Flat Tow Bronco Raptor - what do you all think?

[broncoraptor87]

Hi everyone,

I just finished setting up my 2024 Bronco Raptor for flat towing and also made sure all the Bronco software is up to date.

But, I can't quite shake the feeling that the transmission will burn up (even though I will follow the ford manual flat towing steps exactly and have a constant battery charge).

What do you all think?
1. Go for it
OR
2. Wait another 6 months before my first flat tow, to give Ford some more time to fix the flat towing mode.

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[73Corvetteman]

Hi everyone,

I just finished setting up my 2024 Bronco Raptor for flat towing and also made sure all the Bronco software is up to date.

But, I can't quite shake the feeling that the transmission will burn up (even though I will follow the ford manual flat towing steps exactly and have a constant battery charge).

What do you all think?
1. Go for it
OR
2. Wait another 6 months before my first flat tow, to give Ford some more time to fix the flat towing mode.

I don't believe ford is working on a fix for this issue. Their fix is to blame owner. They haven't acknowledged there is an issue at this point that I'm aware of.
I decided to go for it. Flat towing capability is part of the reason I bought the bronco. It sucks we have to worry about it.
We just got back from a 5000 mile trip. In and out of neutral tow around 20 times. Had no issues. Doesn't mean I won't have down the road. I can't trailer it because of weight limit on motorhome so other than sell it I really don't have any other options.
So if you can stomach possibly having to pay ford $10,000 for a new transfer case and transmission go for it. I think the probability for failure is low if you use a checklist and verify the process everytime. At least that's what I decided.

 

[broncoraptor87]

Hi Duane, Thank you very much for a full response with real life examples. I am the same as well, that I can't trailer due to the weight limit. Hope you had a great road trip!

 

[Smocaine]

I wouldn't hold out hope for Ford to drop a fix. They have steadfastly refused to acknowledge that there is a problem, every single time. The failures at least seem to be happening in a consistent way - you might be able to get some temp sensors for your trans/t.case or p.brake. Might allow you to stop before the damage is catastrophic.

Ford's response to these issues has been incredibly disappointing. Two middle fingers and two asscheeks to the customer.

 

[broncoraptor87]

Thank you, Smocaine. Agree, what a pain Ford is being on this one!

 

[Skip]

Over 4500 miles towing so far. Was in Nashville last week and I was one of three there towing my Bronco. Noticed six more on i81 on my way back. More people towing, hope that’s a good sign. I just cross my fingers and video setting neutral tow. Good luck.

 

[Iowa Hawkeye]

We have been towing our Bronco for about 6000 miles without issues and before that several F150's. If you do any research, there were also issues with the F150, I'm a strong believer in running a charge line from your coach to the Bronco battery. I think any voltage loss in your Bronco causes the computer to lose programing.

 

[Travler]

I I have a 2021 with close to 40,000 miles on it I have towed it with out any issues since it was new probably around 20,000 miles been coast to coast several times

 

[Bill K]

I too have flat towed my Big Bend with automatic trans around 4600 miles thus far over about 6 weeks total. I ran a charge line to the Bronco - nothing fancy, just a 12 gg wire with an auto resetting circuit breaker in between. I originally ran this due to concerns about the draw from my tow brake system, but with all of the swirl around flat tow failures am glad I did to potentially address the computer losing its mind. I usually verify it's working by measuring the Bronco battery voltage before I engage flat tow and after when the motor home is charging it.

I also have a good laminated checklist that I use every time that includes the copied instructions from the owner's manual (I find this very helpful since I don't flat tow all the time, but it becomes less necessary the more I do it on the road).

One other potentially useful piece of advice is to engage and disengage flat tow on the most level surface you can find - seems kinda obvious but you never know. I believe this will likely nullify the false parking brake alerts I have experienced sometimes when disengaging, but it's only a guess at this point...

Good luck.

 

[alzito]

Hi everyone,

I just finished setting up my 2024 Bronco Raptor for flat towing and also made sure all the Bronco software is up to date.

But, I can't quite shake the feeling that the transmission will burn up (even though I will follow the ford manual flat towing steps exactly and have a constant battery charge).

What do you all think?
1. Go for it
OR
2. Wait another 6 months before my first flat tow, to give Ford some more time to fix the flat towing mode.

Be sure to have all updates and I would put a top charge on the Bronco battery before the trip. If you have power going to the Bronco battery you should not have an issue. One of the issues was caused by Bronco going “to sleep” to preserve battery, when it did/does that it knocked the transfer case out of flat tow mode. Supposedly later software addresses this but is seems impossible to get a detailed list of each software update so it’s anyone’s guess of what they have done or not. So, for me, good practice will be to first be sure it’s in flat tow mode, second start with a topped off battery, third have power from towing vehicle to Bronco to keep charge on The Bronco battery.

This would be so much easier and fail safe with a manual/mechanical shift override to the xfr case IMHO.

 

[Travler]

Those are good procedures to follow, I also put a charge wire on and do the same procedure

 

[73Corvetteman]

Be sure to have all updates and I would put a top charge on the Bronco battery before the trip. If you have power going to the Bronco battery you should not have an issue. One of the issues was caused by Bronco going “to sleep” to preserve battery, when it did/does that it knocked the transfer case out of flat tow mode. Supposedly later software addresses this but is seems impossible to get a detailed list of each software update so it’s anyone’s guess of what they have done or not. So, for me, good practice will be to first be sure it’s in flat tow mode, second start with a topped off battery, third have power from towing vehicle to Bronco to keep charge on The Bronco battery.

This would be so much easier and fail safe with a manual/mechanical shift override to the xfr case IMHO.

Curious where you got info that Bronco "going to sleep" takes it out of flat tow. I have not heard that yet. The only issue I know of due to "going to sleep" was the EBB system problem that they attempted to address with update in January of this year. As far as I know Ford has not acknowledged there is a problem with flat tow mode and are denying warranty coverage as such. If they actually did address the problem I haven't heard about it and I have been monitoring it very closely since I found out about issue this past February.

 

[Tilzbow]

I’ve towed more than 12,000 miles which includes putting the Bronco into and out of flat tow mode 75+ times. Zero issues so far so I say go for it!

As others have mentioned I have a charge line between the motorhome and the Bronco and I have a step by step list printed directly from the owner‘s manual. As far as that list goes, I create a new one before every trip by looking up the latest version of the owner’s manual on Ford’s website and printing the relevant pages. I do this just in case Ford did a software update I wasn’t aware of and/or the process to put into and take out of flat tow mode was changed.

 

[Bsenecal]

I’ve towed more than 12,000 miles which includes putting the Bronco into and out of flat tow mode 75+ times. Zero issues so far so I say go for it!

As others have mentioned I have a charge line between the motorhome and the Bronco and I have a step by step list printed directly from the owner‘s manual. As far as that list goes, I create a new one before every trip by looking up the latest version of the owner’s manual on Ford’s website and printing the relevant pages. I do this just in case Ford did a software update I wasn’t aware of and/or the process to put into and take out of flat tow mode was changed.

Great review, have you noticed if Ford has ever made any changes?
We plan to finish setting ours up to flat tow in the spring and I have been reading all the posts to educate myself.
Thank you.
Brian

 

[Tilzbow]

Great review, have you noticed if Ford has ever made any changes?
We plan to finish setting ours up to flat tow in the spring and I have been reading all the posts to educate myself.
Thank you.
Brian

I honestly can’t say for sure but I think I remember they did make a minor change on the list I printed in April this year, compared to the previous year’s procedure. That said if I’m working from a printed list, or if I write things down, I tend to not commit those things to memory but I remember thinking I was glad I reprinted it.

I will add to my first post that I always hear the Bronco shift into and out of flat tow mode if I do the steps properly and I always work through the procedure with the motorhome‘s engine not running and the Bronco‘s climate control and stereo shut off so I can hear this happen. Another key is to not set the parking brake after pulling the Bronco into position behind the RV and to make sure you execute the last step and shut off the accessories but pressing the Bronco’s start button.

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