I recently bought a 2001 V10 Excursion to pull our 28’ travel trailer which is around 7500lbs. It has 3.73 gears. So far it does great on flat ground but struggles on the hills. I turn the OD off when I’m pulling camper. So I’m looking for some advice on how to get some better power. I’ve already put a K&N cold air intake on and getting ready to modify Y pipe to remove reducer. Plus I like some recommendations on tuners and transmission coolers. Thanks for the help. I’m shade tree google mechanic so I’ll appreciate anything you offer plus I’ve learned a lot from this forum.

 

If you can re-gear your current rear end or find one with 4.30's already installed I would consider that the #1 upgrade. If going to taller tires maybe even 4.56
I installed the 6.0 cooler and haven't had anymore front seal leaks from the tranny.

 

The number one towing upgrade you can do is to regear. It's also the most expensive.

 

Welcome to the EX forum and family!
My V-10 EX is our dedicated tow rig, we started out with the same 3.73 gears and a 9,500 lb TH so I have a pretty good idea of your current situation.
The 4R100 trans was designed to tow it OD and I always have used it, it will downshift when needed and the more it can run in OD on the flats the better the MPG will be. Turning OD off as you approach a hill to get the RPMs up some before the climb starts is a good strategy as the V-10 makes better power at higher revs.
Did you you see any change in performance when you replaced the good factory cold air intake with the K&N setup?
Does your '01 have the Rams horn style Y pipe or the crazy looking necked down T shaped one? The Rams horn actually flows pretty good and owners have reported very little change going to a full flow smooth Y pipe. Owners with the T pipe have reported some gains in throttle response and a bit of improvement under higher loads at higher revs.
For some good tunes look to 5Star Tuning, all of my towing is done with their tunes loaded, mostly the 89 Octane Performance tune. With their tunes you will only see small increases in actual engine output but the vastly improved transmission shift strategies are well worth the cost to me. And your personal driving style and goals will influence which tune best meets your wants and needs, for me the Perf tunes work better than the actual tow tunes, which I found to downshift too soon for me and my setup, but others prefer the tow tunes. Typically you can buy their handheld tuner and 3 to 5 tunes as a bundle, I have the 87 Octane economy, tow and performance and the 89 Octane tow and performance tunes.
What make and model TT? What is the listed GVWR for it or have you scaled it to see the exact weight and tongue weight?
What is your typical towing speed?
What WD system are you using and how do you like it's weight transferring abilities and sway control? How does the EX handle when towing?
What size tires are you running on the EX?
What temps are you seeing on the transmission while towing? The stock V-10 trans cooler is a decent unit, I pulled our 12K TT for 20K miles with it and only ever saw temps over 200 a handful of times. I did upgrade to the larger 6.0 cooler and it does keep the temps about 20 degrees lower in all situations. The 6.0 cooler is a popular and easy swap, it goes right into the same mounts as the stock one and only needs a pair of barbed hose reducer fittings, hose clamps for them and a few feet of ATF rated hose. And it's a great opportunity to do the full trans flush procedure when doing the cooler install. I used the Dorman cooler but recently the price on the Motorcraft ones has been down to about the same cost.
You said the EX was recent purchase, do you know how many miles are on the spark plugs? If they are old and worn a set of fresh plugs ( over torqued to avoid blowouts) and new boots will help with the towing a bit and the MPGs.
The single biggest towing improvement I have made to my EX was going from the 3.73s to 4.88s, with my 35" tires it has an effective ratio of 4.39 which is in the "sweet spot" of 4.30-4.56 for these motors. Much less downshifting, better performance in all situations, only a 1 MPG drop in unloaded driving but made a 2 MPG improvement when towing due to being in OD much more.

 

My solution to improve towing on my V10 E-350 (24' enclosed car trailer) was to buy a 7.3 PSD Excursion.

However, to do another +1 one the above, the best thing I did prior to that was change the 3.73 to 4.30. And my towing mileage actually increased almost a whole point...

*EDIT: and to offer some things I really like about the -10...it made a better smoother, quieter, people carrier. It ran on cheapAF fuel. If I were pulling an open aluminum car trailer, versus 28-38' enclosed trailers or a 34' travel trailer, I'd much prefer the V-10.

 

So if I change the gears I would have to do front and back axles due to it being for 4x4 correct.
WE3ZS answers for questions
The K&N did help with throttle response so I can feel some improvement
I have the T pipe
X has 130000 I’m the 3rd owner 2nd owner bought in 2006 and used it drive in snow and pull a boat
My camper is 2021 Keystone 2870RL passport pull behind i do use a wd hitch which I’m still getting set up. X pulls it perfectly no sway and very little bounce

 

Ideally yes you would do both axles. But if money is tight and you know you won't need 4wd for a while you could just do the rear and pull the front driveshaft out until you are able to do the front.

 

I'm running the 5R110 trans cooler, a B&M Super cooler 70274 and a filter.
Each of the coolers - radiator tank, aux cooler and B&M drop the fluid temp 20-30 deg each.
The 5R110 cooler and the B&M have 1/2" tubes/hoses so there is actually less pressure drop thru them than the stock V-10 cooler.
Checkout the OEM Ford aluminum differential cover for the '99-'11 Super Duty F250 F350 10.25/10.50, Dorman 697-725, should help diff temps a bit.
X2 on checking the spark plugs. If over 100k the possibility of a blowout goes up. I change them at 50k and torque to 25 ft-lbs.
Pull one plug, if it is an AGSF22WM retorque all the plugs as soon as possible, the replacements are Motorcraft SP479.
A set of Hellwig anti roll bars really helps with winding roads and crosswinds, especially with a trailer.

 

The best towing upgrades are:

Gears
transmission valve body upgrades
torque converter.
Tuning the transmission.

Leave motor tunes alone, address transmission and gears for towing.
​​​​​

 

5Star Tune is a huge help 93 perf here. I upgraded to 5.13 gears. Also added SPD Y and custom 3" exhaust.
I'm gonna add the Banks headers next from some of dyno's looked like they picked up 60tq down low.

All the usual tune up stuff. I don't have a travel trailer but tow my boat all over Florida.
Highest trans temps i saw was like just over 200 on a scorcher days towing 5+ hrs.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

I have a 2000 6.8 and have a 28’ TT in order.
Mods:
G2

 

Sorry about that.
Let me try again.
2000 6.8 2wd
4.56 G2 gears
6.0 transmission cooler
Remote transmission filter
Banks Headers with Jet Hot ceramic coating
5 Star Tune
Z code front springs
B code rear springs with RAS and Airlift air bags
Bilstein 4600 shocks (rears are for 4x4)
Michelin E rated tires (stock dimensions) with two (2) spares
Torklift hitch
Hellwig front/rear sway bars
Cryogenic treated front rotors, stainless steel lines Hawk pads and Castrol SRF fluid
My main concern was the stability of the vehicle. Next to that, reliability.

 

I ran into "that guy" at the Saguaro Lake boat ramp last year here in Arizona, Brand new 2020 F250 lifted 4x4, stuck on the boat ramp.... Ramp was too wet, and too steep for him to pull his giant boat and trailer out of the water, every time he would start to pull his tires would skip and he would slip backwards more. I ran up waving for him to stop and hold the brakes before he slid further in and swamped the truck, and when he rolled the window down i asked him why he wasnt locked into 4 Low? His answer? I did a gear swap to 4.56 in the rear but i didn't do the front yet, and i don't want to burn up the transfer case..... I face palmed right there in front of him, big giant lifted new truck, big giant boat, custom wheels, but cheaped out on doing the front gears....WTF.

My 2005 4x4 Ford Expedition 5.4L 3V in 4 Low ended up dragging his dumb asz, and his powerstroke, and his boat, up the damn ramp while his friends laughed at him.

Word of advice, Don't be, "that guy"

 

No, a Cummins conversion is the most expensive!

 

Oh yea, I forgot the PIA award goes to replacing every rubber bushing with polyurethane, where possible. Where not possible, replace with OEM. Ball joints - OEM or Spicer (have OEM on the rig, now, with Spicer on the shelf). And include the biggest PIA of all, the body mounts. When I used to lift my rig, the whole body would wobble like a big bowl of Jello! Much less so, now.
Caster/camber bushings: I have Moog with 4 degrees adjustability. This got me over the 5 degree mark.
I’ll probably think of more stuff later when my brain lets me.