2004 explorer vs. 91 F150 with 4.9 six

hertfordnc wrote:
Primary TV is a Dodge 3500 Cummins and the travel trailer is about 6000 lb vintage BOles Aero.

But if the Dodge had a problem and I had to retrieve the trailer the other trucks are my wife's 2004 Explorer with 4.6 V8 and the yard truck, a low mileage 91 F150 with a the venerable 300 inline six.

The explorer claims a towing capacity of 7000 lb - hard to imagine.

And the Old F150 is supposed to be good for 5500 lb.


My gut feeling is that I would rather overload the old truck because I cannot imagine the little explorer in front of the TT. Neither of these would be good situations

I'd love to hear what other think.

THanks

Dave

Bottom line, my experience: My 2002 Explorer tows circles around my 1995 F-150.

Trailer 23' OAL @ 5,600 lbs.
Vehicles:
2002 Explorer 4x4 4.6 V8/5 speed auto 3.73 and HD towing pkg. 7,000 tow rating.
1995 F-150 Scab 4x4 5.0 V8/4 speed auto 3.55 and HD towing pkg. 6,000 tow rating.

Frankly, I was shocked after towing with both vehicles. I expected the F-150 to be a far superior towing platform. Since I've never had stability issues towing my RV with my explorer, and I didn't experience any with the F-150 I can eliminate that from my comparison.

Frankly the more powerful 4.6 V8, coupled to the 5 speed auto and better gearing left the F-150 in the dust and the explorer just didn't struggle like the F-150 did. I know the stock 5.0 liter from back in the day wasn't the most powerful unit, but it was even further handicapped by the slow 4 speed automatic.