Can a Crown Vic Police Interceptor tow a TT?

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Fl_Female

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I welcome all responses to this question. I have a 2003 Crown Vic Police Interceptor that I LOVE. I would like to get a light weight trailer to pull, but hate to give up my car and can not afford car and truck. Has anyone ever pulled a TT with one? I have heard mixed messages about the real tow capacity of this full sized, v8 with rear wheel drive. I also have heard that you have to add a Trans cooler and keep it out of O/D when towing. There are tow bars available for my model that say they tow 4000 pounds. What is your experience/opinion?

Here are the stats:
Horsepower : 235 hp @ 4750 rpm
Torque : 275 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm
Curb Weight : 4020 lbs
Height : 56.8 in.

Thanks!
 
That car should tow a small trailer just fine and should already have a trans cooler, big radiator , large brakes, and heavy duty suspension. Just watch how much you pack in the trailer, don't want to overload it.
J
 
Fl_Female said:
I welcome all responses to this question. I have a 2003 Crown Vic Police Interceptor that I LOVE. I would like to get a light weight trailer to pull, but hate to give up my car and can not afford car and truck. Has anyone ever pulled a TT with one? I have heard mixed messages about the real tow capacity of this full sized, v8 with rear wheel drive. I also have heard that you have to add a Trans cooler and keep it out of O/D when towing. There are tow bars available for my model that say they tow 4000 pounds. What is your experience/opinion?
Click to expand...

Ford Motor Company recommends that the Crown Vic limit its towing to a trailer with a gross vehicle weight of 1500 lbs or less with a tongue weight not to exceed 150 lbs.  See HERE.

The lightest travel trailer I know of, the Casita 13 has a dry vehicle weight of between 1683 and 1880 lbs and a tongue weight of 190-245 lbs depending on whether you get the standard or deluxe version.  That is far to heavy for your Vic.  Even with tent trailers, the lightest come in heavier dry than the Vic should tow. 

Face it, your Crown Victoria should tow no more than a light cargo trailer.  Any habitable unit will exceed its specs.





 
If I'm not mistaken, the Interceptor has a 351Winsor engine in it. I know that when they auction these vehicles, they remove or disable the mods they had to run faster and quicker. I would suggest you change the differential ratio from 228 to 355 (F-150) if you plan to two a trailer, that way it won't try to go into OD and will have more torque at take off.
 
I had a 84 Crown Vic Police Package with a 351 windsor and 3.55 rear end with external transmissions cooler, heavy-duty alternator beefed up suspension and brakes, but that is far from today's cruiser. First that car had a body on frame construction, a 2003 will be a unit-body construction.  While the engine and transmissions would be fine, you don't have a towing platform to support a large trailer.

That alone is probably why there is such a low limit on the tow rating, not the engine (which in the 2003 is the 4.6L modular I believe, same as the base engine from the f-150/Expedition).  Without a ladder frame to connect the hitch-bar to, you won't have the structural strength necessary to support large loads. 
 
I used to pull trailers with a LTD, that Crown Vic is about the same ability.

However.. The trailers I pulled had a GVW of 2,000 pounds

When you ask "Can it pull a TT" the answer is almost always "YES", however a better question is "how much TT can it pull" and only FORD can answer that one.... I do recommend you "Downgrade" the towing capacity a bit

(IE if Ford says you can pull 5,000 pounds.. Try 4500 or better yet 4000 as the limit)  Do not forget trailer brakes.

Also, U-Haul may know how much you can tow.

There is a joke; "Optimist: Yugh with a trailer hitch"

Believe it or not, there are trailers a Yugo could tow.  They tip the scales under 1,000 pounds though.
 
My mom used to pull a horse trailer with her Mercury Marquis, which I believe is comparable to the  Crown Vic.  Her horse weighted 800#s and the horse trailer was a light-weight fiberglass, weight 1500 #s.  The back frame broke and pulled loose from the car body as she pulled into her destination.  This all happened on a trip from Northern Indiana to Northern Alabama.

Marsha~
 
Mc2guy said:
Without a ladder frame to connect the hitch-bar to, you won't have the structural strength necessary to support large loads. 
Click to expand...
it still has a FULL frame under it (virtually unchanged since 1970's)not sure why the tow rating is so low. But that's not it.
 
Ford doesn't recommend towing much with a Crown Vic - but of course that's the garden variety version. The police version is well equipped to pull a pretty decent size camper. I would upgrade the shock package to probably an air shock and possibly a larger front and rear sway bar and even heavier springs if the RV got very big, i.e into the 3000 pound bracket. The downside is that the 4.6 (281 cid) engine WILL run out of torque/horsepower, especially in hilly areas (this 2002 car does NOT have a 351W as that engine began to be phased out in '91 and was gone by late '93 or sooner)
 
When all the opining is done, the fact remains that Ford Motor Company rates the Crown Victoria with a 4.6L engine at no more than 1500 lbs gross trailer weight and no more than 150 lbs tongue weight.    A perusal of the model years indicates that is all they have ever rated it or any of their cars.

All the aftermarket stuff in the world is not going to change that, and in fact in later years Ford recommends installation of an auxiliary transmission cooler to attain that.

Vics are built for high speed, severe service, and PIT maneuvers, not hauling trailers, they are cars not trucks.
 
Carl, your point is well taken about the Ford factory rating, but the fact it is a car seems irrelevant. 

Many cars will tow significant loads if their frame/transmission/axle/engine combination is prepared for it.  My buddy tows a 3500lbs ultralight TT with his Dodge magnum, which is rated for 4000 lbs.  Heck, half the "trucks" on the road today are merely cars with jacked up suspensions.

I am truly curious why Ford chose such a low number for the CV...if as the OP says it was built with a full frame and the engine/transmission combo is the same as was in place for the entry level F-150 of that era?  Axle/Final drive maybe?  Curious.
 
It's lighter. They redesigned for the 2003 model year and added really beefy front end. It's a "hydroform process" tube.

But the rear end isn't very heavy, maybe they weakened it to add crumple zones for crash tests.

 
Mc2guy said:
Carl, your point is well taken about the Ford factory rating, but the fact it is a car seems irrelevant. 

Many cars will tow significant loads if their frame/transmission/axle/engine combination is prepared for it.  My buddy tows a 3500lbs ultralight TT with his Dodge magnum, which is rated for 4000 lbs.  Heck, half the "trucks" on the road today are merely cars with jacked up suspensions.

I am truly curious why Ford chose such a low number for the CV...if as the OP says it was built with a full frame and the engine/transmission combo is the same as was in place for the entry level F-150 of that era?  Axle/Final drive maybe?  Curious.
Click to expand...


The ridiculously low two rating on the Crown Vic is due to the extremely litigious society we have here in the States.  Being a full framed vehicle with ample wheelbase, there is no reason a Crown Vic - especially the heavy duty Police Interceptor version - couldn't safely tow a 7000 pound trailer, if equipped with a proper weight-distributing hitch, anti sway system and electric trailer brakes control.

Note that the older Jeep Cherokee (XJ) 4.0 was only rated to tow up to 2000 lbs. in America - but the exact same vehicle (except right hand drive) in the UK was rated in the UK to two up to 7165 lbs.  Thank the lawyers...

In Europe, it's not unusual to see even VW Golfs towing (small) travel trailers.
 
Once upon a time we had a Mercury Grand Marquis with a 460 cdi and class three factory installed hitch. We towed our 2nd car (4000# GVWR and loaded with stuff) four down, from NAS Lemoore, CA to NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, VA. Zero problems. The 460 hardly knew it was there and we got 12.5 MPG, all the way.
 
Thanks for the new info. FWIW this is a 7-year old discussion, and the OP hasn't been back since 2010.
 
Never with a crown vic but I pulled a PUP with an LTD (Older one, full size)

Trailers come in many sizes and weights, both the PUP and the first "hard" TT I had were 2,000 gvw units and ... Well you know the old joke:
Optimist: Yugo with a trailer hitch

It just might work with a 2,000 pounder (no but a Chevy Lumina did)

So of upu get a lightweight  It should work.
 
Tom said:
Thanks for the new info. FWIW this is a 7-year old discussion, and the OP hasn't been back since 2010.
Click to expand...

Well, then, probably someone else was wondering the same thing, and they'll be along any day now to find the answer
 
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