Ecoboost towing capacity?

[Old 5 Oh]

Curious, what is the Escape 'rated' to tow? What engine does it have?

Our 2005 V6 is rated at 3,500 pounds. It has a Class III hitch on it, and we have pulled 2,500 to 3,000 pounds up in the mountains many times. I have pulled 4,000 pounds on the flatland, and it pulls it fine but isn't all that happy about STOPPING it!

Sponsored

 

[davekro]

Our 2005 V6 is rated at 3,500 pounds. It has a Class III hitch on it, and we have pulled 2,500 to 3,000 pounds up in the mountains many times. I have pulled 4,000 pounds on the flatland, and it pulls it fine but isn't all that happy about STOPPING it!

What trailer is 2500-300 lbs? Does it have trailer brakes? I'm guessing not, otherwise, it should stop pretty well. Not sure about trailer brake fade in long mountain down hills though??

Did the 4000 lb trailer have brakes?

 

[Old 5 Oh]

What trailer is 2500-300 lbs? Does it have trailer brakes? I'm guessing not, otherwise, it should stop pretty well. Not sure about trailer brake fade in long mountain down hills though??

Did the 4000 lb trailer have brakes?

Everything we pull is a U-Haul utility trailer of some description. Weight depends on load. Bricks are heavy!

No, none of them have trailer brakes. We pulled about 3,000 pounds over Donner Summit (the Sierras) on Interstate 80 when we moved. No problems. 45 mph up hill (6.5% grade) and no brake worries downhill, just hold 3rd gear (out of 4 in the AODE).

The stopping issue with the 4,000 pound trailer was not the brakes, it was the fact that 4,000 pounds is enough to push a front-heavy Escape around a little bit, so smoothness is very important and a panic stop would have been pretty dramatic.

 

[10splaya22]

A mustang can easily tow 1000 lbs. How is that much different than having a couple big guys in the front seat and the trunk loaded up with a couple coolers and other stuff? You could get to 1000 lbs easily in miscellaneous stuff. Where the weight is loaded is different than a trailer but a jet ski trailer is maybe only putting 100 lbs of tongue weight on the car. Definitely not an issue.

Its hilarious the people in this thread (pinero61, oilfieldtrash, Rhys) who have no idea what they are talking about. There are pics in the thread showing how a Mustang can tow successfully and it even says so in the owners manual. I would like to see some evidence showing how a Mustang CAN'T tow.

 

[captjeff19]

As a guy with 25 years of experience towning boats all over Florida with a multitude of tow vehicles, I'd have to say even pulling a jetski around is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but mainly because a jet ski will exceed the 1000 lb tow capacity.
I just looked up a Yamaha 2-seater jet personal water craft. Its dry weight is 745 lbs. It has an 18.6 gallon fuel capacity... and gas weighs about 6.5 lb/gal. 18.6 x 6.5 = 120 lbs. I also looked up the weight of a standard PWC trailer and it weighed 210 lbs (of course this can vary depending on mfgr and whether is galvanized steel or aluminum).
So 745 + 120 + 210 = 1075. Now you have to add the tongue weight of the trialer, which (for safety reasons) needs to be 10-15% of the gross trailer weight and now you're at 1182 lbs or more. And you still haven't included the cooler, safety equipment and other misc stuff you'll have on the PWC.

So now when you add many of the other comments regarding the trials of getting up a slippery ramp. I think you need to work on Plan B.

Mustangs (even the ecos) aren't meant to tow a horse... they're made to haul ass.

 

[Old 5 Oh]

As a guy with 25 years of experience towning boats all over Florida with a multitude of tow vehicles, I'd have to say even pulling a jetski around is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but mainly because a jet ski will exceed the 1000 lb tow capacity.
I just looked up a Yamaha 2-seater jet personal water craft. Its dry weight is 745 lbs. It has an 18.6 gallon fuel capacity... and gas weighs about 6.5 lb/gal. 18.6 x 6.5 = 120 lbs. I also looked up the weight of a standard PWC trailer and it weighed 210 lbs (of course this can vary depending on mfgr and whether is galvanized steel or aluminum).
So 745 + 120 + 210 = 1075. Now you have to add the tongue weight of the trialer, which (for safety reasons) needs to be 10-15% of the gross trailer weight and now you're at 1182 lbs or more. And you still haven't included the cooler, safety equipment and other misc stuff you'll have on the PWC.

Um . . . the tongue weight is not additive to the trailer weight. It's the portion of the weight of the trailer that bears on the hitch rather than on the trailer's tires. So with your 1075-pound example, you'd want 150 pounds or so on the tongue, leaving 925 resting on the trailer tires.

And I have NO doubt any AT Mustang can pull that all day long, twice on Sunday, up hill and down, with no adverse effects on engine, trans, rear, brakes, signal flasher, frame or anything else. It's a pretty minimal load.

 

[jtmat]

the tires getting into the water is the scary part. i sure as hell dont want to slip into the water.

You would be the next youtube sensation for a couple of hours.

I would cry with you...

 

[captjeff19]

Um . . . the tongue weight is not additive to the trailer weight. It's the portion of the weight of the trailer that bears on the hitch rather than on the trailer's tires. So with your 1075-pound example, you'd want 150 pounds or so on the tongue, leaving 925 resting on the trailer tires.

Um... you'd better do some research on proper towing techniques. Any truck manual will tell you that the tongue weight is added to the actual trailer weight. That's because in addition to the car/truck pulling the full load, the car is now supporting the tongue weight on the hitch & ball. So my numbers are factual based on the weights givien.

There's no argument that all 3 Mustang motors have enough power to pull 1000 lbs. But there's more to towning safely than just straight line pulling power. Brakes, suspension, tranny and the frame all play an important role in the calculations. If it was just about engine power, the Mustang would have the same (or higher) towing capacity as its lower horsepower F150.

 

[tsunami]

I believe that most truck-trailer manuals assume that you are weighing the trailer by towing it onto weigh scales. Then the tongue is supported by the tow vehicles hitch.
Every document I have ever read provided by a trailer manufacturer gives the total trailer weight and then states that 10-15% of the total weight should be born by the tow vehicle's hitch.

 

[Old 5 Oh]

If the trailer weighs 1,000 pounds, there IS NO 150 pounds to be added. There's only 1,000 pounds.

If you put the trailer on a scale, you'd find that a properly balanced 1,000 pound trailer would weigh 850 pounds on the wheels and 150 pounds on the tongue. That 150 pounds is the tongue weight that is borne by the tow vehicle, so if you weigh a 3700-pound Mustang attached to that trailer, it will "weigh" 3850 pounds, with almost all the extra being on the rear wheels (unless you have a load distributing hitch).

The point being you can't just make up extra weight. A 3700 pound Mustang and 1000 pound trailer hitched up and all lined up on a scale will be 4700 pounds, again 3850 on the Mustang wheels and 850 on the trailer wheels, given our assumption of 150 pounds of tongue weight.

 

[pinero61]

A mustang can easily tow 1000 lbs. How is that much different than having a couple big guys in the front seat and the trunk loaded up with a couple coolers and other stuff? You could get to 1000 lbs easily in miscellaneous stuff. Where the weight is loaded is different than a trailer but a jet ski trailer is maybe only putting 100 lbs of tongue weight on the car. Definitely not an issue.

Its hilarious the people in this thread (pinero61, oilfieldtrash, Rhys) who have no idea what they are talking about. There are pics in the thread showing how a Mustang can tow successfully and it even says so in the owners manual. I would like to see some evidence showing how a Mustang CAN'T tow.

A seadoo spark wouldn't be bad, but hauling a 3-seater mini-boat frequently will lead to issues. The mustang has the power to tow a good bit more than the rated 1000lbs, but you're using an engineered crumple zone to pull and stop this weight. Vertically, the trailer may only exert 100lbs of weight, but horizontally it will see most of the weight of the bike during acceleration and deceleration. Which, can also be transferred to vertical weight if your trailer is not level.

Also, these cars are not equipped with any type of a trans fluid cooler. Those clutches can bake fast if you're pulling too much. There's a long list of reasons not to tow with these vehicles, and these hitches are designed for the absolute lightest of loads.

 

[pinero61]

Sorry to hijack this thread.
But felt i should correct a myth that jetskis are unreliable.
I have used both of mine that i owned a lot.
Sold my trouble free kawasaki 15f after 5 years of regular use. It had received regular maintenanc, but the only actual failure was the original battery which i replaced.
My current jetski is the kawasaki ultra, going into its 4th year it to has required only a battery replacement and regular service.
The trailers have required more maintenance than the jetskis have.

I'm referring more towards the two-stroke variants. Four stroke bikes are much more reliable, but any watercraft is a money pit. I've owned several over the years.

 

[10splaya22]

A seadoo spark wouldn't be bad, but hauling a 3-seater mini-boat frequently will lead to issues. The mustang has the power to tow a good bit more than the rated 1000lbs, but you're using an engineered crumple zone to pull and stop this weight. Vertically, the trailer may only exert 100lbs of weight, but horizontally it will see most of the weight of the bike during acceleration and deceleration. Which, can also be transferred to vertical weight if your trailer is not level.

Also, these cars are not equipped with any type of a trans fluid cooler. Those clutches can bake fast if you're pulling too much. There's a long list of reasons not to tow with these vehicles, and these hitches are designed for the absolute lightest of loads.

Yes but 1000 lbs isn't that much. How is it much different than loading the car up with a couple big guys and a couple full coolers + whatever else you need to bring? Whether you tow it or put it in the car doesn't matter as long as you are under the 1000 lbs Ford rated the car for. The brakes, transmission, engine, etc can all easily handle that additional load.

 

[DR_]

I easily pulled this trailer and ATV 300 miles today doing 70-75mph the whole time. I have a bigger 4x4 ATV that I'm going to tow next week.

 

[tsunami]

"DR": did you have much trouble hooking up the trailer wiring? I was told that it had to be fed directly from the battery. Were you able to use a ready-made wiring t-connector?

Sponsored