What can I tow safely - not just what the manual says

[mnealuf]

I have a 2000 Sport and tow a 20ft boat (weighes about 4k). I do it loclly and in FLA(flat) and in my opinion it does a crappy job. Although a TT would weigh less than my boat it would have more frontage (=wind resistance). All the pics of over loaded trucks pulling things too big make me cringe. Please kep in mind if you exceed the rating of the vehicle or hitch or anything component of your vechile and have an accident you might as well not the 1st place the ins. companies look at.

 

[unpredictable1]

I already know to never tow in OD with anything heavier than a 1 man seadoo

 

[96limitedX]

I have a 2000 Sport and tow a 20ft boat (weighes about 4k). I do it loclly and in FLA(flat) and in my opinion it does a crappy job. Although a TT would weigh less than my boat it would have more frontage (=wind resistance). All the pics of over loaded trucks pulling things too big make me cringe. Please kep in mind if you exceed the rating of the vehicle or hitch or anything component of your vechile and have an accident you might as well not the 1st place the ins. companies look at.

if thats in referance to my pic. i was well within my 5,500lbs rating on the truck. and i had a class 3 hitch. not overloaded in anyway..actuly under the max rating by about 500lbs

 

[Christobal65]

I am going to quote myself from another thread like this.

I dont know why you guys are so against towing with your Explorer, its an SUV thats part of what it was designed for. Ford may have over rated the Explorer's towing capabilities at nearly 5000lbs, but we towed our 22' ski boat for years with our Explorer and the only real problem we had was the rear shocks blew out. Our stock auto trany didnt explode from towing. In fact when it did fail it wasnt even related to the towing it was from an improperly installed flywheel.

If you take care of your Explorer install a proper frame mounted hitch and follow the instructions in the manual for towing, your Explorer can and will tow all the weight Ford says it can. Granted you wont be setting any acceleration or speed records while towing.

sorry but you couldnt be more wrong... the weak spot in the A4LD Trans generally has to do with the OD and the shifting into and out of it. If you follow the directions of the manual for towing and only tow in the Drive gear it will actually do quite well. Granted there are other spots that could use a little extra beef as well.

From your post I assume that you are assuming that the Explorer isnt capable of towing things because of things you have heard. I on the other hand have had first hand experiance of what an explorer can actualy tow and it can tow quite well infact.

My parents bought our 92 Explorer 4x4 brand new in sept of 92 for the simple fact that it could be a family car AND tow our 22' Ski Centurion. AND tow it did for 11 years well hauled that boat from Sacramento to Lake Oroville 70 Miles north. When I say 11 years i mean it, every summer we were at that lake almost every weekend and our explorer never let us down. Only reason we stopped towing with it is becase my dad changed jobs and they gave him a 1996 Yukon to drive...although its a giant POS that has been broken more in the last 3 years then any other car we have ever owned.

Just and FYI for everyone if you think your 5spd is the best thing since sliced bread check again Ford rates it as being able to tow 2000lbs LESS then the time bomb that is the A4LD.

As to comparing a ranger to a Super Duty i say why not both are and were designed to do the same thing just to a differnt degree. Im not asking my explorer to tow 13000lbs but it can and will Tow at least 5000lbs if it is maintained properly

Taken from this thread http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144397&page=1&pp=20

 

[unpredictable1]

Thanks for the replies so far!

 

[unpredictable1]

Hrmm. Someone has a great deal on a travel trailer...

But here are the specs, 1996 22ft. It has the dual axle for a total of 4 tires. Too much? I'm searching the net for specs, its a Fleetwood Wilderness model.

I think this may be too heavy for the old girl.

Can't post a pic because the webpage won't let that has the photo. argh

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Id say a 22ft travel trailer is too much for most any ex. The problem isnt pulling but stoping, the truck just doesnt weigh enough to stop or control that kind of weight and size, regardless of trailer brakes or not.

 

[unpredictable1]

Yeah I would imagine this trailer would weigh considerably less than its equivilent built 10 years prior but...I should ask what he used to tow it with.

22ft sounds big, if I could only post the pics it doesn't look at large, theres much much bigger with this type of design.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

My father in law and realatives are all big into camping. They have some big campers and generally pull them with full size trucks. Not anything extrodinary, mostly Dogde 1500's 2wd (ugh). The difference is the size and weight of the truck. You have to have something to hold the truck to the road with a huge camper tied to it. Eventually I want to buy a smaller travel trailer to pull behind my mountaineer. For now I have a 12' box popup which I pull easily. A smaller single or double axle bumper pull camper like 96limited is hooked to would be about right.

Another thing I forgot to meniton earlier is the wind a big camper will catch. Both from driving and crosswinds. A swaybar can help, but when you are pulling something 22 feet by 9 feet tall, that is alot of surface area on one side to catch wind. Have you ever seen an 18 wheeler blown over from crosswinds? To much camper and not enough truck can have the same effect.

 

[96limitedX]

our trailer was 21ft and my moms '94 pulled it flawlessly...no trailer brakes either..duno if i said that before.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

humm, I didnt realize it was that big. Nice camper, I guess when I get ready to buy one, Ill have to take it out for a test pull.

 

[unpredictable1]

Heres a quote from the seller after I asked some specs on it:

"Dry Gross weight is 3,560 lbs.
dry hitch weight is 470 lbs.
I towed it with several vehicles over the years. Most recent was with our Nissan Pathfinder, with 5,000lb towing capacity, and it was fine."

Granted if it was a late model pathfinder, they have ample power.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

well, if it only weighs 3560, that wont be too bad. Since you have a Gen I, you may make certain you have a tranny cooler and it is serviced. A sway bar may be helpful, too. Just watch out for a strong headwind or crosswind, they can put extra strain on your explorer.

 

[alexefron]

if its 3500 lbs it probably has hydraulic surge brakes atleast. also remember that you probably wont be towing it around empty (full water tanks, gray and black water tanks, gear, etc)

 

[unpredictable1]

our trailer was 21ft and my moms '94 pulled it flawlessly...no trailer brakes either..duno if i said that before.

HOw much did the trailer weigh dry?

 

[96limitedX]

dry our trailer was about 4,500 or so..fully loaded it was around 5,000. that was using the scale at the weight station.

 

[speerskija]

Of course the Explorer will tow quite a bit, but personally, I wouldn't tow anything behind mine because of the weak transmission. It's like smoking, smoking may not seem like it is doing much harm to a person, but it is killing them.