I'm sorry but Lincolns just aren't work trucks!

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

Same with the civilian Hummer. They're supposed to be tough but I'd be afraid to pull a Harbor Freight trailer - empty.

Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.

Back when I was still hauling RV's for the broker in Elkhart we had a new guy sign on to haul campers with his own truck. This guy was bragging about his truck being all set up to haul. The first day the broker uses you to haul campers from the factory back to our lot.
This guy went to get his first RV and coming down thru the city of Elkhart his truck hit one of those "crossbars" between the sections of road. When the rear of his truck hit it the front of the trailer bounced and popped off his hitch ball and as he slammed on his brakes the trailer slid up under the rear of the truck.

The trailer stopped when the big bottle tanks hit the rear of the bumper and slammed thru the front of the trailer. He basically totaled a brand new camper because he put it on a too small ball. Moral of the story, make sure your hitch ball is the correct size for your trailer.


He ended up being our 1 day employee,,,,lol

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.

Back when I was still hauling RV's for the broker in Elkhart we had a new guy sign on to haul campers with his own truck. This guy was bragging about his truck being all set up to haul. The first day the broker uses you to haul campers from the factory back to our lot.
This guy went to get his first RV and coming down thru the city of Elkhart his truck hit one of those "crossbars" between the sections of road. When the rear of his truck hit it the front of the trailer bounced and popped off his hitch ball and as he slammed on his brakes the trailer slid up under the rear of the truck.

The trailer stopped when the big bottle tanks hit the rear of the bumper and slammed thru the front of the trailer. He basically totaled a brand new camper because he put it on a too small ball. Moral of the story, make sure your hitch ball is the correct size for your trailer.


He ended up being our 1 day employee,,,,lol

ALWAYS make sure you've got big enough balls... I mean... A big enough Ball... To take on any job!

Sorry i had to LOL

Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

Made a ton of money with a 99 explorer. made several dozen trips with a16 ft trailer. usually 2-3 tons gross at a time.

Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

There are always 2 sides to a story, I have no doubt that UHaul will not rent you a trailer if it is being towed by an explorer.
The issue that I have as a mechanic is that when a vehicle is designed the auto manufactures and the tire manufactures need to be on the same page when it comes to the two products coming together. Firestone and all tire manufactures put on the tire minimum and maximum inflation pressures on the tire. Auto manufactures place a sticker on the door jamb indicating the inflation pressures, Fords recommended tire pressure for the explorers in question were lower than what firestone recommends for their tires, ford wanted a smoother ride and the easiest way to do that was to lower the tire pressures to an unsafe level. If you constantly run your tires with low pressure you build up a lot of heat and the tires will blow. There were several explorers that had tire blowouts that were not running firestone tires. I don't care what inflation pressure my vehicle says, I always go by the tire manufactures recommendations and set them on the higher side of that recommendation.
Low pressure = higher resistance , higher pressure = lower resistance, you can raise your fuel economy by a little with a higher inflation pressure, but don't go over the tire manufactures recommended pressure.

Ford = bad
Firestone = good, lol

Originally Posted by brandon

Originally Posted by sledge42

Sad day to see that happen to anyone. I see people hauling unsafely all the time, it worries me, I've seen the damage it can do. The guy- quite honestly- is lucky that the trailer didn't take the Lincoln with it and he rolled it. So +1 on his "good luck" chart for sure.

Point #2: Speaking of Ford Explorer's-- Did you know Uhaul won't even let you rent a 4X8 trailer if you tell them it is to be hooked up to a Ford Explorer- no matter what hitch you have, no matter your towing capacity, no matter if you have a 10,000 lb ball.. they will outright refuse to allow you to haul their trailers with a Ford Explorer UNLESS it is a 2012 or newer now. Apparently the issue can be traced all the way back to the Firestone tire debacle that tarnished the Explorer's good name in the late 1990s. (Learn something new every day dont'cha?)

There are always 2 sides to a story, I have no doubt that UHaul will not rent you a trailer if it is being towed by an explorer.
The issue that I have as a mechanic is that when a vehicle is designed the auto manufactures and the tire manufactures need to be on the same page when it comes to the two products coming together. Firestone and all tire manufactures put on the tire minimum and maximum inflation pressures on the tire. Auto manufactures place a sticker on the door jamb indicating the inflation pressures, Fords recommended tire pressure for the explorers in question were lower than what firestone recommends for their tires, ford wanted a smoother ride and the easiest way to do that was to lower the tire pressures to an unsafe level. If you constantly run your tires with low pressure you build up a lot of heat and the tires will blow. There were several explorers that had tire blowouts that were not running firestone tires. I don't care what inflation pressure my vehicle says, I always go by the tire manufactures recommendations and set them on the higher side of that recommendation.
Low pressure = higher resistance , higher pressure = lower resistance, you can raise your fuel economy by a little with a higher inflation pressure, but don't go over the tire manufactures recommended pressure.

Ford = bad
Firestone = good, lol

Totally agree. I see it all the time and never follow the sticker on the door jam. Only use as a guideline. I normally go by the pressure on the tire. Like say its an LT tire and not a Passanger tire, they will want a max of 60-80psi. Well if its going on a truck that wants 40psi on the door jam, which one are you gonna listen to? 40psi with a load would be waaay under inflated.

Originally Posted by jord0690

Totally agree. I see it all the time and never follow the sticker on the door jam. Only use as a guideline. I normally go by the pressure on the tire. Like say its an LT tire and not a Passanger tire, they will want a max of 60-80psi. Well if its going on a truck that wants 40psi on the door jam, which one are you gonna listen to? 40psi with a load would be waaay under inflated.

also depends on tire load range, if you put 80 psi in a standard load range tire, or a 4 ply, it doesn't help a bit just wears the center of the tire out, over time. I run 10 ply, load range E, on my pickup and 8 ply on my car trailers, more ply is better less flats and far less suspectible to rock breaks. And I run Firestone trans force at's on my pickup, by far the best wearing tire I've found, I've pulled off many of them with 50k plus That still werent bald yet.

Russell, that's pretty impressive towing a car hauler with an explorer. I was wondering though, A: was that a legal set up and B: what were hills and stopping like?
The reason I ask is my brother is about to but a 4x4 canyon and I want to get into scrapping cars. I know they're very different vehicles but it would be good to know how well a small truck handles such a big trailer. I'd do it with my truck but it's a little 4cyl 91 Nissan hardbody and even the thought of using a dolly makes me uneasy.just because today I saw a Suzuki sx4 pullin a lotus Elise on a single axle flat bed doesn't mean I'm about to try it or anything similar.

And bear I'm not worried about my shocks for one they're only a year old. What I'm concerned about is my leaf sprigs, if one of my main leaves let to I can't imagine it would be a good experience.

As far as i know it is legal. I dont use that set up anymore. Stopping is a little hairy. I am also a tractor trailer driver so i am commercially licensed, i do know if your trailer gross weight is under 5 ton you dont need a cdl a. I know you cannot have more than 4 ton per axle, usaully. Whether or not a vehicke should be towing it is in question. I think as long as your load is secure and your not over weight youre fine. Then again youre always subject to what a cop says is or isnt ok. Most federal/state laws are open to interpretation by the officer pulling u over.