MY tow vehicle..Will it pull my boat

m34kane · Newbie Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 12 City: Streetsboro

I pick up my 05 mobius lsv monday.Will my 99 4wd explorer 2 dr with just a ball on the bumper pull it or do i have to get a real hitch

DRAGON88 · Posted: May 17, 2007 8:24 pm Post subject:

Get a real hitch. No question about it, a bumper mount is not going to be sufficient to pull that boat.

McQuesten1 · Guest

Yup you need a tow package, unless you want that bumper ripped off.

Canucked · Addict Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 873 City: Edmonton

make sure you give yourself a little bit of breaking room. I had an xterra which was roughly the same size as a explorer and I can't even imagine pullin an LSV with it. Confused

but i'm sure short distances are fine.

aarond0083 · Criminal Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 97

Definitely get the hitch as others have said.

If you are going to pull it more than 15 miles one way you better get a transmission cooler as well.

jjaszkow · Posted: May 21, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:

I second the transmission cooler and a real hitch. The bumper mounted ones are junk.

Might get interesting with the short wheelbase in certain situations, but shouldn't be too bad. Do you have a V8 or V6 (not even sure what came in that year explorer)?

Brit Rider · Posted: May 21, 2007 3:48 pm Post subject:

Could someone explain the need for a transmission cooler to me?

I've never seena tranny blow when towing a boat.. mostly in the UK we will use something like a 2.5-3.0 Diesel 4x4 (in stuff like discoveries, Mercedes ML's, BMW X5's etc) and the need for a transmission cooler just doesn't seem to arise.

Where the need? Is it due to hot conditions or if towing on particularly nasty terrain?

wakespeak · Newbie Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 42 City: Austin

Brit Rider,

Automatics heat up when towing or if they shift a lot during mountain driving, etc. Keeping them in 3rd and allowing the torque converter to lockup helps. They are normally cooled via by the radiator, which has a portion allocated to the transmission. The transmission coolers referred to above supplement the radiator. Automatics are a small percentage of sales in the UK. Its the reverse in the US.

Discoveries (I have one) with automatics come with an auxiliary transmission cooler as standard equipment. I believe autobox versions of Mercedes and BMW do as well.

nickl011 · Posted: May 21, 2007 5:56 pm Post subject:

lowdrag · Outlaw Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 188

Brit Rider,

You may never see the tranny go out while pulling a boat. But the speed you travel and the amount of weight you pull directly effects how much heat is built up in the transmission. The excess heat may not be hot enough to cause an immediate failure, but prolonged excessive heat conditions will drastically reduce the life of the transmission.

Brit Rider · Posted: May 21, 2007 11:44 pm Post subject:

wakespeak, Thanks - Good explanation. I'm off to stare at my transmission Smile

lowdrag, I understand, cool, Cheers Very Happy

jjaszkow · Posted: May 22, 2007 7:03 am Post subject:

LFPIMP, I'd actually be more concerned about torque than horsepower. The higher the RPM, the higher the horsepower, so when it comes to towing, you would be better off looking at the torque values than horsepower.

But horsepower sells, so you hear a lot more about that than torque. Confused

ColdWake · Posted: May 22, 2007 10:07 am Post subject:

M34Kane... do yourself a favor and find something else to pull with! Especially if you have the V6. Getting up to highway speeds is going to be horrible... The only way I'd say even consider keeping that as your tow vehicle is if you live a few mines from the boat landing or less.

tmbrown · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: East Roseville

we just got rid of our 98 explorer 4x4 2d (damn near the same truck)... and we had the bigger engine option it came with...

I did pull one-time about 20 miles a buddy's 17.5ft regal i/o - very small entry-level boat... and did so with the bumper ball. Purely out of necessity - and after that, never considered towing my 19ft w/it (Bought an 03 Yukon XL for that Wink

.

even with the little boat, it took all the truck had to really get going... i'm sure it'll wear heavily on the truck very fast... and you'd have to be weary of steep ramps. Not to mention, stopping the boat wasn't much fun either - and going around any turns, the truck doesn't have the length or weight to really control the trailer especially if you need to hit the brakes.

Worst case, use it for short runs only, and spend the $150 on a real hitch... have friends with trucks tow when possible... best case, get something bigger. Keep in mind, this is about the time those explorers die anyway - if you torture it with towing, don't expect it to last long at all.

tmbrown · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: East Roseville

also just looked up tow capacities... if I remember correctly, the bumper was rated for a max of 2,000lbs... according to a trailering guide, depending on configuration of the truck, it's rated to tow a max of ~2100 to ~4800 lbs... definitely check what yours is good for... Dry that boat is 3,000 lbs... add in trailer, fuel and gear, and you quickly approach or exceed the max that thing can handle best-case.

Explorer 2dr 4WD 4.0 V-6 4,900 auto w/ tow package, 3.73/3.98/4.09/4.10:1 axle
Explorer 2dr 4WD 4.0 V-6 2,220 3.55:1 axle, manual trans, heavy duty tow package
Explorer 2dr 4WD 4.0 V-6 2,940 3.73:1 axle, manual trans, heavy duty tow package
Explorer 2dr 4WD SOHC4.0 V-6 3,380 auto trans w/tow package, 3.27:1 axle
Explorer 2dr 4WD SOHC4.0 V-6 4,380 auto trans w/tow package, 3.55:1 axle
Explorer 2dr 4WD SOHC4.0 V-6 4,880 auto w/ tow package, 3.73/3.98/4.09/4.10:1 axle

so, pick your model... but honestly, I wouldn't tow more than a canoe with any of them. I think you're gonna find you have greatly exceeded the tow capacity of the vehicle, even if you add the tow package in. I've seen what happens when the truck can't control the boat... makes for some ugly accidents. Shell out some cash, and get a new rig!

Wow - I must be bored... I just did a lot of research for you...

sanddragon2004 · Outlaw Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 152 City: San Jose

diesel baby!

ohdoor · Soul Rider Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 281 City: OKC

Awhile back I was driving on a highway and on the other side in incoming traffic I saw an explorer towing a small moving type trailer on the back of it. It started to sway back and forth and suddenly the trailer just completely swung out from behind the car and turned the explorer sideways and the whole rig started to roll down the highway while going 70 or so mph... rolled 2 or 3 times before it finally came to a rest on its side... with the trailer still attached somehow also on its side. Fortunatly the driver was fine.

After what I saw my advice to you would be to never pull a boat that big behind your car. Its just way to small compared to what your pulling to be able to keep control of the car in some situations. I'm sure what happened wouldn't have happened to that car on city streets at slower speeds but I'd never get on the highway.

410fortune · Soul Rider Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 314 City: Morrison

1999 Explorer had two available V6's, a 4.0L OHV and a 4.0L SOHC

Both are capable of pulling your boat

The transmission is your weak link and you NEED a aux trans cooler and I would suggest a trans temp gage as well. Your transmission already has a factory temp sensor in it so all you need to do is get an electric trans temp gage and wire it up.

For any questions about towing witn an explorer chec out Explorerforum.com

I am a moderator over there and can tell you just about anything you want to know about your truck.

You need a hitch for that boat as well, the bumper is only rated for #3500 I believe and is also up WAY TOO HIGH for towing that trailer.

a 4 door explorer weighs about 4800# and as long as your trailer has brakes you will be fine. Just keep your transmission cool.
I recommend using a B&M transmission cooler, the largest one you can fit and replace your factory unit with it, OR run another factory style cooler in series with your stock unit.

I tow with my 96 Explorer 5.0L V8 and it works just fine with my 19' boat.
The 5.0L V8 is by far th ebest engine available in an explorer for towing.
The bonus with the 5.0L is the 4 speed automatic, its a full size transmisssion, not the weak V6 auto transmission you have.

TP83 · Addict Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 739 City: Woodside

410fortune, Both may be capable but it still seems underpowered and to light to tow anything big. A boat will definatly push it around because its so light.

I know that out cj7 Inline 6 can tow our boat around but thats to get it out of storage and around to our house which isnt even a 1/4 mile. another thought that you have to think about is how about launching the boat? its a decent incline and when water is added i think your boat will pull your explorer down.

Maybe get a reciver hitch and pull it around take the boat to the lake and prove us wrong.

tmbrown · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: East Roseville

410fortune - yes, explorers are capable... the full-sized ones... he has the 2dr sport. That changes a lot. When the trailer you're towing is considerably longer than your truck, and about the same weight, it's easy for the trailer to control the truck - especially around any turns.

Now that this thread is a month old, has m34kane tried towing with the explorer yet? What opinion have you come up with?

jhilly8982 · Addict Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 782 City: Northville

hijack, but anyone tow with the jeep commander v8 with the tow package? my parents just bought one and it throws around our 21 ft vdrive like a sack of potatoes. it even disengages the trailer disc brakes when reversing...something my expedition never did electronically, only manually. anyways, the jeep tow package is great!