My dad is looking at a 2005 Eddie Bauer Explorer and it's first task with be towing his 19 foot boat to south florida from New Jersey, about 1500 miles. He currently has a 2002 Explorer with a towing capacity of 6250 pounds as per Edmonds.com but the 2005 only has a capacity of 3400 pounds. We are right on the bubble weigh wise and I am wondering if the truck will make the trip down and back at a reasonable pace??

Any impressions would be appreciated.

 

Accelerating is one thing...stopping that rig is an entirely different and serious matter. I used to pull a 20' ProLine with my '91 Explorer but bought a full-size Chevrolet Van with a 350 TBI to do that chore for two reasons: first, the cooling system in the Explorer was inadequate and would sometimes boil over (5-speed man trans, always kept in 4th gear or lower when towing and never exceeded 55 - 60 mph) and second, and most importantly, the boat trailer did NOT have brakes (built in '87) hence the 55 - 60mph maximum. Long story short, if I had to stop in a hurry we were headed for the ditch if you know what I'm sayin'. The van has a lot more brake power than the Explorer, but I still don't exceed 55 mph.

I hope your rig has trailer brakes. I think my boat weighs in the neighborhood of 2800 lbs, trailer is galvanized steel 2x axle.

 

The first year I towed his rig to Florida, I used my 2002 F150 supercab. When in traffic, I could run like a bear. I had a few instances when in florida I95 traffic when you get those idiots who stomp on their brakes for no reason and the entire highway comes to a stop..we had a few close calls in that big truck, but I had removed the trailer brakes as they were rusted solid and the wheels would not turn. The following year, we used his explorer and I had new brakes put on the trailer. We also started traveling at night during the week when most of the older snow bird drivers and motor homes were off the highway. Much easier on the nerves and you can just ride the cruise control at 65-70. I tried not to push the explorer too hard as I did not want to hurt it. There is no way I could manage a 1500 mile ride at 55 mph, sorry but I am not that patient.

He ended up buying the 2005 Eddie Baurer with the V-8 and according to this site, it is rated to tow up to 7000 pounds. I can feel the heated seat on my butt already. He says it is just like driving our Lexus SUV's, which are nice to drive around in, but are NOT trucks or good for towing long distances.

I put his boat on my trailer this year, it is bigger and has dual axles and disk brakes. It rides much better and you dont feel the banging when hitting bumps like the single axle trailer that we have been using..

 

With brakes on the trailer you are goood to go. I go 55 - 60 since I have no trailer brakes. Good luck with your trip.

 

JP,

After fixing a bad ground on the trailer lights (fun in the dark and 20 freakin degrees), I took the boat for a 40 mile ride down the highway. After I got the brakes to release all the way and pumped up the trailer tires, she rode real nice. I cruised at 65 effortlessly. The truck rode real nice and smooth and the tranny was very smooth and I could barely feel it shift. I am happy with the performance..she is a little thirsty with the V-8 and the computer said that I was averaging just under 9 mpg...better than the F150, which got about 7.5 pulling the boat. Well see tomorrow night when I start filling it up every 180 miles or so...I was hoping to stretch it a little farther, but at night drinking coffee, I usually have to pee by then..thanks for the kind words!

 

Don't know what your Dad's rig weighs, but we made many runs from SoCal to here and back with our boat/trailer (weighed at 3960#) and got 13-14 mpg. This was a 430 mile round trip and we ran 55 in CA and 65 in AZ; turned off the OD on major hills. Your mpg sounds as bad as a motor home.

We finally moved here in '05 - 8 minutes to the launch ramp now!

Steve

 

We have 02 Mountianeer with 4.6 V8, AWD. We tow a boat that weights about 3200 with all the gear, dual axles on trailer. It came with the factory tow pkg. She pulls very nice and when at speed 55-80 she is great. I will disengage the OD when going up hills. I average about 12.5-13 mpg going about 65 mph. If I run 70-75 mph will average about 10.5-11 mpg. I have been very comfortable with her since day with the boat in tow. I really like being able to pull right of the launch ramp with no problem, AWD is great! Our distance towing is about 310 miles to Lake Havasu, AZ and about 260 miles to Lake Nacemento, CA from Los Angeles, CA.