I just was offered a 1996 explorer xlt 4x4 from a buddy of mine who had it willed to him from his late father. the explorer has a bad overdrive solenoid. other than that it's in very good condition. my buddy wants to give it to me but he is 270 miles away in the northern part of WV. I would like to have it to give to my wife to drive in the snow if needed and I use my truck. would I have any problems towing it via a dolly using this z71 truck over WV mountains into Roanoke, VA where I live? I've only had this truck for 3-4 weeks and do not know its towing capabilities but was told by the previous owner it had a transmission cooler for towing (I never verified)..

 

Yes, they have a tranny fluid cooler mounted right behind the grill, in front of the radiator. How many miles did yo say your truck has? If your getting close to 60K you may want to service the tranny first for good measure. The Exploder should be well below the towing capacity of a Z71. You have a tow button that allows the tranny to hold a gear further through the RPM range to reduce stress on the trans. When you are in mountainous terrain you can put the shift lever in 3 to assist in climbing and decelerating. When in tow mode you won't hit over drive until 65 to 70 based on throttle position and load.
Suggestion, get a dolly with a hydrolic brake in the tounge. It may feel a little jerky if it's adjusted loose but, in my experience, it's worth it to save the brakes and keep the load stable.

 

How's the heater coming?

 

Roanoke, VA is anly 30 min or so from me. Lol. Sorry just a thought.

 

great.............you can fix my no-heat problem and make me a happy (and warm) person.

 

Damn, look at my schedule....lol. Just kidding. Whats the verdict so far on the heat anyways. I'd like to help ya out but there are two things Im terrible at ripping apart the dash and bodywork.

 

the vent air temperature has a cool-warm feel to it. the black box under the dash on the floor is hot. if I try to defrost the windshield the air conditioner kicks in adding to the cool temperature feel. I planned on either driving up to Morgantown, WV this weekend to get the explorer or just buy a heater to plug into the cigarette socket and rough it out. If I take something like this to the dealer, I'll get raped.

 

Be careful asmost of those little eletric heaters are junk I used to have one and it didn't do sh*t on a cold day.