Towing with an Explorer

I am very happy to hear the good things about the Explorer as a tow vehicle. I am getting ready to make my TM2720SL purchase this week and get all the things I need on my Explorer to pull it. Once I've got that, I'll be posting experiences I have with my TM. Thank you so much for your help. Your posts are the reason I'm going ahead with the TM purchase!!

[Wavery]

The Explorer is a fine tow vehicle, if one uses their head and operates it in the manner it was intended.

At 80MPH it is probably one of the worst TVs that you could have. If you start swaying or have to slam on the brakes at that speed you could find yourself out of control and upside-down so fast that there would be nothing that you could do about it.

A longer wheel base TV would handle that scenario better but one should never put himself in that scenario in the 1st place, with any TV. It shows a general disregard for the safety of yourself, your family and your neighbor's.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by harveyrv

The Explorer is a fine tow vehicle, if one uses their head and operates it in the manner it was intended. At 80MPH it is probably one of the worst TVs that you could have. If you start swaying or have to slam on the brakes at that speed you could find yourself out of control and upside-down so fast that there would be nothing that you could do about it.

That is true of almost any any tow vehicle. The Explorer is no worse than any other, but you should never be towing at 80 mph!

Bill

[jquarles]

Hi,

There are a lot of posts in this thread and most have moved on to the topic of towing at speed. I am most interested in the original topic. Towing with 6 cylinder Ford Explorer. I have a 2002 Explorer V6. I am trying to decide between a 2720 and a 3124.

So far I have read mentions of short wheel base effecting towing. How does that affect the towing?

Others have stated there v6 tows fine at low speed. I am suspecting that the towing mentioned is referring to towing at 50 to 60 mph on flat terrain. I live in Colorado and will likely tow into the Rocky mountains where there are very long extended grades. How does the v6 tow in these conditions? Both in pulling the heavy TM uphill for long periods at 10,000 feet elevation and then braking all the way down the other side of the hill?

Any detailed help would GREATLY be appreciated.

BTW..this is a phenomenal site and I am learning so much.

[Bill]

Good questions.

The 2002 Explorer is a completely different vehicle from the 2001 and earlier models. When I traded my 2002 (with the V-8) earlier this year, it had 160K miles and still had plenty of life left in it. So don't base any thinking on the performancer or ratings of earlier models.

My suggestions would be the following.

1. Read the Ford towing guide for your vehicle. It is on-line at the Ford site, and has a lot of good info. Be sure you are familiar with the ratings of your particular vehicle, as you have it equipped.

2. If you didn't get the factory tow package when you bought the vehicle, then get a mechanic to add an auxiliary transmission cooler - the biggest one you can find. You will definitely need it for towing on steep grades at high altitude.

3. I suggest that you get the smaller (lower weight) TM, and that you make a point of packing light. Based on my own experience, I'm a bit concerned about the V-6 as a tow vehicle at high altitudes and steep grades.

4. I strongly suggest that you get an aftermarket multi-gauge (plugs into the OBD-II port on your vehicle) so that you can monitor things like transmission temperature. They are relatively cheap ($100-200) and can save you from a world of hurt. I use an Aeroforce Interceptor (http://www.aeroforcetech.com/). Other members here use a Scan Gauge (http://www.scangauge.com/). Both are good, and I am sure there are others.

5. On steep upgrades at high altitudes, like Wolf Creek Pass or the approach to the Eisenhower Tunnel, expect to slow down and stay in the right lane. No need to try to blast your way up.

6. I never had any trouble stopping. Under normal conditions, the TM pretty much stops itself, of course. However, on long downgrades, you will need to use engine braking, which heats up the transmission - another reason for the temp gauge. Incidentally, I had one incident in which I lost one of the TM brakes one a very steep, very long, very twisty downgrade - on the Coronado Trail in eastern Arizona. The Explorer easily kept the TM in line and under control through out the entire 10 or so miles of these conditions.

With some care and forethought, I think you'll be OK.

Bill

[Bill]

Good questions.

The 2002 Explorer is a completely different vehicle from the 2001 and earlier models. When I traded my 2002 (with the V-8) earlier this year, it had 160K miles and still had plenty of life left in it. So don't base any thinking on the performancer or ratings of earlier models.

My suggestions would be the following.

1. Read the Ford towing guide for your vehicle. It is on-line at the Ford site, and has a lot of good info. Be sure you are familiar with the ratings of your particular vehicle, as you have it equipped.

2. If you didn't get the factory tow package when you bought the vehicle, then get a mechanic to add an auxiliary transmission cooler - the biggest one you can find. You will definitely need it for towing on steep grades at high altitude.

3. I suggest that you get the smaller (lower weight) TM, and that you make a point of packing light. Based on my own experience, I'm a bit concerned about the V-6 as a tow vehicle at high altitudes and steep grades.

4. I strongly suggest that you get an aftermarket multi-gauge (plugs into the OBD-II port on your vehicle) so that you can monitor things like transmission temperature. They are relatively cheap ($100-200) and can save you from a world of hurt. I use an Aeroforce Interceptor (http://www.aeroforcetech.com/). Other members here use a Scan Gauge (http://www.scangauge.com/). Both are good, and I am sure there are others.

5. On steep upgrades at high altitudes, like Wolf Creek Pass or the approach to the Eisenhower Tunnel, expect to slow down and stay in the right lane. No need to try to blast your way up.

6. I never had any trouble stopping. Under normal conditions, the TM pretty much stops itself, of course. However, on long downgrades, you will need to use engine braking, which heats up the transmission - another reason for the temp gauge. Incidentally, I had one incident in which I lost one of the TM brakes one a very steep, very long, very twisty downgrade - on the Coronado Trail in eastern Arizona. The Explorer easily kept the TM in line and under control through out the entire 10 or so miles of these conditions.

With some care and forethought, I think you'll be OK.

Bill

45mph 2nd gear on the grades would be my guess from travels through UT.

We had an 04 Explorer V6 when we purchased our 3023, it did fine on the flat land, even though I always felt like it was having to work a little hard. But we spend as much time as possible in the mountains each summer, and it really struggled to make the grade for example going up I70 west toward the Eisenhower tunnel I felt like I was just working it way too hard, and forget ever coming back from the west toward Denver up that grade, I honestly don't think it would have made it at all, we didn't even attempt it.

I up graded to an 08 V-8 but this summer we went to Prince Edward Island Canada, and didn't really test it in the mountains, however in the very large hills of New Brunswick it did much much better than the V-6 would have.

So bottom line is if you think you will be in the mountains a lot, and living where you do I'm sure that is the case, you should stick with the smaller model of TM. Otherwise you will find you need to get a more substantial tow vehicle.

Originally Posted by jquarles

Hi,

There are a lot of posts in this thread and most have moved on to the topic of towing at speed. I am most interested in the original topic. Towing with 6 cylinder Ford Explorer. I have a 2002 Explorer V6. I am trying to decide between a 2720 and a 3124.

So far I have read mentions of short wheel base effecting towing. How does that affect the towing?

Others have stated there v6 tows fine at low speed. I am suspecting that the towing mentioned is referring to towing at 50 to 60 mph on flat terrain. I live in Colorado and will likely tow into the Rocky mountains where there are very long extended grades. How does the v6 tow in these conditions? Both in pulling the heavy TM uphill for long periods at 10,000 feet elevation and then braking all the way down the other side of the hill?

Any detailed help would GREATLY be appreciated.

BTW..this is a phenomenal site and I am learning so much.

I used to tow my 2720SL with a 2003 Explorer Sport Trac, and it towed fine, most of the time (I'm in Westminster), with a WDH (Weight Distributing Hitch). But with very steep grades such as Floyd Hill and Rabbit Ears Pass, I was pretty much down to first gear and high RPM (a bit over 4,000 RPM got a bit over 30 mph). Still, it didn't seem to hurt anything, though I was a little concerned about the transmission.

So I used the above as an excuse to justify the F-150 I'd been wanting anyway, but I suspect that, for the little amount of towing I did on steep roads, that the Sport Trac would have lasted just fine.

So as long as you're not too impatient, and you don't overload the vehicles, I expect you'll be fine.

[jquarles]

Thank you all for the great information. This site is great !!

Coulter & Inussbau...Thank you for providing some tips that really hit home here in Colorado. However, I am in luck. My inlaws, who live 5 doors down just bought a Chevy Silverado Crew Cab. They got the tow vehicle....now I have to buy the trailer. Good deal


I am heading down to Colorado Springs to look at a few used ones for sale tomorrow.