1st gen Explorer good for towing?

[SVO42]

I'm still researching Xs, and I was wondering what your guys' opinion was on towing with a '91-'94 X with an automatic? I would only occasionally need to tow my other car with either a dolly or trailer ('86 Mustang SVO!) and maybe a light trailer a few times per year. Is the chassis and 4.0L OHV up to the task? Thanks for any input.

 

[JDraper]

Yep. Make sure you use a Class III hitch and put a tranny cooler on. I've towed 4500 lb trailers with my old '92 sport, and it worked fine.

 

[VairKing]

O heck yea it will be fine...The OHV has plenty of torque to get the truck moving...The largest thing I towed with the 91 was a triple axle 2 car trailer...with 2 cars!

 

[TheRookie]

TRANNY COOLER> TRANNY COOLER
DO not even considder it without adding a high quality (ie no pep girls junk) cooler. And that trans is going to be a problem if you tow often. It just isnt that great. Do a search on "a4ld" and see what i mean.

 

[65 Fury Convert]

I pull my 19' ski boat full of gear with 3 people and myself and it pulls just fine. Keep it out of OD when you pull, which you probably already know.

 

[plrs x45]

The reason I love this website is everyone has great input and they are not ****y like the pwc website I also belong to. Trans cooler and keep out of OD!

 

[dgibson]

I have used mine to tow lots of things. Dad's boat, my buddy's Nissan Hardbody loaded down with Hydro pumps and such. I even used the x to tow a '79 K5 Blazer on 33's from Va Beach, VA to southern AR. The only trick was the big snow storm that I caught just outside of Knoxville, TN.

 

[SVO42]

This is all good to hear, guys, thanks. Believe me, I know all about what a POS the A4LD is. I had one in my old '89 Mustang LX coupe. Believe it or not, the 2.3L versions are even weaker! It's been slipping for years and still is (at my dad's right now). Everyone has just said to drive it until it goes completely. OK!

 

[lo_jack]

I know next to nothing about towing but I slapped a ton of extra weight behind my 92 and pulled it 300 miles at 65 and had no problems. I will say my 5 speed and my sweet upgraded front brakes really made it easier though. But as far as physically being able to pull things...I'd agree with everyone...pull away. Except, I dont know if I feel like I want to pull my 79 ramcharger with it, which is why its still 100 miles away.

 

[Majisto]

Originally posted by SVO42
This is all good to hear, guys, thanks. Believe me, I know all about what a POS the A4LD is. I had one in my old '89 Mustang LX coupe. Believe it or not, the 2.3L versions are even weaker! It's been slipping for years and still is (at my dad's right now). Everyone has just said to drive it until it goes completely. OK!

Really? Never knew the Pinto motors used the A4LD. Ford did use the C3 in the Mustangs a long time ago very rarely, which is what the A4LD came from. It's French, go figure...

 

[bdogg23]

is it best to keep it out of O/D when going up hills and mountians. when i drive my truck up hills it seems to loose a lot of power

 

[SVO42]

Yup, the 2.3s used the A4LD starting in '87 for sure in the Mustang and T-bird Turbocoupe. Ford even limited the boost to 10 PSI on the auto TCs to make the tranny live longer! The 5-speeds got 15-16 PSI. I'm not sure how long it was used in the Ranger, but I would imagine around the same time the Ranger 2.3s got EFI as well. You would think that after bailing them out big time twice the least the French could do was give us a decent transmission!

Once I get an X I plan on adding a heavy-duty trans cooler and shift kit right away.