TrailManor Owner's Forum - View Single Post

RockyMtnRay · 07-30-2004, 06:53 AM

[quote author=amp17408 link=board=23;threadid=2182;start=msg15141#msg1514 1 date=1091156423]
We are seriously looking at the 3024KS. We've been to the dealer twice this week. Have a few questions? We're currently towing a Trail-Lite 17ft. with a V6 Ford Explorer. Can the explorer handle the 24 ft. Trailmanor? [/quote]

Maybe. There are two issues here...one is the size/wheelbase of your Explorer, which Ford changed a couple of years ago; the second is where you will be towing (your profile doesn't show your location).

If you are going to be towing in the midwest or eastern US where the roads basically flat and the elevations are low, a V6 Explorer would have adequate (not great, just adequate) power. And on straight, flat roads, even an older smaller Explorer has enough wheelbase to provide control of a 24 foot trailer. In hilly/mildly mountainous terrain like the Appalachians, one of the newer and larger Explorers would be OK but I would have some serious doubts about pulling a 24 foot trailer through even eastern mountains with an older Explorer.

However, if you were to try pulling a loaded 3124 with a V6 Explorer through either the Sierra or the Rockies (particularly the high altitiude Rockies such as in Colorado), you'd find that the engine/transmission would be really straining to do the job. For a once in lifetime trip, it would work...barely. But doing such high altitude, steep mountain towing every two weeks (as I do) would rapidly kill the drivetrain.

07-30-2004, 06:53 AM	#4
RockyMtnRay TrailManor Master Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Posts: 816	Re:Prospective Owner [quote author=amp17408 link=board=23;threadid=2182;start=msg15141#msg1514 1 date=1091156423] We are seriously looking at the 3024KS. We've been to the dealer twice this week. Have a few questions? We're currently towing a Trail-Lite 17ft. with a V6 Ford Explorer. Can the explorer handle the 24 ft. Trailmanor? [/quote] Maybe. There are two issues here...one is the size/wheelbase of your Explorer, which Ford changed a couple of years ago; the second is where you will be towing (your profile doesn't show your location). If you are going to be towing in the midwest or eastern US where the roads basically flat and the elevations are low, a V6 Explorer would have adequate (not great, just adequate) power. And on straight, flat roads, even an older smaller Explorer has enough wheelbase to provide control of a 24 foot trailer. In hilly/mildly mountainous terrain like the Appalachians, one of the newer and larger Explorers would be OK but I would have some serious doubts about pulling a 24 foot trailer through even eastern mountains with an older Explorer. However, if you were to try pulling a loaded 3124 with a V6 Explorer through either the Sierra or the Rockies (particularly the high altitiude Rockies such as in Colorado), you'd find that the engine/transmission would be really straining to do the job. For a once in lifetime trip, it would work...barely. But doing such high altitude, steep mountain towing every two weeks (as I do) would rapidly kill the drivetrain.