Servicing Your Vehicle If You Tow
If you tow a trailer for a long distance, you r vehicle will need
to be serviced more frequ ently than usual. Refer to the
Maintenance Schedule and Record booklet for ad ditional
inform ation.
Trailer towing tips
Before starting on a trip , practice tu rning, stop ping and backing
in an area aw ay from heavy traffic. Get to know the “feel” of
the vehicle/ trailer com bination.
Practice backing up. Back up very slow ly, with som eone outsid e
at the rear of you r trailer to gu ide you . Place you r hand at the
bottom of the steering wheel and move it in the direction you
want the rear of the trailer to swing. Slight movem ent of the
steering wheel resu lts in a much larger movem ent of the rear of
the trailer.
Allow more room for stop ping with a trailer attached . Trailer
brakes shou ld be ap plied first, whether manu ally or
au tom atically controlled , when ap proaching a stop .
For a good hand ling tru ck-trailer com bination, the trailer tongu e
load shou ld be ap proxim ately 10-15% of the load ed trailer
weight.
Make a thorou gh check of you r equ ipment before starting ou t
on the road . After you have traveled abou t 50 miles (80 km )
stop in a protected area and double-check you r hitch and
electrical connections. Also check trailer wheel lug nu ts for
tightness.
When tu rning, drive slightly beyond the norm al tu rning point
so the trailer wheels will clear curbs or other obstru ctions.
When stop ped in traffic for long period s of tim e in hot weather,
place the gearshift selector lever in P (Park) to increase the
engine idle speed . This aid s in engine cooling and air
cond itioner efficiency. If the engine overheats, rotate the
function selector control knob to panel position to stop the
com pressor and increase the engine speed for a short tim e.
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| Categories | Ford Explorer Manuals, Ford Manuals |
|---|---|
| Document Type | Free Auto PDF Manual Download. |
| Model Year | 1996 |
| Download File |
|
| Document File Type | |
| Copyright | Attribution Non-commercial |
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