Hard sided campers under 1500lbs with 6' int ht spreadsheet.

^???
You’re not missing anything. You’re the one who said you don’t want to tow with your MKZ because you’re afraid it’ll blow up.
That and people are softer today….and expect more power, comfort and capability. Because technology has advanced. I can guarantee the stinkin Linkin tows better than the 3 smallest vehicles in that brochure pic and has more power than all but the truck and even thats debatable.
Too much internet, not enough doing. Run whatcha brung or get something that decreases your concern or paranoia about the TPU. Pretty simple solutions either way.

I see all these old towing pics and wonder how they did it? 1974-85 engines and quality were even worse.

1973 Ford 250, 460CI, 245hp/340tq, 4260lbs towing a 3500lbs airstream.

2012 Lincoln MKX 226CI, 305hp/280tq, 4251lbs...better brakes, suspension...actually better everything than '73.

The Mustang 2900lbs, maverick 2900lbs probably had the 302CI 141hp/241tq towing 1400-1800lb campers.

I'm not trying to be difficult. I just don't see what I'm missing for trying to tow 1200lbs (around 1500lbs total). I think it'll be pretty easy.

Thanks for everyone's posts.

^This. Or since extra vehicles aren’t in the cards for some folks, just get a similar size, similar cost, similar power, similar gas mileage vehicle that doesn’t have the issue that worries you and has more legit towing capacity.
Early-mid 2010s Explorer eco boosts and mid-late 2010s V6 grand cherokees come to mind.

TravelingDreamer wrote:
I don't know much about towing. From what I've read, since my SUV's towing max is 2000lbs, I should keep total weight under 1600lbs, correct? Looks like the Aliners hard walled pop ups are my best option. Thanks for your posts.

You have been told there is no such thing as a 90% rule a few times now. Your lawyer friend is full of it, they can argue all they want but the tow rating is 2000lbs not 1600. When a manufacturer says 2000lbs that is what they are comfortable with you towing 24/7 and there is a safety factor already built into that. As for the chalet style, they are awesome, my first trailer was an old old one. They fold down like a tent trailer, so lower wind resistance when towing, but you have hard walls and no canvas to worry about. those newfangled ones have things like heat and real fridges nowadays haha

The other thing you could do is buy an old truck and only insure it during camping season. then you could go a little bigger into say a 18 to 24 foot camper and get everything you need

Bottom line, OP, you have a car that you, even prior to your camper idea, were and still are worried that it’s a time bomb.
The propensity of the ptu going tu on it is, well, idk and don’t care. According to the internet it happens though.
However given this concern combined with your desire for a camper, why not just fix both problems and get a vehicle that doesn’t have some apparently finicky AWD system and is more capable at towing?
There’s thousands of used vehicles bought and sold every day. Sell yours and get something more suitable that doesn’t keep you up at night and doesn’t limit your camper selection to basically nothing that fits what you want.

Loved my '74 Apache Roamer (1987-2005). Pulled it with various vehicles, last one was my '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee (4WD Quadra-trac trans). I still have the Jeep. Had a transmission cooler on the Jeep. It overheated pulling the camper up Monteagle Mtn on I-24 in TN so the radiator cap was replaced and it never overheated again.

The problem with Apaches is that the "living hinge" on the bed ends and lift parts are the thing that goes out. I solved the lift problem by replacing the pin in the gear box with a sturdier pin and flipped the plastic lift chain end to end so the damaged chain links were never used. The hinges was replaced with cut down sections of pipe heat tape (slides right into the grooves with a bit of pure silicone lubrication). There should still be a webpage/forum for them. They have quite a fan base. I remodeled and "upgraded" my camper beyond their comfort level. I thought too far outside the box in their opinion. I also used my camper far more than any of them as well. We normally did week long trips at least once per month and most weekends... fulltimed in it for 3 months (summer in SC foothills while house hunting) and then 18 months (over a winter in Chattanooga before buying yet another house).

Since my daughter bought an old Lance slide-in truck camper and put it on a F250 truck, I find it more and more appealing. We take it into town for any shopping or when we take the dog to the dog park. That is several times a week. It got 6mpg on the interstate but puttering around town, it gets about 14mpg (similar to one of the Jeeps). IF I were to buy another camper (I live in a bus), I would go with a slide in truck camper (NOT wood framed as I have been the one who has repaired all water damaged framing) on a flatbed 350/450 truck with an enclosed car hauler for my jeep, upright freezer and washer/dryer. That would haul everything and I could occasionally tow my old Jeep 4 down. And get rid of the bus. The truck camper would be my fulltime home. The truck camper would not be removed from the truck.

What are your camping plans? If you are planning on a lot of camping, you may find yourself wanting a larger trailer. You are limiting yourself due to your SUV.

You don't need a F450 and up truck for small to mid size camping trailers. I pull a 21 foot trailer with my 2021 F150 and it tows great. But... the larger, more capable truck you have gives you more options for trailer sizes and weights.

Also, if you are thinking of wilderness camping, a pickup truck is many times more capable off road than a SUV, and you have all that open pickup bed space for carrying stuff - like extra water.

I think I missed it, but why are you insisting on a "hard sided" trailer? Plenty of pop-ups are quite roomy and have tall ceilings - and are really easy to tow with an SUV.

PTU = transfer case for those wondering. Fomoco called them power transfer units though.

Sorry, its PTU,on every AWD vehicle. I fixed my post. For about 20yrs, Ford made their PTU too small and jammed it in between a hot engine and hot exhaust manifold, so oil fails prematurely. As long as the oil is changed, then I heard there is no problem.

I just found out that on the tow package MKX's rated at 3500lbs, use the same PTU as my standard non tow MKX, so maybe I'm just paranoid.

TravelingDreamer wrote:
Only issue that worries me is these Ford PTO'sfail around 70K if not fluid not maintained. If maintained, they last on average 250K. Ford says to change PTO fluid every 100K in owners manual but many have proven fluid starts looking like mud by 40K, (probably 10K if towing).

What's a PTO?