I'll be down sizing bigly on my pickup from the F350 to a Ranger. I also have to down size my camper to one that weighs around 6500lbs~7K when loaded.
I won't be downsizing the camper until early spring, sometime in late Feb to late March and can not trade the F350 in until I trade the 5th wheel camper in first.
Question is what have the wait times been on previous years for a Ranger XLT trim with the 2.7l Eng. I kind of want it to be at least 6-7 month wait time and I'll order it probably the beginning of Nov. But if they spit them out too quickly( I know they're not known for getting things done too quickly) then I wont have ample time for getting the camper exchanged.
I know certain things held up production the f-series trucks and will be ordering this one with some of those things like spray in bedliner so that should help with the slow down but maybe I should wait longer to order it to begin with, say maybe beginning of December. Don't want to wait too late either, want to take the ranger out with the new camper before too late in the season.
Btw I had a 1986 ranger that remains one of my favorite pickups that I've owned, I hope the new ones can hold a candle to that one.
Also does anyone else tow a camper this size with a ranger and how does it tow. Camper will probably be Rockwood mini-lite 2109s .It's dry at ~5000 lbs with a GVWR at 6800lbs.
Thanks for any help or insight

 

Well, my experience ordering a Ranger seems to be a bit out of the ordinary but I ordered a '25 Lariat FX4 in December 2024 and it was finally delivered the first week of August 2025. A week shy of 8 months! Others have reported 3 to 4 months from order to delivery. I guess it depends on the options you order. Mine was a 2.7 and those engines seem to be in short supply on the Ranger assembly line, so that might be a factor. The Ranger is built in the same factory as the Bronco and Ford seems to be more interested in Bronco production. From what I've seen on the streets around me Broncos outnumber Rangers by at least 20 to 1 with most being XL's and XLT's.

As for towing, 6,500 shouldn't be a problem but don't expect it to tow like an F350 or even an F150. Absolutely order the factory tow package. I did. From what I've read it is difficult if not impossible to add the Ford brake controller after the fact. You'll have to go aftermarket. Just for information, I've towed a two axle transporter trailer with a Cadillac on board and had no problem except for the fact that I was lucky to get 9mpg.

Having gone from an F350 PSD to an F150 3.5 ecoboost and now to a Ranger 2.7 I can say that it's a nice truck. Not the best. But nice.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes I will absolutely be ordering it with the advanced towing package. I suppose I could swap my trailers out in Feb if I see the truck making it's way through production quicker than expected and if it takes 8 mos, that would be fine too so long as I don't wait too long to place the order, so probably the beginning of November would be a good time for me to do so.

 

I ordered mine August 8. (XLT, 301A, 2.7, FX4, Advanced tow with technology). I was given a build date of Sept 29. I did the same thing you did. My F350 diesel 4x4 sold in less than 24 hours. It so happens that the GM of the dealership is one of my friends brothers and he said he'd try and expedite my order so he is claiming responsibility for the quick build date, but I am taking that with a grain of salt. Friend or not he is still a car salesman at heart!

 

That's good news. I guess that's the difference between my ordering at the start of a model year and Ford having all year to get around to it and ordering near the end of the model year where they only have a couple of months to get to it.

You'll like the combination of the 2.7 and the lower axle ratio that the FX4 package gets you.