Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
The Edge 18 is too heavy. It has an empty weight of 2800# and a GVRW of 4300# which exceeds your 3500# towing capacity. The M13 would be the heaviest you should attempt to tow.
We are pulling the M18 with a Pontiac Montana - with a 3500 lb towing capacity I know we are pushing the weight limit and we can really feel it. We are planning to buy a 4x4 canyon king cab next spring. I wouldn't advise you to tow the m18 with your current vehicle. Trade in for a 4x4 Sporttrac and buy the M18 
Hi Ray and thank you. On the Edge brochure the GVRW for the M18 is listed as 3900 lbs. On the web it's listed as 4300lbs. So I went down to the dealer and checked the label on the trailer and it is 3900 lbs.
The 2009 Escapes engine is listed as having 240 hp @ 6550 rpm and 223 ft-lbs of torque @ 4300 rpm. So power is not a problem, the Escape is also to the best of my knowledge the only small SUV with a full frame. With a properly installed class II hitch and the right size torsion bars there really should not be a problem as long as one loads both the TV and the trailer intelligently. I would not have a problem keeping the trailer weight below the 3500 lbs.
Curb weight of the Escape is 3547 lbs and GCWR is 7240 lbs.
So, at least on paper it's doable I had just wondered whether someone else had done it.
The dealer told us that the first M18 that he sold went any with a Ford Escape, but that could very well be sales talk.
In any case we have a few month to make a decision.
Take care,
We are pulling the M18 with a Pontiac Montana - with a 3500 lb towing capacity I know we are pushing the weight limit and we can really feel it. We are planning to buy a 4x4 canyon king cab next spring. I wouldn't advise you to tow the m18 with your current vehicle. Trade in for a 4x4 Sporttrac and buy the M18
Hi Rick and thanks for the post. Please see my reply to Ray.
Take care,
Rick, the Escape has both aux. tranny and engine oil cooler as part of the tow package. What I will do is install a temp. gauge on the tranny.
Heinrich
Sounds like you are all set then. Enjoy - we love ours. I have been working out of ours for the past 3 weeks (thank God for the furnace!)
Rick, thanks for the reply and my apologies for being tardy in answering.
Just out of idle curiosity I went to the heartland website a few minutes ago and things have changed. Dry weight of the ED M18 is 3118 lbs and GVWR is now 4395 lbs. I am not willing to go that far with an Escape. Was a nice idea while it lasted.
Take care, Heinrich
