Is it a "wrong assumption"..all Bambi's are designed to be pulled by cars?

[USAtraveler]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

As long as you stay within the towing limits of your vehicle, you should be just fine. I towed my 21' Hi-Lo travel trailer for many years with my car. I used a weight distribution hitch and added a transmission oil cooler. I also did an annual transmission oil and filter change to keep the transmission fluid in proper condition. Just do your maintenance and consider the transmission side needing some TLC and you will be just fine.Jack

Good answer. I added the highlight. If your Explorer doesn't have a tranny cooler, get one. It will greatly extend the life of the tranny. Transmission failures were a problem with older Explorers; don't know about newer ones. Would be worth looking up online and checking with your dealer service manager before the vehicle goes off warranty. Does Ford have any service bulletins out on your model, for example.
The Explorer I towed a tandem trailer with back in the old 90's never gave me a problem. But once on a long 5 mile upgrade at highway speed on a hot day, a car passed me blowing its horn. Made me look around. Clouds of white smoke were coming out behind. I knew right away after a quick mental rundown that it was oil, probably hitting a hot muffler; but where was it coming from? I slowed down but decided not to pull over immediately as stopping might allow the oil to ignite...flames, not good. After slowing the smoke soon stopped and I was able to pull off at a roadside rest to check under the hood. Amazingly, nothing seemed out of whack. I continued on to destination for another hour without incident. Later I was told the Explorer tranny had a pressure relief port that can force open if the fluid gets too hot. I changed the tranny oil and drove the Explorer for a couple of years after that with no problem.

[JCWDCW]

I've got 226,000 Km on my 03 Dakota. I'm not considering a change...I'm 74 and I routinely take off on 3-5000 Km jaunts. ( 1Km = 0.625 Miles if you don't know the math)
Why don't you keep the Explorer. It's a great all round vehicle. I only consider changing a vehicle when the annual cost of repairs starts to exceed 4-6 months of new vehicle payments. (I did just read your future plans so that is a factor)
I won't get into the car vs truck thing...I'm already on the wrong side of this argument with my Dakota. I will say it has more to do with braking capacity than vehicle weight when pulling a Bambi. Not many cars have 12 inch disc brakes all round
JCW

[Rpatrick16]

Well I've solved the problem or I should say problems!....one the question as to staying with the Explorer and two...convincing the wife to look at a truck. I finally won out with some promises that I will need to keep. My wife only drives our vehicles less than 5 percent of the time in the first place. So, yesterday I traded the Explorer for a 2017 Ford Lariat with the Eco Boost motor and10 speed tranny. I love the truck. I've noticed that during the drive home (dealer 45 miles from home) that my wife had no problem sinking into the spacious seats and getting very comfortable as she built her "new nest".

Going from the Explorer to the Lariat had both a "good and a bad side".

1. The new truck enables me to pack all the stuff the Grandkids want to take camping, our two small generators and their fuel cans in the back plus chairs, rugs etc. The payload capacity of of the truck is nearly 2300 lbs. Towing capacity for this situation is "overkill" but that's ok.

2. The downside was the trade. I was to "not" aware of the fact that Suv's depreciate at a much faster rate than trucks. I have taken more than one "bath" trading our two vans in the past to get to a suv. Now I've taken another bath trading the suv for the truck. I did a comparison of what if I had bought a truck at the time I bought the Explorer 14 months ago, comparable equipped "creature comfort interiors" and ran them the same miles. The depreciation on the Explorer was nearly 7 thousand more than the truck! This blew me away. To over come this I had some real frank yet friendly conversations with our dealer in that our family has bought a combinations of three new vehicles from them in a 15 month period. They responded well with deep discounts for the truck, extended 5 yr warranty, and gave me more than the KBB trade value of the Explorer. Although a bit wounded financially I am very pleased with the trade.

In summary, I looked at a number of other SUV options, Yukon, Tahoe, Suburban and Ford Expedition. I also compared their depreciation values over a one year time period. Holy cow! Large SUV's depreciation is "off the chart". If you spend 50K on one of these from the start expect your value to plummet to less than half of that in one year!

Towing the 22FB Sport with the truck will without question be much safer for a number of different reasons...one big one that stands out is "no more generators"...."bagged I might add" inside the vehicle. Plus the payload capacity of the Explorer verses the Lariat was just too small to carry along anything but passengers.

One other point that I should include. At the time we bought the Explorer we did not own any type of a TT. The entire problem was exacerbated by the purchase of the AS. It's the AS fault!

Funny it took nearly 75 years of my life to get the opportunity to pull this beautiful trailer behind a really great vehicle. I've carried this image in my mind all my life. A dream as a young man raising a family, a "warm fuzzy" as I approached retirement. And now the reality of it all coming to fruition. Frankly, I consider it a blessing!

Thanks to all who commented on this thread I really appreciated your comments, ideas and suggestions. Hope my experience will be helpful to others.
Pat

[dcasr]

You made the right decision for your family. I am fairly certain that you will notice the improvement in braking with the pickup truck. We've gone from Suburban to Crewcab GMC pickup and the extra space is wonderful and as you noted, having the generator in the back of the pickup (tied securely down!) is much better than just behind our passenger seats. You may want a camper shell to protect the pickup bed contents. Lear can match your pickup's factory paint code exactly so it looks like it came from the factory that way, and lock and unlock with your Ford remote key fob. See you down the road.

[1973Argosy]

Have been pulling my 24 footer with an Expedition for last 10 years. Have around 40000 miles pulling with this suv with no accidents, sway, braking issues, or other problems. I did install a front hitch to carry the generator/cooler and a set of Firestone airbags to help out the coil spring rear suspension. My 2 cents would be for you to keep the Explorer if it is doing the job to your satisfaction.

[Countryboy59]

Tongue weight on our 19' Bambi is over 800 lbs, and the trailer is over 4000lbs. The tongue weight is why I switched to a pickup (the sales guy sold me on the F350 which was probably overkill.) the tongue weight limit on my Grand Cherokee was 500lb. This was my first gas powered pickup and I was not disappointed.

The mileage sucks for commuting but it has great power for merging and passing, can carry all our gear and then some, and is heavy duty enough that Michigan potholes won't bend it. I'd never go back to the SUV even for towing a Bambi.