Buying a used Explorer. Need advice.

[exploreco97]

Hello everyone. I have a question for all the Explorer experts.

Traded our 97 XLT v6 in this spring for a car, as we didn’t have a camper to tow anymore. Thought we would be ok with a car again, but I was wrong I am now looking at trading the car in on an Explorer, 06 or newer.

My two previous Explorers were V6 which was plenty of power for us and pulled our small camper just fine. After borrowing my in-laws 06 Limited V8 for a trip, we thought we would consider a V8 and not just the V6 as the mileage on the highway was comparable to the old V6.

We are only looking at the Eddie or Limited with the luxury package(steering wheel controls, heated seats, ect). My question is: is there an easy way to identify the axel ratio. If it has the class III hitch, does that mean it automatically has the bigger axel? Since we are looking at these used, I haven’t found a salesman yet that can answer this question (haven’t looked at any Ford dealers). Figure I might as well have the better towing capacities in case we get a new camper.

Finding V8’s & V6's in the 16k to 17k price range under 30k miles, so that sounds like a pretty decent price. I guess I don't really have a preference over which one I get, but the V8 power curve was nice

Thanks for your time and help. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

 

[James909]

To identify the axle ratio look at the code under "axle" on the driver's door sticker. Then compare that code to this chart. Alternatively you could crawl under the truck and look at the tag that's attached to the cover of the rear diff.

I believe the 4th gen Explorers have 2 axle ratios available: 3.55's and 3.73's. If the truck has a class III hitch then it is equipped with the lower gears (3.73). Unless of course someone just swapped a class III hitch on there. If the truck has a class II hitch then it may be equipped with either of the axle ratios.

 

[michael loibl]

V8 's 2006 and newer came with the 3.55 rear regardless of which hitch you have. V6 's had 3.55 standard and the 3.73 as part of the class three 2 inch hitch package. I believe it may have also been avalible as a stand alone option...but that may have been on the previous gen. I just found my brochure from a 2007 explorer...Its only with the V6 and class three hitch package.