Ford Ranger Super Duty ready for big-toy towing

Ford has ripped the covers off the toughest and most capable Ranger to date, the all-new Super Duty that was designed and engineered in Australia.

Development of the Super Duty focussed on three main areas: carrying heavier loads, hauling bigger trailers and going further off-road.

Due on sale in 2026, the heavy-duty version of the Ranger has a re-engineered chassis, beefed-up mechanicals and redesigned higher riding suspension aimed at tackling the sales might of the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series and fresher rough road rivals such as the Ineos Grenadier.

It could even tempt people out of hulking American pick-ups, including Ford’s own F-150.

Core to the Ranger Super Duty sales pitch is its 4500kg gross vehicle mass, 4500kg tow capacity and 8000kg gross combination mass.

Related: Ford Ranger Super Duty -- The Aussie ute the industry conceived

It means the Super Duty can carry something like two tonnes (Ford is yet to reveal the weight of the car, which is required to calculate the payload), about double that of regular utes.

Or it can tow 4.5 tonnes and still have about one tonne of payload, something no regular ute comes close to.

And, of course, the most serious Ranger to date is designed to tackle tough terrain – rougher than any Ranger that’s gone before it.

The Super Duty will be offered as a single-cab, super-cab and double-cab. All three are available with a cab-chassis that allows owners to bolt their own contraptions on the rear and the double cab can also be had with the regular ute tray.

The Ranger Super Duty shares its doors, roof, tailgate and windows with the regular Ranger.

But the front and rear wheel fenders and bonnet are unique, the latter with extra ridges and ‘Super Duty’ stamped along its front edge.

There’s also a standard snorkel, which is a sealed unit rather than the raised air intake that’s common these days.

Because it is classified as a light truck it also gets larger side mirrors and brighter indicator repeater lights; those indicators also needed to be moved slightly forward to meet the light truck classification.

As well as a higher ride height the wheels sit further outboard, requiring broader wheel arch flares to cover the tyres. They’re similar to those on the Ranger Raptor, although are unique to Super Duty, in part to match up to the reprofiled bonnet.

And instead of circular wheel arch flares on regular Rangers the Super Duty gets squared off guards that also hang out wider to cover the tyres and provide additional protection off-road.

The plastic front bumper has been replaced with a steel unit that incorporates a forward-facing camera.

The Ranger Super Duty is about a lot more than looks, one reason that front bumper is steel.

There’s also added toughness, something Ford has spent years engineering into the Super Duty.

The ladder frame chassis has thicker steel, revised welds and additional cross members to cope with higher loads.

Suspension components such as shock absorbers and springs – coils up front and leaf springs in the rear – have also been engineered to cope with heavier demands.

The suspension has been lifted, although Ford is not saying by how much. It appears to be something like 60mm or 70mm, possibly more.

That also means it has adopted the Raptor’s wider track, which means new suspension components.

Ford’s research showed a diesel engine was mandatory for the Super Duty, in part because some workplaces don’t allow petrol on site because it is more flammable.

The logical choice was the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel that is the gruntiest in the Ranger.

However, the engine has been retuned and re-engineered to meet tougher EU6 emissions regulations and also deal with the added weight and punishment expected to be metered out on the Super Duty. There are also bigger engine mounts.

Outputs will likely be lower than the 184kW and 600Nm the same engine makes in regular Rangers, although Ford isn’t saying how much just yet.

The engine has also had the fuel-saving stop-start system disabled because some operators have an always-on requirement, where the engine must always be running when the vehicle is in service.

And while it uses the same radiator, the fan power has been increased by 25 per cent to 1000W, providing additional cooling at low speeds.

The Super Duty also gets a standard 130-litre fuel tank – up from the standard car’s 80L – which Ford says can provide upwards of 1000km of driving range.

Don’t expect a claimed fuel figure for the Super Duty, though; there is no government test for light trucks.

The engine also has a diesel particulate filter that can be manually cleaned. Whereas regular Rangers heat the exhaust to a higher temperature automatically to burn off particulates, the Super Duty will allow drivers to manually perform the same task. That way it’s not being done when the vehicle is in service; the last thing a rural fire service truck would want when driving across dry grass is a hotter exhaust.

The Super Duty also gets a new dual-range transfer case, bigger differentials and stronger drive shafts.

And front and rear electronically locking diffs are standard.

The Super Duty rides on 18-inch wheels shod in General Grabber all-terrain tyres in a light truck construction.

The 275mm wide tyres have a relatively high 70-series profile, making the outer diameter 33 inches.

It’s all about better rough road performance and reducing the chance of a puncture.

The standard wheels are a steel construction but Ford is also offering alloys as an option. And the wheels have eight studs instead of six, again to deal with the higher loads.

There are also larger brakes to help slow up to eight tonnes.

Loading utes and trailers can be a black art but the Ranger Super Duty has advanced tech to make it easier.

Ford calls it the Smart Hitch and Onboard Scales, although in reality it’s not weighing anything.

Instead, there are advanced sensors in each suspension system measuring how far it droops when laden.

On the 12-inch screen it then shows the driver if the car is overweight or if the balance of a trailer is not right.

As it comes off the production line each car will be calibrated using a robot that applies a two-tonne weight to the car.

The additional ride height of the Ranger Super Duty is the start of its improved off-road capability.

The additional clearance also means less chance of scraping the underbelly, although a solid 5mm-thick steel plate does its best to keep mechanicals from terminal damage.

Along with a new steel front bumper and new rear bumper it also leads to sharper approach and departure angles.

The Super Duty can also wade through 850mm of water, 50mm more than regular Rangers. In reality, though, it’ll likely go through more, although during testing it started floating through anything deeper than that.

It may be a workhorse but the fleets that are high on the Super Duty’s hit list also demand safety.

For that reason Ford has incorporated all the driver assist features fitted to a regular Ranger.

That includes adaptive cruise control, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, driver monitoring and speed sign recognition. There’s even a 360-degree camera.

For cab-chassis models some of the sensors and the camera are mounted on the rear bar that also has the tow hitch incorporated.

Plus there are small tweaks to meet light truck requirements.

If the vehicle is in park and you open the door the electronic park brake automatically engages.

The Super Duty’s cabin is mostly regular Ranger, but with some key differences.

The floors are vinyl, because that’ll deal with mud and dirt better and it’s easier to clean.

To the left of the infotainment screen there’s also an additional mounting point for a bracket for phones, computers or other equipment.

For now there’s only one trim level with a hardy cloth upholstery the order of the day.

Ford hasn’t ruled out a more richly appointed model in future – families may appreciate some leather! – but it’s not on the menu early on.

No word yet on what the Ford Ranger Super Duty will cost.

There’s a heck of a lot of engineering work and upgraded hardware, none of which comes cheap.

The cheapest Ranger 4x4 V6 is $66,940 plus on-road costs, so clearly it’s going to be well north of that.

The prime rival, Toyota’s LandCruiser 70 Series, starts at $76,800 for the single cab-chassis with a lot less equipment. So, again, there’s a good chance it’ll cost more than that.

Hopefully it’s not too much more, although Ford says some early fleet buyers “don’t care” how much it costs because there’s nothing like it that currently meets their needs.

Clearly the core of the Super Duty sales pitch is aimed at workers who need a tough and reliable workhorse.

Anyone from mining companies, forestry departments, rural fire brigades and farmers is on the hit list.

But even with that focus on fleets and people who use their vehicles for work, it’s clear the Super Duty appeal will spread way further.

There’s a whole bunch of families and grey nomads wanting to haul big trailers and take off on the ultimate adventure. Often they get aftermarket upgrades to beef up the carrying capacity of their utes – or they just buy a bigger ute, such as one of the American behemoths – which brings its own compromises.

The Super Duty could be just the ticket for those people who want something seriously heavy duty.

Related: Why does the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty even exist?

Related: 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty caught testing in Australia