Ford Ranger 3.2 TD

hi jan & peter
there was a thread on here recently stating that a gear box on one of the new rangers had failed while towing a van below its towable weight on a trip from nsw's to darwin and the box was replaced under warranty
dont know if the poster ever came back with the cause but the dealers are usuallly reluctant to reveal what causes these events and keep it in house so to speak
but in fairness every brand has their failures
this may be of interest
there's a new vw amarok about to be releashed with an 8 speed auto and 132kw diesel and 470nm i recall are the figures
ive also been told that the navara 550 diesel with auto is a guttsy tow vehicle
cheers

Can only talk about the 2007 Ranger auto 3Litre I have had since new and now finished 140000 trouble free KMs. Fuel around town 16litres / 100 km. Towing 17ft Millard all round the paddock last year averaged 17l/100km. No problems with towing and also previously had a 4.85 Trailcraft and a Tray top camper on same vehicle with no problem. When towing I do oil changes every 5000km instead of the log book 10000km.
Had air bags fiited and then rear springs beefed up in Cairns 3 years ago when had the tray top as it was a bit heavy.

Couple of months ago fitted a DP Chip, gives me a bit more power on the hills but hasn't improved the L/Km that I can measure, probably an expensive toy.

About to head off soon on a longer trip and next May doing the round the paddock thing again including Gibb River rd and Mitchell plateau when we will leave van at Kununurra and tent it for a few weeks.

Bloke who did my RWC a couple of weeks ago told me the manual Rangers had some clutch and gearbox problems but he had not seen any with the auto.

Hope this is some use.

Colin

I have not heard how any of the new 4WD utes go towing as yet, but after test driving the Amarok (manual) BT 50 auto, Colorado manual and auto and last weekend the new D.Max. I would suggest you have a drive of the D.Max auto, we had nearly decided on the BT 50,but the Isuzu just seemed that like bit better and it's new auto was much nicer the the Mazda.

I own a manual 2012 ranger. I do not tow a caravan but do tow a 1.5 ton boat.
To say the least it is awesome, has plenty of grunt for cruising and more than enough for safely overtaking whilst pulling a trailer. City wise driving I get between 9 - 11ltrs / 100km. I am known to be lead footed and with this beast it is difficult not to speed.
Have one speeding ticket since buying new car.
I do get 800kms out of a tank 80ltrs. i just returned from the flinders, i have a canopy and were 3/4 full of gear. still managed 800kms out of tank. I am sure whether towing small or large however you drive will depend on economy on any car. There is not a car around which has magical economy.

Hello Jan and Peter,

I have the new Mazda BT-50 Auto XTR and I recently towed my 18' van (1410 kg dry weight) with it over a trip of 700 km. It did it with ease ! The fuel consumption was around 14.5 l/100km since most of the travel was done at 90-95 kph. I used the sports shift mode and I never progressed beyond 5th gear which was around 2100 revs as I recall.

When necessary, I had no difficulty keeping up with highway traffic. For the one vehicle I had to pass, the BT-50 did it without great aplomb. I had a load in the tub as well as the van on behind.

There has been a report of a transmission failure when someone was towing a big van at speed in the tropics. I'm aware that autos have towed vans successfully for a long time and, provided this is done sympathetically, there should not be any premature failure of the transmisson. Both the Ranger and the Mazda have transmission coolers that tap into the engine's cooling system. This works fine. That said, if I was to tow a heavy van on seriously hot days at a goodly speed, I would probably install a secondary transmission cooler.

Cheers,
Netnut

Hi Jan & Peter,
We have owned a Px 3.2 Dual Cab Auto 4X4 for over 6 months now and tow an 18 ft. semi off road shower van ATM 2400 kg.
We have a tray back with Storage bins both under & on tray and carry 300 kg.incl. a ladder rack mounted Kayak.
Power is ample.
Towing no great problem.
Fuel consumption has averaged 15L/100 for over 10K Kms at ave speed 85kph using the recommended (by Ford) sport mode D ( 5th gear top ) and only using Cruise control on level or undulating terrain. Using lower gears manually selected on some hills for both climbing and descending saving fuel and the brakes.

Fuel consumption without van but with abovementioned load = 9.5 L/100k at 100kph ave using normal D mode and cruise.

All good so far eh ?.

But wait there's more !

Computer controlled Alternator - not the way to go Mr Ford.
This critter will not charge Aux. batteries properly - have to fit a Redarc BC/DC 1220 ING. $500 approx.thank you very much. Running with headlights on helps a little.

Rear springs to soft. I fitted heavier #2 wrapped leaves, gave a slight lift, no sag now (cost $ 400 fitted), personally I would not fit Air Bags, chassis integrity could be compromised.
( Chassis rails although larger in dimensions are made of thinner metal than previous model in my opinion ).
Ford doesn't recommend Weight Distribution Hitches for this model which would compromise the Anti Sway system and load sensing systems.

The only other problem I, and some others known to me , encountered is ( and I hope was ) a large parasitic battery voltage drain resulting in a No Start after 3 days of parking.
The computors and all their little friends take a long time to go to sleep after a run and some never sleep. Only one Ford Dealer ,out of three that I had check the systems ,found the problem which was via fuse #60 taking >100+ ma after 5 hours. During the first 20mins after shut down the drain is > 400ma then reduces to approx 200ma for a couple of hours until a light (pardon the pun ) sleep is induced. If leaving vehicle parked for more than a week I would recommend connecting a good multi stage battery charger so you will start especially on a cold winter morning.( I carry a 900amp jump starter as well as good long jump leads ). Blame the new wiring looms with KAM-BUS and Moduls - great stuff for the "Outback" Mr.Ford.

I hope this helps with your choice of a Tow vehicle.

Cheers

Ferreting