Stock Tow Hitch, Anybody use it?

[Bottomlesspit]

Hello. I have been wondering if anyone here uses their stock hitch to tow anything, or did you have/want to upgrade to a class III hitch? I am trying to figure out what the stock classII hitch is good for. What kind of things is hauled using one? It just looks so tiny to me, yet Ford has installed tons of them on their vehicles. I figure it must be good for something??!!
A little help here to enlighten me is appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken

 

[RSTX]

Well, I pull an 18' car hauler with my little John Deere 4010 on it with my class II 1 1/4" hitch. Yes, I am exceeding Ford's weight limit. The trailer is 1800 lbs and the tractor (with FEL and tiller) is about 3200. I'm probably pulling 5000 lbs, and maybe a bit more. Now for the inevitable disclaimer... I only tow for about three miles and never exceed 40 mph, spending most of the trip at about 25 mph. I drive along a low traffic road and take it eeeeeeasy. I would not want to get on an interstate and try to do it at 70 mph, but for my needs the little stock hitch has worked. A 2" receiver hitch would be nice just to be able to use all the 2" accessories out there, but I just can't justify spending the money to install one.

 

[dannyb420]

I have the same issues, can tow jet skis, but thats about it, could tow some small jet boats as well, but I am upgrading to the class III. The boat I want to tow is around 4000 lbs wet, including the trailer. I also have only a short distance to tow and the class II would probably work, but its not a $35,000 boat loss mistake I want to take. but for small towing use, and light towing use like a small covered trailer, the Class II, should work fine, Oh yeah I use mine to pull stumps out and chain link fence poles, the hoks on either side work great for that in addition to pulling cars out of snow embankments

 

[rocket 5979]

My Explorer came stock with the class III hitch in the rear bumper. It tows really well when I actually use it to tow and not race.

For you guys stuck with the stocker class II, have you ever thought about just swapping it out to the stock class III hitch that comes on the tow packaged 02+ X's?

 

[dannyb420]

Yeah dealer quoted $275 for a new class III, Not including install which I can do myself

 

[Bottomlesspit]

Thanks for all the replies. Seems a few of you are in the same "boat" as I am. I had to give up my great class III on the 5.4l Expedition to get my new Explorer. The gas savings alone easily makes the swap more than worth it. My wife's F-150 can be used for the larger hauling, but I sure hate not having all-the-time access to haul when I want to. I have a 18' Baja sterndrive with a 4.3L and single axle trailer. I'm not sure what the total trailered weight is, but figure it's around the 3,000 mark. I figure I would be towing about the max of that little class II hitch, and yes, I am also only towing about 3 miles each way. I have the 4x4 to help pull the boat up the ramp, thank goodness! I have not tried to pull the boat with my new X, and probably a bit too worried to try. Maybe it could do it, I don't know.
I have also thought about finding a class III direct swap, but nothing I can afford yet. I lost an E-bay deal on one this week...probably one of you guys :fire:
Well, I'm glad to see that some of you here are able to get use out of the stock hitches. I just wanted to know who uses them and for what.
Interesting responses...any more?
Thanks again,
Ken

 

[FordLover]

mine came with the class III, and I love it. I really like the RV style connector and the brake controler hookup under the dash all factory provided.

Haven't gotten to use it for any serious hauling, but what little use I've done sofar, I've been impressed.

 

[trayson]

Yeah dealer quoted $275 for a new class III, Not including install which I can do myself

I called up my local wrecking yard. They had two of the Class III hitches from a 2002 and they wanted $80 for one of them. I scooped up that!!! It came with the trailer wiring plug (7-pole round) and the pigtail of wire.

Should be a plug and play switch out.

For $80 and about a 15 minute wait, I couldn't go wrong. Wrecking yard is the ONLY way to go.

Only reason I haven't switched it out yet is because I know I have to take the bumper off to get er done and I haven't had the time.

 

[Bottomlesspit]

trayson,
so...it's a fact that the rear bumper has to come off? I have heard that somewhere, but wasn't sure if that was true or not. I peaked underneath mine and it looked like the stock hitch could come out ok with the bumper on. Of course, that's an eyeball measurement. That sure adds a lot of extra work to the swap. I'm still looking for a class III hitch for mine too. We have a local powdercoat place that does wonders with old tow hitches. I will definitely be paying them a visit. Can even do them in color if desired.
Ken

 

[Am_Dew]

Thought I might bump this thread. I just bought a 2005 XLT 4.0 4WD with the standard class II hitch. I am hoping to tow my 17' fiberglass pleasure boat with it. The boat/trailer weighs about 2500 lbs at most. I am sure I will miss the power my old '96 XLT V8 had, especially when towing in the mountains, but the deal I got on this 2005 was hard to pass up and there do not seem to be many used V8s out there in my area.

 

[Bottomlesspit]

Yeah, this class II hitch doesn't inspire confidence in me. I went to our 1 and only wrecking yard to ask about a hitch from a wrecked 02 to 05 model. The guy looked at me like I was crazy. They don't see any wrecked Explorers with class III hitches...never. Seems like I'm back to square one. Of course knowing my boat/trailer actual weight wouldn't hurt either?! I suspect it's near 3,000 easy. Having the 3.55 gears doesn't help either.
I hope some of you might come up with a good location to purchase these things at.
Ken

 

[trayson]

Sounds like I should have bought more than one at my local wrecking yard! I could have scooped up the 2nd one at $85, and I bet I could have sold it for a decent price... (too bad I'm too lazy to do this)

 

[trayson]

trayson,
so...it's a fact that the rear bumper has to come off? I have heard that somewhere, but wasn't sure if that was true or not. I peaked underneath mine and it looked like the stock hitch could come out ok with the bumper on. Of course, that's an eyeball measurement. That sure adds a lot of extra work to the swap. I'm still looking for a class III hitch for mine too. We have a local powdercoat place that does wonders with old tow hitches. I will definitely be paying them a visit. Can even do them in color if desired.
Ken

Well, the hitch attaches to the frame rails. Where the hitch actually attaches, it's flared out on the top & bottom (like the hitch is making a "C" shape that kind of grabs the frame). So, with that shape, it would be possible to slide the hitch rearwards, but not down... That's why I'm pretty sure you have to remove the bumper.

 

[trayson]

Look on Ebay, they have auctions for these things periodically. You have to be careful though, as ebay sellers will often incorrectly describe the class II as a class III. It's pretty obvious to tell the difference by looking at the spot where the class III would have the round 7-pole wiring harness coming out. As you know, the class II has the flat 4 attached to the bottom of the hitch's frame.

This one looks very promising: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Trai...ewItemQQcategoryZ33653QQitemZ8065065228QQrdZ1
The shipping is ridiculously low and the opening bid is also quite low. You don't get the pigtail with the 7-pole wiring harness, but if you're just towing a boat, you should be okay with the flat 4. (You can always get a flat 4 to 7-pole adapter, but usually you need to find a 12v positive lead to do that.)

 

[Cdaddy78]

Ive used my class II to tow a 17' boat with no issues. Perhaps I was exceeding limits, but there seemed to be no problems. Ive been doing it for several years now.

 

[Exploderpilot]

i used the 1 1/4 to tow a 17 foot tracker outboard, and it handled it beautifully....

 

[Bottomlesspit]

Thanks again everybody.
Trayson...thanks for that link. Can you say "sold"? I couldn't resist that offer, especially with that shipping price. What a deal. I thought about bidding, but I have already lost 2 other hitches on E-bay, and they were just about up to the same price as this one...that's brand new! Even shipping would have put the others up to, or over the price on this one.
Thanks man, you saved me from sweating bullets or worse when I tow my boat.
I assume the WHOLE hitch itself is built stronger, not just the insert area? This thing looks beefy enough, but even still, my boat will be maxing out the vehicle itself. I only have the 4.0 with 4x4 and 3.55 gears. I'll just have to plan on taking it easy and no long trips. Any other advice or tips I can use to keep my new baby alive?
Thanks again to all you great guys,
Ken
Maybe my new KKM will be enough to make up the difference I might have to use some of the shine off my interior billet knobs to jet up the ramp? I'm grasping here...can you tell how much I miss my V8 right now????

 

[trayson]

I don't know for sure, but don't the 4.0's not have the tranny cooler like the v8's do?

Personally, i think your 4.0 will do fine. No overdrive, take it easy. I mean think about the fact that a 3.7L Jeep Liberty is rated to tow 5k. So is a Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0L inline 6.

 

[trayson]

trayson,
so...it's a fact that the rear bumper has to come off? I have heard that somewhere, but wasn't sure if that was true or not. I peaked underneath mine and it looked like the stock hitch could come out ok with the bumper on. Of course, that's an eyeball measurement. That sure adds a lot of extra work to the swap.

Okay, I replaced my class II hitch with my wrecking yard class III.

I used the Factory Service Manual on DVD-Rom to give me the step by step instructions to do the job.

1) Remove tail lights (two screws on inside of hatch opening)

2) Remove 6 different screws from sides of bumper cover (two are in the top corner of the cover, one is at the very bottom of the bumper on the sides--look at it from laying on the ground to remove these two)

3) Remove the little plastic pins that hold the cover on (there's about 9 of them)

4) Lift up on the corners of the bumper cover, then pull the cover straight back to remove.

5) undo the pigtail for the trailer wiring.

6) Undo the 6 bolts for the hitch, slide straight back to remove.

It really wasn't that hard, but I took my time and somehow I missed removing 2 screws so it took longer. I'm very happy it's changed out now.


By the way, the Class III is in fact beefier than the class 2. The class 3 uses a run of 2" square tubing throughout the hitch (side-to-side), whereas the class 2 uses more of a C-channel that has some metal welded to the back of it in the center. If you look at them side by side, you will be able to see the difference.

 

[Am_Dew]

I towed my 17' fiberglass boat for the first time last weekend using the stock class II hitch on my 2005 Explorer. Towed very nicely across town.

One thing I found out though is that the safety snaps which attach my trailer's safety chains to the hitch did not work...their openings were not nearly big enough to fit over the heavy rounded eye bars on either side of the stock hitch receiver. To get the boat where I wanted, I looped the safety chain thru the eyes and then bolted the chain back onto itself, which is fine to do once in a while but not something I want to have to do every time. So, I go out and buy a couple of larger safety snaps only to find that they also did not open wide enough, or at best barely fit over but then were a pain to get off again.

I live in California where the law states that your safety chains must be attached to your vehicle with something that closes...in other words, a standard s-hook like those found on most safety chains is illegal...the hook has to be able to fully close. But I am having a hard time finding any hooks that open wide enough to go over the hefty, circle shaped bars attached to the hitch on the rear of my Explorer. The only thing I've found is very heavy duty clevis hooks, which are complete overkill. To give you an idea how beefy these rounded bars are, I could not get a 9/16" open end wrench over them.

Anyone have any suggestions? I could always use big quick links (the ones that screw open and closed) but being able to use a hook of some kind is much easier.

Thanks!

Bob