2001 5.0L Extreme Towing Story

[jgkurz]

Hi all. I am new to this forum and thought I'd share a recent experience with my 2001 5.0L Explorer. About a month ago we purchased our family's first camp trailer. I wasn't ready to buy but we got a great deal on it so we went ahead and brought it home. I intended to buy a new truck to pull the trailer but the extra cost wasn't in the budget yet. My Explorer has a tow package with load leveling so I thought we give it a try. I do a good job of maintaining the Explorer with frequent fluid changes and regular maintenance. The mileage is 144K. As a precaution I had the larger trans cooler professionally installed with a temp gauge. I also had a 7-way connector and trailer brake controller added.

The trailer is a 21ft and weighs about 5100lbs loaded. My Explorer is rated for 4990lbs so I am pushing the weight limit. I have a weight distribution and anti-sway hitch that seems to help. Braking is excellent and stability is good but not like an F350. The trailer is definitely noticeable but it doesn't push the Explorer around or sway abnormally.

We took the trailer over a mountain pass this weekend and finally found the Explorers limits. So far we have been on two trips all through flat or short hills. I have no pulling problems especially when I can keep the RPM right at peak torque which seems to be around 3500 to 4000 rpm. The 6% grade we climbed this weekend was a whole different matter. We started the climb and the best I could do was about 40mph in 2nd gear. It was wide open throttle for about 7min until we made it to the summit. 1st gear would been to high RPM so I decided to stick it out in 2nd gear. Trans temp went up to about 212F measured at the bottom of the pan (TOO HOT) Obviously I need more power and a better cooler. Everything is mostly stock except for a K&N air filter.

Other than buying a new truck, is there anything I can do under $1000.00 that could help me get over the hills?

Thank you,
John

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Torque Monster headers will help. They run $750 shipped. A tune would also help. A an SCT tuner will run you $389 and includes 3 tunes

Here are the links to the headers & tuner. Both are vendors here.

www.hensonperformance.com (tuner)

www.torquemonsterheaders.com

 

[jgkurz]

Thanks Dan. I checked out the headers you recommended and the results look impressive, better than the other brands I've seen. I like that mileage isn't really affected. I'm guessing that the headers would need to be combined with an aftermarket cat-back exhaust to achieve their full potential.

I went to the Henson site and it's not clear which tuner is for the 5.0L Explorer. I'll contact them to see what they recommend for my application.

Thanks again,
John