Tow Vehicle for Escape 19 and Escape 17

[Centex]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

the other factor that I might have buried in there, a AWD vehicle like the Ridgeline has much more complex rear suspension with many more bushings and pivots and joints ....

All true, but what real-world disadvantage does that portend when all is properly engineered?

The 'complexity' argument was advanced when trucks first adopted independent front suspensions instead of beam axles, even on 2WD applications, more so again when four-wheel drive applications came along. And those involved even more inherent complexity than IRS due to steering.

The 'real-world' benefits (ride comfort, suspension compliance / keeping the rubber firmly planted on the ground where it does the most good in terms of vehicle handling, braking, etc) of IFS were soon accepted as significant and the longevity / robustness of those front (4)-wheel drive independent suspensions have long proven more than acceptable in return for those benefits for most drivers.

I respectfully suggest that the same is true in that regard ('complexity' vs 'simplicity'; 'benefit' vs 'downside') for the Ridgeline's well-engineered, decidedly more-robust-than-a-sedan, IRS.

Yep, effective IRS becomes much more challenging as the range of design load from empty to maximum increases to, say, those an F150+ aims for, but let's keep this friendly discussion all in context

[John in Santa Cruz]

my point is, towing is significantly more stressful on the tow vehicle driven axle suspension, since its pulling far more than its own weight. this translates into greater wear on those components, and IRS is far more expensive to repair/replace those bushings as there are far many more of them. price a set of rear CV joints and rear control arms for your Ridgeline AWD, vs a couple leaf shackle bushings on a F150.

[John in Santa Cruz]

btw, my daily driver car is an older Mercedes 300E, which pioneered 5-way multilink IRS. lovely ride, fantastic handling, no drama in emergency maneuvers. but expensive to fix when it starts to wear out.

[Mario]

I have a f150 3.5 non turbo 3.73 rear, trailer tow package, brake controller.

Max 7,300 lbs....

Should i be able to tow a 19 Escape?

Any advice would help. Thanks

[Centex]

And my point is, Honda has demonstrably properly engineered the Ridgeline's IRS to yield competitively comparable robustness / longevity within it's intended uses.

Respectfully, you're trying to characterize weaknesses in real-world comparability that demonstrably don't actually exist for the far, far, vast majority of drivers, even those logging lots of towing miles. Time spent researching will reveal that there's very, very, few instances of Ridgeline owner-reported rear suspension / driveline failures of the sort to which you allude, and heaven knows vehicle-specific owner forums are magnets for that sort of failure reporting.

Not EVEN gonna get into the expenses that go with maintaining a 27 YO Mercedes, regardless of the system in question

I've no doubt that yours is a lovingly maintained and beautiful example of the marque

BTW, my 'other truck' is a 2005 F150, lovingly maintained by me since new ... it'll be the trusted tug for an Escape 5.0TA if that's the upsize I finally settle-on

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mario

I have a f150 3.5 non turbo 3.73 rear, trailer tow package, brake controller.

Max 7,300 lbs....

Should i be able to tow a 19 Escape?

Any advice would help. Thanks

easily. my E21 is 4500 lbs max, the 19 should be somewhat lighter than that. I towed it back from Texas with a Tacoma which had 6500 max tow.

[Rossue]

John- completely agree with you. The Gen2 19 is almost the same wet weight as your 21. This discussion reminds me of when readying our 2011 Murano to go pick up a 17B our mechanic said " you're not doing the car any favors".

I did get a bit tired of the live rear axle on our Yukon, especially unhooked. The Expedition we now have does have IRS- yet our tow weight is 1/2 the max rating so am not too worried about premature suspension problems. The 2021 Yukon/Tahoes likewise are going to be IRS- and like my Expy are in fact RWD centric.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I drove live axle Volvos (240, 740,940) for 20 years... they don't bother me. Now, the F250, when riding empty, it's pretty harsh, but when it has a ton in the bed it rides just fine. :-p

[Centex]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

.... Now, the F250, when riding empty, it's pretty harsh, but when it has a ton in the bed it rides just fine. :-p

And you've got probably the best diesel that Ford (or anyone) ever installed in a 'light truck', a keeper for sure as long as you can keep it happy with available fuel!

[steve dunham]

Looking at the new Escape catalog this morning it appears that the Ford F250 is Escapes tow vehicle of choice .
They’re upgrading their game across the board , another good sign .

[Doug in NC]

We just ordered an Escape 19. We have a Jeep Cherokee Laredo V6 3.6L that the specs say has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds. I am seeing posts here that make me think that is insufficient to tow the 19. The dry weight of the 19 is 3250 pounds. I know that I will be adding a few hundred pounds with water and gear, but what's the deal?

[MyronL]

I like the Ford 150 a lot, but since I tow my 19 with a Silverado 1500 (5.3 v-8) I like it more better.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Doug in NC

We just ordered an Escape 19. We have a Jeep Cherokee Laredo V6 3.6L that the specs say has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds. I am seeing posts here that make me think that is insufficient to tow the 19. The dry weight of the 19 is 3250 pounds. I know that I will be adding a few hundred pounds with water and gear, but what's the deal?

According to Jon's spreadsheet for real world weights, 2nd gen 19's are up to 4400 lbs.

http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by Doug in NC

We just ordered an Escape 19. We have a Jeep Cherokee Laredo V6 3.6L that the specs say has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds. I am seeing posts here that make me think that is insufficient to tow the 19. The dry weight of the 19 is 3250 pounds. I know that I will be adding a few hundred pounds with water and gear, but what's the deal?

Here's the deal: advertised dry weight of our 21 was 3050 lbs. when we ordered it. By the time it was delivered it was 3150- and we didn't get Air conditioner- another 100 lbs. With it ready to camp with full tank of fresh water it consistently weighs 4200 lbs.

The specs of what you can tow vs. what you want to tow can be two very different things.

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by Doug in NC

We just ordered an Escape 19. We have a Jeep Cherokee Laredo V6 3.6L that the specs say has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds. I am seeing posts here that make me think that is insufficient to tow the 19. The dry weight of the 19 is 3250 pounds. I know that I will be adding a few hundred pounds with water and gear, but what's the deal?

You will probably be OK towing a 19 with your Jeep, but be aware the dry weight of a 19 can increase quite a lot depending on the options you add. My 19’s delivery weight was about 3,400-lbs. Add full propane and water tanks, plus your food, beverages, kitchen equipment, camping gear, etc. and you can easily approach 5,000-lbs.

Lots of folks, myself included, want extra capacity in their tow vehicle, which is why you see a lot of posts on this topic. Others do perfectly fine towing their 19 with a vehicle with a similar weight rating as yours. Part of it depends on where you think you’ll be going, and of your comfort level and the experience you want when towing. Where I live and camp, anytime I go anywhere I have to climb steep, mountain grades, often in hot weather, which is why I want plenty of capacity. I do not want to push my tow vehicle’s limits, or my comfort limits.

Hope this helps explain many of the posts you’ve seen here!

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Doug in NC

We just ordered an Escape 19. We have a Jeep Cherokee Laredo V6 3.6L that the specs say has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds. I am seeing posts here that make me think that is insufficient to tow the 19. The dry weight of the 19 is 3250 pounds. I know that I will be adding a few hundred pounds with water and gear, but what's the deal?

People who post are expressing opinions. And real world experiences are personal in nature in many cases.
Depending upon your expectations and towing savvy your experience then becomes personal. Opinions are like other body parts, everybody has one.
Iowa Dave

[Dave Rosebaugh]

For four years we towed a 19 CLASSIC (several hundred pounds lighter than the new 19's) with a Cherokee Limited V-6 -- with tow package. Without the tow package, don't even think about it. We "managed" okay, even over the continental divide, mostly because the 9-speed transmission let us find a decent gear. It'll be hard on your tranny, though.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

You will probably be OK towing a 19 with your Jeep, but be aware the dry weight of a 19 can increase quite a lot depending on the options you add.

To clarify, that would not be the dry weight, which doesn't change when you add options or personal items. That would be the delivered weight.

[Radar1]

Looking at our build sheet for the 2020 19', the options we got raised the 3,250 "dry weight" to 3,609 "shipping weight".
I'm sure our 6,200 lb rated Dodge Durango with the V-6 would do fine, but we will wait to try that on shorter local trips when we get back, and plan to pick it up with our Ford Ranger with the 7,500 lb tow rating.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

You will probably be OK towing a 19 with your Jeep, but be aware the dry weight of a 19 can increase quite a lot depending on the options you add. My 19’s delivery weight was about 3,400-lbs. Add full propane and water tanks, plus your food, beverages, kitchen equipment, camping gear, etc. and you can easily approach 5,000-lbs.

whats the GWR on the new 19's? The old ones were 4500 lbs, I believe, same as my 'classic' 21...

I don't ever base my towing weight calculations on 'empty' weights, but rather on 'actual' weights which in my experience tend to be right up against the GWR.