Towing Experience

[jarettp]

So I just completed my haul using Uhaul's largest available enclosed trailer (6'x12'). I don't have the factory tow package but am using an aftermarket hitch and installed the tow/haul button. I do not have an oil or transmission cooler. Trailer itself weighed 2000 lbs. I can only guess at the weight of what I was hauling but I'd put it somewhere between 800 and 1000 lbs. Drove about 40 miles overall with the trailer loaded. The Explorer performed flawlessly. At no point did it feel like it was struggling. The tow/haul button kept it in the right gear. I wouldn't take that amount cross country without an oil cooler but for what I was doing, it worked out great. Hope this helps anyone else in a similar predicament.

FYI: To install the tow/haul button, remove the trim to the left side of it by pulling it towards the door, remove the trim to the right of it under the steering wheel by pulling it straight out, and THEN remove the trim around the buttons. If you do it in any other order you'll most likely bend the trim or break a tab due to how they align with each other.

 

[Ronin559]

Thanks for the update, I am glad you were able to get it installed okay. I hope to install the button in the near future too, if at all possible can you post some pics of the panels you are talking about and the end result.

 

[jarettp]

Thanks for the update, I am glad you were able to get it installed okay. I hope to install the button in the near future too, if at all possible can you post some pics of the panels you are talking about and the end result.

I'm not near my car right now but this should help. The first one is on the side, you have to open the door to access it.

 

[tektoo2]

you can just install it and it works? is the harness there already?

 

[jarettp]

you can just install it and it works? is the harness there already?

It's plug and play.

 

[scott96fs]

It's plug and play.

So just curious, did the button setup you ordered come w/ the wiring? I opened up the panel on my XLT so see if I could see anything it would plug into before I ordered one and couldn't see anything....I do not have a power lift gate so don't know if maybe that changes something....

 

[Bhammer909]

Did you order the button from ford?
How much was it?
Do you have a link to buy said button?
What aftermarket Class III Hitch did you put on?

I also have a 2014 Limited But mine is Fwd
I will be doing the same thing pretty soon.
I haul 2 Honda AquaTrax (Seadoos) which weigh about 2000lbs about 15 miles from the house to the launch ramp a hand full of times during the summer.

Periodically I may have to haul said trailer about 300 miles, at that point should I be adding the oil cooler?

So I just completed my haul using Uhaul's largest available enclosed trailer (6'x12'). I don't have the factory tow package but am using an aftermarket hitch and installed the tow/haul button. I do not have an oil or transmission cooler. Trailer itself weighed 2000 lbs. I can only guess at the weight of what I was hauling but I'd put it somewhere between 800 and 1000 lbs. Drove about 40 miles overall with the trailer loaded. The Explorer performed flawlessly. At no point did it feel like it was struggling. The tow/haul button kept it in the right gear. I wouldn't take that amount cross country without an oil cooler but for what I was doing, it worked out great. Hope this helps anyone else in a similar predicament.

FYI: To install the tow/haul button, remove the trim to the left side of it by pulling it towards the door, remove the trim to the right of it under the steering wheel by pulling it straight out, and THEN remove the trim around the buttons. If you do it in any other order you'll most likely bend the trim or break a tab due to how they align with each other.