Towing?

[kevdc77]

I want to buy a trailer but I'm not sure what the Explorer can handle. I was looking at an Outback 21rs which is a 21' trailer. It weighs about 5k lbs. I was reading in another forum about someone wanting to pull a 23' trailer with an explorer and everyone said hell no, stay away from Explorers. I have an 04 4.6l V8. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Tbars4]

...do a search for towing with an explorer...

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Your 3rd gen Explorer is factory rated for higher capacities than previous generations, especially if you have a factory towing package. I'd check your gear ratio, then owners manual to see what it can do. I towed a 23' with my 5.0 for a while, it was the most I'd pull with it, but it did OK, especially for having 130k on it.

 

[manaen]

Once you have all the numbers figured out, make sure you search the forums. You will want to add additional tranny cooling, and I would not tow without a tranny temp gauge. Without one there is just no way to tell how things are running. A $30 gauge could save you thousands in tranny work later.

here is a quick list of things I would do for towing.
1) tranny temp
2) Additional heavy duty tranny cooler
3) Replace Mercon V with full synthetic mercon V
4) Possibly a shift kit, but I'm not sure what is available for the newer trannies

 

[kevdc77]

Thanks guys!