Tow Report - 2 Door Manual Base Sasquatch

[mike8675309]

My bronco arrived near the end of May 2022 and today I needed to pull a U-haul trailer to help move boxes from storage into my mom's new apartment.

I had the Ford Accessories tow receiver and 4-pin wiring installed by the dealer when I picked up my vehicle.

Prior to picking up the 6x12 trailer at Uhaul I needed to get a new hitch, as the one I have was just a 2" drop hitch, and with the Sasquatch and the U-haul trailer, I needed a lower one.

I measured the distance between the top of the receiver and the ground, which is 22 inches.

U-haul sets their trailers up to work best with 18.25" to 18.75" height.

22 - 18 = 4" So ideally I would want a 3.75 or 3.5 drop. Closest I could find was a 3.25" drop which is what I picked up and installed a new 2" ball.

This drop gave enough room for them to hook the trailer up with the rear-mounted spare tire. Less of a drop and it wouldn't have fit.

Overall it fit ok when empty, and was a little better when loaded. Most of the time and miles are driven were with the trailer empty. Only a handful of miles were driven with it fully loaded. My bronco gets around 19.8mpg regularly. On this run, it averages 17.3.

The route included a number of rolling hills (not steep, but still there) and the 4cylinider turbo engine struggled with the load at low engine rpms. I.e. 56mph normally I'll have it in 6th, but with the trailer, 6th lugged too much so I left it in 5th.

I won't say you don't know the trailer is there. Obviously, a trailer that size will be felt in a 2door bronco. But it pulled well, the surge brakes just worked, and I never felt like I was overworking the truck. Not there wasn't much wind during my drive.

Overall it went well, and gives me some confidence in the towing. This is the main type of use I will have for the hitch. Pulling a trailer for helping move, or hauling yard materials around, moving a lawnmower or whatever. Once I build a camping trailer then I'll be doing that. Though this is likely one of the heaviest trailers I'll ever pull. Empty it was pretty heavy (1,920lbs)

p.s. the bronco is filthy right now after a week of driving back and forth to work in the rain. Yet in the direct sun, it still looks really good in photos.

Empty Photo

Loaded photo

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[Bronco1971]

Thanks for the write up Mike. Too bad the trailer didn't come in a matching color.

 

[mike8675309]

Thanks for the write up Mike. Too bad the trailer didn't come in a matching color.

Yeah, when I build a trailer it will match or maybe do it white, and have it wrapped with a color design that aligns with the look of the bronco.

 

[BroncoRespect]

My bronco arrived near the end of May 2022 and today I needed to pull a U-haul trailer to help move boxes from storage into my mom's new apartment.

I had the Ford Accessories tow receiver and 4-pin wiring installed by the dealer when I picked up my vehicle.

Prior to picking up the 6x12 trailer at Uhaul I needed to get a new hitch, as the one I have was just a 2" drop hitch, and with the Sasquatch and the U-haul trailer, I needed a lower one.

I measured the distance between the top of the receiver and the ground, which is 22 inches.

U-haul sets their trailers up to work best with 18.25" to 18.75" height.

22 - 18 = 4" So ideally I would want a 3.75 or 3.5 drop. Closest I could find was a 3.25" drop which is what I picked up and installed a new 2" ball.

This drop gave enough room for them to hook the trailer up with the rear-mounted spare tire. Less of a drop and it wouldn't have fit.

Overall it fit ok when empty, and was a little better when loaded. Most of the time and miles are driven were with the trailer empty. Only a handful of miles were driven with it fully loaded. My bronco gets around 19.8mpg regularly. On this run, it averages 17.3.

The route included a number of rolling hills (not steep, but still there) and the 4cylinider turbo engine struggled with the load at low engine rpms. I.e. 56mph normally I'll have it in 6th, but with the trailer, 6th lugged too much so I left it in 5th.

I won't say you don't know the trailer is there. Obviously, a trailer that size will be felt in a 2door bronco. But it pulled well, the surge brakes just worked, and I never felt like I was overworking the truck. Not there wasn't much wind during my drive.

Overall it went well, and gives me some confidence in the towing. This is the main type of use I will have for the hitch. Pulling a trailer for helping move, or hauling yard materials around, moving a lawnmower or whatever. Once I build a camping trailer then I'll be doing that. Though this is likely one of the heaviest trailers I'll ever pull. Empty it was pretty heavy (1,920lbs)

p.s. the bronco is filthy right now after a week of driving back and forth to work in the rain. Yet in the direct sun, it still looks really good in photos.

Empty Photo

Loaded photo

Looks great!

 

[JT58Bronc]

Thanks for the write up. It's good to know the Bronco will pull something that big- and a 2 door at that. I have a 2 door as well- 2.7 Basesquatch. So far my only intention is to maybe pull a small 4 X 8 foldable trailer with Paddle Boards or Kayaks on it- in lieu of a roof rack. But you never know when I might have to rent a U Haul trailer to move myself or someone in the family.

 

[Arrowbear Rider]

Good to see the 2 door can do well with a 6x12 trailer, I've pulled more than a few of that size U-haul's with my Tacoma (2002, V6 5 sp manual) and having to downshift one gear seems pretty reasonable to me. The Tacoma was rated to pull more weight but the fact that you pulled close to the Bronco's limit with no problems and that long with a 2 door is great.

I suspect I'd see an improvement with the Bronco's engine grunt (up to it's limit) to the Tacoma because of the overall power difference. And, the fuel economy dropped way more than 2.5 MPG in my Tacoma when pulling a trailer of that size and weight.

 

[mike8675309]

I suspect I'd see an improvement with the Bronco's engine grunt (up to it's limit) to the Tacoma because of the overall power difference. And, the fuel economy dropped way more than 2.5 MPG in my Tacoma when pulling a trailer of that size and weight.

The issue with the 6th gear comes down to the ratios and tire sizes. It put the engine into a RPM spot that is outside its torque curve and not enough exhaust was created to let the turbo help as much. as if it was another 300 or 400 rpm. It was that close.

The V6 with all the same ratios would likely do better due to wider torque curve into the lower rpm's but you can't get that with the manual.

Funny thing, I used to have a 93 Thunderbird SC with a 5-speed and a built block and a 2-liter screw blower on it making over 400ft/lbs from 900 to 6200rpm. It's just funny that my current engine barely has more displacement than the supercharger I used on my past 3.8l v6.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

When I am towing my boat with my JK, I am definitely running a gear lower to keep the RPMs in the 3000+ range.

So yeah, makes sense.

And dirty or not, that is a nice looking Bronco!

 

[bluesun68]

I don't recall on the bronco but a sport mode button will drop the gear for you. Another consideration is if you keep your rpms's low and go up a hill the transmission might not be getting enough cooling. Not sure if it's true of this vehicle, but have smelled that with others.

 

[Arrowbear Rider]

I don't recall on the bronco but a sport mode button will drop the gear for you. Another consideration is if you keep your rpms's low and go up a hill the transmission might not be getting enough cooling. Not sure if it's true of this vehicle, but have smelled that with others.

Not on a manual.

 

[Techun]

Definitely avoid high loads and low rpm with a turbocharged engine.

 

[gwp]

IMHO, you really don’t want or need 6’th unless your doing over 60. In my 2 door Bad Man Squatch I typically run in 5’th up to about 65, maybe a tad lower if the road is pancake flat. Not towing just driving.

Ford suggests 2 to 3K rpm is the efficiency sweet spot, your preference may vary of course.

From my personal perspective the engine is useless under 2K rpm, unless crawling in low.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Ford suggests 2 to 3K rpm is the efficiency sweet spot, your preference may vary of course.

From my personal perspective the engine is useless under 2K rpm, unless crawling in low.

Totally agree with 6th being useless under 60/65mph, even in stock form. I can absolutely see 6th being useless while towing a box trailer, or any trailer for that matter. It is just too tall of a gear. I'd bet the 2.7 would struggle if it were locked into top gear.

As I recall, my base 30" tires and 4.46 gears (manual) ran about 2500 rpm @78mph in 6th.

Now, with the 35's, I can't use 6th at all, it puts the motor into boost and fuel mileage plummets.
78 mph in 5th on 35's is around 2700rpm and my mileage is actually pretty close to stock, once corrected for speedometer error.

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