2004 Explorer towing a 3023

[Virginia Deacon]

A follow-up to my earlier post on this thread.

The season is nearly over (unless we opt for some cold-weather camping), and the comments I made earlier are still true. We traveled to Verona, VA and Asheville, NC - so we had a chance to REALLY find out how well our Explorer would do towing our TrailManor 2720SL over mountains. Happily, our experiences were "as advertised" by our dealer in Chesapeake, VA.

While we did have to downshift on gear and move to the right-hand (truck) lane with our flashers on, the Explorer moved along at 45 mph and it didn't take long to make it over the top of Mount Afton and other Shenandoah obstacles. Overall, we still got about 18 mpg.

Before next season, I'm going to have the brakes on the Explorer checked, since they are the original brakes at 73,000 miles, and I've relied on the trailer brakes more than I believe I should have to. Of course, "the best surprise is no surprise," which means I should have been driving more defensively in the first place!

Happy Camping!

We tow a 3124KS with a 2003 Honda Pilot. Pilot has a factory tow pkg, we use a Reese WDH and Prodigy brake controller. We do fine on the flat and small hills, but use the right lane for the steeper hills and do have to shift down on the downslopes to preserve braking. No sway but I do feel that we are on the ragged edge as far as tow capacity is concerned. First chance I get I will move to a v8 pickup with a better tow capability. I need to convince the wife that the pilot has to go as she loves that car.

Let me add my experience with a combo that is not supposed to work according to questionable advice Ive seen posted here and elsewhere. The Explorer is one of the best lightweight towing vehicles Ive had/used to date, including several pickups and a Suburban.

I recently pulled a 3023 from California (Bay area) to Utah with my 1998 Explorer Sport- a 4x4 short 2-door version of the Explorer which has the 4.0 six-cylinder ohv engine equipped with the tow package and WD hitch. The SUV also has an aftermarket overload spring installed. In addition to the trailer, I also carried 250Lb of cargo in the "SUV's trunk". The biggest difference (for towing) are OEM 4.10 gears and tranny cooler, although I have large 33" tires that reduces the overall "equivalent gear" closer to a 3.8 ratio. The Explorer has a very effective 5-speed transmission that does a very good job staying in the engine's torque zone.

Result: I thought the performance was outstanding- 55 mph over Donners Pass (steep grades, ~9000 ft as I remember), around 70 mph elsewhere on flatter ground w/very good gas mileage (abt 17 mpg) considering the situation. FWIW, I found that locking out the overdrive also served as a decent engine brake on downgrades.

The TM is everything it has been advertised as- I love it- better handling performance than I expected! I had no problems at all with sway or wind, I found the combination effectively stable and predictable. The short wheelbase makes backing the trailer a breeze.