Have you ever wondered if a Ford Ranger can pull a horse trailer? Look no more. We´ve got you covered.
This is because while the Ford Ranger is perfectly capable of towing a horse trailer, it won’t be able to tow all horse trailers.
On this page, we are going to walk you through exactly how you would determine whether your Ford Ranger will be able to pull a particular horse trailer.
So, can a Ford Ranger pull a horse trailer? Yes, a Ford Ranger with a towing capacity higher than 4,000 pounds can easily pull a horse trailer with one to max. 3 horses. However, you need to know that the horse trailer will weight around 1,500 lbs and the weight of the Horse should be between 380lbs and 1000lbs.
Table of Contents
How to Determine Whether a Ford Ranger Can Pull a Horse Trailer
In order to work out whether your Ford Ranger will be able to tow a horse trailer, we will need a few pieces of information. There are three areas that we need to get this information from. Let’s take a look.
Your Vehicle
Obviously, your Ford Ranger is going to be the deciding factor in whether you are going to be able to tow a horse trailer or not.
The first piece of information that you need will be the towing capacity for the Ford Ranger. This is likely to be between 3,000lbs and 7,000lbs.
The towing capacity will be dependent on the vehicle that you own. Different model years and trims of the Ford Ranger will have their own specifications. This means that you will need to look into what your vehicle offers.
The second piece of information that you need is the payload capacity for the Ford Ranger. This is the amount of weight that the Ford Ranger is going to be able to hold.
Again, this is information that is going to be different between model years and trims. This means that you will need to do your own research into the vehicle that you own.
Most of the information that you need should be found in the manual supplied with the vehicle. If you don’t have that to hand, then a quick Google search for the model that you own should give you all of the information that you need!
The Horse
This part is pretty simple. You need to know the weight of the horse that you are planning to tow about.
Since you are likely already into your horses, then you will know just how easy it is to get hold of this information.
Therefore, we won’t go into depth on weighing your horse too much. Chances are that you are already weighing your horse on a regular basis anyway.
The Trailer
The final two pieces of information that you need will come from the trailer that you are towing.
The first piece of information will be the weight of the trailer. This is likely to be at least 1000lbs, but horse trailers can get a lot heavier than this.
Thankfully, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to find out the information that you need here.
There will probably be a label somewhere on the trailer that tells you this information. If there isn’t then, once again, a quick Google search will be able to tell you all of the information that you need to know!
The second piece of information will be the hitch weight. This is the amount of weight that the pushing down onto the vehicle hitch when everything is hooked up.
Do bear in mind that the hitch weight on the trailer (this will also be on a label on the trailer) will be the weight of the trailer without a horse in it.
We suggest adding 100lbs to 200lbs to the hitch weight. That way, you will get a rough number for how much weight is going to be pushed down onto your vehicle.
The second piece of information is incredibly important, and a lot of people forget about it.
Can Your Ford Ranger Pull a Horse Trailer?
With that information in mind, we can now work out whether your Ford Ranger will be able to pull your horse trailer.
This is a two-step process. If your vehicle fails at any stage, then you shouldn’t really be pulling the trailer with your Ford Ranger. If you do, then you run the risk of damaging the Ford Ranger. It won’t be a small amount of damage either.
Pulling a trailer even slightly over the weight limit of the Ford Ranger can lead to potentially thousands of dollars in repair bills.
Step 1: Hitch Weight
Your first job is to work out whether the hitch of your Ford Ranger can hold the horse trailer. For this, you will need three pieces of information:
- The payload capacity of the Ford Ranger
- The hitch weight of the trailer
- The amount of weight that you are carrying inside of the vehicle.
It is important that you have a rough idea of how much weight is being carried inside of the vehicle. This includes people and equipment. This is because all of that will have an impact on the payload capacity of the Ford Ranger.
Subtract the weight of the people and equipment inside of the vehicle from the payload capacity of the Ford Ranger.
Finally, remove the hitch weight from that number.
If you end up with a negative number, then you won’t be able to tow the horse trailer unless you remove some weight from the vehicle.
Step 2: The Towing Capacity
This stage is going to be simple.
You need to add up the weight of the horse and the trailer. This is the amount of weight that the vehicle has to be able to tow.
Subtract this number from the towing capacity of the vehicle.
If you end up with a negative number, or the number is very, very close to 0, then your Ford Ranger likely won’t be able to tow the horse trailer. You will likely need a lighter trailer.
Is the Ford Ranger Good for Towing?
Yes, the Ford Ranger is a tremendous vehicle for towing. Since this is a truck, it is designed for moving heavier loads from Point A to Point B. It doesn’t have the greatest tow capacity in the world. However, as we said, it is going to be more than capable of pulling the vast majority of horse trailers.
Since this is a truck, it has been designed with towing in mind. This means that if you buy a Ford Ranger to tow your horse trailer, then it will likely already have a hitch built onto it.
If you are lucky, then it may also have a brake controller and 7-way on the back of the vehicle. This means that you are ready to roll right away!
The Ford Ranger is the Best Midsize Truck and it Isn’t Even Close >> Check out the video below:
The vehicle is going to last a huge amount of time too, even if you are pulling every single day. This is because Ford vehicles have been solidly built.
If you do have any issues with the vehicle, then it should be incredibly easy to grab some spare parts for it too.
Ford vehicles, particularly their trucks, have been designed to stay on the road for as long as possible.
The Ford Ranger is probably going to be best for those that want to tow the smaller horses while having a small amount of equipment loaded up in the truck bed.
Which Ford Ranger is Best for Towing?
The majority of people seem to recommend the 3.2-liter 2019 model of the Ford Ranger. This is despite a 2.0-liter version being launched at the same time.
The 3.2-liter and 2.0-liter versions of the 2019 Ford Ranger are both capable of pulling the same weight. However, the 3-2-liter has a slightly lower payload capacity due to the larger engine.
Despite this, the 3.2-liter vehicle is better. There are fewer gear shifts, and everything seems a whole lot smoother, particularly when you are traversing steep inclines with your vehicle.
If you can, then always aim for that 3-2-liter 2019 Ford Ranger, unless a newer model has been released with the same or larger engine capacity, then go for that!
In the table below you can see some of the best Ford models for towing:
| Year | Model | Towing Capacity (lbs.) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Ford F-450 | 21,200 |
| 2020 | Ford Super Duty F-250 | 20,000 |
| 2019 | Ford F-150 (3.3L Ti-VCT V6) | 7,700 |
| 2019 | Ford F-150 (5.0L Ti-VCT V8) | 11,500 |
| 2021 | F-350 Super Duty | 21,000 |
| 2021 | Ford Expedition | 9,900 |
| 2019 | Ranger SuperCrew® 4×4 | 7,500 |
Can You Drive the Horse Trailer Off-Road?
Not properly off-road, no.
While the Ford Ranger may be able to drive off-road on its own, the horse trailer will not. This is because there are no pöwered wheels. The horse trailer won’t really be able to traverse tricky terrain, as a result.
Perhaps the only way that the horse trailer will work off-road is if you are driving on a flat, grassy surface i.e. into the field where the horse lives.
If there are any slopes, then the horse trailer isn’t going to cut it, sadly. You will have to move the horse elsewhere in order to load them up into the trailer.
Conclusion
Your Ford Ranger will likely be able to tow the vast majority of horse trailers. However, you will need to check the weight of the trailer (including the horse) as well as the towing capacity of your particular Ford Ranger.
Once you have this information, it should be dead simple to work out whether you are able to tow the trailer or not.
References
https://www.akinsford.com/blog/2020-ford-ranger-towing-and-payload-capacities
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