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Old 03-07-2015, 09:51 PM   #1
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new and need help

First off I would like to say hi!! And I'm very new to all Of this. I'm possibly looking into buying a 2015 passport 238ml. It's about 22ft in length and weights about 3800. My tow vehicle is a 2008 ford explore v6. Ford says I can pull. 5100Lbs. That are your thoughts and experiences.
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Old 03-07-2015, 10:03 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum. Zero will be along shortly!
As to your tow vehicle I think you are a bit small. The exploder will tow your trailor just fine on the flats but the big rigs will be passing you up on the grades. I would add another trans cooler as the ford installed one even with tow package is to small. I worked for ford for years rebuilding transmissions and saw many heat failures. Watch when passed by a buss, big rig or another rv as the buffitting will be a white knuckle experience. You did not state if the 3800' is GVWR or empty weight. If empty you can quickly approach GVWR when wife starts filling cupboards. Mine collects rocks and her nickname is Stacy.
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Old 03-07-2015, 10:37 PM   #3
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Your trailer has "Shipping weight" of 3860 lb and a carrying capacity of 1540lb, so you can overload your Explorer without overloading your trailer. I'd agree with the previous poster, definitely put in the largest transmission cooler that will fit the truck, it will need it.

As far as buffeting, our first RV was a Trail-Lite Bantam B-17, a little single axle hybrid. We had just picked it up and were driving it home on the interstate going about 55MPH and a truck passed, started swaying so bad I had to slow to about 45 for it to stop. We went to the nearest RV store, bought a friction Antisway control and that resolved the problem. You'll be using a weight distributing hitch with your trailer, you can either add an friction antisway control or get an antisway hitch from Anderson, Reese or Equal-i-zer, to name a few.
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Old 03-08-2015, 04:01 AM   #4
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You most likely will not be happy with the V6 explorer towing your camper and will end up with a F-150 eventually.

The 4.0 litre V6 engine in the Explorer makes more noise than acceleration and is underpowered (IMHO) even without hooking a trailer to it.

Also I saw just a 3,500 lb towing capacity on some 2008 explorers.

For the Explorer look for a pop-up or tear drop trailer like the T@B, or even the teepee type like the A-Liner.

Good luck.
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Old 03-08-2015, 03:19 PM   #5
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I pulled our first trailer a 19' TT right at 3200LBs scale weight loaded with a V6 Sonoma Crew Cab for two years, twice over the Rockies and back. Added the brajke controller and trans cooler with gage and used an Equilizer hitch. Always got to where we were going, had to use the truck lanes but always got to the top. A well maintined engines should be able to run at 4000+ rpms with no problems. Just go to a scale and see what you really have and if it's within your specs. Don't need a deisel dually to tow everything.
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Old 03-09-2015, 12:12 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steeler4life View Post
... 2015 passport 238ml....weights about 3800.
Dry weight is 3,800. But the wet and loaded weight is 5,400, with 12.8% tongue weight, or up to 691 pounds tongue weight.

Quote:
My tow vehicle is a 2008 ford explore v6. Ford says I can pull. 5100Lbs. That are your thoughts and experiences.
Ford says you can tow a trailer that grosses 5,100 pounds only when your Explorer grosses less than 4,900. (Your GCWR is 10,000 pounds). So with absolutely nothing in the SUV but a skinny driver and a full tank of gas, you might be able to PULL a 5,000-pound TT. But not tow it without being overloaded over the suspension limits of your SUV.

So just analyzing those numbers, that's too much trailer for your SUV.

But do a bit more effort and weigh the wet and loaded SUV before you tie onto the trailer. Load the SUV with everyone and everything that will be in it when towing, including the head of your weight-distributing hitch. Drive to a truckstop that has a CAT scale and fill up with gas. Then weigh the wet and loaded SUV. Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded SUV from the GVWR of the SUV and the answer is the max hitch weight (tongue weight) you can tow without being overloaded. If your max tongue weight is less than 691 pounds, then you need to look for a lighter-weight trailer.

Off hand I would say your max trailer would probably be a pop-up camping trailer with GVWR less than 4,000 pounds. There are some nice ones available with all the amminities with GVWR less than 4,000 pounds. Here's one for example:
Flagstaff Tent Folding Camping Trailers by Forest River RV
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Old 03-10-2015, 09:03 PM   #7
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Thanks for all of your help and advice. I was on the Web looking at 1998-2004 expeditions. Does anyone know the towing specs and capabilities of the expedition.
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Old 03-13-2015, 08:14 AM   #8
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Thanks for all of your help and advice. I was on the Web looking at 1998-2004 expeditions. Does anyone know the towing specs and capabilities of the expedition.
Yes, I have the 2003 Ford SUV Source Book as well as the 2003 RV and Trailer Towing Guide,

The biggest problem with the Expedition is it's a full-size SUV, and like any full-size SUV, it can either tow a decent-sized trailer or haul a wagon full of people and stuff, but not both at the same time without being overloaded. That's true even with the 5.4L engine and 3.73 axle ratio with the towing package. So provided your Expedition has the 5.4L engine, 3.73 axle ratio, and towing package, the 4x4 has GVWR of 7,300 pounds, and max trailer weight (tow rating) of 8,650 pounds.

But you can tow a TT that grosses over 8,000 pounds only if the only thing in the SUV is a skinny driver. Add more weight in the SUV and you run out of payload capacity in a hurry. GVWR is your limiter, so hitch weight becomes your enemy.

A decent smaller TT will have GVWR of around 7,000 pounds, and tongue weight of about 900 pounds. With GVWR of the Expedition of only 7,300 pounds, that leaves a max of 6,400 pounds for the wet and loaded weight of the SUV, including driver, passengers, full tank of gas, and weight-distributing hitch. A skinny spouse and two rug rats and you're maxed out with nothing else in the SUV.

Same for the GM Yukon XL/ Suburban 1500. But back in 2003, the Expedition was available only in the half-ton model, while the GM twins were available in both a 1500 and 2500 model. If I were looking for a 2003 SUV for a tow vehicle, I would look for the GM 2500 full-size SUVs with the biggest gas engine they made, or the diesel engine. (GM no longer offers the diesel engine in an SUV.) Then I could tow a 7,000-pound TT with no worry about being overloaded when my big dog joined the family in the SUV.
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