Towing With The Tongue

[Jayson]

I need some advice here. My mother-in-law called my wife and I tonight and wanted to know if she could use our 1993 Ford Explorer XLT 2WD to tow a 1964 Bug. I wouldn't have a problem with this if I had a trailer hitch attached to my frame, but I don't. She wants to attach a ball to the bumper tongue and use that to tow. My vehicle has 149k miles on it as well and is scheduled for its 150k mile servicing on Monday. If this was your Explorer would you let her borrow it?

Thanks,
Jayson

 

[Peter Weber]

Jayson

it's your mother-in-law. You don't have a choice.

You can also go to Dead Link Removed for a similar discussion. If you need even more info, you an do a search and I'm sure you'll find additional threads about this subject.

 

[sink]

Good one- Peter.
I have a 94 XLT 4WD. I towed a double axle car hauler with about 1000 lb truck bed and parts on it with just a ball on my factory bumper mount (you know, the flat on the bumper with the ball hole in it). I'll admit the trailer was my friends and it was the sweetest trailer I have ever seen, so it towed well. But other than thinking ahead for braking, I hardly knew it was there and the bumper showed no signs of problem. I towed about 2000 lb of snowmobiles and trailer with about 200lb tounge wt. from my Ranger bumper several trips OK too. Although after the winter the plate kind of tilted a little.
Really it all depends on the tow setup. If you're talking car dolly- go ahead there will be no real tounge wt. As long as your rig keeps tounge wt below 350 lb or so you should have no troulbe. Just don't let HER drive it of course.

 

[Heff]

How do you figure TONGUE WEIGHT for towing???

This is all new to me. I have a small 14' boat with a 15hp motor that tow back and forth to lakes and such. How do I know if this is too much weight?

 

[sink]

Check out the other towing thread here. I say you are way OK. The rule of thumb is 300 lb max weight on the ball itself and 3000 lb weight of the trailer. Your boat is less than that. People tow those things all the time off the bumper with Rangers with 2.9 liters. BTW- my comment about my Ranger plate slightly tilted is not from normal towing. That was a little towing horseplay off the road.