[AmeriLite21]

ricstone
We no longer have the Ranger. It pulled the trailer very well the first couple of times out. First was about 200 miles with lots of north Missouri hills and the second was shorter with more of those hills. It strained a little on some of the longer hills, 3k to 3.5k rpms at 50-55 mph, but seemed to do fine the rest of the time. The last trip we had a pretty strong head wind (35-40 mph) coming home. About 30 miles out the tranny seemed to be slipping a little, but seemed to return to normal after a couple of miles. Then a couple of miles from home it started slipping a little and shifting hard. Took it to the shop and they said the tranny was shot and had to be rebuilt or replaced. I think it may have had a problem that was brought out by the hard pulling into the wind. We had been thinking of upgrading to a full size truck next year anyway. We worked out a trade on an 01 Dodge with a 360 engine. Haven't tried it out yet, but the service manager told me he pulls a 30-footer with no trouble at all.
We have been very happy with the AmeriLite so far. The queen bed is suprisingly comfortable- we are both a little over average size. The main problem we have had so far is the thin, cheap plastic black and gray water vent covers. They both broke and one was lost somewhere on the last trip. I replaced them with metal covers that should last longer than us. We want to put something on the cabinet doors over the dinette to hold them open while using the cabinets. I am going to replace the furnace thermostat with a digital one to help reduce the heat fluctuations. The temp varys as much as 10-15 degrees as the furnace cycles. And the water lines under the sink and the tub vibrate against the walls when the pump runs. Other than that we are pretty well satisfied with the trailer. We look forward to many camping trips in the coming years. I am even buying extra vacation at work to give us more camping time.
Hope your Explorer does better than the Ranger. It was a 4.0 L, 5 speed auto, with tow pkg. The sales manager at the trailer dealer said he had sold 5 or 6 AmeriLite 21's to Ranger owners and they had no problems. He wouldn't even show us anything bigger because he said the Ranger wouldn't pull them.