anyone else haul wood in a Ford ranger?

[PLMCRZY]

View attachment 264429 heres a lite load on a 93 splash with a 4 cyl 5 speed two wheel wonder..

Holy crap!!! How much wood is that?

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[chadsailors]

word to the wise

the ford ranger/ mazda b series trucks early to mid 90s (same trucks and also some f150s) have very weak leaf spring mounts on the frame. front and rear. It is very common for them to rust and weakin in a short amount of time, when this happens and there is any heavy weight added they will shear off the frame and slame into the floor of the bed. Sometimes one mount will fail. sometimes two depending on where your weight is placed. Or in my case all 4 happened to fail at the same time. It is a common enough occurance, parts stores carry the mount and the shackle kit in stock.


I got lucky to only have a 30 gun safe laid down in the bed when mine failed thankfully, not fully loaded with wood. it will bring you to a very abrupt stop as it will stretch your e-brake cables when they hit the bed. Same as if you were going 45mph and slammed your e-brake pedal to the floor. So i would make sure to at least check them if you plan on hauling with one. I wouldnt want to see the outcome if that were to happen on a busy public road.

I do on occasion still haul with it when its what i have but i homemade some new brackets and shackles so im safe now. But i would be careful. I have a small 4x8 trailer andit works much better with that truck.

 

[chucker]

Holy crap!!! How much wood is that?

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it stacks out to 2/3rds cord 4'x16'x16/18" blocks... jack pine!

 

[Jules083]

word to the wise

the ford ranger/ mazda b series trucks early to mid 90s (same trucks and also some f150s) have very weak leaf spring mounts on the frame. front and rear. It is very common for them to rust and weakin in a short amount of time, when this happens and there is any heavy weight added they will shear off the frame and slame into the floor of the bed. Sometimes one mount will fail. sometimes two depending on where your weight is placed. Or in my case all 4 happened to fail at the same time. It is a common enough occurance, parts stores carry the mount and the shackle kit in stock.


I got lucky to only have a 30 gun safe laid down in the bed when mine failed thankfully, not fully loaded with wood. it will bring you to a very abrupt stop as it will stretch your e-brake cables when they hit the bed. Same as if you were going 45mph and slammed your e-brake pedal to the floor. So i would make sure to at least check them if you plan on hauling with one. I wouldnt want to see the outcome if that were to happen on a busy public road.

I do on occasion still haul with it when its what i have but i homemade some new brackets and shackles so im safe now. But i would be careful. I have a small 4x8 trailer andit works much better with that truck.

Yep, I've changed a few of those hangers. It's a Ford thing, I helped a friend with his early 90's F-350 last summer.


Hauling with a Ranger is no big deal. The trucks are built good enough to handle a bed-load of wood pretty easily. Towing, the most I'd safely pull would probably be 3,000 or so lbs including trailer weight. Towing with a load in the bed I'd say maybe 2,000 on the trailer.

 

[slowp]

View attachment 264493View attachment 264494View attachment 264495


The trailer is said to weigh 1400 pounds dry. That's not counting the propane tanks and water and stuff. It has trailer brakes. The six cylinder Ranger pulls it fine. I've pulled it over the mountain pass a couple of times where there is a good, steep grade. I let it slow down if there isn't much traffic. I save on gas by not "punching" it. According to THE OWNER'S MANUAL, it could pull more, a lot more. Hitch weight also matters.

I don't try to stress it out with super heavy loads. I load it until it is full, or looks lower, and that's it. Why abuse it? The bumper sticker adds a bit of weight too. :msp_smile:

Hmmm. The picture posting method seems to have changed for the better.

 

[jerrycmorrow]

only use the bumper mounted hitch if you want a deformed bumper. don't even know why they put the mounting hole in the bumper anyways. also, if you plan to haul or drag a trailer to any extent at all you should seriously consider a transmission cooler as well as the beefed up springs. it is a light truck. saying that i don't hesitate to load mine up with wood but its only a couple hundred yards from my harvest area to my processing area.

 

[jh35]

Not sure about a Ranger, but my old S-10 hauls quite a bit from the woods. I don't normally load it this heavy though, nor do I go far or fast on the road.

 

[PLMCRZY]

Thanks guys gonna go ahead and order a draw tite frame mounted hitch.

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[mking7]

whoa, whoa, whoa. This is AS dammit! NO, you cannot haul wood with that truck. You need a new bigger truck. F-450 or maybe a bobtail. Yep, Ford Ranger, F-250, F-550...that's a solid 3 truck plan. Then you'll need to mod each, open up the mufflers a bit and do a little port work.


Haul wood with a Ford Ranger? You must be new around here that's not the way we do things! :msp_wink:

 

[Stem450Husky]

my '87 shortbed hauls wood occasionally, having a short bed is a bummer... but hey I get 25 mpg city out of a 2.9L 5 spd 4x4, 136K on the clock.

my '06 F250 on 35's works well too, just cant get back through the woods like my ranger can.

 

[tbow388]

I had

I had a 98 Mazda B2500.

Would load it until the mudflaps got about 2" from the ground then start loading my trailer.

I believe I overloaded it.

 

[audible fart]

my '87 shortbed hauls wood occasionally, having a short bed is a bummer... but hey I get 25 mpg city out of a 2.9L 5 spd 4x4, 136K on the clock.

my '06 F250 on 35's works well too, just cant get back through the woods like my ranger can.

That pic looks near susquehanna state parkish/ northern marylandish.:greenchainsaw:

 

[Stem450Husky]

That pic looks near susquehanna state parkish/ northern marylandish.:greenchainsaw:

Yup, I'm 20 mins south east of Gettysburg. Just across the Mason Dixon line. Carroll County.

 

[audible fart]

Yup, I'm 20 mins south east of Gettysburg. Just across the Mason Dixon line. Carroll County.

Nice area up there for maryland. I'm in baltimore county. A couple years ago i started a "who hauls with a 4 cylinder pickup" thread. A lot of people do. I have an 04 5speed tacoma 4x4 and a 6x12 trailer that serve me very well. It got a 2.7 liter 4. Damn reliable scroungemobile and fun to drive, too.

 

[Stem450Husky]

Nice area up there for maryland. I'm in baltimore county. A couple years ago i started a "who hauls with a 4 cylinder pickup" thread. A lot of people do. I have an 04 5speed tacoma 4x4 and a 6x12 trailer that serve me very well. It got a 2.7 liter 4. Damn reliable scroungemobile and fun to drive, too.

I had a 98 Tacoma with the 2.7 & 5 spd in it before I got my F250. I miss that truck.

3" Body, 3" suspension, 4.10's, and 35's. Thing was a tank.

 

[audible fart]

I had a 98 Tacoma with the 2.7 & 5 spd in it before I got my F250. I miss that truck.

3" Body, 3" suspension, 4.10's, and 35's. Thing was a tank.

I'd have kept that toyota.

Mine is a regular cab. I replaced my stock leaf springs with 2.5" lift skyjacker brand springs because the stock ones were arched like a frown due to my constant oak and trailer abuse of them. Had to put 2" lift spacers on the front to even it out. I probably treat it like a half ton truck but i just go slow when i do. 4cylinder trucks will probably be in ever higher demand as the gas prices skyrocket by design. I calculated over several months and my high average was 24mpg unloaded so i can't really complain.

 

[Stem450Husky]

I'd have kept that toyota.

Mine is a regular cab. I replaced my stock leaf springs with 2.5" lift skyjacker brand springs because the stock ones were arched like a frown due to my constant oak and trailer abuse of them. Had to put 2" lift spacers on the front to even it out. I probably treat it like a half ton truck but i just go slow when i do. 4cylinder trucks will probably be in ever higher demand as the gas prices skyrocket by design. I calculated over several months and my high average was 24mpg unloaded so i can't really complain.

When I got mine it was 24-25 mpg average bone stock. I lifted it and still averaged 17-18 mpg's with the 35's on it mostly b/c of the 4:10 gearing. A cold air intake wake's those little motor's up too, had an AEM short ram kit on mine. The factory intake piping is very restrictive.

I had trailmaster Add-A-Leaf's in the rear, my stock springs were negatively arched, which is a typical tacoma problem. Up front I put Old Man Emu Lift coil's and the body lift was a performance accesories kit.

 

[zogger]

I'll leave that to someone else to answer, I've never towed enough with the Ranger to have a good idea.

I would be getting concerned about stopping though...when I have a 1/3rd cord green in it you definitely know it (the way my property is laid out, I go 1/2 mile by public road from my woodlot to my house). Quarter cord I'll run down and get a grinder or go visit my mom with a load in it. And I'd be concerned you could balance the load so the truck springs are happy, and the trailer is happy, but the brakes would scream for mercy when you go to stop.

Of course, delivering to customers it should be seasoned so 1/3rd of cord may be the same weight as a 1/4th of green.

Ha! I remember my northeast colloquialisms!

For those who might be wondering, a "grinder" is a sub sandwich, a gyro or hero, etc.

Then for a snack, you can get a cone with jimmies...

small trucks..my old ratsun 1/2 ton, (suspensions is *very* tired, like that when I got it, added half leafs and shocks) I might sorta push 1/4 cord if I was feeling reckless. Only hauled wood a couple times in it. I really don't need to haul wood in it either... I didn't get it for mass hauling, just wanted something that could pass for a light duty truck and get great mileage, so it could be my run to town and back vehicle and not cost a mint to drive it around. I can get right at 40 MPG when I can keep it in fifth gear and not be pushing it.

 

[PLMCRZY]

My confidence is up now for sure!

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[Vangellis]

I'd say a regular load of wood on the Ranger is about 1/3 cord. I originally bought this 1996 for hauling wood but have basically switched
over to coal, just burning wood for a few weeks at the end of burning season. I usually pick up 1000 to 1100 lbs of coal each trip.

Kevin