I have never flat towed before so hopefully I can get some advice. I have an 05 f-150 extended cab 5.4 auto with 3.73 gears and a limited slip. I am looking to flat tow my off-road truck, a 78 bronco/truck thing that weighs in at about 5300 pounds. What should I expect and what should I watch out for? thanks for the help.

 

Are you are asking 'how' your F150 is going to do flat towing? Or are you asking 'how' you flat tow the Bronco?

IMO, on either question, your truck will have no problems pulling the Bronco's weight. It's stopping that might get interesting.... If you just rely on the trucks brakes to stop it with the additional #5300 then you will be surprised at the results! You really should look into getting some sort of 'brake assist' gizmo that will work the Bronco's own brakes in addition to the trucks. I know people with motorhomes that tow along a vehicle will have a thing called a 'brake buddy' or something like that.... They are kinda spendy, so I don't know if that's an answer for you (it's a box thing that mounts in the towed vehcle and it pushes the brake pedal when you want to stop) ..... If it's just a one time thing, then you could probably get away with it as long as you keep LOTS of space between you and traffic ahead and brake about 3 times sooner then you normally would......

For flat towing a 4x4 with locking hubs and a trans case that you can shift into N it's pretty much you unlock the hubs of course. For an automatic, you put the TC in N and the trans in P (park). For a manual, it's N for the TC and N for the trans.

This is kinda generic, but that's the way "most" of them would work.... On the newer 4x4 with electronic TC's, auto hubs and the like, it's a bit more complicated, but you don't really have that issue with a '78 Bronco (I bet that's a pretty cool beast!!) I really like that generation of Ford trucks....

Good luck!

Mitch

 

thanks for the info. I do know the 150 will tow it, I borrowed a friends trailer and it pulled just fine. I won't be able to get the trailer too much more though, thats why i'm trying to get more info on flat towing. Are there any other ways to get braking assistance? The areas I go wheeling to are at least 50 miles away

 

Though this may not apply to you (no idea where you are geographically), CA requires that any vehicle with any tires directly touching public motorways be fully registered and street legal.

I found this out the hard way while towing my race car to the track with the lady's Xterra and a tow dolly. Luckily, I was able to talk the judge out of the $2000 no cat ticket...

 

You'll be fine towing and stopping with that combo. Just give yourself enough time to stop given the added weight. Adding a brake controller would be more effort than needed. I towed a '74Bronco with a '95 Camaro 1000+ miles with no brake assist. These trucks will tow 6-7000lbs. before you need assistance. Good luck...