Max Weight to Tow

[4x4hauler]

right now im tryin to build up my explorer for towing,

i have a i fab intake tube and filter, 70mm mas, 66mm bbk tb, heddman headers, and flowmaster exhaust, 4.56 gears with 35's

what would be the towing capacity for a explorer with those mods?

 

[410Fortune]

whats the owners manual say? 4500#?

Braking will be fun with 35's and stock brakes.

 

[jimbo74]

whats the owners manual say? 4500#?

Braking will be fun with 35's and stock brakes.

towing anything will also be fun with 35s and 4.56s... yes 4.56s are a steep gear, and that's needed for larger tires... but factor in 35s, and thats way worse than a stock vehicle with 4.10s and 30' tires, that 99% of the peoople with that combo say is underpowered to begin with......


also you need an aftermarket tow hitch, the stock bumper is only class 2 rated with a relatively low tongue weight.... class 3 is a minimum of what you need and that still only has a 250 pound tongue i beleive

 

[410Fortune]

with 35's getting the trailers tonque up on top of the bumper for the tow ball would be interesting. the trailer would be sitting on it's ass and if its anything heavy its gonna tow like crap that way.

I tow my boat with 4.10's and 35's, hahahah with my V8 and a 8" drop hitch (receiver is in bumper) but I only do that for 5 miles, otherwise I have the 33's on.

 

[jimbo74]

his truck is a 93... it doesnt have all the power or the tranny your awd has..... add to it the explroer trannies are crap from 91-94

equals go boom while towing.... buy a dedicated tow vehicle

 

[410Fortune]

I dont have an AWD t case, never have.
I have the BW1354 T case behind my 4r70w, but that is beside the point.
I towed my 4000# for 3 years with the A4LD automatic, never had a problem. But my unit was built by one of the best, and never saw over 215 degrees.

My truck took alot of prep to be able to tow a 18' 4000# boat.

If you plan to tow with the A4LD = you need a trans temp gage, and the ability to keep it cool, keep it out of OD unless you are on flat ground at highway speeds (like 70+)
.

 

[DeRocha]

Towing capacity involves several variables such as power, breaking, hitch rating.. Even if your rig had plenty of power and adequate hitch rating the ride would become increasingly precarious as the tow weight reaches vehicle weight. Getting pushed around by your heavy trailer is no fun with a vehicle with so so braking.. Short distances are one thing, but long distance rides are another... Also make sure you have a tranny cooler if you're planning on towing anything heavy...

 

[410Fortune]

and a gage to monitor temps.

I tow the boat long distances with a BII, not the greatest idea, but I never had a problem. My 4 door explorer will take over once its done.
The BII has many upgrades to make this possible, cooling, gearing, driveline, brakes, shocks, suspension, receiver bumper, and the most important one a trans temp gage.

The boat does push the BII around a bit, and it was a tad scary in heavy traffic on the highway in CA through a construction zone once, but manageable, driver has alot to do with it, meaning keep PLENTY of room in front of you and always be aware of whats going on...

 

[4x4hauler]

im going to be doing the rear disk brake, whatother brake upgrades can i do? but will i have the power to pull a 5,000+lb car and parts?

 

[timmac06]

If you are towing that much weight you better buy a bigger truck. I would hesitate towing that with my 5.0. After all the money and time invested into your ex you could have bought a cheap fullsize. IMO

 

[Christobal65]

I dont know why you guys are so against towing with your Explorer, its an SUV thats part of what it was designed for. Ford may have over rated the Explorer's towing capabilities at nearly 5000lbs, but we towed our 22' ski boat for years with our Explorer and the only real problem we had was the rear shocks blew out. Our stock auto trany didnt explode from towing. In fact when it did fail it wasnt even related to the towing it was from an improperly installed flywheel.

If you take care of your Explorer install a proper frame mounted hitch and follow the instructions in the manual for towing, your Explorer can and will tow all the weight Ford says it can. Granted you wont be setting any acceleration or speed records while towing.

 

[jimbo74]

suvs were not designed to be pulling something heavier than teirself!

 

[96limitedX]

suvs were not designed to be pulling something heavier than teirself!

not what the '97 owners manual infront of me says. it says the V8 explorer will tow 6,000lbs..an we all know a X does not weigh that much now does it

idk i would be alittle scared towing with 35s an a a4ld..but thats me.

 

[Christobal65]

suvs were not designed to be pulling something heavier than teirself!

Dont take this the wrong way but thats a pretty ignorant comment. Ford Super Duty trucks are rated to tow 13,000lbs and we all know they dont weigh 13,000lbs. Weight of the tow vehical has little to do with how much it can tow... Its about chassis, suspension, Engine, and transmission.

 

[tgertz77]

Dont take this the wrong way but thats a pretty ignorant comment. Ford Super Duty trucks are rated to tow 13,000lbs and we all know they dont weigh 13,000lbs. Weight of the tow vehical has little to do with how much it can tow... Its about chassis, suspension, Engine, and transmission.

Explorer is basically a top of the line Ranger, the engine is decent and transmission is horrible.

I dont think it would be wise to try to make a explorer into a towing rig, take what you can get.... I dont know about anyone else, but I wouldn't trust a 1st Gen X with anything over a small boat... just due to the age and its limitations to begin with.



Its not fair to compare a Ranger to a Super Duty... My dad owned a Super Duty F-350, and I have an Explorer..... needless to say, its obvious that Explorers were built to do what they do, push themselves, maybe a little extra, and tow a couple jet skis or a small boat once in awhile..... while a Super Duty is what it is, a Super Duty, the name describes itself.


It takes the simple comparison of the terms "Utility" and "Super Duty".




and to the guy trying to create a tow vehicle... I think i would stop before you get too deep into a situation that has no upside... My best estimate would be that SUV's arent really even reccomended to tow what thier limitations are, While you could probably get away with a thousand or so over on a rig meant to tow things.

 

[96limitedX]

my moms '94 4x4 auto handled 4,000lbs travle trailer very well. would keep 55mph on the moutains. an stoped decently..it never felt unstable.

 

[Christobal65]

Explorer is basically a top of the line Ranger, the engine is decent and transmission is horrible.

I dont think it would be wise to try to make a explorer into a towing rig, take what you can get.... I dont know about anyone else, but I wouldn't trust a 1st Gen X with anything over a small boat... just due to the age and its limitations to begin with.

Its not fair to compare a Ranger to a Super Duty... My dad owned a Super Duty F-350, and I have an Explorer..... needless to say, its obvious that Explorers were built to do what they do, push themselves, maybe a little extra, and tow a couple jet skis or a small boat once in awhile..... while a Super Duty is what it is, a Super Duty, the name describes itself.

It takes the simple comparison of the terms "Utility" and "Super Duty".

sorry but you couldnt be more wrong... the weak spot in the A4LD Trans generally has to do with the OD and the shifting into and out of it. If you follow the directions of the manual for towing and only tow in the Drive gear it will actually do quite well. Granted there are other spots that could use a little extra beef as well.

From your post I assume that you are assuming that the Explorer isnt capable of towing things because of things you have heard. I on the other hand have had first hand experiance of what an explorer can actualy tow and it can tow quite well infact.

My parents bought our 92 Explorer 4x4 brand new in sept of 92 for the simple fact that it could be a family car AND tow our 22' Ski Centurion. AND tow it did for 11 years well hauled that boat from Sacramento to Lake Oroville 70 Miles north. When I say 11 years i mean it, every summer we were at that lake almost every weekend and our explorer never let us down. Only reason we stopped towing with it is becase my dad changed jobs and they gave him a 1996 Yukon to drive...although its a giant POS that has been broken more in the last 3 years then any other car we have ever owned.

Just and FYI for everyone if you think your 5spd is the best thing since sliced bread check again Ford rates it as being able to tow 2000lbs LESS then the time bomb that is the A4LD.

As to comparing a ranger to a Super Duty i say why not both are and were designed to do the same thing just to a differnt degree. Im not asking my explorer to tow 13000lbs but it can and will Tow at least 5000lbs if it is maintained properly

 

[Christobal65]

I just want to be clear that i dont think the Explorer is the best thing to tow with, all i am trying to say is that a well taken care of Explorer CAN get the job done too.

 

[yosh18981898]

...Just and FYI for everyone if you think your 5spd is the best thing since sliced bread check again Ford rates it as being able to tow 2000lbs LESS then the time bomb that is the A4LD.

Ford says that because getting the clutch out with 5000 lbs of trailer and 3.27 or 3.55 gears and stock tires(which is what the majority of 5spds came with) is near impossible (I tried once with a 6000 lb trailer, a dakota on a twin axle car hauler). If you had 4.10s it would be much easier and very possible. Unfortunately, ford never made 5-spds w/ 4.10s in our explorers. In low range my X yanked that dakota and trailer around like it was a ATV trailer.

If you can get the clutch out without burning it, the 5 spd is generally going to last a lot longer than an A4LD pulling the same trailer. It does not have the overheating tendancies and weak stock parts that a A4LD has and therefore will hold up to the abuse better. I'm not saying that every 5-spd will outlast every A4LD, because there will always be exceptions, but it is a good general rule.

 

[KooK]

Sorry for the crappy pics.

This is me cruising down the highway at 75mph...

And this is what I'm towing. A 2000 Mustang GT that weighs 3200lbs + a flatbed trailor.

Everybody told me I couldn't do it, she handled it just fine. I'm willing to bet this was just a little more than 5000lbs. Not bad for "Just a V6" explorer eh?

By the way, I towed it a total of 500 miles.