2022 Ford Explorer TV

[brundom]

Looking to purchase a new Ford Explorer ST with 6 cly 400 hp engine Rated to tow 5600 lbs. My 19 ft FC AS weighs 4500 lbs. On paper seems to be okay. Any advice or similar experience would be appreciated.

[hikingcamera]

Hi,

So finding the right tow vehicle is a bit more complicated. Tow limits are generally not the limiting factor, but payload is. I've attached an XLSX file that I created to play out different tow scenarios. What you'll need is the actual payload from the sticker on the driver's side door frame of the vehicle you select. This will be different from the payload listed on the manufacturer's website as packages and other things added to the vehicle add weight and take away from payload.

Once you have that and some other numbers, you can use this spreadsheet to test out various scenarios. Of course, be conservative in your estimates, and realize that reality may be different. Once you get the vehicle and trailer, load them up and take it to a CAT scale to weigh the axles. That will tell the "true" story and you may need to make further adjustments.

For reference, we towed a 3500 GVWR trailer with a Toyota Highlander. It was a barely matched tow situation, and had we moved to the Basecamp 20 with it (which we had planned originally), I think things would have gotten real tight.

[brundom]

Originally Posted by hikingcamera

Hi,

So finding the right tow vehicle is a bit more complicated. Tow limits are generally not the limiting factor, but payload is. I've attached an XLSX file that I created to play out different tow scenarios. What you'll need is the actual payload from the sticker on the driver's side door frame of the vehicle you select. This will be different from the payload listed on the manufacturer's website as packages and other things added to the vehicle add weight and take away from payload.

Once you have that and some other numbers, you can use this spreadsheet to test out various scenarios. Of course, be conservative in your estimates, and realize that reality may be different. Once you get the vehicle and trailer, load them up and take it to a CAT scale to weigh the axles. That will tell the "true" story and you may need to make further adjustments.

For reference, we towed a 3500 GVWR trailer with a Toyota Highlander. It was a barely matched tow situation, and had we moved to the Basecamp 20 with it (which we had planned originally), I think things would have gotten real tight.

Thank you for your comprehensive worksheet. Plugging in my numbers indicates the Explorer is borderline okay. Not much wiggle room. I'd need to be very careful with payload. Therefore, I'm now looking at the Expedition. Much appreciated.

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by brundom

Thank you for your comprehensive worksheet. Plugging in my numbers indicates the Explorer is borderline okay. Not much wiggle room. I'd need to be very careful with payload. Therefore, I'm now looking at the Expedition. Much appreciated.

Yeah, I figured that would be the case. It was the same with our Highlander. We figured we could *maybe* make it work for 5 years *IF* I had done a good job being conservative and we were really careful not to pack ANYTHING into the TV itself. And we might have made that work for a bit, but the opportunity presented itself to take advantage of 2021 cars left on the lot in Dec and the rising price of used cars, so we jumped at it. And then we decided to switch from the Basecamp to the Flying Cloud, lol!

And even there, I made some mistakes at first, like trusting the online numbers, when in reality the payload was less due to additional features that our vehicle had. (The extended gas tank was probably the most significant because fuel weight is factored into payload.)

Glad that was helpful! I should also mention that I got a lot of good info from RVTowCheck which was the inspiration for this spreadsheet. They have an app, but you have to keep changing the numbers to try out different scenarios, and I really wanted to see a bunch of scenarios in one screen.

[brundom]

Hi,

Thanks for the RV Check link. Great to have reliable spec info.

We decided to go with the 2022 Expedition with the heavy duty tow package. Lots of trailing extras included. More than enough for our current set up, but allows for potential future trailer upgrades as well.

Safe travels.

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by brundom

More than enough for our current set up, but allows for potential future trailer upgrades as well.

Smart move

[JJTX]

Originally Posted by brundom

Looking to purchase a new Ford Explorer ST with 6 cly 400 hp engine Rated to tow 5600 lbs. My 19 ft FC AS weighs 4500 lbs. On paper seems to be okay. Any advice or similar experience would be appreciated.

It will do the job fine.