Bronco Badlands or Jeep Gladiator for Flat Towing?

[73Corvetteman]

If you plan on towing bronco a lot you could do the tow dolly and driveshaft disconnect. Then you wouldn't have to unbolt driveshaft every time. About 1600 bucks for disconnect. I am starting to think this might be the best solution if you can't trailer it and don't trust neutral tow mode.

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[cbrenthus]

Didn’t read past the first few posts, but I would definitely go with a manual transfer case if I was planning on flat towing. I don’t trust the electronic transfer cases.

and if I absolutely wanted to Flat tow the bronco, I just might remove the driveshaft if I can

 

[73Corvetteman]

Didn’t read past the first few posts, but I would definitely go with a manual transfer case if I was planning on flat towing. I don’t trust the electronic transfer cases.

and if I absolutely wanted to Flat tow the bronco, I just might remove the driveshaft if I can

Removing only rear drive shaft isn't sufficient as front shaft is still turning while 4 down. You have to disconnect both shafts. From what I have been able to find out the transfer case has an oil pump that is driven by the rear output shaft. With just rear shaft disconnected the front shaft input bearing would not be receiving lubrication and would fail. So only alternative is disconnect rear shaft and put front axle on tow dolly.

 

[tock13]

If I was going to flat tow, I wouldn’t even consider a Bronco. Jeep all the way. Yeah, many here say they have had zero issues but the fact Ford refuses to stand behind another of their stupid engineering feats and won’t take accountability and fix vehicles broken while flat towing…. I wouldn’t think twice about walking past a Bronco and buying a Jeep to tow.

 

[73Corvetteman]

If I was going to flat tow, I wouldn’t even consider a Bronco. Jeep all the way. Yeah, many here say they have had zero issues but the fact Ford refuses to stand behind another of their stupid engineering feats and won’t take accountability and fix vehicles broken while flat towing…. I wouldn’t think twice about walking past a Bronco and buying a Jeep to tow.

I hear you, I sure wish I had known about the flat tow issue before we bought our Bronco. All I can do now is document and video the procedure religiously and if it fails and they won't warranty it I will go to court. I could sell it at a loss but wife not too impressed with that idea. (Little blue eyed, blonde haired Dutch gal) So I'm gonna go for it. Wish us luck...

 

[CalvinT]

The Bronco manual is very specific about flat towing. The transfer case must be in it's neutral position. The manual gives procedures for both manual and automatic transmissions. When performed properly "Neutral Tow Enabled Leave Transmission in Neutral" will appear on the instrument cluster.

Unfortunately the onboard manual is next to useless. But the instructions are on pages 338-340 of the printed manual.

 

[73Corvetteman]

The Bronco manual is very specific about flat towing. The transfer case must be in it's neutral position. The manual gives procedures for both manual and automatic transmissions. When performed properly "Neutral Tow Enabled Leave Transmission in Neutral" will appear on the instrument cluster.

Unfortunately the onboard manual is next to useless. But the instructions are on pages 338-340 of the printed manual.

Oh I know all about it. I guess it comes down to did the people that had a failure do something wrong or is there a glitch in the software. There is no way to know. I spoke with a Ford tech. He told me there is no way for them to verify if it was in flat tow mode properly, they can only see the fault codes after the fact.
Lesson here is document, document, document yourself placing vehicle in neutral tow mode. I have checklists in a binder with all steps listed in owners manual along with location, mileage, destination, battery voltage, battery charge, etc. I have a Bluetooth battery monitor installed that tracks voltage in real time and records 24 hrs a day. Of course I have a charge line from motor home installed. I'm going to video everthing. Video provides dated and geo located data to provide verifiable time-line. The good thing about all this extra hassle is it will ensure I do it correctly. Plus it will make it extremely difficult for Ford to deny warranty claim. Even if they do they would more than likely lose a court case if you have impeccable records and they can't prove you didn't have it tow mode correctly.

Sorry to beat this to death...

 

[Dral97]

I'd go with the gladiator. Grab a cap if you can and you'll have a ton of extra hauling space for things if needed.

I'm not sure about the availability, but I always liked how the cap A.R.E. makes looks on the gladiator. It almost gives it the overall silhouette of the late 90s/early 00s 4runners.

 

[73Corvetteman]

I'd go with the gladiator. Grab a cap if you can and you'll have a ton of extra hauling space for things if needed.

I'm not sure about the availability, but I always liked how the cap A.R.E. makes looks on the gladiator. It almost gives it the overall silhouette of the late 90s/early 00s 4runners.

That does look cool!

 

[Dral97]

Yep, I've gotten close to pulling the trigger on getting a gladiator a few times. I'm not quite at the retirement exploring phase yet, so I haven't done it. If I was going into that phase now, I'd personally go with a gladiator myself. Good offroad, not too large, top comes off, can flat tow, it has good towing capacity itself (better than wranglers iirc). It pretty much checks off all the boxes for a retirement exploring vehicle imo.

If you're into offroading, you can look into one of the overland Gladiator builds as well. I've seen a few dealers with new gladiators with overland builds already installed.

https://www.motortrend.com/events/four-wheeler-overland-adventure-2022-dockham-jeep/

 

[JerryC]

If nobody else has said it.

Put a camera in the Bronco watching the dash. Like a dash cam that has time, date, speed.

 

[Imaginary Friend]

If I was going to flat tow, I wouldn’t even consider a Bronco. Jeep all the way. Yeah, many here say they have had zero issues but the fact Ford refuses to stand behind another of their stupid engineering feats and won’t take accountability and fix vehicles broken while flat towing…. I wouldn’t think twice about walking past a Bronco and buying a Jeep to tow.

THIS.

 

[CalvinT]

Lesson here is document, document, document yourself placing vehicle in neutral tow mode.

I'd just take a photo of the dash display showing that it's in tow mode. It would have GPS and time and date info. But I'm lazy like that.

 

[73Corvetteman]

I do tend to go a bit scorched earth when I encounter a problem!

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