Towing 5.0 withOUT tow mirrors......F150

[iamunique127]

I tow my E19 with a 2nd Gen Tacoma (narrower than a full size). I can still see around the trailer with the factory mirrors (with additional 2" stick-on convex blind-spot mirrors) .....but the Milenco MIL-2912 tow mirrors I picked up on Amazon make the experience much nicer.

I'll eventually upgrade to a full size truck, most likely either a Tundra or F150. One nice thing with Ford is that I can configure it with retractable tow mirrors as a standalone option at a reasonable price . However, factory-supplied tow mirrors are only available on the Tundra bundled in a rather spendy premium option package.

I have an ongoing cross-Canada search on Kijiji for Tundra parts. Factory tow mirrors come up all the time.

 

[Lorraine Pittsburgh]

I'd never drive a truck before getting my F-150 & 5.0 in 2022. Being fairly safety -conscious, the tow mirrors were one of the options I decided made sense. It was a HUGE adjustment for me, driving this big truck, & those mirrors made it feel even bigger. With almost 1000,000 miles on the truck & almost 50,000 miles towing, I'd definitely get them again. If you don't get them, you likely won't miss them, but my bet is that you'll come to love them if you do.

 

[Rabbit Hash]

Thank you for ALL the replies and insights! I have to say, you didn't make my decision any easier HAHA. I was leaning towards not getting them (just for looks, and my wife is 5'0" and we thought her forward view while turning could be less obstructed without the big mirrors). But now I'm on the fence again haha! Anyway, I have an appointment with the dealer and the truck will be ordered May 30th. I do have a little time to obsess about it, I mean ponder, haha. Thanks again!!

 

[Thrak]

Just bought our E19 and towed it home from New Mexico to northern California. No tow mirrors but they would have been nice. I think I have some of the "slide on" tow mirrors somewhere out in the garage. Not sure but they may be out there. I would love to have retractable tow mirrors like some trucks have but my 2013 F150 just has stock mirrors. If someone was right behind me I had no idea they were there. Next trip I'll have the backup camera on and that should help.

 

[Jim Bennett]

Mine are manual folding so I don’t fold in the passenger side too often but I do use the folding feature on the driver’s side every day in my garage. I never park in tight spots so don’t miss the auto-fold for that.

Mine extend and fold electrically. I only wish they folded automatically as I fold them in most of the time. Great parked on the street for walkers to get by and great in a parking lot to allow neighbouring vehicle users better access to their vehicles.

 

[billserna67@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I'm ordering an F150 in May to pull our future Escape 5.0. I am considering leaving OFF the tow mirror option. Thoughts? Am I nuts?

A little background. I've towed all my life, even tandem towed canoe trailers. I currently tow an EggCamper with a Silverado withOUT tow mirrors, and it seems fine to me. The EggCamper and the 5.0 are the exact same width. I just cant bring myself to order those HUGE mirrors for a truck that will be a driver also. Not to mention they look HUGE.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from folks who tow a 5.0 withOUT tow mirrors, and if they think its problematic.

Thank you!!

I’ve towed our 5.0 with f150 and standard mirrors. No problem at all. We do have the advantage of having opted for the rear camera on the 5.0. Use it always when towing.

 

[Bruce2025]

Hi all,

I'm ordering an F150 in May to pull our future Escape 5.0. I am considering leaving OFF the tow mirror option. Thoughts? Am I nuts?

A little background. I've towed all my life, even tandem towed canoe trailers. I currently tow an EggCamper with a Silverado withOUT tow mirrors, and it seems fine to me. The EggCamper and the 5.0 are the exact same width. I just cant bring myself to order those HUGE mirrors for a truck that will be a driver also. Not to mention they look HUGE.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from folks who tow a 5.0 withOUT tow mirrors, and if they think its problematic.

Thank you!!

Like the others no need for tow mirrors (F150) with the 5.0 . What I suggest getting the rear trailer camera.
Cheers

 

[CE Vogel]

Put me down for favoring tow mirrors. Depending upon the width of the trailer and the mirror width, it is possible for even large vehicles directly behind you to disappear. In my case, an entire semi-truck can get lost behind my trailer, even though I have the usual large semi-truck mirrors on extension arms. Bigger mirrors are also a great help when backing up. My experience is the distance between the inside edges of the mirrors should be greater than the widest point of the trailer to have decent rearward visibility.

 

[Beep]

Hi all,

I'm ordering an F150 in May to pull our future Escape 5.0. I am considering leaving OFF the tow mirror option. Thoughts? Am I nuts?

A little background. I've towed all my life, even tandem towed canoe trailers. I currently tow an EggCamper with a Silverado withOUT tow mirrors, and it seems fine to me. The EggCamper and the 5.0 are the exact same width. I just cant bring myself to order those HUGE mirrors for a truck that will be a driver also. Not to mention they look HUGE.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from folks who tow a 5.0 withOUT tow mirrors, and if they think its problematic.

Thank you!!

We've towed for the last 13 years with a 2012 & 2018 F150. We went shopping for a new F150.
After test driving the F150 we decided to check out the Ram 1500. So glad we did. Much better in most every way.

 

[Perry Butler]

Depends on the state requirements.

In Minnesota side mirrors are required to see at least 200 yards behind the vehicle.

Our Odyssey had no problem pulling our Casita to see behind the trailer with the stock mirrors.

Pulling the 5.0 I felt I could not meet that requirement and added extended mirrors on both sides, however in an accident the insurance agent would probably let it slide if no extended mirrors were present.

Our 2003 Bigfoot, 2013 Cougar, 2014 Lance and now our 2016 Bigfoot must have extended mirrors to meet that requirement. We have folding mirrors and the extensions look like the F150 came that way from Ford.

If I didn't have BLISS on our truck(s) then we'd be in trouble if we didn't have mirror extensions.

Food for thought,

Perry

 

[Centex]

In Minnesota side mirrors are required to see at least 200 yards feet behind the vehicle.

Fixed that for you

Just FYI, the Minnesota 200 feet rule is common to most states (IIRC its basis is FMVSS / NHTSA rules).

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I put Trail Ridge aftermarket tow mirrors on my F250, they had newer style larger ones to replace my earlier style small ones. they were manual fold and manual extend, that way I didn't have to add any wiring.

Original and Trail Ridge side by side...

installed, in the non-extended position.

these worked GREAT.

Unluckily, nothing like this is available for my '19 Expedition, so I used a clamp-on one on my drivers side. the passenger side clamp on was too wide angle to be useful, so I left it off.

this is a Milenco MIL-2912. Stayed firm for 10,000 miles of Mexican roads.

This Expedition has the '360 degree' cameras, which include wide angle downwards looking cameras on the mirrors, so any aftermarket kit that incorporated this would be $$$$. The 360 cams are awesome for parking the big SUV in tight spaces so I would not want to do without them

 

[WanderBred]

I just drive with my rear camera on and have no tow mirrors.

 

[Thrak]

We have the rear camera but the monitor seems a bit "washed out" when it's really sunny. I guess I have to get used to the "fisheye" (or whatever it is) view of the rear camera because the only two times I've backed up so far it was hard for me to use the camera for that. Apparently my wife was behind the trailer and giving arm directions but I ended up backing up using just the mirrors as, for whatever reason, I didn't even see her in the monitor. I can see that it would be helpful on the highway (only works with the lights on though) as a "rear view mirror" but, again, the view is a bit weird to to being so wide and the image on the monitor seems washed out in bright sun and is not super easy to use when wearing sun glasses.

 

[Randy in Maine]

I find the rear camera on my Escape helps me keep an eye on things back there even with my stock mirrors. No one makes good trailer mirrors for my first gen tundra.

 

[Ron in BC]

I just drive with my rear camera on and have no tow mirrors.

I did that for two reasons towing my E19 with my old Ranger. Being narrower it did need an add-on mirror but I also like to be able to clearly see what's behind me because sometimes I speed.

I had a junked Sony video camera. I gutted it, converted it to 12V and made a housing for it and mounted it under the rear bumper. It has a great telephoto lenses. I could set it to see a Smokie a long way down the road.

The F150 mirrors are fine for me so I haven't installed on my 21 but thinking about it, maybe I should. Never had to wonder what was behind or far down the road.

Ron

 

[GinoandLinda]

It appears to reverse the image, or is that how the attachment uploaded?

 

[Thrak]

I did that for two reasons towing my E19 with my old Ranger. Being narrower it did need an add-on mirror but I also like to be able to clearly see what's behind me because sometimes I speed.

Towing in California is the pits. Any vehicle towing anything at all is legally limited to 55 mph. I generally push it to 60 mph but that is still annoying when the speed limit is 70 mph.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I'm generally somewhere between 60 and 65, following the semi trucks, and have never gotten stopped for it.

 

[Thrak]

I'm generally somewhere between 60 and 65, following the semi trucks, and have never gotten stopped for it.

Our "middle kid" is a CHP lieutenant with a law degree. He agrees that "for the most part" we wouldn't be stopped. He has also said that there are some LEO out there who absolutely love to bust CHP officers and anybody else they can get. Pushing the limit by 5 mph is safe. When not towing I will often push the limit by 10 mph as it's "pretty" certain I won't be popped for that. (I've been doing 10 mph over the limit when traveling for work - when I used to work - and noticed the flashing lights in the mirror. I pulled into the slow lane and the CHP car zoomed right on past me.

However, my son has assured me that, if they are in the mood to do so, CHP will be happy to stop you for 10 mph over the limit. It would be embarrassing for him if I was stopped for a moving violation and I try not to stick anything of this sort on his plate to deal with.