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What would be a realistic towing capacity?

Laminar

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I agree with this sentiment, if you watch interviews with the designers they talk about how so many vehicles on the market these days want to please everyone. They wanted to make a vehicle that is focused on being really good at one thing and in this case it sounds like they really wanted to make a great off road vehicle, and didn't want to compromise on that vision.
Then why'd they go with an IFS? ;)

Because it was a good compromise between offroad capability that people think they want and the onroad manners that they actually need.
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Mattwings

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I have no doubt that aftermarket companies will provide different coil spring rates and aftermarket hitches, but let's say, one were to upgrade the rear suspension and hitch aftermarket and later be in an accident towing 3700lbs and the factory specs state 3500lbs, I would think the insurance company would deny or fight the claim being overweight.
I have mentioned this on other threads and forums before, but I have not seen an exclusion for exceeding tow ratings in a personal insurance policy (there are lot's of different commercial policies, which could potentially have towing capacity language). I have seen wording around modifications for speed equipment/modifications and there are exclusions to coverage for certain aftermarket equipment in some policies (often aftermarket stereos and wheels/tires). There are probably lots of laws and ordinaces by state/county/city that restrict or impose fines for exceeding published limits. It is much less likley to be an issue of coverage for an insurance claim. If the accident was caused by exceeding the weight limits or modifications that resulted in or contributed to a loss, it could become an issue for you and or your insurance company facing a claim for property damage or injury in terms of potential liability and resulting settlemnts. I would consult your agent, policy and potentially insurance company to make sure, but I have spent quite a bit of time working in the industry.
 
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csj

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Didn't know the new Defender was up around 8k lbs tow capacity, that does make the Bronco look quite a bit worse. Even the Audi Q5 is rated tow 4400 lbs I think, yes, I know "not an off road vehicle". Maybe Ford could up the tow rating for the 4 door Bronco's with the smaller factory tires? 3500 lbs is pretty poor. No excuse that the Wrangler is also very poor in the towing category.
 

secretg

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Then why'd they go with an IFS? ;)

Because it was a good compromise between offroad capability that people think they want and the onroad manners that they actually need.
Hehe I wouldn't say one front suspension is necessarily better than the other, there are real good arguments both. :)
 

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So, I admittedly do not tow currently. I am considering a small camping trailer after I get a Bronco, so what would be a realistic towIng capacity for a smaller vehicle like the Bronco?

With more and more vehicles being small SUVs and crossovers, Iā€™d expect them to tow more than commuter cars. Which, if I understand it correctly, is about 2,000lbs. If the Bronco were able to double that, to 4,000lbs, would that be suitable?

For those truly looking for off-road capability from their Bronco, I wouldnā€™t expect to tow a boat. I would expect something like the Airstream Basecamp (16ft) since itā€™s living space is comparable to the size of a 2 door....but it weights 2,700~ with a max load of 3,500...doesnā€™t leave much for whatā€™s getting put in it. Yes there are smaller trailer options...but I looked at this one because of those numbers.
I have been thinking about this same question.

When towing, regardless of what you are towing, so many factors play a role. Wheel base, engine, transmission, tow brackets, suspension, ride height, etc. The new bronco has the chassis, engine, and transmission from the Ranger. The gear ratio's all look good for towing. The real issue I see is the suspension. The Bronco's will, because of the nature of the off-road capability, have a soft set up. When towing you want a more stiff set up for safe road handling.

If you want the Bronco and only plan to do light trail riding then look into stiffening your suspension and look into a weight distributing hitch. To stiffen the suspension you could change out your shocks, springs, and coils, or you could look into airbags.

We rally can't answer these issues until the rigs hit the road, and aftermarket engineers start building parts to add on.

I plan to look into the airbag route. I think coil spring inserts might work to boost the towing for short distance yet not diminish the Bronco's capabilities to much.
 

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With the 3,500lb towing capacity, would a 1,800lb dry weight pop-up trailer (20ā€™) be doable? Iā€™ve never towed before, so I have no clue what to expect for total weight after throwing gear in there, not to mention a wife and 3 kids in the bronco.
 

b1ubird

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With the 3,500lb towing capacity, would a 1,800lb dry weight pop-up trailer (20ā€™) be doable? Iā€™ve never towed before, so I have no clue what to expect for total weight after throwing gear in there, not to mention a wife and 3 kids in the bronco.
As you look at various travel trailers, what you are looking for is the Maximum Trailer Capacity or Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). As long as that is 3500 lbs or less, you will be fine.

The Dry Weight or Base Weight of the trailer is what the trailer weighs when it is empty or unloaded. You still have to account for all of your "stuff" that you will travel with: food, water, gas, electronics, etc. So the GVWR is usually at least 500 lbs - 1000 lbs higher than the base weight.
 

Lakelife36

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With the 3,500lb towing capacity, would a 1,800lb dry weight pop-up trailer (20ā€™) be doable? Iā€™ve never towed before, so I have no clue what to expect for total weight after throwing gear in there, not to mention a wife and 3 kids in the bronco.
Google towing capacity and have a read through the many good articles on the subject.

One important thing to know is that you have to include your payload (not counting tongue weight) as part of the weight you're towing. So add up how much your family of five plus assorted miscellany in the Bronco weigh and take that off the TC before even looking at the trailer.

And yes gear in a trailer adds up fast, so look at the trailer's GVWR to make sure you're not overloading both it and the Bronco. Just batteries, propane, and water can add up to 300 to 600lbs depending on trailer size.

The last thing to consider is that many people suggest only towing a certain percentage of the vehicle's TC as a bit of a safety factor - I've seen anything from 67 to 80%. With your family of five your payload in the Bronco will likely be somewhere in the 20% of TC (700lb) range so right there you can only actually tow 80% anyways to keep your total weight below the TC. Hopefully there's a bit of room between the trailer's GVWR (because you will max that out with three kids...) and the TC-payload.

This is all why many of us as skeptical that 3500lbs is enough to actual enough to be useful for this vehicle, and are hoping for a standalone package that ups it to 5000(ish) pounds, even if it's at the expense of some off-road capability in the vehicles with that package added.
 

Granger Ford

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Just a side note...

The ratings are computed using many factors.

However, just for the sake of argument

You take a Dually Diesel F-350 - It could pull a house (literally)

What brings down the rating from HOUSE to say 14K...

The brakes to stop the vehicle with said house attached without losing control is a major contributor.

Along with the axle set that can support the load rating of said house..

plus the other item stated above that dig into the weeds deeper...

But for simplicity sake Brakes & Axle load carry capability are the weak points.
 

Bwaggs83

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So, I admittedly do not tow currently. I am considering a small camping trailer after I get a Bronco, so what would be a realistic towIng capacity for a smaller vehicle like the Bronco?

With more and more vehicles being small SUVs and crossovers, Iā€™d expect them to tow more than commuter cars. Which, if I understand it correctly, is about 2,000lbs. If the Bronco were able to double that, to 4,000lbs, would that be suitable?

For those truly looking for off-road capability from their Bronco, I wouldnā€™t expect to tow a boat. I would expect something like the Airstream Basecamp (16ft) since itā€™s living space is comparable to the size of a 2 door....but it weights 2,700~ with a max load of 3,500...doesnā€™t leave much for whatā€™s getting put in it. Yes there are smaller trailer options...but I looked at this one because of those numbers.

For me it's between 5K - 6K towing for the 2.7 ecoboost. This is way under what other platforms can do with that engine but allows users to pull some slightly larger camping trailers.
 

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Mattwings

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Just a side note...

The ratings are computed using many factors.

However, just for the sake of argument

You take a Dually Diesel F-350 - It could pull a house (literally)

What brings down the rating from HOUSE to say 14K...

The brakes to stop the vehicle with said house attached without losing control is a major contributor.

Along with the axle set that can support the load rating of said house..

plus the other item stated above that dig into the weeds deeper...

But for simplicity sake Brakes & Axle load carry capability are the weak points.
I may be wrong, but the Bronco appears to use the same rear axle and brake as the Ranger The Ranger vehicle, "properly equipped" has 7.5K towing rating, so the limit seems likely elsewhere. I would guess it is the multi link coil rear suspension (vs. leaf on the Ranger). Hoepfuly the WDH solution is adequate and comes quickly as an option or the aftermarket to get us closer to the Ranger/Discovery/Explorer/FJ Cruiser capacity.
 
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I have been thinking about this same question.

When towing, regardless of what you are towing, so many factors play a role. Wheel base, engine, transmission, tow brackets, suspension, ride height, etc. The new bronco has the chassis, engine, and transmission from the Ranger. The gear ratio's all look good for towing. The real issue I see is the suspension. The Bronco's will, because of the nature of the off-road capability, have a soft set up. When towing you want a more stiff set up for safe road handling.

If you want the Bronco and only plan to do light trail riding then look into stiffening your suspension and look into a weight distributing hitch. To stiffen the suspension you could change out your shocks, springs, and coils, or you could look into airbags.

We rally can't answer these issues until the rigs hit the road, and aftermarket engineers start building parts to add on.

I plan to look into the airbag route. I think coil spring inserts might work to boost the towing for short distance yet not diminish the Bronco's capabilities to much.
I don't think airbags can be mounted. The coilover rear setup prevents insertion in the coils, the shock fills that space. Bags could maybe be mounted on the axle tubes though . . . . . .

Simply adding a WDH-capable hitch cures a lot of travel trailer towing ills. WDH with sway control takes a lot of pressure off of the rear suspension. Aftermarket will provide if Ford won't do it, then I guess check with your insurance agent presenting some worst-case scenarios to determine if they will cover it.
 

Bronc-O

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Google towing capacity and have a read through the many good articles on the subject.

One important thing to know is that you have to include your payload (not counting tongue weight) as part of the weight you're towing. So add up how much your family of five plus assorted miscellany in the Bronco weigh and take that off the TC before even looking at the trailer.

And yes gear in a trailer adds up fast, so look at the trailer's GVWR to make sure you're not overloading both it and the Bronco. Just batteries, propane, and water can add up to 300 to 600lbs depending on trailer size.

The last thing to consider is that many people suggest only towing a certain percentage of the vehicle's TC as a bit of a safety factor - I've seen anything from 67 to 80%. With your family of five your payload in the Bronco will likely be somewhere in the 20% of TC (700lb) range so right there you can only actually tow 80% anyways to keep your total weight below the TC. Hopefully there's a bit of room between the trailer's GVWR (because you will max that out with three kids...) and the TC-payload.

This is all why many of us as skeptical that 3500lbs is enough to actual enough to be useful for this vehicle, and are hoping for a standalone package that ups it to 5000(ish) pounds, even if it's at the expense of some off-road capability in the vehicles with that package added.
Payload capacity: This is the maximum weight of cargo and passengers that the vehicle is designed to carry. Payload is the GVWR minus the truckā€™s base curb weight, which is classified as the weight of the vehicle including a full tank of fuel and all standardā€”but not optionalā€”equipment. Donā€™t forget that the trailerā€™s tongue weight needs to be included here, too.
 

2Jeeps&PatriotX1

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Google towing capacity and have a read through the many good articles on the subject.

One important thing to know is that you have to include your payload (not counting tongue weight) as part of the weight you're towing. So add up how much your family of five plus assorted miscellany in the Bronco weigh and take that off the TC before even looking at the trailer.

And yes gear in a trailer adds up fast, so look at the trailer's GVWR to make sure you're not overloading both it and the Bronco. Just batteries, propane, and water can add up to 300 to 600lbs depending on trailer size.

The last thing to consider is that many people suggest only towing a certain percentage of the vehicle's TC as a bit of a safety factor - I've seen anything from 67 to 80%. With your family of five your payload in the Bronco will likely be somewhere in the 20% of TC (700lb) range so right there you can only actually tow 80% anyways to keep your total weight below the TC. Hopefully there's a bit of room between the trailer's GVWR (because you will max that out with three kids...) and the TC-payload.

This is all why many of us as skeptical that 3500lbs is enough to actual enough to be useful for this vehicle, and are hoping for a standalone package that ups it to 5000(ish) pounds, even if it's at the expense of some off-road capability in the vehicles with that package added.
Say what? Why would payload be deducted out of the max towing capacity? The way you're describing it, it has a max towing of 3500lbs but then for example subtract 2 adults (300lbs) + 2 kids (120lbs) + fuel (126lbs if 18gal) + gear (150lbs) = 2,804 max tow capacity.

Shouldn't it be:
GCWR less GVWR = towing capacity? or GCWR less (curb weight + weight of passengers, fuel, and cargo) = towing capacity?

For payload:
GVWR less curb weight = max payload (people, fuel, gear, additional options/equipment add-ons that are supported by the vehicle's suspension & trailer tongue weight)?
 

2Jeeps&PatriotX1

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I don't think airbags can be mounted. The coilover rear setup prevents insertion in the coils, the shock fills that space. Bags could maybe be mounted on the axle tubes though . . . . . .

Simply adding a WDH-capable hitch cures a lot of travel trailer towing ills. WDH with sway control takes a lot of pressure off of the rear suspension. Aftermarket will provide if Ford won't do it, then I guess check with your insurance agent presenting some worst-case scenarios to determine if they will cover it.
How does a WDH affect ground clearance on trailers? If I'm correct, the bars stick down below the trailer frame. For example, my camper has a 360-degree fully articulating hitch and is made to have the most ground clearance possible (20" along with a 40-degree departure angle). Examples below of the camper doing their thing.

patriot-camper-x2-jeep-ascent.jpg


Screen Shot 2020-08-11 at 5.43.54 PM.png
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