increase towing capacity

lower profile tires will not always change your final drive ratio. You would need to change the circumference or rollout of your tires to change final drive. No matter what you do you will NEVER legally change the rating the truck came with from the factory. You could however make it easier on your drivetrain and perhaps even safer with some mods. The addition of or swapping out to a bigger trans cooler would be a good start to aid in transmission longevity. ad a leaf or air shocks would help. Upgrade to brakes would make it safer. But NONE of these things will make the tow ratings LEGALLY higher!!!

Gears. If you look at the towing capacity chart, gears are what change it the most.

I've been asking myself the "how to increase towing capacity" question myself and something struck me while looking at the difference between similar models with different towing ratings. What I've found is that you can't safely increase towing capacity just by increasing engine power, braking power, and suspension/frame strength...sure those will allow you to tow more and brake better and not destroy your truck, but a VERY important factor in this equation is vehicle weight, in fact it's more important than engine power and just as important as braking ability.

Notice that a stock 2015 f150 weighs almost half as much as it's max towing capacity. The f250 and 350 are the same, they can tow more than an f150 but they always weigh around half as much as their max towing capacity...in fact every truck is like this. They can only tow about twice their weight (usually a little less). Towing capacity isn't just a matter of being "strong/powerful", you need weight to stabilize the vehicle and load. When you go outside this range your in a dangerous place.

I've never heard that "twice" statement before. My Mountaineer is about 5000 lbs empty, and has a 7000lbs rating. I think even the most basic 4th gen V8 Explorer would be at least 4600lbs. Twice that puts it at over 9000 lbs, which is Expedition towing territory.
Maybe that's only for pickups, without as much sheetmetal (?).

To the OP, I would be very concerned about starting into modifications to a 20+ year old V6 SUV, in hopes of towing more than it was designed to handle. I'm not even sure if they were putting the 5.0V8 in the Explorer yet, so around 5500 may have been as much as the structure could handle. You could end up beefing up your cooling and gearing, only to find that the frame can't handle any more.

I am not a fan of artificially pushing the tow limits, except when you are simply adding items that would have come on a factory towing package.

LowneWolfe said:

but a VERY important factor in this equation is vehicle weight, in fact it's more important than engine power and just as important as braking ability.

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Curb weight and wheelbase are both factors to consider in the footprint of a tow vehicle. Generally speaking the larger the footprint, the more stable the rig.

With that said, I always caution people about putting too much stock in one rating/capacity/limit over all others. There are so many factors to consider in towing that it would be irresponsible, IMO, to hold out or only pay attention to one factor in determining whether your rig is safe to tow.

thebrakeman said:

I've never heard that "twice" statement before. My Mountaineer is about 5000 lbs empty, and has a 7000lbs rating. I think even the most basic 4th gen V8 Explorer would be at least 4600lbs. Twice that puts it at over 9000 lbs, which is Expedition towing territory.
Maybe that's only for pickups, without as much sheetmetal (?).

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You have a valid point, I only looked at "full size" trucks to reach that...uh theory. Also valid points are wheel base and width, didn't think about that really. Again I was only looking at the larger trucks which are bigger all around. Sorry for leaving those out, guess it's best to take what I said with a grain of salt, I certainly agree that footprint does play a major role in stability. Thinking about a crosswind (even a sway that starts unexpectedly) in a pickup with a smaller wheelbase and width makes me cringe, less time to react and correct in a smaller vehicle the heavier the trailer weight is. Shines more light on the reality that EVERY factor of a vehicles design is equally important to towing, you can beef up one area but you've still got that one weak link you can't, and each link is important.

Towing ain't the problem. The 4.0L SOHC with the 6-speed and 4.10 gears will pull 3 tons and then some all day long. You can use dual auxillary trans coolers to keep the heat down and a load distributing hitch to make the heavy load spread out more.

The REAL problem is BRAKING and HANDLING with a vehicle that weighs LESS than the trailer you're pulling.

When you get close to the towing capacity, you get what is known as "the tail wagging the dog", where the trailer and the load on it is controlling your vehicle rather than the other way around.

When this happens going down a long mountain road or when you're on a ledge with only a sheet metal guardrail between you and a steep mountainside going down to the valley below, the results can be serious and even fatal.

Even with a towing package, and a trailer brake control, the brakes aren't designed to stop that much weight. Not being able to stop in time can cause you to plow into the back of a vehicle at a stop sign or stoplight and cause an incredible amount of damage when the trailer keeps going and pushing your vehicle with it.

You CAN tow at or even slightly above capacity, but it's best if you only do it sparingly, either to gently tow a boat around a marina parking lot or moving a heavy trailer a few blocks or something. Towing above capacity on a public road puts your life and the lives of others in serious danger if something goes wrong.


Stick with a small trailer and cargo that keeps it under the towing capacity, or get a bigger vehicle to tow with that has a higher towing capacity.

OK, that's the 2nd post speaking of a '95 Explorer with a 6-speed transmission. No Explorer had a 6-speed until 2006:
1st gens had V6 and 4-speeds (maybe some 5-speed manuals?)
2nd gen V6 got a 5-speed auto (or 5-speed manual?)
2nd gen V8 still had the 4-s;eed (or 5-speed manual?)
3rd gen Explorers had 5-speed autos (V6 and V8)
4th gen V6 Explorers kept the same 5-speed
4th gen V8 Explorers got the new 6-speed
5th gen Explorers (all V6) have a 6-speed auto

Wait, original post shows a '95 Explorer on the left pane, but a '00 Explorer in the sig line.
Still...not a 6-speed.