test van ]So to answer this I used my own Tow Weights Calculator. I put in all the figures given as follows:
- Actual trailer weight – I’ve assumed that’ll be loaded to the maximum, so 2659kg (which is an odd ATM, usually it’s rounded to something like 2700kg). The GTM isn’t used for the calculation.
- Trailer ATM – 2659kg as given.
- Towball mass – 300kg as given.
- Towcar weight – the Ranger XLT DC weighs around 2100kg tare, and the reader states the load is 890kg, including TBM of 300kg. So, that’s a 590kg load. We add that 590kg to the 2100kg tare and we get 2690kg, which I’ve rounded to 2700kg.
- The Ranger’s GVM is 3200kg, GCM 6000kg and it is rated to tow 3500kg (in theory!).
So here’s what those inputs look like:
I might modify the calculator so it splits out the tare weight and the payload. Anyway, it still works, just hit Calculate to get the results:
So the answer is yes, good to go, especially as I used the ATM for the calculation and not the intended weight which apparently won’t be much over the caravan tare. As for the cooler, I don’t think that’d be necessary but it depends on the nature of the tow; cruising at 90km/h on the flat in temperate climes is different to slogging up slow, steep hills in the outback.
Want to try it for yourself? Here’s the link:
