Towing with the Bronco

[Thxnn]

Anyone towing a small camper with their Bronco? I'm looking at certain pop ups and Aliners that are hovering around the 1750 lb - 2000 lb mark.

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[Thxnn]

How does the motor hold up with that kind of weight and trans?

 

[cprcubed]

See this thread: Does anyone actually pull a trailer | 2021+ Ford Bronco Sport Forum - Broncosportforum.com
You will probably find some useful info in there, but check out post #41 for some relevant discussion regarding towing at the weights you're thinking about (1.5L will have to work, but I would be more concerned about the transmission). Cheers!

 

[Dennis Kilbride]

I'm towing a 6'6" wide by 10' long 1000-pound steel trailer and a 1000-pound ATV. I drove 460 miles round trip about 3 times with it last year to my cabin. I stayed at 60 mph and the engine and transmission didn't seem to handle any different than the 4 different F150's I've done the same trip with the past 30 years. There wasn't any excessive transmission shifting that I noticed. The tach pretty much stayed at 1700 rpm.

When I do haul something other than the ATV, I weigh everything and the weight on the tongue. Your passengers, your water, your food, your gear, your dog all go against that 2000 pounds your allowed. I've recently looked at small campers too and the Coachman Clipper 9.0 TD 'ESCAPE' listed the weight at 1459 pounds. I think I could get the wife, small dog, change of clothes, and meager supplies for a weekend and that's it. I'm at 2000 pounds. There is no way to beef up the suspension.

 

[Robins21]

We towed my wife's Kawasaki Vulcan 900 custom from southwestern Virginia to southeastern NJ & back with no problems.

 

[GulfCoastBronco]

I towed this sucker from Texas City, Tx to Baltimore, Maryland in 3 days. I felt the Bronco did really well. Even on downhill it maintained cruise control speed. I wish we had the digital cluster screen of transmission temp to monitor but we don’t. I felt it performed well and even maintained good mpg. Stayed between 55-65 most of the trip.

 

[Mark S.]

The only thing I'll add to this discussion is regarding maintenance. Your owner's manual lists a recommended fluid replacement schedule. Towing the maximum allowable weight will place the most strain on all your powertrain components. If you do this often I would closely adhere to the recommended maintenance schedule. That means transmission fluid replacement at 30K miles.

 

[kshaw]

FORScan has a number of options for those towing with their Bronco Sport. I would presume that Ford would activate those if you bought the towing package. Does anyone know how these work?

 

[Legin2000]

I've towed a 1,800 lb teardrop trailer with my Badlands (2.0 engine). I have a tow bar from Uhaul, and a 7-pin connector. I use a Curt Bluetooth brake controller. When towing, I stay around 60 MPH. The Bronco is amazing towing and can get up to speed quite quickly. Of course, gas mileage goes down to 15 MPG from 24. The Badlands has a maximum tow capacity of 2,200 lbs.

 

[Legin2000]

Please take into account, that most camper weights are listed DRY. Once you put water in the tank and add your supplies, you're pulling a few hundred pounds more.

 

[sajohnson]

There can be confusion about the various weight limits. Here is some helpful info from Curt:
https://www.curtmfg.com/towing-capacity

GVWR: Gross vehicle weight rating. The max weight of a vehicle + passengers + cargo..
GCWR: Gross combined weight rating. The max total weight of the vehicle, contents, and trailer.
Towing capacity, in our case, is 2,000 or 2,200 lbs. (BS BL). That seems straight-forward

The GCWR can be as much as the GVWR + the Towing Capacity, but is sometimes less.

For example, our door sticker says, "The total combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 975 pounds."

(The other sticker says, the GVWR is 4,730 lbs. So the curb weight should be approx. 4,730 - 975 = 3,755 lbs.)

Here is some info from Ford:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.vdm.ford.com/content/dam/brand_ford/en_us/brand/cpo/pdf/2022_Ford_Bronco_Sport_Towing_Infct20.pdf

[EDIT: I have no idea why there is an emoji in the URL above. It should be: Info _ Oct20.pdf -- no spaces]

In that PDF they say, "Maximum towing capabilities are for properly equipped vehicles with required equipment and a 150-lb. driver and passenger and vary based on cargo, vehicle configuration, accessories, option content and number of passengers. See label on door jamb for carrying capacity of a specific vehicle. For additional information, see your Ford Dealer."

That is pretty vague. A cynical person might say the wording is intentional. I've never seen language like that (but I don't have a habit of reading a variety of owners manuals). For example, for our RV, built on a Sprinter cab-chassis, the GVWR is 11,030 lbs.; the max trailer weight is 4,400 lbs.; and the GCWR is 15,250 -- slightly less than the 11,030 and 4,400 combined (15,430).

I hope I'm interpreting Ford's instructions incorrectly, because otherwise there are likely a lot of Bronco Sports running around significantly overweight. For example, if (as it seems) the 2,000/2,200 lb. tow rating is based on having only 300 lbs. in the vehicle, but owners are loading it based on the 975 lb. limit, they might be almost 700 lbs. over. Even if they know to deduct the tongue weight, they might be ~500 lbs. over.

 

[ESBadlands]

 

[NMhunter]

My guess is that they mean tongue weight when they are talking about the weight in the vehicle. I believe my badlands is only rated for 220 lb. tongue weight. For a trailer to track without sway, you need at least 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue. Depending on how the trailer is loaded, you could easily overload the hitch.

Legin2000 is correct about dry weight. Once you load your trailer for camping, it is much heavier than the listed weight.

 

[Mark S.]

There is a max vehicle weight, a max trailer weight, and a max combined weight. You shouldn't exceed any of those max weights.

 

[sajohnson]

There is a max vehicle weight, a max trailer weight, and a max combined weight. You shouldn't exceed any of those max weights.

Exactly.

I'm still curious about this, from Ford:

In that PDF they say, "Maximum towing capabilities are for properly equipped vehicles with required equipment and a 150-lb. driver and passenger and vary based on cargo, vehicle configuration, accessories, option content and number of passengers. See label on door jamb for carrying capacity of a specific vehicle. For additional information, see your Ford Dealer."

Ford seems to be saying that the 2,000 or 2,200 lb. towing capacity is based on having ONLY "a 150-lb. driver and passenger" in the vehicle -- NOT the 975 lb. payload listed on the sticker on the B pillar.

If so, that's a big difference. How many owners actually weigh their BS and trailer to confirm they are under the limits? No doubt many just throw a bunch of cargo in the back, along with 2-4 passengers, maybe more stuff in the trailer, and call it good. VERY few owners will have a max of 300 lbs. in the BS. Even conscientious owners might reasonably assume they can have up to a 975 lb. payload (including the trailer tongue weight).

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