enveng427

Just a quick question. I'd like to tow my CR-V (2002 about 3250 lbs) on a car trailer from Eastern PA to Ohio. Is this possible? The car trailer would be rented from Uhaul. I looked at the owner's manual and it seems that you either have 4,600 lbs or 5,600 lbs of total trailer weight based on whether your GCWR is 9,000 or 10,000 pounds. My question is, what makes the difference? There's two different numbers listed for the same truck (supercab) with the same axle. The other question is, is it reasonable for me to try this? I'm not 16 and understand I have to not drive like an idiot and take it easy, but I don't have much experience towing (read almost none). Then just as a comment, I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT A CAR TRAILER WEIGHS. 2100 lbs seemed really high. Then I looked at plans for one on the web and added up the weight of the steel, and while a little over built, I wound up with 2480 pounds til I put ramps etc. on it by calculating steel weight. Seems crazy. I know I'll be close on total weight. Thoughts?

jeffinthebag

I had a 1997 4.6 lariat and towed 5 to 7k pretty easily. Just watch the hills and the trans temp.

enveng427

But does anyone know why there is the difference in GCWR? Looking at the regular cab numbers, I'm wondering if Ford didn't make a typo and the second one should say a 3.55 axle. You'd think you'd double check something as important as the towing ratings.

jeffinthebag

I don't get it, are you worried that there was a typo 17 years ago? If your worried about the 1k difference in towing then maybe you shouldn't tow. 1k additional in towing is nothing to worry about. I would be more concerned towing with a 17 year old vehicle if you didn't keep up,with all the fluid, filters and parts.

enveng427

Fair enough. I'll run it. Like I said, I don't have much experience in these matters. The truck hasn't been mine the whole time. The trans fluid was just changed as was the oil. I got a bargain on the truck. It's probably going up for sale to buy a better truck. They had it on sale at an estate sale for $4000 or something. I offered a little over a grand thinking they'd ask me kindly to leave. Instead they accepted it. It has 120,000 miles on it and was driven by an older gentleman. It was serviced the whole time. Should be fine.

Truth be told, my initial thought was that this would be fine. Like many things in automotive engineering, trucks are probably over engineered so that a guy can put the max trailer on it and drive it up a mountain in Colorado on a hundred degree day with a dirty air filter and not have too much trouble.

65mustang

I have a 02 F150 with the 4.2 and 3.55 rear and towing package. I towed a few cars with it using a u-haul trailer. Did just fine.

rangertamer

I'm in the same towing boat in a way. This spring I plan to take a 300 mile trip towing my old 89 bronco ii with my 97 4.2l of course the bronco is a little lighter then what the original weight was since I chopped the top off and gutted the interior down to just 2 bucket seats. I just hope my truck can haul it.

Ricktwuhk

Depending on the vehicle, you can rent a tow dolly instead of a trailer. It only weighs 750 lbs, and can tow the weight of your CR-V with 200 lbs to spare. You should check your CRV manual to see what it says about towing with the front wheels on the tow dolly. It should also be cheaper.

smokeywren

Yep, there's a typo in that chart. The chart in the trailer towing chapter of the '97 F-150 Source Book shows 9,000 GCWR with the 4.2L, automatic tranny, and 3.08 axle ratio. But then the footnote says you should not tow a trailer that grosses more than 2,000 pounds with that rig.

The next line in that chart is GCWR of 10,000 pounds and "tow rating" of 5,800 pounds for a regular cab 4x2 with 3.55 axle ratio, 4.2L engine and automatic tranny. The 3.55 ratio is part of the optional trailer towing group, and the axle ratio plus tranny cooler is why there is a difference in the GCWR.

If you will not try to use the SUV as a cargo trailer, and don't haul anything but hitch weight in the pickup, then the gross trailer weight on a U-Haul car trailer with the CR-V loaded should not exceed 5,800 pounds, and the GCW of the rig should not exceed 10,000 pounds.. My experience with Ford GCWR is they are a good indicator of the max trailer weight without overheating something in the drivetrain, and allows you to maintain a reasonable speed up steep grades. Of course, that assumes your F-150 has the optional trailer towing group, which includes an auxiliary tranny cooler. Without the tranny cooler, you'll probably melt your tranny.

If you don't have the auxiliary tranny cooler, then I would not tow that trailer until after I added a good tranny temp gauge and an auxiliary oil-to-air (OTA) tranny cooler. Watch the tranny temp like a hawk, try to maintain it below 210°, and don't allow it to sneak over 225° sump temp.

Way back in 1995, I hauled a new Toyota Corolla from west Texas to Denver on a U-Haul car trailer towed by a small 1988 Toyota pickup with a 4-cylinder engine and stick shift. U-Haul wouldn't rent me the trailer to pull that car with that small Toyota pickup, so I had to play games to get hooked up and on the road to Denver. No problems at all on that 650 mile trip, but I was very slow climbing Raton Pass on the New Mexico/Colorado border.

enveng427

Now I'm just being a pain I know, but is there an easy way short of crawling under the truck to tell what axle it has (I know you can also look for a trans cooler in front of the radiator)? The deal is, my truck is at my fiance's parent's. If there's an easier way to do it without asking my future father in law to crawl under the truck, that'd be awesome. Door sticker contain that info?