Had a nice fella looking at buying my Minuet today. He seems to really like it but is just starting to look, yada, yada, yada, you know the story. Anyways, he asked for my opinion on his current vehicle which was a 96 Mercury Grand Marquis, you know, a good ole V8 rear wheel drive, nearly extinct vehicle. I told him I was not an expert but guessed that it could handle the 3800lb. (unloaded) Minuet without much problem. Outfitted with the usual add-ons of course. I offered to get him some data off the Trailerlife site and others so he could see for himself, I felt I could be a bit biased and didn't want to steer him wrong. Well, the Trailerlife ratings only went back to 2000 models so I pulled it up and was shocked to see it was only rated for 2,000 lbs!! Now go to some 96 data I found elsewhere and it shows 5,000 lbs?? What gives? Same car, chassis, engine? So the fella is going to be o.k. with the 96 I guess, not my prefferred tow vehicle but just thought it is strange for Ford to drop their tow ratings like that. Anyone else with experiences similar to that or experience with the Grand Marquis, (same as a Crown Victoria)?
I don't know the full story behind the adjustment of the trailer tow ratings but believe that it relates to the redesign that came on line around 1994 that included revised undercarriage as well as the new modular V8 rather than the old 5.0 Liter 302 V8. I have two friends with early 1990s (pre 1993) Ford Crown Victorias that they use to tow Bambis and Caravels, and they are pleased with the vehicles - - but have put off buying new tow vehicles as they like towing with a car and the new Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis simply don't have the trailer tow ratings.
Not only the ratings, I would be surprised if any of the class III/IV trailer hitch manufacturers make hitches for these vehicles given Ford's ratings. While that isn't necessarily an impossible situation, I found it very difficult to find a hitch shop that was still willing to custom fabricate a weld-up hitch kit for my '75 Cadillac even though it has a 6,000 pound trailer tow rating.
Kevin
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Kevin D. Allen WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC/Free Wheelers #6359 AIR #827
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400 VORTEC/4.11 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)
A few years ago, I had a hitch shop owner refuse to fabricate a hitch for me even though his shop foreman had designed it. He claimed that he couldn't stand the liability.
BTW: Chas, this was Spillar on South Congress.
I took the drawings to another shop (Magnum Trailers) and told them that it was for our off-road tow mule out at the gliderport. They happlily fabricated the hitch and I installed it.
He just might very well have trouble getting a hitch shop to build a custom hitch for him.
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John W. Irwin
2005 Classic 28 "Sabre-Dog III"
2004 Silverado 2500HD Duramax/Allison
WBCCI Region 9 Webmaster, #9632
An article in an RV magazine explains, here is the story....
The Crown Vic and Mercury had a 5,000lb tow rating for many years. Apparantly its long over hang and soft suspension made it less than desirable. The tow package was discontinued a few years ago and replaced with a performance package. Then the rating dropped to 2,000lbs. Amazingly the performance package included 225/60x16" performance tires, better shocks, rear sway bar and tuned steering gear. The new performance vehicle rated at 2,000 lbs turned out to be a far better tow vehicle than the one rated for 5,000lbs.
I heard a while back that because of the high profit margin with the popular trend of truck sales in the last ten years that perhaps there is a bit of political monkey business going on in the auto industry as it relates to FTR's
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You are probably right about the monkey business in Detroit. I have heard they make much more money on trucks and sport utilities. That's the reason GM discontinued the Buick Roadmaster, Chevy Caprice and the big Caddy production up the road in Arlington and changed the line over to trucks and SUV's.
They just want to push as many buyers over to trucks and SUV's as they possibly can.
Moe...right on with the 1,500 lb ratig being current. My article is from 1999.
Chas.. It does make a lot of sense. The article goes on to read that an Explorer ( pre 2002) has a high FTR rating of 5,700lbs compared with the Vic's low rating, but from a power performance perspective ( towing the same trailer) the Vic would walk away from the explorer. Handling is not great with either vehicle. The explorer has an advantage of a short overhang, but is hampered by a high centre of gravity, narrow rear suspension and track, and has typical SUV tires that are to big for its rims.
I does seem like they want to sell the vehicles that make the most money for them so they make them "look" as attractive as possible. Go figure
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I think it has to do with the rear suspension. I have a '92 with coil springs, later and/or higher end models came with the air bag rear suspension. Mine is rated for 2k from the owners manual. I wouldn't pull anything with it, suspension's too soft. But my wife did see a Limited hooked up to one a couple months ago. I guess some people like to be daredevils....
FWIW: the POs of my allegedly 3500lb safari towed it w/ a crown vic for some time. I'm sure it was probably an older one, but I don't know the year for sure.
The question isn't so much of can, but more one of should. Even if the vehicle can handle the trailer if the manufacturer does not rate it to tow the weight and the owner of the vehicle is involved in an accident while towing the trailer - - the potential for liability and law suits above and beyond the typical accident situation would be much greater. (IMHO)
I had an accident while towing my Nomad, and one of the questions from the State Police was about whether my trailer violated the manufacturers trailer tow rating for my car - - fortunately, my documentation proved that I was within the manufacturer's recommendations or I would have been issued a citation for "Unsafe Towing".
Kevin
__________________
Kevin D. Allen WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC/Free Wheelers #6359 AIR #827
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400 VORTEC/4.11 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)
I agree that a lot of the ratings are really meant to cover their butts in case of legal entanglements. I had a slide-in camper once, now you wanna talk about exceeding factory cargo load limits!!
Originally posted by overlander64 The question isn't so much of can, but more one of should. Even if the vehicle can handle the trailer if the manufacturer does not rate it to tow the weight and the owner of the vehicle is involved in an accident while towing the trailer - - the potential for liability and law suits above and beyond the typical accident situation would be much greater. (IMHO)
Kevin
Kevin.. Well put and your note does raise some good questions.
Factory Tow Rating number:
I have been led to believe that the number posted by the auto makers is not "a law", but a guideline. There are a vast number of variables that come into play when talking about towing, especially considering the thousands of possible combinations. The car companies are not aware of what type of trailer you are towing, how it is to be connected, ones individual driving skills, where the combination will be used or how often, and what special equipment may be added to give the vehicle or trailer an advantage.
Legal Aspect:
This is a tough one to comment on because I don't believe there is a clear cut answer. Not to long ago I read that roughly 90% of North American drivers on a daily basis, consistently exceed the speed limit on our roads and highways. That is over 50 million drivers every day breaking the law. By speeding I think it would be safe to say that they are all increasing..... " the potential for liability and law suits above and beyond....." normal legal driving practices. They know this yet continue to exceed the posted speed limit. Flirting with the limits of laws and legal systems on our highways is something that happens often and has been going on for almost a hundred years. Until we can figure out why as a society that we habitually try to push the envelope I don't think there is an answer to the question that you have raised.
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Chas / If the guy needs a sedan see if he would buy a Chrysler Intrepid. The Canadians seem to have figured out a way to make those things work. V6 and front wheel drive to boot.
Come to think of it with front wheel drive the engine weight is on the drive wheels. That is not a bad thing!
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