Towing a 'Big' Boat (for the Bronco)

[vzqhsg]

Well I guess you don't really care about the safety of others and yourself. You apparently don't care about towing capacity of the Bronco being only 3,500lbs. Trying to convince others of your negligence is note worthy is a fail in my opinion. You might as well not even of posted this.

Do you text and drive? Do you play with your phone to get your music to play? Do you talk on your phone while you drive? What's the old bible saying...something about throwing the first stone.

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[vzqhsg]

DISCLAIMER - I do NOT recommend doing as you see here. This post is meant to inform and potentially discourage others. Fully aware you guys will probably rip me.

Bronco Specs:

Year - 2022​

Trim - Black Diamond​

Engine - 2.3L I4 (Sport Mode Enabled)​

Transmission - 7 Speed Manual (heh)​

Rated Towing Capacity - 3,500lbs​

Mods - 3" Spacer Lift and Sasquatch Wheels/Tires​

​

Boat Specs:

Year - 1998​

Model - Contender 21 Open​

Engine - 2017 Suzuki 200hp I4​

Towing Weight:

Dry Hull - 2,300lbs​

Engine - 500lbs​

Full Tank - 90gal x 6lbs/gal = 540lbs​

Trailer - ~1000lbs​

____________​

TOTAL = 4,340lbs​

​

I towed this boat, with my dad in the passenger seat, approximately 70miles home down a flat stretch of straight interstate with occasional short hills/bridges. So, how did it tow?

From dead stops, the manual transmission required light throttle blips and careful clutch slips to keep the 2.3L happy. The weight of the boat was obviously noticed by the 2.3L and the turbo need to stay spooled constantly (2000rpm +). The interstate on-ramp was inclined but the Bronco was still able to hit 60mph by the time I was merging. Once on the interstate, I left it in 5th gear and held a speed of ~65-67mph. At this speed/gear, the engine was around 2300rpm. 6th gear was not usable at this speed since the engine RPM was not high enough to spool the turbo. The trailer had no sway and the Bronco was not bossed around by it, even on a long bridge with a decent cross wind. At one point on this bridge, the evenly spaced bumps from the bridge segments began to, with lack of better term, "buck" the Bronco so I reduced the speed to get out of that rhythm. Hottest the engine got was ~220°F which appeared just above halfway on the gauge. Since the trailer does not have brakes (not a requirement for this size where I live) I left plenty of room between me and vehicle ahead. Once I was in town, it stopped the trailer "acceptably" but not great. I would recommend surge or electronic brakes.

I have launched a 21' Sea Hunt (deep-vee) which weighs a few hundred pounds less than this and the Bronco was able to pull it up the ramp, in 4WD, no problem. But, I will be launching the Contender this weekend so can report back how that goes.

My "home" port for this boat is 2 miles from my house through a residential neighborhood. Seldomly, I may tow it ~10 miles down a country road to a different launch. So for now, I'll stick with the Bronco but if I want to explore other areas of water, I'll be phoning my fishing buddies for their trucks.

Well....all I can say is....I'm tellin your Mom, cause Dad was with ya!

 

[Grumpy]

Do you text and drive? Do you play with your phone to get your music to play? Do you talk on your phone while you drive? What's the old bible saying...something about throwing the first stone.

Do I text and drive? NO!
Do I play with my phone? NO!
Do I talk on my phone while driving? NO!

So who is throwing the first stone? You!

I have better things to do in life than playing with a cell phone and social media. What I stated is the truth. You don't like it, carry on about your life. Plain and simple!

 

[Ground_zero298]

These laws you are linking to involves today. What @Gnomad is referencing to is back in the day when we older folks were kids. Whole different world.

The days of common sense, education, hard work, and respect.

Seems so long ago.

 

[Mattwings]

DISCLAIMER - I do NOT recommend doing as you see here. This post is meant to inform and potentially discourage others. Fully aware you guys will probably rip me.

Bronco Specs:

Year - 2022​

Trim - Black Diamond​

Engine - 2.3L I4 (Sport Mode Enabled)​

Transmission - 7 Speed Manual (heh)​

Rated Towing Capacity - 3,500lbs​

Mods - 3" Spacer Lift and Sasquatch Wheels/Tires​

​

Boat Specs:

Year - 1998​

Model - Contender 21 Open​

Engine - 2017 Suzuki 200hp I4​

Towing Weight:

Dry Hull - 2,300lbs​

Engine - 500lbs​

Full Tank - 90gal x 6lbs/gal = 540lbs​

Trailer - ~1000lbs​

____________​

TOTAL = 4,340lbs​

​

I towed this boat, with my dad in the passenger seat, approximately 70miles home down a flat stretch of straight interstate with occasional short hills/bridges. So, how did it tow?

From dead stops, the manual transmission required light throttle blips and careful clutch slips to keep the 2.3L happy. The weight of the boat was obviously noticed by the 2.3L and the turbo need to stay spooled constantly (2000rpm +). The interstate on-ramp was inclined but the Bronco was still able to hit 60mph by the time I was merging. Once on the interstate, I left it in 5th gear and held a speed of ~65-67mph. At this speed/gear, the engine was around 2300rpm. 6th gear was not usable at this speed since the engine RPM was not high enough to spool the turbo. The trailer had no sway and the Bronco was not bossed around by it, even on a long bridge with a decent cross wind. At one point on this bridge, the evenly spaced bumps from the bridge segments began to, with lack of better term, "buck" the Bronco so I reduced the speed to get out of that rhythm. Hottest the engine got was ~220°F which appeared just above halfway on the gauge. Since the trailer does not have brakes (not a requirement for this size where I live) I left plenty of room between me and vehicle ahead. Once I was in town, it stopped the trailer "acceptably" but not great. I would recommend surge or electronic brakes.

I have launched a 21' Sea Hunt (deep-vee) which weighs a few hundred pounds less than this and the Bronco was able to pull it up the ramp, in 4WD, no problem. But, I will be launching the Contender this weekend so can report back how that goes.

My "home" port for this boat is 2 miles from my house through a residential neighborhood. Seldomly, I may tow it ~10 miles down a country road to a different launch. So for now, I'll stick with the Bronco but if I want to explore other areas of water, I'll be phoning my fishing buddies for their trucks.

Nice write up. The issue is the rear hitch mount, not drivetrain (at least in the autos). As long as you don’t deform the rear frame member, you are good to go

 

[prospectfour]

I have been towing boats in the 20’ to 25’ foot range for over 40 years all over California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah including my home lake in the mountains of Southern California. I have towed behind old station wagons, pickups, jeeps, suburbans, land rovers & range rovers, and now my 2-door bronco.

I’ll just say that the biggest asset is experience towing a trailer. The station wagons sucked because the rear suspension was always too soft. Our 1982 suburban sucked because the smog controlled v8 only made 150hp. The thing could hardly old speed on an overpass.

The bronco does just fine with with a skilled driver and a correctly configured trailer. No it doesn’t pull as well as my full size diesel Range Rover (rated at 8,000#) but it absolutely stops better. That rover is seriously under braked. The rover air suspension negates tongue weight but my 2-door didn’t squat more than an inch with my 22’ ski boat largely because it has a well sorted out trailer. Hell I didn’t even air up the tires and left the rears at 25 psi cold. On the highway is was perfectly stable but again a good trailer that is meant for highway towing (i.e. sits lower and carries the boat low) really helps that situation.

The engineers have to take worst case setups into account. I’ll just leave it at that and don’t need a lecture from some kid who needs a back up camera to park his car.

I have no dog in this fight but I like the energy in your reply

 

[OCNORB1974]

Can a Semi, can an F-550 pulling 30k, can my F-250 pulling my my 14k fifth wheel? The answer is no. When you tow your braking distance increases. You, the one behind the wheel operating said vehicle need to know what your doing and drive accordingly! These tow ratings in some respects ar total BS. My dad had an early 2k F-250 rated to tow like 7k and I had a 2013 Expedition that was rated to tow 9.2k. I would never hook 9,200 lbs to the back of that Expedition but I would tow that with that F-250 all day long. Some of you people need some real world experiences and quit arm chair quarter backing people and their way of doing things! I'm sure the OP has towed stuff before and know what's safe and what's not! Hell, my SXS can tow a rated 2,000 lbs... I'm sure the Bronco is plenty safe with 4,300 lbs...

The arm chair engineer has all the answers.

 

[Techun]

The days of common sense, education, hard work, and respect.

Seems so long ago.

Ok boomer

 

[Ground_zero298]

Ok boomer

Gen x, dumb shit.

 

[UM_Ftown]

It's not the same frame. The "attachment area" matters most of all, because it transfers all of the load from the trailer to the frame.

Ranger hitch, note the one-piece formed tubular steel crossmember:

Bronco hitch, note the multi-piece stamped steel spot-welded crossmember:

The "attachment area" is definitely a weak point and can't be hand-waved away.

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/sudden-stop-bent-hitch.54069/page-4#post-1592903

The way this forum is they’d just cut all that “extra” metal off. Lol

 

[MNBigfoot]

The days of common sense, education, hard work, and respect.

Seems so long ago.

This is what my Grandfather said of my fathers generation, my father's in his 80s.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Why in the world would you buy a 2.3L, 4-cylinder when you have a 4300+lb boat that you know you'll be pulling. To each their own but trying to skimp on the motor to save a few dollars is just dumb to me. You have a boat that's what $70k or more, I have no idea, but you want to skimp on the motor of the truck that's pulling it. That's the same mentality of people that dropped every option they really wanted just so they could get a Bronco, though it doesn't resemble anything they intially had in mind. Good for them, I'm just not wired that way. Buy once, cry once for me...

To all the others that want to be forum champions, you can save the turbo this, tow rating that, braking capacity stuff. I'm not even talking about that.

 

[Laminar]

The way this forum is they’d just cut all that “extra” metal off. Lol

It just gets in the way of running 42s!

 

[MNBigfoot]

290 hp(?) isn't enough to pull only #4400 two miles.
To quote the OP "My "home" port for this boat is 2 miles from my house through a residential neighborhood. Seldomly, I may tow it ~10 miles down a country road to a different launch. So for now, I'll stick with the Bronco but if I want to explore other areas of water, I'll be phoning my fishing buddies for their trucks."

 

[jbacon47]

There’s a reason the raptor Bronco receiver was upgraded with additional bracing in order to tow 4500lbs. The Bronco’s weak point is it’s structural limits. Brake, engine, and suspension limitations are second to the structural limitations of the weak hitch receiver mount. Towing this much weight will risk bending your cross-member, if you ever need to perform emergency braking.

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