Boat Towing

[War Eagle]

I have a 2003 model with no current tow package. I have just purchased a 24' Sea Pro bay boat that will total roughly 3,800 pounds all told (boat, motor, trailer, etc.). I have read many of the posts about towing on this site but would like to get some basic sense of the best additions/changes that I will need as I add a towing package to the truck for the purpose of pulling this load.



Thanks in advance.

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Roadmaster Active Suspension, shocks, sway bar to start, tuner from Wayne with towing program. That's what I have and they all work great. Gary D. in CT

 

[Rich Stern]

John, the Sport Trac comes with a transmission cooler and a standard 4 wire towing plug.

All you need is a good hitch. Either the Ford OEM hitch or the Hidden Hitch. See the Member Projects section of the web site for installation info for either of these.



I tow a couple of different boats, up to about 3500 pounds, and have been very happy with the Sport Trac's towing performance. The V6 does fine, the brakes are up to the task, and the truck is a very stable tow platform.



Hopefully, your trailer has brakes, because most states require them with that type of weight, and it would be much safer since that is a significant load to ask the Sport Trac's brakes to handle

 

[Tom Stocker]

You'll be fine with just adding a hitch but you should beef up the rear suspension a little. I added Gabriel loadmaster shocks. They are a coil over shock that helps out with the rear squatting. They ride real nice without the boat/load too. I paired them up with gabriel maxcontrols in the front, rides great. Enjoy the new boat. --tom

 

[War Eagle]

Thanks for all of the info.

I read in the manual that loads over 3,500 lbs. require utilization of a weight distributing hitch. I see no mention of utilization in any of the posts. Have others used this approach? Would that help with rear squatting described above as well?

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

I think the Roadmaster A. Suspension helps with "squatting".

 

[Tom Schindler]

Load it up and see how it sits. I have a 16' Flatbed trailer I load well over the Trac's maximum towing weight. I use Airlift air bags. I can fill them up and load an extra thousand pounds in the back. When the Trac is not "earning her keep", I let the air out and you would never know they are there.





Tom

 

[Johnny O]

Depends how often and how far you tow also. If you never take it very far, just put a hitch on and fuhgeddaboutit. Driving all over creation with a camping trailer is different. I've dragged a couple boats across town for people, no problem (I just have a jetski myself).

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Here's a link to the post I made a couple of weeks ago for the Curt Mfg. hitch receiver I had installed.