Towing 2011 Ford Explorer

[dengraham]

I may be too late to help this discussion but I own a 2011 Ford Explorer. When you put the transmission in Neutral the steering will NOT lock, so you don't have to worry about removing the lock key. I tow four down and the mileage does not add. I used to put it in Accessory but found I can turn the key to the off position and almost everything turns off. (The only thing that appears to continue to run is the light on the gear selector which apparently is not many amps.) If you do have a drain on your battery (because of using battery power for your braking system, or your brake lights come on, or what ever reason), I would install the TOAD CHARGE as mentioned above.

>> Dennis

[GilJohnson]

I just bought, today in fact, a 2012 Explorer. It's FWD and the manual says it can be towed 4 down. This is contrary to what an earlier poster stated. I hope I'm reading the manual correctly. I too have the Limited with keyless start. I assumed the reason for putting the ignigtion in the accessory position was to move the shifter into neutral. My plam right now is to install a battery disconect switch if there's any load on the battery.

Has anyone used diodes to power the Explorer's tail lights from the RV? If so, where did you install them?

As for the Jeep comments, I traded in a 2011 Jeep Grad Cherokee for the Explorer. I don't recommend the V-8 Grand Cherokee. Jeep's are the easiest to tow; no speed restrictions, the key is off when towing.

I'm going with Roadmaster base plates. Any recommendation or lessons learned?

Thanks,

Gil

[peps1man]

We have had the same problem with our 2011 Ford Explorer.... The battery going dead.... We disconnected the brake buddy and the battery still went dead. We have had the battery checked by Fords and it is good. The first time we towed we didn't have a problem then they recalculated the system and we have had a problem ever since. Several trips to several different Ford dealerships hasn't given us an answer......