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towing??

65 mustang

Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
430
what do you tow with your bronco and what is the tongue weight of it. I'm looking at a boat!
 

bronconut73

Bronco Guru
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
9,916
I pull a 17' aluminum bass boat.
17' X-Press Sportsman with a 115 Yammy.

Not sure of the tongue weight is...but its less than 200 pounds...
Pulls it easily. But I'm not stock. See my sig below...
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
34,835
Very little. The Bronco is a bad choice for a tow vehicle. Most every modification done reduces what little towing they once could do.

Like many hear I have towed, several times well over what it should have done. Had plenty of close calls in what little towing that I did do. Lets see the short list...
Brake fade with the drum brakes on 33s trying to slow down to make the turn at work. Coasted a little too fast through that left turn. Good thing there wasn't a panic stop. Did disk upgrade after that.
The trailer pushed the back sideways while stopping. A little jack knife that stopped before stuff got wrecked.
The panic stop at the forgotten stop sign that had the brake bias too heavy on the front and I blew that stop sign pumping the brakes like mad trying to get it slowed down in a panic stop.
The flat towing another truck and having it pull me into a ditch I won't count as it really isn't a trailer.

In short I have exceeded the towing capacity multiple times and gotten lucky. Most of that was done with about a 2000 pound trailer and only 33s. I sure had the power to pull it great. But the stability lacked. And it is hard to judge stability until you find you have gone over the limits.

I will admit that a Bronco with power steering is about as good as you can get for maneuvering on a boat ramp. You can really stick it where you like. And it will pull like a ramp like a champ, 4Lo and with low axle gears will get the most overweight pig out of the water. And as long as you are at tractor speeds, everything is great.

How big and heavy of a boat are you looking at getting?
How is the Bronco set up?
How far do you have to drive it?

Just from how you ask the question, I am already going to predict my answer. No, don't do it. Not safe and you really risk balling up all your toys at once.

Some exceptions. A little Jon boat, few hundred pounds, probably OK. Store the boat at the marina and just need to move it to the ramp and back, pretty much any size boat is fine.

But if there is any highway involved, not a good plan.

For reference I have actually done some work that involved testing and certifying towing performance for SAE J2807 test standards. A little more qualified then the average Joe for what can be done, or should be done that involves towing. Not that I know everything, but I know some good engineers that can fill in the blanks that I don't know.
 

blubuckaroo

Grease Monkey
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
11,795
Loc.
Ridgefield WA
I've done quite a bit of towing with our Bronco. Gardener trailers, cement mixers, U-Haul trailers, but mostly our camp trailer. No boats yet.
I've got to admit that it's less than an ideal tow vehicle. It's certainly not low on power, or stopping ability, but it's just not as stable as I would like.
That said, I'll continue to use it to haul my camp trailer to hunting camp. I can't think of a better tow vehicle once I get off the interstate and onto mountain roads and even some trails.
The trick is to have enough tongue weight. The formula for that is easy. Your tongue weight needs to be a minimum of 10% of the loaded trailer weight.
Also, the tongue of the trailer attitude should be level or slightly low in the front. Never high in the front.

Most important is to drive at a sensible speed.
Sometimes I think these idiots actually drive faster with a trailer hooked onto their truck than they would normally.
 

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BR549

Sr. Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
444
Loc.
huntsville
Maybe that's why 2" receiver hitches for broncos aren't available. (at least I didn't see any in my search).
 

Nothing Special

Sr. Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
804
The heaviest I've ever towed (or would ever tow) with my Bronco is a 17' boat (probably a little under 2000 lbs total trailer weight). I have 4 wheel disks and a lot of experience towing and this is definitely at my limit. I keep the speeds down and leave plenty of distance between me and the car in front when I'm towing this (and I usually use my F-250 to tow it).

Braking is definitely an issue. My boat trailer has surge brakes or I wouldn't tow it with the Bronco. Electric brakes would be better, but I still wouldn't want to go any heavier than this due to stability.

As blubuckaroo said, at least 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue. If that's too much tongue weight for the Bronco to handle the trailer is too heavy.

80-dsc_3809_7254e70fb674f607614f5801e4b15accd3ac048e.jpg
 

bronconut73

Bronco Guru
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
Messages
9,916
Yes...I should mention that my boat pulling experience with my eb has been on county roads. May have gotten up to 65 mph but prolly averaged 55 mph for an hour or so. Really was fine, it felt very stable but....
It sounds like I have accidently hit the mark.
17' boat that weighs less than 2000 pounds
Perfect tongue weight
Low hitch

Just lucky I guess....lol.....
 
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