Wanting to trade in Ford Raptor

[Jeep-A-Kneez]

Yup, don't downgrade your equipment here, nothing like the piece of mind knowing that ya don't have to worry about the capabilities of your tow vehicle. And nothing like the cab space of a full size truck, the JT sucks in this department, but it's a little truck and it's suppose too.

Though they can be tough to find, you may consider a full size JT alternative in a Ram Power Wagon or a Ford F250 with the Tremor package. Like the Gladiator, both have solid front axles, off road capabilities, plenty of aftermarket goodies for customizing, cost more than they are worth, get shitty fuel mileage, insurance is through the roof, etc.

Hey, hold-up!! Aside from the solid front axle, you're already there with your Raptor!!!

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[Banjo]

All great advice and points to consider. Much apprieciated! The Raptor is fun with many offroad capapbilities (of course no desert running here in the Northeast) so maybe save $$$ for an older Jeep that can I can play with on the weekends. February is the big camping show. After a couple of draft beers maybe I can talk my wife into getting a smaller camper. Lol. We honestly don't need this big of a camper that mostly sits in our driveway. Will see!

 

[Gren71]

Thank you for sharing your photos and experience towing with your JT max tow. Did you add anything such as air bags to lessen any squatting? Great pics of your JT and TT. The toughest part for me is I only tow TT 3 - 5 times per year so it's hard justifying keeping the raptor just for towing purposes. But I still know I need to be safe.

I have air bags but I dont use them when towing my TT. I spent a good half day dialing in my WDH. I do have the sumo springs bump stops. They sit a little off from contacting when the travel trailer is attached. They make a very big difference in controlling any excessive bounce.

you mentioned wanting to do a 2 inch lift. If you change out the max two springs, it will be an entirely different experience. I actually have the iron rock off-road 2 inch spacers on my truck. I wanted a bit of lift, but didn’t wanna sacrifice the springs or the stock rake. A lot of guys level their trucks out and wonder why it squats like a pooping dog under load.

I also keep an original tire size on my gladiator. I’ve read before that you lose tow capacity in relation to the distance Increase from your stock tire size. Whether that’s true or not I’m no expert, but I can say having towed with larger tires and then went back down to original size… It pulls better with the original size tires.

i will reiterate though that ive never pulled with a full sized truck. So legitimate ignorance plays into my experience. From March to November i tow every 2-3 weeks for an average of 100-200 miles each way. I take my wife, two kids, and two dogs all in the JT. The pups go in the bed with a bed cover and the humans in the cab. We all fit comfortably at the moment. Since my boys are 8 & 3 its an easy fit. When they get older im sure ill need more room.

 

[AHenry014]

I went from a '13 F150 SCREW to the gladiator. The gladiator is great in a lot of ways, but towing and interior space/functionality is not it. I certainly wouldnt tow your trailer comfortably with one, perhaps not even a smaller one thats better suited for the gladiator. My JTR has "35's" on it and its constantly shifting on the highway and while traversing our hilly backroads (yes its calibrated). Thats not towing. I towed my box trailer loaded to about 4-5k pounds and the Jeep did it, but I felt that it struggled. My F150 would have been way happier with the same load. Keep the Raptor, get a TJ for a play thing (watch out for frame rot).

Along these lines, the wife has grown to dislike the gladiator. The F150 was our go to road trip and family hauling vehicle. The gladiator does both jobs, but not nearly as well as the F150 did. I do really like the gladiator, but I also agree with her. I promised to be back into a crew cab full size by next winter. Sigh.

Ill throw this out there. I live an hour from Chicopee. Should you feel inclined, you are welcome to bring your trailer, hitch up and go for a drive. My Rubicon has 4.10's, so it will give you a good indication of towing performance from a max tow. In return, bring some cold snacks we can enjoy!

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

Really generous offer by OHenry014, that would give you the best possible perspective on the topic. Otherwise I’m totally inclined to agree with everyone else. You have lots of towing capability with the Raptor, you’ll be dropping down to a less capable tow platform that will struggle in comparison. I love my JT but only bought it after I decided to leave my boat at the marina year round. When I was towing regularly I worked my way through several F150s and eventually an F250 diesel.

 

[Uparms]

Do it. Get a Max Tow. Try it. It will work fine. You are only 2-3 times a year at 200-mile range. You will probably find you can enjoy a much longer trip.

Also note, if you are not happy after 1-2 years, you can change the tow vehicle again.

If you're not in a hurry, you might wait till mid-late 2023 new and see if they announce the new motor for 2024.

 

[Rufus]

Crazy! I just went through almost exactly what you are asking. I had a 2019 Raptor SCAB that I used to tow a 21 ft, 4,500 lb TT with. This summer it started getting some odd gremlins, then the cam phaser issue, then the valve train started going out on it. Only had 45k miles and was still under warrantee but I was pissed at how much time it spent at the dealer and just didn't trust it anymore. I loved that truck. Too bad Ford puts that piece of dogshit motor in them. Anyway....

About 2 months ago I traded it in on a Gladiator Mojave. I too was concerned about the towing ability but had a backup plan if it sucked. I went on a 500 mile trip with it and the TT a few weeks ago and when I came back we executed the backup plan and now there is also a Ram 1500 sitting in the driveway. I won't say the Gladiator sucks at towing because it doesn't! It does great at all but one thing. HILLS!!! If we lived in the Midwest or TX or FL it would be a just fine tow rig for my TT but we don't. I live up in the mountains in AZ. Bottom line is that it just doesn't have enough nuts for dragging that much weight up steep, long grades. It does it but it screams along at 5,500 and the oil and coolant temps climb through the roof. It just doesn't seem good for the truck. I will still do it for a few short trips occasionally when I am hunting and need both the Jeep and the TT but for everything else I will wake up the hemi.

Sounds to me like you need a TJ to play around with or a smaller TT.

 

[AHenry014]

Crazy! I just went through almost exactly what you are asking. I had a 2019 Raptor SCAB that I used to tow a 21 ft, 4,500 lb TT with. This summer it started getting some odd gremlins, then the cam phaser issue, then the valve train started going out on it. Only had 45k miles and was still under warrantee but I was pissed at how much time it spent at the dealer and just didn't trust it anymore. I loved that truck. Too bad Ford puts that piece of dogshit motor in them. Anyway....

About 2 months ago I traded it in on a Gladiator Mojave. I too was concerned about the towing ability but had a backup plan if it sucked. I went on a 500 mile trip with it and the TT a few weeks ago and when I came back we executed the backup plan and now there is also a Ram 1500 sitting in the driveway. I won't say the Gladiator sucks at towing because it doesn't! It does great at all but one thing. HILLS!!! If we lived in the Midwest or TX or FL it would be a just fine tow rig for my TT but we don't. I live up in the mountains in AZ. Bottom line is that it just doesn't have enough nuts for dragging that much weight up steep, long grades. It does it but it screams along at 5,500 and the oil and coolant temps climb through the roof. It just doesn't seem good for the truck. I will still do it for a few short trips occasionally when I am hunting and need both the Jeep and the TT but for everything else I will wake up the hemi.

Sounds to me like you need a TJ to play around with or a smaller TT.

Part of the reason I got rid of my F150 was my lack of confidence in its reliability. My truck had the 3.5 ecoboost. Got it with 64k miles on it and by 71k miles I had the front of the engine torn apart doing the chain/phasers/guides/etc. The truck never provided the peace of mind I thought it should have so I traded it for my Jeep with 115k on it. It really is too bad that Ford cant seem to nail down a reliable engine, because other than some rust starting (it was 9 years old after all), it was a really nice truck. I plan to enjoy the Gladiator for this coming summer and expect it will be traded for a Ram 1500. The interior space makes more sense for my family than having something I can take the doors and top off of.

 

[Banjo]

If I did decide to get smaller trailer what max weight would you suggest if I decided to get with Sort JT with max tow or Rubicon JT? OHenry014 that is generous of you to offer. Might take you up on that offer (if we decide not to get smaller camper)because that would be ideal to test it out. Of course cold snacks are a must! I’m really appreciating everybody’s input.

 

[exfil offroad]

Hi there. I'm new to forum but not new to owning Jeeps. I currently own a 2019 Ford Raptor SCAB. I currently tow a Riverside Retro Camper 27' 10" long with dry weight of 4800 pounds. The farthest we tow TT is 150 - 200 miles. I live in the Northeast. I'm really missing owning and driving a Jeep. I've owned both a JK Wrangler and JL Wrangler. But then me and my wife got into camping. I used to tow 2000 lb 15' camper with JL (had 2" mopar lift with 35" tires) with no issues except when climbing up inclines where 3.6 motor would struggle a bit but nothing crazy. We wanted a bigger camper and I was wanting a Ford Raptor. I bought the Raptor (6000 lb towing capacity with 1000 lb payload) and upgraded to current 4800 lb Travel Trailer mentioned earlier. It tows TT no problem. I use WDH as well. I've been researching many forums and youtube videos for weeks about towing experiences with their Gladiator. It seems the Sport JT with max tow pkg would be best but would it work for my current TT? I would more than likely want nothing more than 2" lift with slightly bigger tires. It's just me, my wife and cargo. The JT Sport is listed as capable of towing more weight and higher payload than my Raptor, but the Raptor is much wider. Not sure if this matters. I really don't want to downsize TT but I have thought about it if I can get a Gladiator. Wife doesn't want to downsize camper. As they say, "Happy wife, happy life". But I'm bored with Raptor and figure I will get best of both worlds with Gladiator. What are your thoughts? Suggestions? Expert advice. Any help is much appreciated.

Im not gonna be helpful, instead ill just suggest you do what this guy does... 3,500 max tow rating with 1550 lb can-am maverick, 1400 lb polaris, unknown quad on the back (400-600)., plus the 6-800 pound trailer. I think you can pull whatever you want, YOLO, YODO.

 

[MrJeep]

2-3x per year 150-200 mi? So 600 total miles towing per year?
That's a no brainer yes. I do exactly that in my Overland towing near the max 6000 with probably somewhat less frontal area. I would argue you don't even need max tow. For as little towing as you do, you can run it up to the limit I would think.
Whenever I pull into a Jeep event (I tow my TJ) people ask how it does. I always say "great in all respects, especially braking, but you aren't going to win any races up hills!" That said, I'm never holding up traffic or anything.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

2-3x per year 150-200 mi? So 600 total miles towing per year?
That's a no brainer yes. I do exactly that in my Overland towing near the max 6000 with probably somewhat less frontal area. I would argue you don't even need max tow. For as little towing as you do, you can run it up to the limit I would think.
Whenever I pull into a Jeep event (I tow my TJ) people ask how it does. I always say "great in all respects, especially braking, but you aren't going to win any races up hills!" That said, I'm never holding up traffic or anything.

When I was dropping my boat off at winter storage, I chatted with a guy that came in with a 22-24' pontoon towed by a Gladiator. It was a tritoon with a bigger motor, so about 5k lbs. I asked him how it did. He said it was terrible and he'd never pull it again with it.

Maybe he was used to towing with bigger trucks, but I was a little surprised he said it was terrible.

 

[MrJeep]

When I was dropping my boat off at winter storage, I chatted with a guy that came in with a 22-24' pontoon

I would contend that long, high volume, low weight pontoon boats are a whole nother animal for towing.

 

[Banjo]

Here is my current set up. Only 25,000 miles on Raptor so I think I could get decent trade in. Like I mentioned Probably 2000 miles on camper so I’m basically keeping Raptor to tow camper 3 times per year. Loved the Raptor but love Jeeps even more.

 

[MrJeep]

You are obviously going to have to get a red JT!

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