The Ford Explorers and Sport Tracs had very different specifications when it came to their towing capacity numbers, even though they shared a common engine option. The Explorers were able to pull a maximum weight of more than 7,100 pounds and the Sport Tracs were good for up to 5,300 pounds. On the low end, these vehicles had a 3,260 pound capacity for the Explorers and a 5,080 pound low-end rating for the Sport Tracs.
You did have to have the proper equipment installed, in order to achieve the highest ratings and I lay out all of those juicy details in this article. Let's dive into the data!
Your owner's manual is filled with all sorts of valuable info and I strongly suggest that you carefully comb through it and be sure that you abide by all of Ford's requirements and suggestions at all times.
2004 Explorer Overview
Overall Capacity: The overall towing capacity for the 2004 Ford Explorer ranged from 3,260-7,140 lbs. depending on the engine option you had equipped in your vehicle, your axle ratio and whether you had a two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicle.
The Sport Trac models had a towing capacity that ranged from 5,080-5,300 lbs. and was dependent upon whether you had a two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive model, nothing else.
Capacity By Options: I laid out the different trim levels that were available for both the '04 Explorer and the Sport Trac models and listed their maximum trailer weight ratings according to the engine options that were available for each trim level.
It is important to note that some trim levels may have less capacity than what's listed below due to certain trim level specific circumstances that are known to occur with some Ford vehicles. You'll have to do your own additional research in order to see if you are trim level is affected.
- XLS: 3,260-5,780 lbs.
- XLS Sport: 3,260-5,780 lbs.
- XLT: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- XLT Sport: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- NBX: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- Eddie Bauer: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- Limited: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- XLS (Sport Trac): 5,080-5,300 lbs.
- XLT (Sport Trac): 5,080-5,300 lbs..
- XLT Premium (Sport Trac): 5,080-5,300 lbs.
- Adrenalin (Sport Trac): 5,080-5,300 lbs.
By Engine Options: I always like to compare the engine options that were available, in order to break down the data even further and give myself a better overview of how certain vehicles compared. If we look at the Explorer, we can see that the 4.6 liter engine had a much higher capacity overall, but the lowest rating was the same for both the 4.0L and 4.6L engines.
The data was the same for the Sport Trac models because there was only one engine option.
- 4.0L: 3,260-5,780 lbs.
- 4.6L: 3,260-7,140 lbs.
- 4.0L (Sport Trac): 5,080-5,300 lbs.
The Explorer and Sport Trac Charts:
The 2004 Ford Explorer and the Sport Trac models both shared a similar engine, as we can see from the charts listed below, which was the 4.0 liter engine, but they had very different specs when we compared the two different models with the same engine.
The first chart I have listed below is for the Explorers and then the sport trac models chart is listed below that. All you need to know about your Explorer in order to get your maximum trailer weight rating is to plug in whether you had a four-wheel drive or two-wheel drive model, what engine you had equipped and what axle ratio your SUV was using.
The maximum trailer weight ratings for The Sport Trac models were much easier to figure out because there was only one engine option available and there were only two maximum weight ratings listed, one for two-wheel drive models and the other for four-wheel drive models. The axle ratio didn't seem to matter either.
Other Important Information Worth Mentioning...
As I was browsing through the references, one final time, I managed to identify a couple of supplementary "nuggets of information" that I thought would be essential information that some of you out there might be interested in reading about.
The first screenshot that you see right below lays out what the standard trailer equipment was for both the explorers and the Sport Trac models and also shows us what was available as far as the optional packages for both vehicles. I have highlighted the Explorer and Sport Trac's data in the red box in order to make it easier to read the data.
The next screenshot I have posted is interesting and I think a lot of people don't realize that in order to achieve the maximum trailer weight ratings that are shown in the charts, many of Ford's vehicles require a weight distributing hitch in order to achieve those higher ratings.
The chart below lays this out for both the Explorer and the Sport Trac models. As you can see, the maximum trailer weight rating is significantly reduced if you're using just a standard hitch, as opposed to using a weight distributing hitch. I'm not sure why the Sport Trac models show no capacity for the weight distributing hitch in the chart below, when we know that the maximum capacity is more than five thousand pounds, if we refer to the chart above.
The last two screenshots I have posted talk about the maximum tongue load weight rating for these vehicles, which would be between 10 to 15% because neither vehicle is capable of having a fifth wheel hitch capability, so only the conventional hitch percentages apply to these two vehicles.
The other screenshot I have posted talks a little bit about trailer brakes but doesn't go into detail about them that much, as the note from the owner's manual only states that these vehicles can have the necessary equipment installed on them in order to use trailer brakes with these vehicles.
The Certification Label Contains Useful Info Too!
GVWR & GAWRs: The GVWR and GAWRs specifications were nowhere to be found when I was skimming through the owner's manual or the tow guide that Ford supplied when doing the research for this article, however, I did uncover where these two specs can be found, which is actually located on the vehicle!
You'll need to look on the certification label, which resembles the photo that is displayed above. This label will contain all types of really beneficial info that you can use later on about the particulars of your vehicle.
This label can be found on the driver side door pillar or sometimes the door itself. Both specifications can be located towards the top of the sticker and will be display both pounds and kilogram weight limits.
GCWR: What's great is that Ford gave us the gross combined weight rating specs in the tables, which are listed towards the left side of the table, right alongside the engine choices and axle ratios. The Explorers had a GCWR range of between 7,700-11,600 pounds for the standard models and a sole GCWR of 9,600 pounds for the Sport Trac models.
Axle Code: The axle code is also listed on this label, at the bottom, almost center position and has a two-digit code that corresponds to the axle ratio you have equipped on your vehicle.
You will have to use a website like this one to decipher the code though, as Ford did not have a legend for us to decipher these codes for their 2004 vehicles, like they do for later model year vehicles. You can also look under your vehicle for a metal tag that has the axle ratio stamped into the tag.
Resources For This Article:
Believe it or not, all of the related information you see in this write-up basically originated from two primary resources and I went ahead and linked to these references below. Most of the more intricate details for this article came straight from the resource guide that Ford released for all of their tow capable vehicles and is definitely worth checking out.
When I could not locate some of the missing information I was searching for, I consulted the owner's manual, which had the other little bits of knowledge I was in need of and filled in the gaps nicely. The brochures also came in handy when looking at the different options for the 04 Explorers and Sport Trac models, especially when looking at the different trim levels..