Well today I went to help my buddy out. I decided to use my ranger to pull with. I got a 16 foot trailer, and I figured it'd be nice to see how much it could pull. I went there to help him load up some roofing, probably about 2 layers of it onto this whole trailer, anyway he ended up getting it all done before I got there. So we were getting ready to use my ranger to pull it, and begin to lower it on the ground, it was distributed pretty good, but it yanked my bumper down along with my hitch. I believe it was because I put the stock bumper screws back in the front, rather then getting grade 8 bolts for the front, when I bought the back. There is two screws on each side that hold it to the frame, along with the bumper. I did manage to get it fixed, now my bumper looks odd, its not bad though. I got some grade 8's for the front screws, the back grade 8's never gave.

Do you think that was to much weight for my truck? Honestly the jack ass he had to come in my place while I spent the day in his garage getting my hitch and bumper back in place was a real ass hat telling me that no Ford Ranger had business hauling that. I made it polite when I told him that 1500 is no match for what I got at my house that can haul it, but I would like to think my Ranger has plenty of power to pull that trailer, and his truck being a chevy sounded like it was dieing pulling MY trailer..

Hes got coil over and stiffer suspension his truck didn't squat as bad as my ranger did, but it still squatted pretty good. I ridded of those little clips that go over the bumper mount, and the frame. Should of used grade 8's on the front from the get go. Just wondering if now that I got it in place if that is still to much?

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2004 Ford F150 Automatic FX4 SuperCrew 5.4L 3V Triton V8, No Muffler, true dual straight pipes, 3.73 Gears, 18" rims with Wrangler A/T's
White 2004 Ford Ranger XL, Auto, 4.0 SOHC, 4x4 Base Model, 16" Explorer Rims. 3.73 Gears, No muffler(Sold)
White 1997 Ford Expedition XLT 3inch Suspension lift, 38 Firestone M/T's 98 4.6L Police Interceptor high flow injectors, Super 44, brand new rebuilt transmission, with 3.73 gears(Not mine no more)

I pulled 3800 once and also pulled a 26' travel trailer.

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i pulled 3126pds on a dual axle 14 ft trailer yesterday and it did fine

This may of been 5000lbs... Probably right at it.

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2004 Ford F150 Automatic FX4 SuperCrew 5.4L 3V Triton V8, No Muffler, true dual straight pipes, 3.73 Gears, 18" rims with Wrangler A/T's
White 2004 Ford Ranger XL, Auto, 4.0 SOHC, 4x4 Base Model, 16" Explorer Rims. 3.73 Gears, No muffler(Sold)
White 1997 Ford Expedition XLT 3inch Suspension lift, 38 Firestone M/T's 98 4.6L Police Interceptor high flow injectors, Super 44, brand new rebuilt transmission, with 3.73 gears(Not mine no more)

I've pulled over 7000lbs, but don't recommend it. Yeah, you should never use the stock bumper hardware when mounting a hitch. Those bolts and nut clips were never designed to hold more than 200lb tongue weight.

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how does something attached to a hitch receiver cause the bumper to fall off? there not even connected.

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2001 Ranger Edge 4x4 (sold)
2006 F150 Lariat 4x4 (sold)
2007 Explorer XLT (Destroyed by Deer on highway)
2014 Explorer XLT (inherited from parents)

his hitch mounts in the same holes as the bumper brackets or that is how mine is

yeah id like to see this hitch and how it was installed. assuming it was a class III hitch, there is no reason it should have fallen off like that.

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not the bumper mounted ball was it?
I can imagine it falling off for one, and then just being able to put it back. didn't something have to break or strip?

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Sonic Blue 2006 Ranger 4.0L 4x4

Most receiver hitches mount using the same holes as the bumper. So if the bolts break, they both fall.

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When I got my hitch, I pulled it out of the junk yard off a ranger. It is mounted under the frame, and yes the stock screws is what I put back in. Which just screw into some brackets/clip things, it was kind of setup on a fail safe type situation, so that if my hitch did fail it wouldn't bend nothing. When I got the hitch I had to go and buy some grade 8 bolts and nuts for the back portion of the hitch, as there was nothing there but in the that hole, the front portion of the hitch mounts in the same screw holes as part of the bumper. The bumper has mounts to the frame, plus some side mounts that "swivel under pressure rather then bend the bumper off the frame it just simply slides out of place. Its hard to explain because most hitches I've seen are mounted in a different way, up on the side of the frame.

The hitch itself didn't fail, it was the stock bolts that were just screwed in, they failed under the intense pressure of the trailer, had they been grade 8 bolts, and nuts like the back were they wouldn't of failed. The back remained in place and fine.

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2004 Ford F150 Automatic FX4 SuperCrew 5.4L 3V Triton V8, No Muffler, true dual straight pipes, 3.73 Gears, 18" rims with Wrangler A/T's
White 2004 Ford Ranger XL, Auto, 4.0 SOHC, 4x4 Base Model, 16" Explorer Rims. 3.73 Gears, No muffler(Sold)
White 1997 Ford Expedition XLT 3inch Suspension lift, 38 Firestone M/T's 98 4.6L Police Interceptor high flow injectors, Super 44, brand new rebuilt transmission, with 3.73 gears(Not mine no more)

weird. My factory Ford class III receiver that came with my truck is mounted directly to the frame of the truck. it is completely seperate from the bumper.

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2001 Ranger Edge 4x4 (sold)
2006 F150 Lariat 4x4 (sold)
2007 Explorer XLT (Destroyed by Deer on highway)
2014 Explorer XLT (inherited from parents)

i have never seen one like that
X2, mine is the same way

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yeah some mount up on the sides under the bumper bracket and the others mount up on the underside of the frame rails, not touching the bumper brackets which is what i have.

My bumper brackets on both truck mounted to the underside of the frame. Both my class III and class IV hitches have mounted to those same holes on the underside of the frame.

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