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Old 04-02-2008, 08:38 AM   #1
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Towing TT with 2005 Ford explorer

I have been told that I can not safely tow my TT with this vehicle. I have a T-2570 Sunline. This sperson told me the suspencion on the explorer was not suitable to tow a TT. Anyone out there using an explorer with their TT and have u had any problems. Comments welcome and thanks.
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Old 04-02-2008, 09:04 AM   #2
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Re: Towing TT with 2005 Ford explorer

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnynell
I have been told that I can not safely tow my TT with this vehicle. I have a T-2570 Sunline. This sperson told me the suspencion on the explorer was not suitable to tow a TT. Anyone out there using an explorer with their TT and have u had any problems. Comments welcome and thanks.
What year is your trailer and what is it's GVWR?

Does your Explorer have the factory towing package? 2WD or 4WD? V-6 or V-8?

These are the tow ratings for '05 Explorers. The weights are 2WD/4WD

_______________Max Trailer_Max GCWR
Explorer 4.0L V-6 5,760/5,380 10,240/10,000
Explorer 4.6L V-8 7,140/7,000 11,600

If you have a newer Sunny with a 7,000# GVWR, and your Explorer is a V-8, you are right on the edge of exceeding max towing capacity.

If you have an older Sunny with a 5,500# GVWR and a V-6 Explorer, you're also on the edge.

Conventional towing wisdom suggests a 1/4 to 1/3 safety margin in towing capacity vs. trailer weight.

In this weight group, the following are simply mandatory:
Class IV receiver on the tow vehicle.
Weight distributing hitch system.
Anti-sway control appropriate to weight group.
Electric brake controller in the tow vehicle.
Extension mirrors on the tow vehicle.

FWIW, I've seen many Explorers in campgrounds as TV's, but generally with trailers smaller than your T-2570.

One other thought, if you look at signature lines in this group, you'll see that most of us are using full sized pickups or SUV's for TV's, and quite a few have even gone to 3/4 or 1 ton vehicles. And we're not towing anything larger than your T-2570. There's some good reasons for that, and you'll find a lot of information if you read back through some of the threads in the Towing and Tow Vehicles section.
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Old 04-02-2008, 02:59 PM   #3
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Johnnynell

Ditto on what Steve said.

To determine if your Explorer is capable to tow your T-2570 you need to know:
Tow Rating of your Explorer
Gross Capacity Weight Rating (GCWR) of your Explorer
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of your Explorer
Rear Axle Weight Rating (RAWR) of your Explorer
Loaded weight of your Explorer
Loaded weight on Rear Axle of your Explorer
Loaded weight of your T-2570
Tongue weight of your T-2570

A starting rule of thumb is the weight of the trailer should be 80% or less of the Explorer's tow rating.

For example for a tow rating of 7,000 lbs, the trailer weight should be less than or equal to 5,600 lbs (7000 x 0.8 ). That will allow room for additional weight for passengers, cargo, & tongue weight on the tow vehicle. This will also provide for additional power if you head out west into higher altitudes.

The specifics are then:
GCWR > Loaded Weight of your Explore + Loaded Weight of you T-2570
GVWR > Loaded Weight of your Explore + Tongue weight of your T-2570
RAWR > Loaded weight on Rear Axle of your Explorer + Tongue weight of your T-2570

If all calculations are correct, then you’re within your Explorer's towing capability.
The best way to get the weights is at a scale, but you can also estimate them to get an idea if you’re in the ball park.

Hope this helps.
Hutch
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Old 04-02-2008, 11:44 PM   #4
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Hi Johhny

I looked up a 2003, 2570 as that catalog had the floor plan I could read the numbers on. Front bedroom, large pass thru cargo hole under bed, rear kitchen, 26 feet long, 4355 # dry GVW, 7,000# GVWR with a 630# dry tongue http://www.sunlineclub.com/docs/03.pdf

If that is the right TT I found, you will have issues with any mid sized SUV. Chevy, Ford, Toyota etc.

The full size ½ ton SUV, Suburban, Tahoe, Expedition even has to be watched.

The weak link to the SUV is the rear axle capacity and the suspension. And in your case the mid Size SUV will be hurting first. That 630# dry tongue will head to maybe 800 could be pressing 900# pending the stuff you put in the front bedroom and front cargo hole. And you need good tongue weight to create a stable towing trailer.

That tongue weight, even with WD setup correctly will overload your rear axle. So yes your suspension will be the first limiting factor.

Look at your drivers side door sticker and look for the rear axle rating. Find that number. Then we need ideally scaled rear axle weight with people inside. If you subtract the loaded rear axle weight from the rear axle rating, all that is left is what tongue weight the TV can handle. Next in line is not to exceed the GVWR of the truck.

That is only the holding it up part. Next is the TV short wheel base with a 26 foot TT with P rated tires = a heads up on TT sway. These are other negative traits with the mid size SUV has. A Hensley hitch will solve the sway problem, but it adds to tongue weight and in your case you can’t take on any more.

If you are in this situation, we feel for you and want to help you as a lot of us have already gone thru this. Myself included. If you have the camper already and love it, like we did, then see if you can find a larger used TV. I was towing a T2499 with a Chevy Tahoe and wrestled with this decision. Then I went and bought a used 3/4 ton Suburban and had no more issues and glad to this day I did.

I know, decisions, decisions.

We are willing to help any way we can point you where to go looking to get setup right.

Hope this helps and let us know if you need more

John
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Old 04-03-2008, 06:14 AM   #5
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Ford Explorer Towing

We did one tow of our T-1950 with our Ford Explorer and knew immediately a larger TV was needed. So we now have a Ford Expedition that can tow 8600# for the TT which fully loaded is rated at 5500# with a tongue weight under 500#. The Expedition tows the Sunline easily and we also use the Equalizer weight and sway.

We had posed a question to this list in February regarding towing a T-2499 with the Expedtion and based upon the detailed responses, did not purchase the larger TT. If we choose to get a larger TT, then a Ford 250 is in our future although we prefer SUV's to pickups for a variety of reasons.

It is interesting to us how many TT dealers will insist that a too-small tow vehicle can tow heavy TTs. It's also interesting how many car/truck sales people can't answer towing questions. We were fortunate enough to meet a vehicle sales person who had been a truck driver in his early years and he was a wealth of information on towing. Unfortunately he has left the dealership and we don't know where he went.
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Old 04-03-2008, 06:37 AM   #6
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My nieghbor towed a 2553 with his explorer for about 5 years. I have no idea what the set up was as far as if he upgraded the suspension somehow. He definitely had the V8. They used to go from PA to Florida with it every year. Personally I wouldn't do it, but just wanted you to know that someone has done it successfully. I'd ask a service guy at Ford what needs to be done to your particular vehicle to make it tow worthy.
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Old 04-03-2008, 02:55 PM   #7
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We have a V6 explorer that we were going to tow our 2075 with. Total weight of the loaded trailer was only 4800 lbs. Only towed it 2 times, once from the dealer and once for a trip close to home. The next week we had a new F-250. The only Sunline for an explorer would be a Que.
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Old 04-03-2008, 06:04 PM   #8
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Even our little 83 T1550 gave the back end of our V6 Explorer some issues. I wouldn't want to make a long trip with that setup.
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Old 04-03-2008, 06:32 PM   #9
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I work with a guy that had a 2004 or 2005 Explorer. When he was trailer shopping he spoke to several people at Ford that told him not to tow anything longer than about 23 ft., and to stick to a light trailer. He never bought a trailer because he didn't think it would be safe. He ended up with a Harley instead.
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Old 04-05-2008, 08:11 AM   #10
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Re: Ford Explorer Towing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diane
It is interesting to us how many TT dealers will insist that a too-small tow vehicle can tow heavy TTs. It's also interesting how many car/truck sales people can't answer towing questions. We were fortunate enough to meet a vehicle sales person who had been a truck driver in his early years and he was a wealth of information on towing. Unfortunately he has left the dealership and we don't know where he went.
We were fortunate to have a similar experience. When the '98 Dodge Ram 1500 needed replacing, we went back to our same dealer that we've dealt with for many years. The salesman and his manager *BOTH* have parents that pull big 5'ers so there is a wealth of real-world, hands-on experience and a no bull attitude about towing and tow vehicles. Of course it helped that I said up front that I wasn't interested in any 1/2 ton vehicle.

We looked at some of the stuff they had on the line that first day, and didn't see anything that worked for us. A week later, they called us to tell us about a pair of duallies that they had just taken in trade. We ended up buying one of them.

RV dealers in this area are a mixed bag when it comes to TV's. Ballantyne in Victor, NY is pretty good about these things, especially with repeat customers. They weren't always that way in years gone by but I think they learned the hard way.

I think the other major RV dealers in the Rochester area may not always look at the big picture as closely as they should. Just a reminder to do the homework **before** shopping.
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Old 04-05-2008, 08:12 AM   #11
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Re: Ford Explorer Towing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diane
It is interesting to us how many TT dealers will insist that a too-small tow vehicle can tow heavy TTs. It's also interesting how many car/truck sales people can't answer towing questions. We were fortunate enough to meet a vehicle sales person who had been a truck driver in his early years and he was a wealth of information on towing. Unfortunately he has left the dealership and we don't know where he went.
We were fortunate to have a similar experience. When the '98 Dodge Ram 1500 needed replacing, we went back to our same dealer that we've dealt with for many years. The salesman and his manager *BOTH* have parents that pull big 5'ers so there is a wealth of real-world, hands-on experience and a no bull attitude about towing and tow vehicles. Of course it helped that I said up front that I wasn't interested in any 1/2 ton vehicle.

We looked at some of the stuff they had on the line that first day, and didn't see anything that worked for us. A week later, they called us to tell us about a pair of duallies that they had just taken in trade. We ended up buying one of them.

RV dealers in this area are a mixed bag when it comes to TV's. Ballantyne in Victor, NY is pretty good about these things, especially with repeat customers. They weren't always that way in years gone by but I think they learned the hard way.

I think the other major RV dealers in the Rochester area may not always look at the big picture as closely as they should. Just a reminder to do the homework **before** shopping.
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Old 05-16-2008, 10:46 AM   #12
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I know I'm jumping in late on this thread. I tow my '06 1950 weighing 5,100 lbs loaded for travel and with all my stuff and water and propane. I have a V8 with the heavy duty tow package and use an Equa-I-Zer brand hitch. In about 10,000 miles of towing I have never had a problem with handeling or lack of power. I do feel it when a big bus blows by me at 75 mph, but i have never felt there were any control issues. The only draw back is the smallish gas tank. I get between 8-12 mpg when towing and have to fill up every 150 miles to be sure of not running out of gas. I'm happy with my set up but I don't think I would want to tow anything longer or heavier.
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Old 05-16-2008, 07:59 PM   #13
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We pull our 2007 26' T-2499 with a 2006 V-8 Ford Explorer with trailer towing package. We have had no problems with this arrangement.

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