Flat towing Explorer

We are considering purchasing the new 2011 Explorer XLT and flat towing it behind our RV. Would like to know if anyone has had experience doing this or any issues?
Thanks.
Genna

Yes to flat towing

I purchased the 2011 Explorer over some other vehicles specifically because according to the Owner's Manual, you can flat tow it behind an RV.

That said, I have not towed it yet but will be in two weeks as I am towing it behind my RV from New Orleans to Indianapolis.

I installed the Blue Ox tow bar the other week (myself) and am planning a Brake Buddy since I don't tow it that often. For lights I simply bought a magnetic set of tow lights.

Feel free to let me know what other questions you might have.

NOTE: If you purchase the Explorer with adaptive cruise control, you are going to have to wait on Blue Ox to come out with their re-designed two bar. The current model only works on models without the adaptive cruise.

The Blue Ox Baseplate is already available for the Ex's with adaptive cruise control. It came out a few weeks ago. I just got the confirmation that it has been shipped from etrailer to my local body shop that will be doing the installation.

Thanks Mike for your response. After you tow it I would like to know how it went. We currently tow our 350 Ford turbo diesel truck which we had when we were towing our
5th wheel. We are full-time Rv'ers and so we tow our vehicles a lot. So we have the Blue Ox set up and will get the baseplate installed on the Explorer. We would recommend Air Force One for the braking system. Very easy to use and is excellent. We are considering the Explorer since it has every thing we want and need. We have a '98 Explorer that is still on the road. Thanks for the information and hope you trip goes well. Let us know how the Explorer did. Thanks again.
Genna

Follow-up

After the trip I'll definitely post a reply here.

One thing to know, the Explorer top speed during tow is 65mph. I'm sure you could go 70, there is always leeway, but I'm not going to push it. With a rear-engine diesel at 34k, I'll get better mpg at 65 anyway.

The Blue Ox was not hard to put on, did it myself, but I did find that contrary to their directions, on my particular Explorer, the inner bumper bracket was spot welded in addition to the eight bolts so it was a pain to remove. The reason I had to remove it was in order to get the nuts into the rail to attach to the bolts. Other than that, the directions were very easy and it was easy to do myself.

I went with a Brake Buddy because I rarely tow my Explorer. It is being towed to Indy but this will be the only time and then, maybe three times a year. I didn't want to spend the price on the AirRaid though heard excellent things about them. I wou ld have liked an M&G but there was no room for it to fit - per M&G.

Thanks everyone for the information and look forward to hearing how it goes.
Genns

For lights on my 1993 Explorer XLT, I bought a light kit and installed the bulbs inside the tail light lens by cutting a hole the appropriate size between the two bulbs already there. I checked the space available in the lens before I did it. Then I strung the cable under the body, tying it judiciously along with other cables to the front where I connected with a standard 4-prong connector. Nice, works well, doesn't require power from the toad and I just leave it in there all the time. I did the same thing to my 2003 Jeep Liberty when the Explorer died. (I towed these behind a 35' Winnebago Itasca Suncruiser with 5.9 L diesel pusher.) I did have to tow with the key in the ignition, however, which I did not like to do (to unlock and release the steering wheel).

Hi Michael,
Hope your trip was uneventful considering all the weather issues. How did your new Explorer flat tow behind your RV?
Thanks,
Gina

Terrible!!

O.K. Now that I have you worried. Let me explain. Ford states that to flat tow, put the car in neutral and turn the key to accessory. Pretty straight forward and with this only in mind, the vehicle towed perfectly, no problems, never knew it was there, smooth as silk on the Blue Ox. They also state that every five hours, start the engine over and shift it momentarily through all gears to get the lubrication through the system. This was the problem because on try number two, dead battery!!!

So, in short, with the exception of the battery dying being in the accessory mode, it was flawless. I used a Brake Buddy on the way up and thinking it was the cause of the dead battery, did not use it on the way back, simply used my engine brake on full and the battery still died. At one point I jumped it off my coach's battery and it still would not start. I had to disconnect the battery (it has a quick disconnect by the way) and then jump it and re-connect to reset.

My gut is that the sync system is just going nuts with this. I need to find out why the accessory has to be on. My understanding is the the transmission has baffles to hold the lubrication fluid for towing so it doesn't sound like it requires electrical current. If I can put the vehicle into neutral, the key in accessory and then pull the quick disconnect, it would work and I could then power the brake buddy off the RV's 7 way power connection.

I wrote Ford and told them of the events and will post back here. This might simply be that Ford used a poor quality battery and it's dying prematurely. I can certainly run a power cable from my coach back to the X to keep it charged, but the fact that I had to jump the X and then still disconnect the battery is suspicious to me so hopefully they will follow up on this with me.

Are you sure that they said "accessory" - my 1993 I set to the first position on to allow the steering wheel to turn and move the selector. Of course, I did not have to worry about transmission or power for brakes because they were not being used. But I towed for two or three days in a row without even starting the toad and the battery did not go down. I did put the transmission in neutral though.

Yes, accessory. Direct from the manual...

If you tow your vehicle with all four wheels on the ground:
• Tow only in the forward direction.
• Release the parking brake.
• Place the transmission shift lever in N (Neutral).
• Place the ignition in the accessory position (refer to Starting in the
Driving chapter).
• Do not exceed 65 mph (105 km/h)
• Start the engine and allow it to run for five minutes at the beginning
of each day and every six hours thereafter. With the engine running
and your foot on the brake, shift into D (Drive) and then into R
(Reverse) before shifting back into N (Neutral).

Looks like a potential fix

I have been checking the net and found the following, which makes sense:

If you have a 7 pin connector on the back of your MH, one is 12 volt and one is ground. As part of my toad brake system, I ran a couple of wires to my toad battery that keeps it charged from the MH system

I think what I might look at doing is tying into the 12v from the coach and disconnecting the battery, that way, the car is running off 12v from the coach and not off it's own battery.

Thanks Michael for the information and it will be interesting to see what Ford comes up with for a fix on the battery. Very glad to hear that everything else was fine.
Gina

Don't hold your breath on Ford. Their email reply was to see the dealer about the battery going dead. They obviously did not give any thought to the accessory switch draining it, simply the battery possibly being faulty.

So, I called Ford to follow up. He took the information and was understanding to what happened. He said he would forward the information to the engineers but no promise since it was not originating from a dealer.

The dealer would have no idea how to approach this I'm afraid to say. My dealer did not even know the car would flat tow. The service manager, I doubt, is going to know much more, but possibly can establish a "case".

In the interim, I have alternate solutions that I will incorporate!

MikeCallery said:

I wrote Ford and told them of the events and will post back here. This might simply be that Ford used a poor quality battery and it's dying prematurely. I can certainly run a power cable from my coach back to the X to keep it charged, but the fact that I had to jump the X and then still disconnect the battery is suspicious to me so hopefully they will follow up on this with me.

Click to expand...

I’m sorry to hear you were inconvenienced by the issues with your battery, and I would like to see if there’s anything I can look into. If you could message me your VIN, dealer name, and approximate mileage, I’ll be able to research this further.

Cory

MikeCallery said:

Don't hold your breath on Ford. Their email reply was to see the dealer about the battery going dead. They obviously did not give any thought to the accessory switch draining it, simply the battery possibly being faulty.

So, I called Ford to follow up. He took the information and was understanding to what happened. He said he would forward the information to the engineers but no promise since it was not originating from a dealer.

The dealer would have no idea how to approach this I'm afraid to say. My dealer did not even know the car would flat tow. The service manager, I doubt, is going to know much more, but possibly can establish a "case".

In the interim, I have alternate solutions that I will incorporate!

Click to expand...

I wanted to let you know that I received your message and sent you back a reply. Please check your inbox for more information.

Cory

Finally Getting Somewhere

First, thanks to Cory for handling my post here and forwarding it to Ford. I got a call from Ford today with a case number. It was somewhat humerous because the girl who I talked to told me she was not a technician and I told her it's so simply my wife would understand it. Not sure how that went over but she's talking to a tech and I expect a phone call back at some point.

So to recap, because this is NOT specific to my Explorer, it's also the Edge's and anyone's Ford for 2011.

Ford wants you to put your key in the ignition and into the accessory position for flat towing. I am assuming that the reason is to release the front wheels, but with the key in this position, there is an enormous drain on the battery and after 4-5 hours, your battery is going to be dead. Furthermore Ford wants you to stop every five hours and turn the engine over.

The question is, as I see it, does the vehicle need 12v power for any vehicle related component, if not, then you could disconnect the car battery and tow with the key in the ignition.

The problem is that any tow over 3,000lbs requires a breaking system. IF you are using a Brake Buddy or similar, you have to have 12v power.

So, with this in mind, one fix is to pull the fuse on the accessory lug and run out two wires where you wire in a SPST switch and a fuse holder. This will allow you to provide 12v to the vehicle and power your brake buddy but not your accessories.

Pending Ford's reply, what I likely am going to do is run a six way off the coach with the turn signal wires running through the car to the hatch area where I have magnetic tow lights. The 12v hot and common comming from the coach will power the Brake Buddy and the vehicle battery will be disconnected.

Either way, if anyone is still following this thead, I'll post Ford's reply and how I approach this fix.

I am at least glad that Ford finally understood that not every problem has to, or should go to the dealer that in some cases, it's just a waste of time. Mine is an hour away and didn't even know I could flat tow the car.

MikeCallery said:

First, thanks to Cory for handling my post here and forwarding it to Ford...

Click to expand...

You’re very welcome! I’m glad I was able to escalate your case. I appreciate you posting here with your experience in case it’s helpful to others. Please keep us updated!

Cory

I received the phone call today from Ford - the one that I was waiting for. On the phone was my tech rep who has been fielding my service call and a Ford Engineer.

The problem with the battery draining is not specific to my Explorer or the Explorer in general. Ford is aware of the problem on the Edge, which is very similar to the Explorer. They had intended for the battery to last long enough, the five hours or so, so that you could crank the engine and recharge the system somewhat, but they under-estimated the power requirements of the MFT system, of a possible Brake Buddy and then long trips where you might be towing for 12 hours or a few days.

So, I did find out one very important issue that in my opinion, allows me to take the problem into my hands to solve. There is NO requirement by the vehicle or any systems to have 12v turned on. This means that the only reason the key is in the ignition and turned to accessory is to free the front wheels for turning and to allow you to put the transmission into neutral.

Since the Explorer has a quick-disconnect on the (+) battery terminal, I am going to change my wiring harness from the RV to a seven way. Four wires will feed into a front to rear four-way plug for the tow lights. Two other wires will join with the two wires from the emergency breakaway and they will feed into the driver's foot well to supply 12v to the brake buddy and along with the emergency disconnect from a breakaway. I'll then disconnect the battery. This will basically have the RV providing 12v to the Brake Buddy and the Explorer functionally turned off with the battery no even plugged into the vehicles wiring system.