Happy with the X and Boat! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Happy with the X and Boat!

TIO M

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 16, 2011
Messages
403
Reaction score
3
City, State
Copperas Cove, Texas
Year, Model & Trim Level
2011 LTD X/Platinum 4wd
Well....my fears are gone!!

So......I asked for help when it came to a weight distrubution hitch. Due to my inexperience of towing and pulling a trailer or boat trailer on top of that. I'm very used to towing HUMVEEs and 1/2 and 3/4 ton trailers for the military. But when it comes to civilian vehicles it was all new.

So what I thought I needed I had all along. When I read the manual over and over it doesn't clearly state that the Class III hitch in wiring is all you need to tow up to 5,000lbs. I thought we needed an additional hardware known as a weight distrubuition "KIT." So I called Camper World and a couple of different boat trailer manufactuerers.

So since I ordered my X, I checked the box for the Class III hitch and towing package. All I needed was a male hitch arm, 2" ball, and a 7 to 5 way connector for the trailer wiring. By the way the 7 to 5 way connector was for the surge type disc brakes.

Another thing I was stressing was the GVWR which for the X w/ 4X4 is a total of 10,125 pounds. I knew that the boat and trailer together would be between 4300 to 4400lbs. I took the X over to certified weight scales with only the truck....I had my wife, my son, and two nieces in it and some luggage. Total weight w/o me was 5400lbs with me probably 5600lbs since I was out of the truck when the lady called the scales, keep in mind it was down pouring so I don't know if the rain would have cuased an error in weight at all.

Does 5400lbs sound right with baby and car seat my wife 110lbs, my son 27lbs, my twin nieces combined about 250lbs. I have the X with the 301a pack with tow and dual sunglass on top, is that really plausible that it could weigh 5600lbs with me in it.

So I was really worried about the boat weight, before I purchased it I hooked it up to the X and it only dropped maybe between an 1 to an 1 1/2 in rear which when looking at it wasn't very much. Then I connected everything and no issues with lights or backing with that specific trailer. If I didn't have the 7 to 5 wiring harness connector the trailer would not back up and allow the trailer wheels to move back.

Well we ended up purchasing the boat and I hooked up the trailer and started to drive toward Lake Okeechobee from Ft. Myers Florida an hour and a half drive.

WOW! I didn't even feel the trailer out back, I hit the tow button and it would grip very well when taking off. The brakes on the trailer worked harmoniously well with the rest of the vehicle and the X didn't even seem to brake a sweat during this 250 mile trip back to Miami, FL.

I did drop about 13mpg down to an average of 10-12 mpg when towing the trailer. Has anyone else dropped this much or what is your average mpg when trailering?

Needless to say my X looks bad ass with the 2011 Sea Doo Wake 210 behind it and they match w/o even trying!!

Your thoughts and opinions are highly sought for the lifespan of my engine towing this amount of weight and long term affect on the suspension.

Here are a couple of pics for you to enjoy....cheers and I'm proud to be an :usa:

Tio M!

P.S. I love the fact that I don't need a ground guide to back the X to the trailer...the center marker lines on the screen line them up perfectly. A one man deal w/o breaking a sweat to attach the boat to the X!! I didn't even need a brake controller, but in time will pick up one of those tranny devices that measure heat. But in all honesty I don't even think I need it as it pulls very well and the engine temp didn't even go up...knock on wood.

XnWake2.jpg


XnWake1.jpg


XnWake.jpg
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





If you host them on a site like Photobucket, you can just paste the tag/link here...

Glad your Ex pulls well! :thumbsup:
 






I got pics up...geez that was a task! I hope you all enjoy and please don't forget to place your opinions and thoughts.
 






Great looking combo!!:chug:
 






Both the EX and the boat look fantastic! You should have been proud piloting that down the road. I'm glad to hear the rear end only dropped an inch or two with the trailer, although I suppose that is dependent on how the boat weight is distributed on the trailer, i.e. tongue weight. I have a smaller fishing boat and wondered how it would tow. Based on your story, I may forget it is back there!
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 






OH SO PROUD!! JUST LIKE AN :usa:

In all honesty it was sublime, I don't feel any push or tug when its moving and when I slow down or take off the trailer doesn't have that slam affect with regular trailers. I love it, when I use to tow a trailer on my HUMVEE you can feel the hitch and clamp on it slam on the hitch all the dang time.

The great thing about boat trailers and especially on this two axled boat trailer all the majority of the weight is on it so the tongue weight is about 420 to 440 lbs....two inches is a lot, its more like an 1 and 1/2 to be honest my wife even said that....lol.

With the width of this trailer and boat I don't even need to have extended mirrors. Once you learn some tricks you get around that real quick.
 






Nice looking Ex, nice looking boat, nice looking wife...how did you get so lucky! ;)
 






Nice looking Ex, nice looking boat, nice looking wife...how did you get so lucky! ;)

Honest to GOD! I don't know, but I'd like to think 12 years of service to my country and my wife.....well she said something about my butt.
 






My gas mileage pulling a slightly smaller boat (3600 lbs) at about 70-72 MPH on the interstate also was 10-11 MPG. It really is a piece of cake to tow with the explorer and I also love the backup camera zoom feature to line up the hitch.
 






Honest to GOD! I don't know, but I'd like to think 12 years of service to my country and my wife.....well she said something about my butt.

Well I don't need to know about your butt! :D

I do want to say thanks for your service though!! :salute:
 






Hey no problem, I love this country through better or worse!
 






My gas mileage pulling a slightly smaller boat (3600 lbs) at about 70-72 MPH on the interstate also was 10-11 MPG. It really is a piece of cake to tow with the explorer and I also love the backup camera zoom feature to line up the hitch.

Is that wth trailer? Because my boat is about 3600lbs alone and w/trlr its 4400lbs wet.
 






Anybody know if an open air intake and freer flowing exhaust will improve mpgs when towing? I know there isn't any software out there yet, but when I did this to my bimmer I get an average of 33-34 mpg on the hwy.
 






You can get some better MPG's, just depends what you do, if you make it breath better, 9 out of 10 times some mileage increase will be seen, it varies.... My F150, I saw about 2miles per gallon average with duals, 3 1/2" pipes stainless steel from, Maganflow, don't think I've seen my investment returned yet? Note: thats staying out of the pedal also (5.4 Engine)
 






You can get some better MPG's, just depends what you do, if you make it breath better, 9 out of 10 times some mileage increase will be seen, it varies.... My F150, I saw about 2miles per gallon average with duals, 3 1/2" pipes stainless steel from, Maganflow, don't think I've seen my investment returned yet? Note: thats staying out of the pedal also (5.4 Engine)

Nice, my have for sure paid off on my BMW. I'm hoping some more options will come out for the Explorer soon, but the ebay prices are really not bad for CGS intake and exhaust. Now I gotta look for some software or tunes to make them work at their best.

Aluminum or Stainless steel exhaust? Which fares better?
 






i know it uses a syn blend but fully synthetic oil wouldnt hurt and with the florida heat and added towing duty, imo oil changes at 5k intervals.
I put Mobil1 in all my cars and i put in fully synthetic mobil1 since 4k. no towing i get almost 23 mpg with most driving on I-95.

nice pic TIO. Did you tint your Explorer's rear windows darker than factory? Should tint the boat glass to match ;) Definitely keep us updates on the CGS exhaust. I'd prob rec stainless. Probably wont have any problems over the life of the car but thinking stainless may be better in resisting corrosion and the ex will be on launch ramps and maybe in salt water at times?

You can get some better MPG's, just depends what you do, if you make it breath better, 9 out of 10 times some mileage increase will be seen, it varies.... My F150, I saw about 2miles per gallon average with duals, 3 1/2" pipes stainless steel from, Maganflow, don't think I've seen my investment returned yet? Note: thats staying out of the pedal also (5.4 Engine)
 






Thank you DonM527,

I already get 23 MPG w/ 4WD when not towing..lol. The other morning it was cool and I was in the 25mpg range its so nice when that happens.

I think I will switch over to Fully Sythetic, I've had Mobil1 in my BMW for 8 years now and thank god no issues and it is efficient.

The tint on the Ex is from factory but its not a bad idea for the boat also, it'd probably just camo the water spots anyways, I think the glass on this boat is usual other than for the water to splash off of.

Good call on the stainless steel recommendation, definately didn't take the salt water into account and I'll make a seperate thread for once I get those items installed, most likely will do a dyno of each component seperately.

i know it uses a syn blend but fully synthetic oil wouldnt hurt and with the florida heat and added towing duty, imo oil changes at 5k intervals.
I put Mobil1 in all my cars and i put in fully synthetic mobil1 since 4k. no towing i get almost 23 mpg with most driving on I-95.

nice pic TIO. Did you tint your Explorer's rear windows darker than factory? Should tint the boat glass to match ;) Definitely keep us updates on the CGS exhaust. I'd prob rec stainless. Probably wont have any problems over the life of the car but thinking stainless may be better in resisting corrosion and the ex will be on launch ramps and maybe in salt water at times?
 












cool, would like to hear the dyno numbers before and after.

i called steeda since they are down here and i had used them in the past installing a vortech in my 97gt. i am surprised they have nothing planned for the explorer cause I would have loved to use those guys again and hoping they would make a catback.

i like the looks of the cgs... i just wonder if the tips are rolled at the edge? i kinda like that finished look if so. hoping magnaflow comes out with something soon.

But I was just thinking lately... when I took the pic below I had thought a catback would definitely give more power because of that massive pinch in the tube depicted... but a cat back is not going to replace that part... only after the second set of cats. that restrictive kink will still be there.

what i am thinking is having a shop replace the middle section... keep the factory headers and fab a new 4 cat system using high flow cats and attach to the factory mufflers... i think the gains would probably be the same but give a more quiet factory sound. you;d probably loose an inch of ground clearance by not pinching the tube under the crossmember. but i dont plan to go offroad anyways and clearance should be about the same as most cars.

i say 4 cat system because i imagine 4 cats will keep the system from throwing codes and not require tuning... but if a 2 cat system can do it and also keep it odor free then all the better... and cheaper.

maybe someday i'll stop by steeda and toss them my ideas and see what they say.

768687fa.jpg


Thank you DonM527,

I already get 23 MPG w/ 4WD when not towing..lol. The other morning it was cool and I was in the 25mpg range its so nice when that happens.

I think I will switch over to Fully Sythetic, I've had Mobil1 in my BMW for 8 years now and thank god no issues and it is efficient.

The tint on the Ex is from factory but its not a bad idea for the boat also, it'd probably just camo the water spots anyways, I think the glass on this boat is usual other than for the water to splash off of.

Good call on the stainless steel recommendation, definately didn't take the salt water into account and I'll make a seperate thread for once I get those items installed, most likely will do a dyno of each component seperately.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





I also recommend stainless, thats what I have on the F150, still looks great! I will have to use mObil1, I have always used Redline ( former sponser), so it was cheaper on cost, but it was really good also.
 






Back
Top