XLS Towing camper trailer?

[jsteele12001]

I am looking at purchasing a camper trailor but have some concerns about towing the weight. I own a Explorer XLS 4.0 OVH 4WD 4 door, and have recieve about 5 or 6 completely different towing weight capacities. The trailor I am looking at is 3600lbs and will be about 4200lbs loaded with our stuff. Is anyone towing a similer trailor and give me some advise as to the performance. Thanks in advance

[ajpletcher]

3500 i think is the max weight for a trailer

[Charlie]

You can pull a big trailer with it, power isn't the biggest problem. The problem is the tranny, you might want to install an auxillary tranny cooler.

Oh, and whatever you do, don't use your bumper hitch. Don't do it unless you have an aftermarket hitch.


This guy has towed this:

It weights about 5000lbs
He says

It pulls OK, not great. The power is there, but when its windy, its a real pain!

Also, if you beef up your rear suspension a little bit it will help.

What year is your explorer?

[Charlie]

Thought I would add this one too:


Not sure how much that weighs, but he pulled that for a few years with his sport.

[builderx16]

Over the years I have pulled some pretty decent trailers with my 99 XLT 4door. The largest was a 24ft travel trailer. The exact weight I am not sure of however I did a few things to lessen the effects on the truck. If the trailer you want has electric breaks that will significantly reduce the stress on your stoppers. I would also suggest some load leveling bars on your hitch setup. If you crank down on that system it will actually take off all the tongue weight from your truck. A little is good but too much is, well, too much. If youre going to tow, put on a set of helper springs other wise you will have a pretty saggy, tired set of leaf springs in a few years. The power will be there, dont worry however you gas mileage will drop to about 9 or 10 mpg. At least that is what I experienced.

[ZBlackBeast]

1999 Ford Explorer Specs Specifications