What would be a realistic towing capacity?

[vrtical]

at some point if your serious on travel just buy an RV and tow the bronco instead of the other way around.

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[Eggsalad]

Come on FoMoCo do you see what is happening here? Your truck won't even pull an off-road camper so now we're talking about a heavy duty pickup to flatbed the two of them? Or an RV? Was your intent really to see Bronco owners trying to get away from it all switch from an off-road camper to an RV, because the Bronco can't tow an off-road camper but an RV can tow a Bronco? Really? Was that actually the vision?

This is beyond ridiculous. @2Jeeps&PatriotX1 your camper is amazing and it's a travesty that a Bronco wouldn't tow it to a beautiful destination like your photos show.

Well said. This is what I tow with a V8 4Runner

3000lbs dry, 4000lbs+ loaded for offroad. Gets to some nice places with the comforts of home. Bronco 4-dr should be able to easily, EASILY tow that to the same places as a 2008 4.7l 4Runner.

 

[AZHUND]

Can we all cool it (pun intended) with the 2.7 talk? We know that the Ranger with the 2.3 tows 7,500lbs so it's not the engine that's the problem. If anything the larger 2.7 in that bay may have a harder time cooling than the 2.3 in the same space and we all know that's one of the biggest issues with towing.

If they leave the 2.3/7M combo at 3,500lbs and raise the other ones to something actually reasonable I'm gonna lose my you-know-what.

Same discussion happens over and over in the Jeep forums - since the Gladiator gets like 2x the tow rating of the Wrangler with the same 3.6L engine. All the downsides of having offroad shocks, limited wheelbase, cooling restrictions, brakes etc. all go into that rating and results in a disappointing 3500 lbs (and at least for the Wrangler 350 lb max tongue weight which kills off some options like an Airstream Basecamp that even a soccer-mom generic crossover can pull) and tiny frontal area limitation... annoying trade-offs, which is another reason this class makes an awesome toy but cannot match trucks on towing, CUVs on ride, prius' on MPGs...

 

[Lakelife36]

at some point if your serious on travel just buy an RV and tow the bronco instead of the other way around.

There's a big difference between travelling and camping in the places that many off-road vehicle owners like to camp. Can you take an RV to the places @2Jeeps&PatriotX1 and @Eggsalad just put up pictures of? Or even to many off-road campgrounds?

 

[Lakelife36]

Same discussion happens over and over in the Jeep forums - since the Gladiator gets like 2x the tow rating of the Wrangler with the same 3.6L engine. All the downsides of having offroad shocks, limited wheelbase, cooling restrictions, brakes etc. all go into that rating and results in a disappointing 3500 lbs (and at least for the Wrangler 350 lb max tongue weight which kills off some options like an Airstream Basecamp that even a soccer-mom generic crossover can pull) and tiny frontal area limitation... annoying trade-offs, which is another reason this class makes an awesome toy but cannot match trucks on towing, CUVs on ride, prius' on MPGs...

These are all true and real engineering struggles, but the FJ Cruiser and 4Runner get 5,000lbs, and the new Defender gets something obscenely high that I don't quite recall at this time. I would like to think that many of these issues could be rectified with a max tow package that added cost and maybe even compromised some off-road prowess in ways that they didn't want in the regular vehicle but could engineer as options.

The problem with 3,500lbs is that it is really really low and it's a number that is thrown at vehicles where they don't even try. Even small increases in capacity from there start to open a lot more doors. Look at @Eggsalad's trailer as a great example.

 

[ZackDanger]

There's a big difference between travelling and camping in the places that many off-road vehicle owners like to camp. Can you take an RV to the places @2Jeeps&PatriotX1 and @Eggsalad just put up pictures of? Or even to many off-road campgrounds?

 

[2Jeeps&PatriotX1]

cute but I know that couldn't get to spots I set up camp.

 

[AZHUND]

These are all true and real engineering struggles, but the FJ Cruiser and 4Runner get 5,000lbs, and the new Defender gets something obscenely high that I don't quite recall at this time. I would like to think that many of these issues could be rectified with a max tow package that added cost and maybe even compromised some off-road prowess in ways that they didn't want in the regular vehicle but could engineer as options.

The problem with 3,500lbs is that it is really really low and it's a number that is thrown at vehicles where they don't even try. Even small increases in capacity from there start to open a lot more doors. Look at @Eggsalad's trailer as a great example.

Agree 1000%. I went through the shopping process early this year and kept wishing my JLU could just pull 500 more lbs (and ~100 lbs more tongue weight capacity) as there are some good options in that range. But then there have been some moments on mountain passes when it gets windy that I am happy I went well below the 3500 lb max as a box towing a box makes for some extra fun moments...

 

[Cookieck]

Same discussion happens over and over in the Jeep forums - since the Gladiator gets like 2x the tow rating of the Wrangler with the same 3.6L engine. All the downsides of having offroad shocks, limited wheelbase, cooling restrictions, brakes etc. all go into that rating and results in a disappointing 3500 lbs (and at least for the Wrangler 350 lb max tongue weight which kills off some options like an Airstream Basecamp that even a soccer-mom generic crossover can pull) and tiny frontal area limitation... annoying trade-offs, which is another reason this class makes an awesome toy but cannot match trucks on towing, CUVs on ride, prius' on MPGs...

One big difference though is the bronco/ranger and gladiator/wrangler are opposites sides of the same spectrum in a way. The gladiator was built off the wrangler so towing wasn’t designed into it first, but the bronco was built off the ranger so it already was a towing capable platform. The 3.6 in the wrangler and gladiator doesn’t tow as much as the gladiator in any other vehicle it’s in, so they had to do a lot to boost the cooling and braking and frame for it, and being based on the wrangler fell victim to the limited airflow of the front end design of the wrangler. The bronco has 2 engines that both tow as much or more than the gladiator in other vehicles, so likely no big cooling issues unless ya try to get up close to rangers max rating, frame is based off the ranger that tows as much as the gladiator, not sure if brakes are same as ranger, but if even close they’re already made to stop over 7k towing. And broncos not sharing body panels with anything else so it’s not limited by airflow in an already built design, was built ground up so airflow is what they designed into it not taken from another vehicle. So the only things that really could be limiting the bronco are wheelbase and suspension. There’s multiple other suvs with similar wheelbase to at least the 4door bronco that tow well over double what it’s been rated at, and the 2 door right now tows the same as the 4 door that’s a 16in longer wheelbase, so wheelbase isn’t limiting the 4 door at least. So really logically only one component likely limiting the broncos towing capability, not like the gladiator that had to fight multiple limitations to get its rating. Of course I’m not at all saying the bronco should tow as much as the gladiator or ranger, but with something as simple as an optional tow package that changes the suspension a tad(and even possibly without a change, don’t know how much of a limiting factor it really is, maybe just a built in tow mode that changes settings) I don’t logically see any other reason why it couldn’t tow at least 5k in the 4 door. And that would be plenty for those off-road campers some have pictured. Gladiator had to more than double what the platform it’s on and engine was originally built for, bronco has more than halved what it’s platform and engines were built for.

 

[Lakelife36]

@Cookieck That sounds pretty much bang on

 

[Eggsalad]

These are all true and real engineering struggles, but the FJ Cruiser and 4Runner get 5,000lbs, and the new Defender gets something obscenely high that I don't quite recall at this time. I would like to think that many of these issues could be rectified with a max tow package that added cost and maybe even compromised some off-road prowess in ways that they didn't want in the regular vehicle but could engineer as options.

The problem with 3,500lbs is that it is really really low and it's a number that is thrown at vehicles where they don't even try. Even small increases in capacity from there start to open a lot more doors. Look at @Eggsalad's trailer as a great example.

Well said again. Ford should be able to engineer a tow package that can offroad that teeny 19' trailer.

 

[ColoradoGuy]

So it is noted, I want 5000lb towing capacity on the 4-door with 2.7L V6 and I'm willing to pay a reasonable fee for a towing package option that makes this happen.

 

[t3n2and4]

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.

Because the Ranger platform was already IFS and the business case had to be built on a common platform to share some development cost.

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