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Towing Impressions- 6 x 12 foot enclosed trailer

3K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  bheintze 
#1 ·
Thought I'd share my experience for those like me who rarely tow with their Armadas. Just got back from 1400 mile trip towing 6 x 12 foot enclosed trailer through Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee with the Armada, which now has 9000 miles on it. Dry weight of trailer was 1800 pounds and truck was fully loaded as well. Had around 1500-2000 additional pounds loaded in the trailer for first half of trip and averaged 12.8 mpg. I thought this was pretty good given hills and speed (70mph in most places, even faster in others). On the way back we had less than 1000 pounds in trailer and averaged 13.8 mpg. Also not too bad and better than I expected. I used the tow mode and the Armada rarely had to downshift, even over relatively steep grades. Also, the transmission temp stayed cool per the gauge.

Overall, the Armada did quite well and had no problems with acceleration/sway/stopping. I realize this was a light load that these trucks should handle with ease and I was glad when that was the case. I recall pulling a similar trailer/load a few years ago with our Grand Cherokee (4.7HO v8) and it was not as pleasant experience an experience. The Jeep had enough power but it felt like the tail was wagging the dog. Not a very reassuring feeling with your family in the car with you!
 
#3 ·
Did you use 4th and tow mode or overdrive and tow mode the entire trip. I have a 6x12 enclosed and been itching to pull it around, With the Armada having more torque than my F150 it shoud do a better job for sure. Thanks for the info.
 
#4 ·
I kept it in "D" with tow mode activated. I was very mindful of excessive downshift, etc, to see if I needed to change gear, but the Armada rarely downshifted with that light load. You could really feel to torque lugging the trailer up the hills. On some of the steeper grades I lost about 5mph, but it still held its gear.

With a heavier load perhaps towing in 4th would be ideal.

Also, I have ridden in two Expeditions, on a 98 and one an 03, one with the 5.4 and the other with a 4.6, with family members while they were being used to tow a similar trailer. With both Fords we could not keep up with traffic and there was a lot of downshifting going on (without lot of forward momentum). I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the Armada.
 
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