Towing small-ish things

I'm away from my Explorer at school for the time being, so I can't get to an owners manual or anything. But I'm hoping I can get some help with this. I've searched the forums, but only come up with posts a bit more specific than I'm looking for.

I'm looking into buying an ATV. The weight, as I've been seeing (sport ATV) is around 400-500 lbs. Looking at trailers, I guess the weight for a standard one to carry an ATV is also in that range (again, I'm just starting to look into it). So that's about 1000 pounds. I have a class II hitch on my 2004. Will I need to do anything special for this, or should I be all set to a) Get a ball for the hitch, b) Buy/Rent a trailer, and c) Tow the ATV? For larger things, I've seen people recommend getting a transmission cooler and having a temperature gauge, but will I need this for towing about 1000 lb? What if I upped it by adding another ATV, making it around 1500 lb? Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

[techieman33]

you'll be fine, 1500lbs isn't going to be a problem for you.

 

[Burnout]

Great, thanks for the help. Just wanted to make sure everything would work before I put some money into buying things.

On a note unrelated to this, but related to towing - I've always wondered why it's harder on the transmission for an SUV to plow snow than it is to tow, what I assume, something much heavier. Any insight?

 

[arco777]

I don't know about the transmission, but plowing is hard on the vehicle's chassis. Light duty frames (Ranger, Explorer, F-150) won't generally hold up well over time. Maybe if you're just plowing your own driveway occasionally or have little snow, but in AK the guys who get paid to do it often had a lot of bent/sprung trucks because they tried to cheap out. Also consider that a plow weighs a lot and a light duty vehicle will not handle so well with one attached.

 

[jrford]

with an '04 you should not have a problem V6 or V8. I tow a 1000lb boat with my V8, 3.55's and you can forget its back there. All 3rd Gen's come with a trans cooler . . .and a built in trans sensor (no way to view though unless you have a scanner). In very hilly stuff and/or its starts 'hunting' gears its not a bad idea to turn the O/D off.

 

[Verno]

Burnout; you will be fine with two ATV's and a trailer. I got one that had the small dove tail and gate works as a ramp. Gate on trailer is removable. Think I paid about $600 for the trailer NEW (12x6) and it has 5000 pound axle. Your ex will tow with no problems, as biggest towing issue is drag, and the ATV's won't be much taller than your ex, so very little "resistance".

 

[Burnout]

Well that brings up one last question: Does anybody besides UHaul rent out utility trailers? Verno, where did you buy yours from?

 

[Verno]

Well that brings up one last question: Does anybody besides UHaul rent out utility trailers? Verno, where did you buy yours from?

Got mine from a local dealer for Cotter & Company. I have seen the same ones (2x6 wood floor and mesh tailgates) at lowes and Tractor Supply but I'm sure they will be higher there. Several places sell utilty trailers so look around first.

 

[yellowford]

Craigslist is a good place to look for a utility trailer thats where mine is from and with all the the things its up to about $150.