Tow Hitch Question

[ExplorerTed]

Good Morning,

First time poster. I have a 2011 XLT with the Towing Package. I will be doing a quick camping trip this weekend and decided to try out the EX for its towing ability. I normally tow my pop-up trailer with my Tundra.

I currently have a tow hitch with a 2" drop on it. For those of you that have towed with the EX already, is a hitch with a lift? Does anyone have any issues using one with a drop?

Thanks,

Ted

 

[oleexplorer]

The best advice for towing with the explorers or anything is a little tongue weight and make sure the trailer is level while on the ball. If not smal boats trailers and popups will be everywhere.by a little tongue weight i mean trailers specs u dont want the tongue to fly up in the air when you release the latch.

 

[JDraper]

I use about a 5" drop to tow my Mustang behind my Explorer with zero problems. Just get the correct drop to level your trailer.

 

[aarmchair]

I tow my coleman pop-up trailer with a 5 inch drop to get it level. Typically tent trailers are about 16 to 20 inches off the ground to be level. Since the receiver in the Explorer is fairly high you will need a considerable drop to get to level

 

[ExplorerTed]

I thought I would follow-up on this thread. I was able to measure the EX hitch to my Tundra hitch and they were almost identical in height. The EX was about 1/2" higher. I ended up using the hitch I had (2" drop) and it worked perfect. I do have a fairly large pop-up trailer with a slide-out. I am sure a smaller trailer would need a bigger drop.

 

[treetopvt]

What is the weight of your popup? I recently rented a 27' trailer that weighed 3900 lbs. I used a Yukon Denali to tow it through the Appalachians and I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. I take delivery on my 12' Ex tomorrow and I was wondering what sort of performance I should expect towing that much weight on grade.

 

[aarmchair]

What is the weight of your popup? I recently rented a 27' trailer that weighed 3900 lbs. I used a Yukon Denali to tow it through the Appalachians and I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. I take delivery on my 12' Ex tomorrow and I was wondering what sort of performance I should expect towing that much weight on grade.

Our pop up loaded weighs around 2,500 lbs. Not that heavy. I would not tow a 27' trailer behind the Explorer - at 3,900 lbs dry weight plus cargo and vehicle passengers you wil likely be over the weight limit pretty quickly.

You will need a weight distributing hitch plus sway control which again adds to the tongue weight.

The Yukon Denali is a far different vehicle then the Explorer and I would stick to towing a large trailer with that vehicle then with the Explorer - just my two cents.

In my opinion I would not tow a travel trailer that had a dry weight exceeding 3,500 lb behind the Explorer. Here is my logic:

WD hitch with sway control - 150 lbs
Trailer - 3,500 lbs
trailer cargo - 350 lbs - 500 lbs
Vehicle cargo - 125 lbs
passengers and driver - (family of 4 assume) 650 lbs

total - 4,775 - 4,975

Thus at this level you are barely under the 5,000 lb threshold.

Also, if you are in a mountainous area, the Explorer really does not appear to be cut out for towing - the Denali is far better.

 

[Car 54]

I thought I would follow-up on this thread. I was able to measure the EX hitch to my Tundra hitch and they were almost identical in height. The EX was about 1/2" higher. I ended up using the hitch I had (2" drop) and it worked perfect. I do have a fairly large pop-up trailer with a slide-out. I am sure a smaller trailer would need a bigger drop.

How did the Ex do compared to the Tundra?

 

[ExplorerTed]

My Pop-Up is 2300 base weight, probably about 2500 with battery, propane, plus the items inside. It is a 12' box with a slide-out dinette and potty/shower, so it is loaded for a pop-up. (especially a 1998 model!)

The EX didn't have any issues towing the pop-up, but my Tundra is much better at it. You barely notice it is even there with the Tundra because it has so much power and the pop-up weighs so little. With the EX you knew it was there and it had to work a little, but again-it handled the towing fine. I imagine you would really start to notice with something over about 3,000 pounds.

Since someone mentioned mountainous areas, I should mention I live in the Salt Lake City area and towed it to Yellowstone and back. Climbed lots of mountains and the EX handled it fine.

 

[aarmchair]

Our pop up tows fine as well, as mentioned, we weigh in at around 2,500 lbs. However, i would not want to tow 3,500 lbs + through a mountainous area. I think it would be too hard on the vehicle. Towing 3,500 lbs plus cargo and passengers would get the Ex close to its weight limit and would not be an enjoyable ride/drive.

rule of thumb with towing is to be about 80% of total capacity including cargo, thus you really need to be under 3,500 lbs for trailer.

Just my two cents.

 

[tmilicia]

My '11 EX tows our 20' (box size) full height hybrid camper just fine. I'm not sure I'd want to drag it through the mountains or anything, but on the highway with mild grades it does the job (and I usually get around 12mpg towing it). Our camper has a listed unloaded weight of 3700 lbs., I'm guessing I'm a bit over 4000 loaded up (we don't carry much unneccesary crap with us).

 

[Car 54]

My Pop-Up is 2300 base weight, probably about 2500 with battery, propane, plus the items inside. It is a 12' box with a slide-out dinette and potty/shower, so it is loaded for a pop-up. (especially a 1998 model!)

The EX didn't have any issues towing the pop-up, but my Tundra is much better at it. You barely notice it is even there with the Tundra because it has so much power and the pop-up weighs so little. With the EX you knew it was there and it had to work a little, but again-it handled the towing fine. I imagine you would really start to notice with something over about 3,000 pounds.

Since someone mentioned mountainous areas, I should mention I live in the Salt Lake City area and towed it to Yellowstone and back. Climbed lots of mountains and the EX handled it fine.

My Titan pulled my car hauler (5000#) from a start very well, but once moving, handling slow and fast were better with the Ex. Especially backing up.