Need Towing Advice, PLEASE HELP

[kdking1976]

Hi,
I have a 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac v6 with class 3 hitch which by all paper work that I have read puts my max tow weight up around 5300-5500 lbs.

I am looking at purchasing a Flagstaff Micro Lite 21 FBRS travel trailer that has a dry weight of 4200 lbs.

Our family of 3 packs extremely lite. And I plan to empty all tanks and hot water heater before towing. I am estimating 300 lbs max supplies/luggage/and etc.

Do you believe that truck would be capable of pulling the camper?

Thank you all in advance!

- keith

[mileshuff]

I towed a hybrid that weighed 5,000lbs fully loaded with my 2004 V8 5.7L Durango. It pulled great but was somewhat slow up the mountain grades. No way would I want to pull it with a V6.

Like others have said I found wind drag was a bigger factor than weight. When pulling the hybrid with my 2007 Dodge diesel I averaged 12mpg. Now I pull a 10,000lb fifth wheel and mpg dropped only slightly to 11mpg. The 5'er is much better streamlined in the front than the hybrid.

[lawrosa]

This is even lighter with a dry bath... R pod



http://www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=173&Image=5054&ShowParent=1&ModelID=1945#M...

[lawrosa]

The other thing about having the sink and propane items in the slide is they use a flex hose for the drainage. This looped contraption eventually splits and leaks over time. Often a slow leak that does slide damage before you know it. Just something to think about.

Wet bath? Not my forte at all.. but some like them...

With light tongue like that and single axle I believe youll get a lot of wagging the tail, so get a good WD hitch with sway control..

I feel the best type for those situations are this type. My buddy has one with his jeep 2 door pulling a 15 ft camp lite all aluminum. He had wag issues..

The anderson the ball has friction...

http://www.andersenhitches.com/catalog/andersen-nosway-weight-distribution-hitch.aspx

[Bumpyroad]

when I bought my TT I also considered an R-pod. don't see your model in my old brochure, but one thing I didn't like was the sink in the bath was a tiny triangular thing that would be difficult to hit spitting out your toothpaste, no vanity at all, and the only overhead storage was in a small slide out. absolutely no hang up storage.
that is why I bought my Ascend instead.
just went on line and saw the 178. it has all of those minuses that I found in the one I was looking at.
the wife and I went between dealers back and forth looking at the rpod and the ascend and when we were sitting in the Ascend dinette I noticed windows on all three sides and asked her if the rpod had the large window in the rear, and no there was no vision/light/feeling of openess in it at all. oh and the rpod had a wet bath.
bumpy

[Camper_G]

Ok, if the ad i found is accurate, the GVWR is 3757, so pushing the upper limits for your explorer, but probably doable. At 15% for tongue weight, that's about 563 lbs. So if you can keep your other weights in check, i think that's a good match. Nice choice!

[Camper_G]

Ok, thanks, so looks like your payload limit is 1247. From that number, subtract the weight of all passengers and cargo in the Explorer, subtract the weight of the hitch and the tongue weight of the trailer and see where your at.

What is the GVWR of the Rpod? Don't use the UVW or the dry weight. The rpods have a sloped shape which will help them tow better. I would think the Rpod would be a good match for your explorer, but it'd be good to know the GVWR.

[kdking1976]

Hey everyone,

Again thank you all for the great advice. I am hoping the pictures of inside the door jam are attached. I am new to the forum and not sure if I loaded them correctly. They should be at the bottom of this post.

I am so new to this, I don't know what an OP is. 🙂

We went and looked at campers today. We liked the R-Pods over the Winnie Drops.
The R-Pod that we are looking at is the 178
http://www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=173&Image=5054&ShowParent=1&ModelID=973#Main
The UVW is 2603 lbs and the hitch weight is 268 lbs

Thoughts about towing this with my 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac V6 with class 3 hitch?

[Grit_dog]

Thanks everyone for questioning the OPs lifestyle and whether he's "lying" about how much he's going to carry.
Anyway, imo that vehicle is pretty maxxed out for that trailer. As well, it's a pretty maxxed out setup for someone with little experience towing.
In the same situation, I would not worry about towing that for shorter trips, occasionally, locally. Start talking x country trips, altitudes, grades, etc the ExPlorer is not what you want.
And monitor trans temps / add a trans cooler even for local trips.

[RPreeb]

Contrary to most opinions here, it is possible to pack light. We don't take bicycles, we don't take propane bottles aside from the ones on the TT. The grill we use came with the TT and weighs about 5 pounds total. Maybe not the greatest thing, but it works for a couple of steaks or burgers. Many of our meals are cooked ahead of time and frozen so we don't have to carry a lot of prep gear.

We never take firewood to the forest... that seems a bit redundant. We don't gather wood around the campground, but we rarely have to drive far to find a back road where we can walk a few yards off the road and find all the firewood we need. Half the time we are under fire restrictions anyway, so it's usually not even an option. While nice for ambience, a campfire isn't a necessity for us to enjoy our time in the woods.

We don't carry much of the extra stuff that I see others post about so often. I never thought of it as being minimalist, just think of it as camping.

All that said, we did trade up to the F-150 from a Honda Ridgeline when we moved from a popup, primarily so we wouldn't have to overthink and super fine tune everything we do to prepare for a trip. My truck is well over the specs needed to pull our TT and carry what we need and want.

The OP doesn't have that luxury, so they do need to consider all of those things carefully. It won't take much to overload that Explorer.

[lawrosa]

Does your explorer have the yellow stucke8 on the drivers door jamb? That will give you your payload. If you have that sticker, tell us what that number is.

Thats a good idea to get you close... If you go by axle weight as I do you may have a little more capacity.

My door sticker says 1485 Lbs payload on my current truck.

At the cat scales with me (200)lbs and a full tank of gas (34 gallons) My weights are

3360 frt
2320 rear
5680 total

Door sticker

3925 frt
3750 rear
6900 GVWR

So what do I have to work with for payload?


565 frt
1430 rear



So you see if I put a 700 lbs tongue weight on my truck I would only have 730lbs left for the wife, kids and other stuff before going over the axles ratings..

[Bumpyroad]

I'd always carry a little water for potty breaks, etc.
bumpy

[Camper_G]

time2roll wrote:

kdking1976 wrote:
Hi,
I have a 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac v6 with class 3 hitch which by all paper work that I have read puts my max tow weight up around 5300-5500 lbs.

I am looking at purchasing a Flagstaff Micro Lite 21 FBRS travel trailer that has a dry weight of 4200 lbs.

Keep the trailer GVWR within the tow rating for best results.
You will still need to pack light.

Forget dry weight.

Exactly, go by trailer GVWR and not the dry weight so you have some safety margin. You never know what the dry weight figure does or does not include.

Now i like more margin than most, so a rule i like to follow, is i try not to exceed 80% of the tow vehicles tow rating with the trailer GVWR. That had always worked well for me. In times past, the closer I've gotten to tow rating equal to trailer GVWR, the less enjoyable the towing experience was.

You have a very light weight tow vehicle so your going to be very limited in TT choices. Any chance you could afford an older half ton truck for a spare/tow vehicle?

If not then the suggestion to have your family drive separate is a good one. I did that when i used to tow with an old expedition, simply for room for gear in the expedition. It also is much easier to concentrate without kids in the truck, at least with my two! Lol.

I don't know what's out there, but you'd need to be in the 3500- 4k GVWR range and under 20' I'd think, and only you in the explorer to make it work with a TT, or buy a bigger TV.

My bf once towed a coachmen micro mini with his Nissan xterra. I want to say the coachmen is in the 20 or under range and very light weight. Even at that, i don't think it was a very enjoyable tow for him at all. I think your explorer is pretty equivalent to his xterra. So that may give you some idea of what you have to expect. Good luck. Your smart to come here and ask first. Don't listen to what any salesman tells you, you can tow. Do your own research and know the numbers.

Does your explorer have the yellow stucke8 on the drivers door jamb? That will give you your payload. If you have that sticker, tell us what that number is.

[time2roll]

kdking1976 wrote:
Hi,
I have a 2007 Ford Explorer Sport Trac v6 with class 3 hitch which by all paper work that I have read puts my max tow weight up around 5300-5500 lbs.

I am looking at purchasing a Flagstaff Micro Lite 21 FBRS travel trailer that has a dry weight of 4200 lbs.

Keep the trailer GVWR within the tow rating for best results.
You will still need to pack light.

Forget dry weight.

[wcjeep]

Be sure the trailer has electric brakes, even if not required in your state. Be sure to check your owners manual or door jam sticker for proper tow rig tire inflation. Do upgrade the transmission cooler. The 3200lb trailer mentioned is probably a better match. Check owners manual for proper use of OD while towing (off?).