Pulled a camper with my BadSas 2.3

[Original Bender]

Absolutely would do it again. Bone stock 2.3, I will ad an upgraded intercooler with up and down/ charge pipes. I think it heat soaks quick when pulling large hills in Wyoming. Boost will hold at 20-21 psi for 5-15 seconds with 91-93 octane but then de-rates to 14-15 for the rest of the hill. It never got hotter than 235° and that was 70 mph and 100° outside temp. If I could just get it to breath better and dissipate heat faster, it may hold boost better. I averaged right at 10 mpg at 65-70 mph.

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[HalfmuleFarmer]

Weight of the camper?

 

[TruckCamper]

Absolutely would do it again. Bone stock 2.3, I will ad an upgraded intercooler with up and down/ charge pipes. I think it heat soaks quick when pulling large hills in Wyoming. Boost will hold at 20-21 psi for 5-15 seconds with 91-93 octane but then de-rates to 14-15 for the rest of the hill. It never got hotter than 235° and that was 70 mph and 100° outside temp. If I could just get it to breath better and dissipate heat faster, it may hold boost better. I averaged right at 10 mpg at 65-70 mph.

Towing with that much boost is a bad plan if you want to keep the engine around long term. Slow down! It's not a race. Towing is much safer under 60mph and better mpg. Hills at 45-50mph won't extend your drive as you'll bypass gas stations and much less strain on the motor. I like to keep sustained boost well under 10psi. I don't like being over 5psi for any length of time.

Intercooler won't fix your problem. We have an upgraded intercooler on our Raptor. Huge waste of money. It heat soaks no different that stock with a slight delay but then takes much longer to cool back off. Maybe this is a good solution for 10 second drag race but worthless for towing or sustained loads.

This is a tiny motor that is high strung. The max power / torque is not designed to be utilized 100% of the time (if you want longevity).

 

[Original Bender]

Weight of the camper?

2900 dry. I had just bags and food, didn’t fill water or even propane as we just drove from Cheyenne to Billings and used an RV park.

 

[Original Bender]

Towing with that much boost is a bad plan if you want to keep the engine around long term. Slow down! It's not a race. Towing is much safer under 60mph and better mpg. Hills at 45-50mph won't extend your drive as you'll bypass gas stations and much less strain on the motor. I like to keep sustained boost well under 10psi. I don't like being over 5psi for any length of time.

Intercooler won't fix your problem. We have an upgraded intercooler on our Raptor. Huge waste of money. It heat soaks no different that stock with a slight delay but then takes much longer to cool back off. Maybe this is a good solution for 10 second drag race but worthless for towing or sustained loads.

This is a tiny motor that is high strung. The max power / torque is not designed to be utilized 100% of the time (if you want longevity).

I will get an intercooler. And water injection at some point. The intercooler with better charge pipes will definitely reduce charge air temps. It doesn’t even need a tune really. Nothing wrong with 65-70 other than fuel mileage.

 

[Thor_1]

This is a tiny motor that is high strung. The max power / torque is not designed to be utilized 100% of the time (if you want longevity).

Exactly why Ford should have used the 2.7 as the base engine. The 2.3 doesn’t belong in the bronco.

 

[Vynull]

Towing with that much boost is a bad plan if you want to keep the engine around long term. Slow down! It's not a race. Towing is much safer under 60mph and better mpg. Hills at 45-50mph won't extend your drive as you'll bypass gas stations and much less strain on the motor. I like to keep sustained boost well under 10psi. I don't like being over 5psi for any length of time.

Intercooler won't fix your problem. We have an upgraded intercooler on our Raptor. Huge waste of money. It heat soaks no different that stock with a slight delay but then takes much longer to cool back off. Maybe this is a good solution for 10 second drag race but worthless for towing or sustained loads.

This is a tiny motor that is high strung. The max power / torque is not designed to be utilized 100% of the time (if you want longevity).

I agree with not stressing the motor for no reason, but disagree with your assessment that this is a tiny, high strung motor. The 2.3 has a longer stroke than the 2.7 (more low end torque) and is designed with a margin of error, like all modern turbocharged engines, that allows it to run extremely close to the detonation threshold for long, long time. The stresses these engines see during development cycles far far exceeds what you could do towing at 65-70. Think full load at peak torque for days on end.

I like being under 5-10 psi solely for gas mileage, but it has nothing to do with my faith in the ability for the engine to handle boost.

 

[Charley]

Okay, I really haven’t towed much of anything. I did own a 2019 Ranger for 5.5 years and spent plenty of time reading about its towing capabilities on the Ranger forum. .
Somewhere back in 2020, 2021 or 2022 there was probably talk of Bronco towing and references to the Ranger. Remember the Ranger for the first few years was strictly 2.3 with 3.73 gears and rated to tow 7,000 lbs.
yes the Bronco has crazy gearing. But the 2.3 has been the same.

So, don’t trash talk the 2.3 (except maybe that stupid oil filter location).

 

[Thor_1]

So, don’t trash talk the 2.3

A 4 cylinder engine doesn’t belong in the Bronco. The base engine should have been the 2.7.

 

[Original Bender]

A 4 cylinder engine doesn’t belong in the Bronco. The base engine should have been the 2.7.

You can keep your wet belt oil pump and two turbos. The 2.3 is a tank. Sure it’s “only” 275 hp, but that’s more than my 1994 5.8 v8 had. I’m glad the 2.3 lives in your head and makes you irrational.

 

[Thor_1]

I’m glad the 2.3 lives in your head and makes you irrational.

Bless your heart. Jealousy isn’t a good luck. Just admit you made a poor choice.
And enjoy your walnut blasting at 100K miles, unless you have a 2025 or newer 4 banger.

 

[23OBX2.7]

You really need a liquid cooled IC for high stress towing. Upgraded aftermarket will be of little help since they take long time to cool off and are meant for staying cool in track conditions with short bursts of acceleration plus, unless Garrett make one for Bronco perfectly matching the turbo and tuning the rest have unknown flow characteristics.

Make sure to use natural gas derived synthetic oil and use gear selection to keep in the max torque power band.

A tune would be immensely helpful along with premium, and at least a dirty side catch can and possibly the Radium allow PVC baffle plate since the stock plastic ones may have boost leaks.

2.3, especially with FP tune is a torque beast don't worry about it just let the turbo cool down.

 

[Original Bender]

Bless your heart. Jealousy isn’t a good luck. Just admit you made a poor choice.
And enjoy your walnut blasting at 100K miles, unless you have a 2025 or newer 4 banger.

laughs in water injection

 

[HighVelocity]

A 4 cylinder engine doesn’t belong in the Bronco. The base engine should have been the 2.7 5.0.

No stupid V6 belongs in anything.

I'll take an inline or V8 engine for any kind of work tasks over a V6 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Towing isn't about raw horsepower or torque. Gearing, brakes and chassis play an even more important role and when you crawl under the Bronco, you'll see it's not meant to be a tow at it's limits.

I tow a 5x10 utility trailer pretty regularly over a few mountain passes with my measly 2.3/7MT. Keep speeds reasonable and stay out of the way of the swingin-dick one-ton diesel bros hauling 40' fifth wheels at 85mph up the mountains and you'll do fine.

@Original Bender does your trailer have brakes? Most under 3500lbs don't come with trailer brakes. I decided to add some to my utility trailer and it helps offload a lot of the braking from the Bronco. I'd recommend it, even if your state doesn't legally require it.

Frontal area of the trailer is important to keep in mind as well. It seems that teardrop probably moves some decent air over it, even though it's taller than the Bronco.

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