Would you give this a go?

Desert Captain wrote:
I looked at a couple of sites on line and they show your tailer with a GVWR of 5,995#. That 3500# might be dry weight and as such is useless, more than likely you will come in around 5,000# normally loaded for a trip and that would be asking a lot of your Explorer particularly given its short wheelbase . Good Luck. :C

This REALLY depends. My trailer is one of those with a low empty weight (3100 lbs) and a high GVWR (~5500 lbs). Actual weight from a scale when fully loaded is 3300 lbs. (I don't carry water or food, and have done things to keep the weight low, such as removing the AC, using camp chairs with aluminum frames rather than steel, backpacking cookware, etc...)

To get it up to 6000 lbs, I'd have to carry 225 gallons of water, or perhaps fill the trailer with (literally) a ton of bricks.

Even someone who doesn't pack carefully would have a REALLY hard time coming anywhere close to the GVWR with this small trailer.

The weight that matters is the weight at the scale when fully loaded, and that varies by individual.

I have the little brother to that funfinder. Mine is the 189FDS. The claimed factory dry weigh is 3040 pounds, and mine weighs right at 4000 pounds as I pull out of the driveway. I pack "fairly light" because I travel solo. That is with all water tanks emply.

having owned a Exploder with the 4.0 v-6, i know the vehicle well.
your 5200lbs. towing number is based on having only a 150lb. driver in it.
so, all the other passengers' weights and cargo's weight, in the car, will decrease the 5200 number.

second, FF's website shows a "dry" weight of 3730lbs. this usually does NOT include the weights of things all trailers have: awning, spare tire, oven, microwave, a/c and so on.
you can usually add 400-500lbs. to the "dry" weight to get a ballpark weight when it left the factory.
only checking the trailer's yellow sticker will give you the actual weight from the factory.
so, it'll easily weigh over 4000lbs. before you add the battery, water and cargo.

will your Exploder do it, probably, but you'll probably not like the experience, especially in hills/mountain.

shades9323 wrote:

Desert Captain wrote:
I looked at a couple of sites on line and they show your tailer with a GVWR of 5,995#. That 3500# might be dry weight and as such is useless, more than likely you will come in around 5,000# normally loaded for a trip and that would be asking a lot of your Explorer particularly given its short wheelbase . Good Luck. :C

Is that 5k counting my bikes and stuff that I listed as being in/on the Explorer? I've heard that an average family of 4 brings 500lbs worth of gear. We tent camp now and I can't imagine outside of a full fridge and some pots and pans and TT accessories we would bring anything that we don't already bring. I am not even sure a full fridge would make that much of a difference if you've seen my wife pack a cooler! But as always, when you have more space you find ways to fill it up. :)

The 5k number I mentioned would be the trailer fully loaded, some water, food, toys, tools etc. You won't be able to load much if anything beyond the family into the Explorer as you will likely be pushing its payload to the max. At 5k you will have 650# of tongue weight + another 100 for the WDH. These weights get subtracted right off of the Explorers payload and that won't leave much for the family. Also keep in mind that the Explorer's relatively short wheelbase makes it a poor choice especially for a trailer that pushes the envelope weight wise.

For the record I tow a 22' TT that weighs between 4600# and 5,000# depending on how we load. I tow with an 06 F-150 SCab that has 300HP/365 pounds of torque and comes with 144" wheelbase. It tows very well but I would not want any more trailer or less truck to get the job done. Your Explorer has no where near the capability of my truck, just something to think about.

Can you do it? Perhaps, but I sincerely doubt it will be any fun and you will find yourself shopping for a new TV in the very near future. As always, Opinions and YMMV. Good Luck. :C

Only the scales can tell you what your loaded trailer weighs. It's always best to use the GVWR for making weight decisions. For what it's worth, the MAIN numbers you need to be concerned with are the tongue weight (and how it fits within your payload) and the axle ratings on the tow vehicle. Those are both safety related issues. Maximum trailer weight is a warranty issue.
Good luck / Skip

shades9323 wrote:
I have a 2006 Explorer with the tow package. Class 3 hitch, transcooler, 7 pin, 3.73 gears. GCWR 10,000lbs. The charts say max loaded trailer weight of 5210. The TT weighs 3500lbs. It is a Fun Finder X210WBS. I figure in/on the Explorer at a miminum will be 400lbs of people/dogs(including driver), 100lbs worth of bicycles and trailers and maybe some fire wood. Clothing and other things would be in the TT. I would also have a WD hitch adding weight. By the time we are loaded up(no water) do you think we would be pushing it too close to our max?

Being a 2006, you may or many not have a sticker that tells you your actual GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) for the Explorer itself. You're likely just left with a sticker that says "occupants and cargo must not exceed X pounds".

You can figure out a lot of what you can tow based on that sticker.

The best thing to do is find out what your specific vehicle's GVWR is, load up like you're going camping and then go hit a weight scale (highway cat scale- unhelpful for you as you said the highway is an hour away, or grain house or dump or bulk landscape supply) and find out how much you, passengers, truck and stuff you carry actually weighs.

Whatever is left over from GVWR minus truck weight is what is available as tongue weight and weight of the hitch itself. The tongue weight is typically 10%-15% of the loaded trailers weight.

Yes, the average person adds about 1,000-1,500 pounds. Yes, you may be on the lower end of that. But, no trailer weighs it's dry weight - the moment the first "option" box is checked when the trailer was ordered, you start with a trailer heavier than the dry weight. My case is a camper quite a bit bigger, but between my dry weight and yellow sticker weight (as weighed at the factory) is 500 pounds. We then added another 1,500 pounds or so in "stuff".

JnJnKatiebug wrote:
When I read these "can I tow it" threads I always have the same question. Where do you plan on going? I once had a 24' travel trailer I pulled with a 1995 Jeep Wrangler. I was fine as long as I did not get on the interstate. I always went to the National Forest less that 20 miles from home driving 40mph on backroads. With that being said, with your setup you will have no problem as long as you are traveling down to the local campground which is 50 to 75 miles from home. If you are planning to hit the interstate and head across country on a 2500 mile trip you will be wanting a more capable tow vehicle. Get the trailer and go have fun. Life is short. If you don't like the way it tows then start working toward another tow vehicle.

We definitely wouldn't be making any xcountry trips. We might go up to 300 miles away. Not many expressways in these parts. Takes nearly an hour to get to the closest one.

Desert Captain wrote:
I looked at a couple of sites on line and they show your tailer with a GVWR of 5,995#. That 3500# might be dry weight and as such is useless, more than likely you will come in around 5,000# normally loaded for a trip and that would be asking a lot of your Explorer particularly given its short wheelbase . Good Luck. :C

Is that 5k counting my bikes and stuff that I listed as being in/on the Explorer? I've heard that an average family of 4 brings 500lbs worth of gear. We tent camp now and I can't imagine outside of a full fridge and some pots and pans and TT accessories we would bring anything that we don't already bring. I am not even sure a full fridge would make that much of a difference if you've seen my wife pack a cooler! But as always, when you have more space you find ways to fill it up. :)

Cam you tow it SAFELY? NO WAY

....and why not? As long as the OP remains within the TVs ratings and it is set up properly with a good hitch then there is no reason why it couldn't be done safely. Not everyone needs a 1 ton dually.

Are there better vehicles out there? Sure. Will the OP want more? Maybe. Only way to know for sure is to give it a try. Every one has a different level of comfort. What may be ok for some won't be for others, but there is no reason why the above set up (if kept within limits)won't be safe.

Of you have a V6 or V8 both would apply as follows:

Can you tow it? MAYBE
Cam you tow it SAFELY? NO WAY