Modifying For Towing (3rd Gen)

I have a '03 2wd v6 explorer with 3.55 gears and the class II hitch. What im looking at so far is swapping out the class II with a factory class III and 3.73 gears once i can afford it.
Right now i have a CAI and a cat-back exhaust, and i'm considering getting a tuner; would a underdrive pulley be good for more torque? What are other ways of torquing up the motor? For the rear suspension, i towed my friends 3300 lbs boat and it didnt seem to sag at all and felt very stable, so all i would probably do would be to buy a sway/helper bar for the rear suspension. For brakes i'm looking at drilled/slotted rotors with ceramic pads, and braided lines.

Any other imput would be appreciated too, as long as its not "buy a new vehicle".

 

[Ronin8002]

I have a '03 2wd v6 explorer with 3.55 gears and the class II hitch. What im looking at so far is swapping out the class II with a factory class III and 3.73 gears once i can afford it.
Right now i have a CAI and a cat-back exhaust, and i'm considering getting a tuner; would a underdrive pulley be good for more torque? What are other ways of torquing up the motor? For the rear suspension, i towed my friends 3300 lbs boat and it didnt seem to sag at all and felt very stable, so all i would probably do would be to buy a sway/helper bar for the rear suspension. For brakes i'm looking at drilled/slotted rotors with ceramic pads, and braided lines.

Any other imput would be appreciated too, as long as its not "buy a new vehicle".

UDP will give more torque but I believe it isn't as noticeable until you get to 3000 RPM or so.

If you're going to the trouble of doing gears I'd recommend going to 4.11...that will give you more pulling power than 3.73, especially at low speeds.

 

[boominXplorer]

I would make sure it has at least a factory trans cooler on it to keep it from exploding. A tune could help but if you are towing you need a special tune for that, not a generic power tune. If you are going to be towing a good bit then 4:10 or 4:11 gears would be ideal.

I would not waste money on an under drive pulley set, put that money in the rear axle where the most difference will be felt.

 

[2TimingTom]

For brakes i'm looking at drilled/slotted rotors with ceramic pads, and braided lines.

I'd stick with blank rotors. And definitely skip the braided lines. Braided lines do nothing for stopping distance- they are all about pedal feel. I have blank rotors and ceramic pads on mine and they seem to have plenty of stopping power when I tow- and I tow in the mountains.

And if you get gears, 4.10s would be my minimum consideration. Doing 3.73s would be spending a bunch of time and money for next to no improvement.

 

[Jumpjets]

I'd stick with blank rotors. And definitely skip the braided lines. Braided lines do nothing for stopping distance- they are all about pedal feel. I have blank rotors and ceramic pads on mine and they seem to have plenty of stopping power when I tow- and I tow in the mountains.

And if you get gears, 4.10s would be my minimum consideration. Doing 3.73s would be spending a bunch of time and money for next to no improvement.

I'm interested in doing the same thing. Where does one find 4.11 gears for a 2002 4WD ford explorer? Summit doesn't have them, and they have pretty much everything.

 

[Ronin8002]

Www.ringpinion.com

 

[jrford]

How much are you towing and how often?

double check but for the Dana "Super" 30 they only have 3.73's.. . .no 4.10's.
For daily towing, 3.73's should increase about 200rpms. And you will need to reprogram for the gear change.

For me once a month tow, i just swapped in a Class III hitch, and just leave the O/D off. About 60-70mph rpms run about 3k. Works fine for me.

 

[Ronin8002]

Hmm maybe not on that site anymore but they do exist! See here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282464

Part number
YG D30-411 will work fine if you use the super 30 master kit and a 3.73 carrier

 

[Jumpjets]

Thanks for the quick replies. My 02 EX XLS has 95,000 hard inner city miles on it. It has a massive stock trans cooler. I'm pretty sure it has 3.55 gears. It sounds as though the 3.73 option was only for XLT V8 exploders. I installed a class III hitch.

I use the truck exclusively for towing a 5500lb boat and trailer. I tow it to the ramp every weekend. Most of the time I go less than 5 miles and stay below 35mph. Sometimes though, I like to tow the boat 50 miles to the ocean.

Last season, the truck handled the towing duty just fine. I was reading that the ex is supposed to have 3.73 gears for towing heavier loads though.

I'm worried about safety while towing. I already put aftermarket ceramic brakes on all 4 corners. What other towing mods could I do to make it a safe tow rig for such a heavy load?

 

[Ronin8002]

Install a Scanguage II or get a bluetooth OBD port device and run a guage app on your phone. That way you can keep an eye on trans temps. Not so much a safety thing as a "good stuff to know" thing.

I think the main reason for the 3.73 gears on the tow package was simply to allow for more torque to the wheels for towing and to take some strain off the transmission when under heavy loads. If the truck is running fine for you as it is then I'd say leave it be.