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2003 Ford Explorer Towing Capacity
Often I see people just take the tow rating of a vehicle or the tow rating of the hitch to mean that's how
much they can tow safely. Wrong! Several factors play a role in how much you can tow. Kenneth Lenger
has a good explanation of how to calculate how much you can tow
so I won't duplicate that information. Instead I summarized the calculations for my vehicle to show how much a
2003 Ford 4.6L V8 AWD that is rated 3,420 lbs can really tow.
|
Axel Ratio
3.55
(what I have) |
Axel Ratio
3.75
(for comparison) |
Comments |
|---|
| Tow Vehicle Specifications |
|
|
|
| GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) |
5,880 lbs |
5,880 lbs |
from sticker on driver side door |
| GCWR (Gross Combination Weight Rating) |
7,700 lbs |
11,600 lbs |
from owner's guide |
| Curb Weight (Empty Weight) |
4,449 lbs |
4,449 lbs |
from brochure from Ford |
| Reserve Tow Vehicle Cargo Capacity |
1,431 lbs |
1,431 lbs |
|
| GTWR (Gross Trailer Weight Rating) |
3,251 lbs |
7,151 lbs |
|
| Tow Vehicle Options, Cargo, Passengers |
|
|
|
| Driver |
175 lbs |
175 lbs |
|
| Passengers |
525 lbs |
525 lbs |
3 people at 175 lbs each |
| Fuel (gas 6.2 lbs/gal) |
140 lbs |
140 lbs |
|
| Hitch |
9 lbs |
9 lbs |
ball mount and ball (before install of class III/IV hitch) |
| Other |
500 lbs |
500 lbs |
luggage and other stuff that one hauls along |
| Weight Added (Total) |
1,349 lbs |
1,349 lbs |
|
| New Tow Vehicle Weights w/o Trailer |
|
|
|
| GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight - Total) |
5,798 lbs |
5,798 lbs |
|
| GTWR (Gross Trailer Weight Rating) |
1,902 lbs |
5,802 lbs |
|
The calculations are from
Kenneth Lenger's Towing Weight Demonstrator (Microsoft Excel Sheet).
The green fields are the information that I provided. Notice that for my vehicle ( 4.6L V8 with the 3.55 axel ratio) I can
only tow 1,902 lbs safely even though Ford advertised 3,420 lbs. Ford did not include any additional weight such
as driver, gasoline, ... in their calculation. However, they do state that you should check that you don't exceed
any of the other vehicle ratings. Interestingly, a class III hitch only makes sense on the Explorer if you also
upgrade to the 3.73 axel ratio. Even then you only can increase the towing capacity not the hauling capacity.
In short most people would think that the SUV would handle more weight without having gone through the calculation.
Luckily our sailboat and trailer only weights 1200 lbs so we should be fine.
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