New ford ranger

Thanks Mick,
I will check it out.

sounds great, was it auto or manual?

auto - do they still make manual utes? Seriously I'd say you've got rocks in your head buying a manual for towing these days.

I'm pretty sure that was the old model, not the new PX. Agree that the cost was still crazy!

I thought it was the new model also. There have been some reports of issues with manual's and clutches towing. The information was not in depth so hard to make too many conclusions

hi
thread 91573 just re read it pk ford ranger /bt50
and reference to th-70939 was also made re modifying the low range switch wiring so low range can be used as rear 2wd low when reversing while towing
the runout pk model ranger and equivalent mazda bt50 are the problem dual -mass clutches because 1st gear and reverse are to high a ratio

the problem is not in the new 5 cylinder px models as we hope they have illiminated that with the new h/duty clutch and engine trans package
cheers

G'day Terry, I was under the impression the new Ranger was other than a rebadged
Mazda, but apparently not. The only downside I have read is re the towbar location,
perhaps that was from you. So this thing is still a Mazda in disguise?......oldbaz.

Hi Oldbaz

The information I have is that the Ranger was designed in Melbourne at the Ford headquarters. The engine is Ford as is the gearbox. I think Mazda had some engineers on the project but largely a Ford Australia led team.

Mazda then put their own design on the body work and interior.

I could be wrong of course and will happily stand corrected.

And yes the towbar design on the Ranger is terrible for offroad duties. It hangs too low reducing departure angles and can act as a grader blade at times. The position of the plug is poor as well but easily removed and repositioned. However it is VERY solid and copes easily with heavy tow weights and hasn't stopped me getting anywhere despite some fairly rough and tumble tracks.

In fairness to Ford when I attended the Melbourne motorshow (at their expense :-)) for the official unveiling, the chief design engineer asked what I thought. My first comments were I loved the look etc but was concerned about the towbar design (which later proved accurate). He was immediately on the phone to the factory in Thailand (while I was standing there) to ask how long it could take to fix and to begin looking at options. Nobody has ever taken me that seriously before!!!

Correct, Ford Australia did all the heavy lifting with the new Ranger with Detroit picking up the tab. Mazda simply came along for the ride this time as Ford divested their majority stake in Mazda in 2010.