Thor Forums

[FW28z]

I don't think the 6F35 transmission can be dinghy towed.

When I bought my moho, my 2009 Nissan Maxima (CVT) could not be dinghy towed, so we ended up buying a new car, specifically one that could be dinghy towed. It can be dolly towed, but I didn't want to go with that option.

Ultimately your best bet might be buying another car for towing (new or used). I live in Michigan, but my son lives in Central Florida. We were planning on traveling to Florida over the winter (we're retired) and finding a 2nd car as a towed car while we were in Florida, and outfitting it for dingy towing while there.

My son did some checking, and there are a great many Jeep Wranglers for sale well under $10k in the Central Florida area. True, they are a few years old, and have some miles on them, but I figured a 10yr old Jeep that spent it's life in Florida would be in much better shape rust-wise than one from Michigan.

But we ended up nixing that plan and bought a 2014 Ford Taurus as we got a really good deal on it. With a $5k Ford rebate on the Taurus, my wife's uncle working for Ford, and the equity we had in our Maxima, we did not have to spend a lot more money for the car.

When I did the research on Ford, I came to realize that only certain engine and vehicle combinations can be towed. Generally, V6 with the 6F55 transmission can be dinghy towed, but the 2.0L Ecoboost 4 cyl or any other engine with the 6F35 cannot be dinghy towed.

I also found another RV'er towing a Taurus with the V6, and they had absolutely no issues with dingy towing it, so I am thinking the 6F55 is OK for towing.

For the Escape, since it is not available with the 6F55, but only the 6F35, you really can't dinghy tow it. But according to Remco, there is a lube pump available for it.

The other Ford cars that can be dinghy towed, include the Flex and Edge, but only with the 6cyl/6F55 transmission. The Focus and Fiesta can also be Dinghy towed, but also have different transmissions than the 6F35.

Of course, you already know that the AWD vehicles cannot be towed on a dolly without disconnecting the rear axle.

You know, seems someone could come up with a set of locking hubs for RV'ers. When I had a 1985 Bronco II, the front hubs free-wheeled until you flipped a locking lever on the hub... seems that would be fairly easy idea to resurrect, and perhaps not that hard to install on existing vehicles.

The other option is installing a Remco transmission pump for dinghy towing. The pump is not cheap though, with a MSRP of $1,895 which does not include installation (which probably is not cheap either).

But once you figure you might have $4k into the pump, I'd consider replacing your Escape with a different car.

Funny thing though... the Ford Escape is the on the Remco top 10 recommended vehicle towing list... but all of the vehicles on that list require a pump... methinks they are trying to sell pumps.

In my situation, I ended up deciding to not tow my Taurus as my mother just bought a new car after getting that new car itch after riding in my Taurus... so I bought her old 2002 Pontiac Grand Am which can also be dinghy towed.

I just could not bring myself to drill holes in a new car... besides, the Grand Am weighs 1,000lbs less than the Taurus. It is a 12yr old car, but only 40k miles on it, and garaged in the winter. She doesn't drive much, and the car is in great shape.

If it were me, I would think disconnecting the drive shaft would get old really quick. I'd probably buy another car (which I did twice), or install a transmission pump.