I have a 2000 Expedition, EB, 5.4L 4x2 4R100 with 3.55 gears and Class II towing package (has a tranny cooler and hitch). Since it's my wife's truck, there's been no mods.
I am going to be moving my family soon around 700 miles away and am gonna tow my 1997 Tbird. It's prolly around 4K pounds.
I just replaced pads and rotors on the Expo today and broke them in real good. Tranny fluid is just a few months fresh so I don't think I'm missing any maintenance before towing.
A few questions:
--Should I only disable OD on hilly areas?
--How tight do I need to tighten the trailer hitch to the ball coming out of the hitch on the Expy? I have grease for lube.
--What does your average car trailer weigh? Just making sure that I'm well under the towing capacity.
--Any other advice for a towing n00b?? (Besides drive very carefully and give lots of braking distance
Thanks guys and gals.
Allen

 

You should be ok. As far as overdrive goes, I normally leave mine off until i get up to speed. But definitely turn it off in hilly areas.

 

Be smart. If it seems to be popping out of o/d, the lock it out. And what do you mean by tighten the hitch to the Expy? It should already be tightened from the factory.

 

Sorry about being vague.
I have a hitch receiver that I put the hitch/ball in on the Expy. The trailer will have the forward attachment (sorry, don't know exactly what it's called) that fits over the ball. The ones I've seen have a large nut that tightens over the ball so that it doesn't come off while driving. I would think that you didn't want it too tight but also tight enough so that it doesn't shake.
:o

 

Ok.

That is your hitch. The ball mount

slides into there, and is attached by a pin.

The trailer coupler then attaches to the ball. There are several styles out there, but this is the most common. Here's a good way to test to see if the tongue is on there tight enough. Put the trailer on, tighten it up, and then push and pull on the coupler up and down very hard. If it doesn't come off, then you should be ok.

 

You should be okay if the trany start to hunt shut off the OD

 

If you truely have a class II hitch on the truck you have a serious problem:
Class II
Gross Trailer Weight - Up to 3,500 lbs.
Tongue Weight- Up to 350 lbs
This includes the cargo and trailer weight...not just what you want to put on the trailer. Most car hauler trailers start about 1700#'s.

Even if it is a Class III you will probably still be over the ratings
Class III
Gross Trailer Weight - Up to 5,000 lbs.
Tongue Weight - Up to 500 lbs

If you still decide you must, make sure the trailer has a break-a-way trailer emergency braking system and the truck is equipped with trailer brakes to lessen the burdon on the truck and hitch when stopping.

A class II and a class III look identical except the band around the reciever end and support structure of the reciever itself.

EDIT: Whoops...Class III and Class IV not Class II

I can't believe nobody caught this....are we slipping?

 

Class II and Class III do NOT look identical. Class II has the 1 1/4" opening, Class III has the 2" opening. If it's got the factory towing package, then it came with the Class III hitch.

 

Took a couple of pix...





It is a 2" receiver. And yeah, it was factory. IIRC, and I'll double check on this, all the wiring and such that is in the "towing package booklet" has already been done, again, from the factory. I remember checking that out the only other time I towed a few years ago (a very light load).
I also have the type of hitch/ball shown in post #5.

OK, so according to Z, I have a Class III hitch (although I remember distinctly on my paperwork when we bought it brand new that it said a Class II "package"). I'm a little confused on exactly what "tongue weight" is. The other terms are pretty self-explanatory.

 

Tongue weight max is 500lbs, max weight of trailer is 5000 lbs. It should say that on a sticker on the other side of the hitch, or at least it does on mine. Tbird, are you sure it didn't say Class III??? Because that is a Class III hitch...

 

Well, I could be wrong. If it's a III, then it's a III.
What exactly is the "tongue" though...is that the part of the bumper (no hitch) that sometimes has a ball on it?

 

Tongue weight is the weight that is pushing down on the hitch. If you were to put a scale under your tongue, that would give you your tongue weight.

 

OK. Makes sense.

 

You'll be fine. Liek others have said, disable OD if/when the transmission is shifting a lot, ither locking/unlocking the TC or 3-4 gear hunting.

You can expect a car hauler to weigh 2-3k pounds. If you rent one, it will prboably have surge brakes on at least one axle. Otherwsie, electric brakes would be a real benefit with a brake controller.

 

This sounds like what UHaul rents...their trailers have the large nut on the trailer coupler. Once the trailer coupler is seated on the ball, you tighten the large nut on top of the coupler (rather that the more conventional type that you flip down to latch and insert a pin).

If you are renting the trailer, they will probably help you hook up properly, but I would think you want it about as tight as you can get it by hand (no wrench or other tools). At least that's what I remember from renting a UHaul trailer years ago.