Tow rig ideas, 5k towing

Towing the Rampage home hammered home the fact that I need to have something that can tow moderate things. I don't need a super bro dozer or anything, my goals are very moderate. The rampage weighs like.....2500, the Caprice weights 3200 ish and I don't like towing very much anyway so 5k is a good figure. I've looked around and have some eclectic choices I've glanced at.

#1 99 f250 super duty, manual v10. It's suprisingly cheap for what it is, low miles for the year (160k) but it's too big really for what I want even though it's not a huge super duty (extra cab short bed) and the v10 gets appalling mpg. It does have all the nice modern features though.

#2 one of the dozen or so 70s Ford trucks around. Plus side is I've worked on old Ford trucks and FE engines a lot over the years and they are simple basic trucks. It'll get about the same mpg as the v10 but it'll probably not have any of the modern touches unless I get lucky and find an A/C model. It is about a third of the price of the super duty too, I'm trying to hold out and get a supercab which is a bit harder to find too

#3 ranger. It would be smaller and probably easier to tow but I know there are some downsides to towing with a smaller rig. It won't get stupendous mpg while towing but when it's not it would be a good vehicle to have around for other stuff.

#4 quad cab f150. The older models are decently priced and I don't think 5k will push any configuration

#5 something else (vague I know) I've looked at full size vans, and even considered like Caprice wagons. Dakota's were on the list but finding anything without a 4.7 is somehow hard around here and I'm leary of the 4.7.

We are talking occasional towing so I'm leaning more towards the cheap Ford truck option but if  it could also do double duty as a winter rig for my wife the budget goes up, it would need to get 20ish while not towing though then because she drives long distances for work.

What does the hive think?

The super duty will tow best obviously, and the 150s will be ok with 5000 lbs but having towed a boat with a Ranger I think 5000 will be an uncomfortable ride.

The 70s Ford Trucks aren't that great at towing when you intend to stop at some point, preferably without using immovable objects.

I used to have a mid-nineties F150 and towed my formula car + converted boat trailer over the Sierra Nevada. Then went out and bought an F250 of the same generation. If you're towing in flatter land then an F150 should be good enough.

As an aside, if you haven't got your own trailer and rent the U-Haul ones instead, those are *stupidly* heavy.

I'd go F250 if the V10 is within your budget. At least that's my plan for when my Powerstroke finally decides it has had enough.

BoxheadTim said:

The 70s Ford Trucks aren't that great at towing when you intend to stop at some point, preferably without using immovable objects.

I used to have a mid-nineties F150 and towed my formula car + converted boat trailer over the Sierra Nevada. Then went out and bought an F250 of the same generation. If you're towing in flatter land then an F150 should be good enough.

As an aside, if you haven't got your own trailer and rent the U-Haul ones instead, those are *stupidly* heavy.

The stopping part is definitely one of my main concerns with old Ford trucks. Front discs are a must. It's kinda hard to argue with an $800 f250 from the 70s for ease of working on though and the mpg is somehow about the same as the super duty v10 option. 

We are probably talking tow dolly most the time, the Penske ones are light enough to move by hand although the trailers looked a lot beefier and heavier than I would have liked. 

The tow vehicles in my fleet are The Sumo Wrestler, '01 Montero Limited w/ 5,000 # rating and The Gov't Mule '06 Super Duty XL

The Montero is comfortable and capable of a small load but a Avalon on a tow dolly really taxes it out.  Figure 3,300 lb car and 750 lb dolly for 4,000 lbs on its 5,000 lb capability.  I had to force the Montero into 4th gear because even on flat ground, any application of throttle at 50 mpg or higher would trigger a downshift to 4th gear anyway (on a 5 speed automatic trans.)

The Super Duty pulled a 3,000 lb Prius on a 2,000 trailer like it was not even there.  There is a haul/tow switch for the auto trans which I used but I can not say that I noticed this switch was actually causing the trans to do anything different.  Generally, the Super Duty drives better if you have about 450 lbs in the bed.  

The main point I wanted to get to is what will you be towing and will you be using Uhaul?  In my experience, Uhaul will only rent you up to 80% of the towing capacity.  For my Montero, Uhaul will only rent me a tow dolly.  The 3,000 lb Prius and 2,000 lb trailer hit right at the 5,000 lb rating but 80% is only 4,000 lb meaning no trailer; only dolly.  For the F-250 Uhaul will rent me just about anything.  I think my truck has a 9,000 lb rating.

I have considered selling both (and my wife's Mazda5) to get one 2018 Nissan Armada  for $27k which has a 8,600 tow rating. Also a mpg rating of 13/15/18.  As good as my Montero and a ton better than my F-250

To test the same with Uhaul, just go onto their website and try to make a fake reservation for a trailer or dolly.  It will ask you what your tow vehicle is and what car will be on the trailer.  It will then either accept or reject your combination.   I seem to remember that 6cyl F150's are not allowed full trailers and small V8's (4.6L) might not be either.  

Also should be noted that Uhaul does not like Ford Explorers (from the days of tire blow out roll-overs) and it seems Rangers too get caught in this discrimination.  Check their site for your combination.

John Welsh said:

The tow vehicles in my fleet are The Sumo Wrestler, '01 Montero Limited w/ 5,000 # rating and The Gov't Mule '06 Super Duty XL

The Montero is comfortable and capable of a small load but a Avalon on a tow dolly really taxes it out.  Figure 3,300 lb car and 750 lb dolly for 4,000 lbs on its 5,000 lb capability.  I had to force the Montero into 4th gear because even on flat ground, any application of throttle at 50 mpg or higher would trigger a downshift to 4th gear anyway (on a 5 speed automatic trans.)

 

The Super Duty pulled a 3,000 lb Prius on a 2,000 trailer like it was not even there.  There is a haul/tow switch for the auto trans which I used but I can not say that I noticed this switch was actually causing the trans to do anything different.  Generally, the Super Duty drives better if you have about 450 lbs in the bed.  

 

The main point I wanted to get to is what will you be towing and will you be using Uhaul?  In my experience, Uhaul will only rent you up to 80% of the towing capacity.  For my Montero, Uhaul will only rent me a tow dolly.  The 3,000 lb Prius and 2,000 lb trailer hit right at the 5,000 lb rating but 80% is only 4,000 lb meaning no trailer; only dolly.  For the F-250 Uhaul will rent me just about anything.  I think my truck has a 9,000 lb rating.

I have considered selling both (and my wife's Mazda5) to get one 2018 Nissan Armada  for $27k which has a 8,600 tow rating. Also a mpg rating of 13/15/18.  As good as my Montero and a ton better than my F-250

To test the same with Uhaul, just go onto their website and try to make a fake reservation for a trailer or dolly.  It will ask you what your tow vehicle is and what car will be on the trailer.  It will then either accept or reject your combination.   I seem to remember that 6cyl F150's are not allowed full trailers and small V8's (4.6L) might not be either.  

Also should be noted that Uhaul does not like Ford Explorers (from the days of tire blow out roll-overs) and it seems Rangers too get caught in this discrimination.  Check their site for your combination.

It'll probably be Penske but I have run into the UHaul problem with explorers though. Apparently it stems from the Firestone tire thing and someone tried to sue UHaul so they won't let an explorer pull anything of theirs. My ranger hasn't had a problem though.

What mpg do you get out of the truck? I see it has a 5.4 from the link.

Wally said:

The super duty will tow best obviously, and the 150s will be ok with 5000 lbs but having towed a boat with a Ranger I think 5000 will be an uncomfortable ride.

That's my thought too, although I see people towing huge trailers with a ranger and mine is somehow rated above 6k

Antihero said:

What mpg do you get out of the truck? I see it has a 5.4 from the link.

The mpg is so bad that I don't calculate it. Ha.  It has a 38 gal tank.  Based on a combination of not really driving it that much and not really filling the tank 100% all that often, I really don't have good math to go off.  I recently towed a Uhaul trailer with a Pontiac Vibe on board for 1.5 hours there and 1.5 hours back of mostly low highway speeds and my esti-math was 10 mpg.  This was with AC off and windows down (since it doesn't work.)

Having actually owned and towed with a 70s FE F150 i don't really recommend it. It wasn't enough (or any?) better than the Dakota i was also using at the time to make up for its lack of amenities. 

That manual v10 super duty is going to pull almost anything. Those things still had a granny gear too! I kinda want one in the exact spec you mentioned. The v10 is pretty reliable assuming you are willing to bite the bullet on a full set of coils  at some point. The alternative is playing 'musical coil replacement' for the rest of your life. I think in terms of capability vs price a manual v10 super duty is a slam friggin dunk of tow rigs.

I recently took the Super Duty on a dump-run. According to the scales at the landfill I had 450 lbs of crap and the empty truck weighed 6,020 lbs with me in it @250 lbs.  And, that's the small motor (5.4L) and just 2wd. 

In reply to Vigo :

I agree on the slam dunk of towing. 

If you are in a rust free environment, that Ford could last forever. '99 was the first year of that Super Duty body and it continued on through just a couple of years ago (08-10 was mostly minor cosmetic changes) . Therefore, the truck is relatively "current" 

In my experience, and from what I can see on the interwebs, for a car hauler trailer by itself (that is without renting the truck also), uhaul is the only option.

Penske won't rent you just the trailer, you've got to rent their truck also.

Back to 70s Fords; we used to have a 74 F350 (it even has A/C), I would think that would be more than capable. I routinely towed 4500lbs without issue. The only reason we got rid of it is I now use a class B RV as tow vehicle.

A Volvo 240 wagon or Buick Roadmaster is the answer here. 

Tom1200 said:

Back to 70s Fords; we used to have a 74 F350 (it even has A/C), I would think that would be more than capable. I routinely towed 4500lbs without issue. The only reason we got rid of it is I now use a class B RV as tow vehicle.

460 I'm guessing? I like to hear it was capable

captdownshift said:

A Volvo 240 wagon or Buick Roadmaster is the answer here. 

I like the way you think!

Don't get me wrong, the v10 manual super duty is a great tow rig and if I was towing a lot I probably would have bought it but it's workload is pretty much gonna look like this:

Tow 4k miles to Gainesville for challenge 

Sit for 6 months

Pick up a weird project car

Sit for another 6 months

That's why the cheap 70s Ford is so tempting. I guess I could go thru the semi annoying process of getting a used car loan for private party but it's pretty old to be loaned on. If I pay cash it's 5k and it's sitting a lot. I admit I'm not high on that especially since it only fits that one small role for me

Floating Doc said:

In my experience, and from what I can see on the interwebs, for a car hauler trailer by itself (that is without renting the truck also), uhaul is the only option.

Penske won't rent you just the trailer, you've got to rent their truck also.

 

I didn't know that, good to know although much prefer dealing with penske

Antihero said:

Don't get me wrong, the v10 manual super duty is a great tow rig and if I was towing a lot I probably would have bought it but it's workload is pretty much gonna look like this:

 

Tow 4k miles to Gainesville for challenge 

Sit for 6 months

Pick up a weird project car

Sit for another 6 months

 

That's why the cheap 70s Ford is so tempting. I guess I could go thru the semi annoying process of getting a used car loan for private party but it's pretty old to be loaned on. If I pay cash it's 5k and it's sitting a lot. I admit I'm not high on that especially since it only fits that one small role for me

You’re a brave man for driving a “cheap 70’s Ford” 4,000 miles after it’s been sitting for 6 months. The reliability and comfort of a slightly newer truck would be nice on a trip like that. 

WillG80 said:

Antihero said:

Don't get me wrong, the v10 manual super duty is a great tow rig and if I was towing a lot I probably would have bought it but it's workload is pretty much gonna look like this:

 

Tow 4k miles to Gainesville for challenge 

Sit for 6 months

Pick up a weird project car

Sit for another 6 months

 

That's why the cheap 70s Ford is so tempting. I guess I could go thru the semi annoying process of getting a used car loan for private party but it's pretty old to be loaned on. If I pay cash it's 5k and it's sitting a lot. I admit I'm not high on that especially since it only fits that one small role for me

You’re a brave man for driving a “cheap 70’s Ford” 4,000 miles after it’s been sitting for 6 months. The reliability and comfort of a slightly newer truck would be nice on a trip like that. 

To be fair that's what my father owned growing up and I worked on them a bunch. One had bad kingpins and I got used to replacing the rag joint in a few minutes on the side of the road. I've replaced engines, transmissions and pretty much everything else on a few occasions. They are very easy to work on and I'm very used to them.

I also did drive a Rampage without ac in 100 degree temps though so you are right to question my sanity lol

Have you given any thought to flat towing the Rampage? 

What did you last tow the Rampage with? Is it equal to a Ranger? 

John Welsh said:

Have you given any thought to flat towing the Rampage? 

What did you last tow the Rampage with? Is it equal to a Ranger? 

It was a Penske 16 foot truck, it was empty and way overkill for it. The only problem I had was heavy side wind which made it squirrelly.

I haven't really considered flat towing it, to be fair though that trip was by far the most towing I have ever done too

In reply to Antihero :

You mentioned the possibility of towing a 3,200 lb Caprice. Could this Caprice possibly be the "truck" sometimes when not being "the cargo"? 

I have a 2006 F350 V10. It sits for several weeks at a time and is only used for towing a car or horse trailer. I used to have a 1998 F150 with the 5.4. I’ve never said “I wish I had a small truck” while towing.

If you do consider a loan, I wrote a lot here about my Prius loan through PenFed

I highly recommend.