Tow a 29 outlaw with a Bronco?
 

Has anyone towed a 29 outlaw with a ford bronco or something similar? 1/2 ton pickup? I have a 96 Ford Bronco with the 351, air bags in the rear and tow package that I have had since brand new - it's my pride and joy. I do not want to part with it. I'm thinking about a 29 outlaw with 2 big blocks and a steel tri-axle trailer with brakes on all axles. I really don't tow far... a couple of miles usually and twice a year I do a 100 mile trip on pretty flat ground to a lake north of my home. I have towed a 25 outlaw and 24 outlaw with no problems. I know this 29 is a bit over the recommended limit, but I'm hoping I could do it if I'm careful.

The wheelbase is way too short, IMO, to safely tow a 29 Baja. I towed a 23 Cobalt with a 1993 Bronco once.....not pleasant.

The 29 will wag the dog = wheelbase really too short for that weight

Those things don't handle well without a boat pushing you all over the place..no way...

I towed my 1997 29 scarab single engine 3hrs from me with my bronco. It got a little squirly every now and then. If you put trailer sway kit on the trailer you should be okay for the little amount of towing that you do. If you like the bronco i cannot see buying a $40000 vehicle to tow a couple times a year.
And now i tow a 30 ft panther with twin big blocks with an 03 tundra and it tows great with it.

pulling it isn't a problem at all..... But close your eyes and imagine somebody in front of you doing something stupid and having to stand on the brakes hard, there in lies your problem.

I have owned several broncos and currently have a 93. The E4OD trans and 8.8 rear end might not like the abuse. I would try and pick up a cheap 3/4 ton to use as tow rig.

As phragle said, you don't have much of a safety factor for stopping, even with brakes on all three axles. Question - is the actuator hydraulic or electric over hyd? Electric would give you much more control over the braking - especially when you are coasting down a hill and the trailer decides to start swaying. :eek:

I don't think the short 1-mile trips to the local lake will be much of an issue, other than pulling it out on a slippery ramp with 2WD. Have you thought about that?

Most broncos were 4wd. Maybe all. I've never seen a 2wd bronco but I'm not saying they don't exist. We towed my buddy's 19 sea ray with his bronco. Pulling it was the easy part. Stopping not so easy. Slowing down on a curve it actually pushed the a$$ end sideways. Eoh will help but consider the one time they fail. To my knowledge not uncommon for trailer brakes to have issues.

Not sure where I got it in my head that OP has 2WD. Went back and read it and it doesn't say. Either way, stopping will be the big issue. I've had to stand on the brakes while towing more than a few times, and you just neve know when you will wish you had that extra safety factor. I would definitely find a way to tow with a bigger truck for that occasional long road trip, even if you have to borrow or rent something.

the braking issues that every was is talking about. minus a panic stop. a trailer i have towed that has had a good braking system, and i mean working. if i applied the brakes on the truck. i could literally take my foot off the brake and the boat trailer could slow the vehicle to a stop for me relatively quickly.
is that not a common occurence with other trailers?.

Sounds like you are talking about electric brakes or electric over hyd. You need pressure on the actuator to apply regular hyd surge brakes, and that only happens if you put your foot on the brake of the tow vehicle. There is often a lag while it actuates, and the extra downward pressure put on the surge brakes could throw off the balance of a short-wheelbase relative light weight tow vehicle, which would make things unstable.

Case in point - many years ago I towed my 25ish Baja with a 92 Dodge Dakota 2WD club cab. It had the 5.2L V8, so pulling was not much of an issue. I had surge brakes on the trailer, so most of the time I could stop just fine. I was always careful to give myself an extra safety factor with extra following distance when towing. One day on the way to Lake Cumberland, I was on a narrow 2 lane road (Hwy 127) within a few miles of the ramp. It had just started to drizzle lightly, and I had a little Toyota sub compact in front of me. I had oncoming traffic, and briefly took my eyes off the road to look in my side view mirror to make sure my trailer was on my side of the line. When I looked back up, the lady in the Toyota had basically come to a sudden stop to make a left turn into a yard sale - no signal or anything - she just stopped. I hit the brakes, started to skid on the wet road, and had a millisecond to decide whether to cream her or try to steer around her. I took option B, which put me through a 4-foot deep ditch into a gravel parking lot. The guy behind me said that everything - truck, trailer, boat - the whole works - went airborne about 3 feet in the air. Bent the frame on the truck, tore the hitch off, bent the trailer up pretty good, and had to pull the engine and transom assy on the boat to reseal from the impact. But no one was hurt - thankfully. If I would have hit her, pretty sure she would have been killed or seriously injured.

I'm not sure if having a bigger tow rig would have made a big difference in this situation, but it sure couldn't have hurt. I couldn't imagine trying to stop that boat and make that maneuver with a short wheelbase vehicle. And this was just a 25 foot Baja - not a 29 foot boat with twin big blocks.

2WD vs. 4x4 doesn't matter one bit in this use case, except for pulling that thing out of the water on a slippery ramp. (I would never own a 2WD tow vehicle anyhow, but that's a whole separate topic.)

As I and others stated in the other thread with the exact same title; this is not a good idea, including being over the capacities of the SUV and legal specs as well.

Some folks are not clear on how braking works.
Some of the newer tow vehicles have exhaust and transmission braking that will continue to slow a truck/trailer down after the brakes are applied, but the pedal is no longer engaged.
If the above is happening with surge brakes (and no alternative braking in the driveline), the surge brake coupler springs are likely worn out.
Surge brakes only work effectively when the truck and trailer are in a straight line. Turn the wheel ever so slightly and/or get any angle between the two vehicles, and you are going to jack-knife in a hard braking situation.

And any braking system can fail. I've had electric brakes, surge brakes, and EoH brake fail for various reasons since I started towing many moons ago. Even the "best" trailer setup (IMHO), EoH will fail and fail terribly when you crack a brake line which can happen at anytime. You better have a tow vehicle than can handle that. Ask REMEDY here on OSO about loosing the TRUCK brakes on his Ram 2500 Cummins with his 33AT behind him with SURGE brakes. He's damn lucky he had a 6-speed manual transmission.

Wow, how long did it take him to unpucker from that situation? Took me a good six months after my little adventure. :p

He's a commercial airline pilot. He is used to pucker.

LMAO! Glad I don't have to fly anytime soon! :D

I have a 94 bronco(351) that I drive several days a week. I have a 30 concept CC with twin outboards on an aluminum trailer which is likely a lot lighter than the boat in question. I tow my boat with my 4 door long bed 2500 silverado. There is no way I would try towing my Concept with the bronco. My boat tows great with the 2500, but I can tell its back there. Even if you could make the bronco handle the weight towing with that wheel base would never allow it to be very safe. Thats just my opinion. here is an example from just last weekend...

driving down the highway at 60ish mph in the right lane. Come up on a left hand curve going under an overpass. There is a suv in the fast lane beside me with her front bumper at about my trucks rear bumper. Watching my mirrors I notice the suv starts to swerve toward me. I move right to the rumble strip and beyond laying on the horn...luckily there was plenty of shoulder. Remember this is on a decent curve at 60mph. "She" came over a foot into my lane before swerving back into her lane. There is no doubt in my mind had I not been paying attention it would have been one hell of an accident. Anyhow, she proceeded to come past me like nothing happened still looking at her phone. My wife and I are in the truck with our hearts racing. Worked out fine but I fell like a quick swerve like that towing with the short wheel base bronco would have been UGLY!

Rent a bigger truck for the 100 mile trips. It's only twice a year right ?

Buy a rat 2500 to tow the boat and keep the bronco off the road in the winter and keep it nice! I have a crew 4x4 2500hd 8.1 with Allison trans you can buy for $5k if you need it. Will tow that fountain at 80 no problem! I can't see spending big $$$ to buy a truck here in NY and drive it in the winter, or any vehicle period. 4yrs here and they are rotted, 8 years and they are rotted through!

I'll probably put my 8.1L/Allison 2500HD up for sale in the next 2 weeks as well. It has 200K miles and runs great. I'm replacing it with another 8.1L truck that I just stumbled upon.

I'd simply call it a bad idea.
And if the trailer has surge brakes I'd call it a very bad idea.
I friggin hate a surge brakings engagement.
Remember this my Internet friend,
80% plus of accidents happen within 5 miles of your home on the roads your the most comfortable with.
I sure like the sound of that tow rig mentioned earlier, the price is sweet indeed!!!

See ya,
Kelly

Thanks for all the responses. My bronco has a 4 inch lift and I towed my 25 outlaw all over with no problems. I had no issues down big hills or stopping. But I agree with the consensus and I think I'll just have to be happy with my 24 outlaw for now. No biggie, it was a project for 2 1/2 years and I was finally able to enjoy it this year. Thanks for all the comments.

These guy dont know what they`re talking about... you `ll be fiiiiine!!

This looks bigger than a 29 and hes getting along just fine.. see?


http://velvtride.smugmug.com/photos/231136889-L.jpg


Its a BRONCO not a pony!

Awesome picture.

I had a 84 Ford Bronco with a 300 straight 6 that as a kid that i towed all kinds of things i shouldn't have. Alley jumping was fun too. Almost broke my neck on the roof. Took the crappy tires off and put some load range E rocks on it and all sway went away. Still stopped for crap.

I know better now.

I tell you YARD SALES CAN BE LETHAL.

It's the best excuse I know...

that's some funny Chit right there, notice the front window and doors are open to lessen the drag efficiency, allowing max speed and wheelie popping at any time

I would suggest a slight headlight beam adjustment.

park the bronco and get a nice s10 pickup for towing the 29.all these guys with the fancy dually trucks are just wasting their money to be show offs.a s10 with the 4.3 engine has no towing limits.:crazy:

I have a funny story about that Mike. As older kids.

Extra Cab s10. 5 guys. 2.8L 5 spd. 8 Snowmobiles

Yes, didn't end well. It Drove straight into (brakes didn't stop it) a Buddies 4WD Blazer that had a Tranny lock up. It was having issues earlier in trip, thus why everything got loaded into and to the S10.

Some crowbars and screw drivers, the cooling fan got unjammed from the sheet metal...loaded up those two guys and made it to safety.

Young and dumb.....another question on why some of us are still alive.

On of these would be great:

http://content.clearchannel.com/cc-c...1345209962.jpg

What are you guys saying?!?!?!


http://33outlaw.zenfolio.com/img/s8/...39138055-3.jpg

Thats my old 33 Baja!

I'll just leave this here. Minimal squat on the golf cart, and I attribute that to it's Yamaha roots which are close to Toyota.
(No photoshop; that is the golf cart supporting all of the weight on it's frame hitch.)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]530885[/ATTACH]

That golf cart was made for 4 fat guys and clubs. Same as the tongue weight of that trailer.

My 2500 Cummins has a hard time stoppin itself, give my self plenty of room and keep speeds under posted limits.

nice to see so many Bronco brothers on the board :D I drive my 94 daily and tow with it occasionally (light stuff around town) but I have an F350 for bigger stuff. I agree with the masses, get a truck set up for it. I've got bags on mine but its the short wheel base that makes it not great for towing. I have had these things since I could drive (78, 79, 84, 86, 94 and a nice one owner 77) love these things but not for tow'in . . . .

my current 94 I got in a divorce sale, it had not been outside of its garage since 02. owner had a brake issue parked it and bought a new truck, got divorced and had to move/sell everything.


the reason I have mine set up with bags is not so much for towing but these things are great for moving boats around the yard and shop. the natural turning radius makes 'em like a forklift. I have had a number of thirty eight guns behind it but not for much more then a few hundred feet or so :cool: recently I picked up an airport tug used for moving jets around now THATS dangerous short wheel base :D

all Broncos in the US were 4wd except one concept Lightning Bronco built by SVO that was 2wd. I think they may have built some 2wd's for the South America market though.

You guys got nothin on big orange!! 15 hp and NO brakes......


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../GEDC09912.jpg

hey you could make it down to the shop with that no prob :D


let me know if you want to cutom paint that thing to match . . . . the rig to the boat that is . . . . not to the boat to the rig :D

You mean I cant paint the boat neon orange???? and name it the "No Work Zone"

Cool truck Dave I have the same Eddie Bauer but a 90 ,

You only go a few miles to the ramp once a week and 200 miles round trip to the cabin once a year when your girlfriend gets out for a weekend for good behavior though:D:D