I crawled under my X today looking to see what sway bar was on it. There appears to be none on rear and one on front with drop rods? Have noticed a lot of sway when towing our 30' tt. X is a 2002 4x4 with V 10
Is this normal

 

it's normal to NOT have a rear sway bar (only a few got one).
Nearly ALL vehicles have a front sway bar.

The hellwig rear sway is a popular mod.
Another is the RAS (roadmaster active suspension).

I have the hellwig and it really helped with roll, it does effect the
handling when you hit elevation changes at an angle (RR tracks, driveways), the rear sway bar tends to make the vehicle throw the
occupants from side-to-side as the vehicle goes over these things.
It COULD also be the bump-stops which are now causing the throwing...
since there is not much space on most Excursion bump stops.
(My rear axle is shiny from frequent contact with the bumps stops).

I'm thinking about the 6" lift (for a 2wd) in the future like several folks
have suggested: 1) it'll fix my weak springs, 2) it'll give me lots of bump stop space.... 3) it's look dang cool (for a 2wd)

 

When on interstate and a 18 wheeler comes by it will cause quite a sway wanting to help this out

 

A rear sway bar will help. I pulled our 31' 10k ToyHauler once without a rear swaybar, once was enough! Talk about white knuckles! First addition after that was the Hellwig bar, then came the Hensley Arrow Hitch then the spring swap. The Jolly Green Giant is now a very stable towing machine.
What kind of hitch are you using? The right hitch can make huge improvements in comfort and control.

 

Hitch is a reese dual cam that came with trailer i have never fooled with adjustment other than number of links on cam bars

 

Do you have any other complaints when not towing?

Tim M

 

No problems i was running BF G mud terrians that was wore out then changed to kenda kleever mt since them both were 285/75-16 load range e. seemed more stablw with bfg

 

I have a 30 ft travel trailer that I towed first with a 1994 Suburban. The 454 struggled a bit, so I bought one of the Last Excursions. A 2005 limited with the 6.0. The first time I towed, I thought two things... First, WOW what power!
And wow what terrible sway....

I already had the Reese dual cam, but the Ex was all over the road. It was a white knuckle drive every time until I replaced the springs. The 05 comes factory with front and rear sway bars, and the factory "slapper bars". After I did the V/B swap it towed like a dream! I added later the camper special 33mm sway bar and LandYots and Bilstein 5100 shocks. Since my trailer is in WA state and me and the 05 Ex are on an island in Alaska, I am replacing the diesel with a 00 V10 Ex . The plans are to do the same to the "new" Ex. I would not tow with an Ex without changing the springs out. I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been an accident that forced Ford to deal with it. ford tried to deal with it with the "Slapper bars". But that didn't work. Shocks and sway bars may "help" but you will still fight it until you get good springs under your Ex.
Good luck!
Garry
( Currently Ford-poor...
3 excursions and an F350)

 

Some great advice so far!

While I no longer have an Ex to tow with...I did my fair share of towing and experimenting with the Ex and a 9000# 31' (35' tip to tail) travel trailer in 10's of thousands of towing miles all over the country.

First...as you have realized...not all Ex's came with the REAR sway bar. That was part of Ford's "trailer tow package"...oddly enough...the trailer tow package essentially added the pull out telescoping mirrors with clearance lights and rear sway bar...since the rear hitch is an essential part of a rear collision to protect the fuel tank...ALL Ex's came with the rear hitch (aka BlockerBeam) with 7 pin and 4 pin trailer wiring.

So...you are right...NO SWAY BAR...Get the Hellwig...an easy DIY mod...once you get past the cruddy instructions...my suggestion on the Hellwig install...UNBOLT THE SHOCKS from the rear mounts rather than fighting compressing the shock while trying to line up the holes and U-bolts...just unbolt the shock from the get go and be done...much easier...if you do the Hellwig install...you will see what I mean (wink).

As far as sway...well there are lots of contributors.

First...I'd make sure that your front end on the Ex is tight and in good mechanical working order (i.e. ball joints and the like)...poor front end components will exacerbate a poor handling situation since you are constantly making small adjustments to keep the vehicle tracking straight and then you have that huge lever arm behind you exerting forces on top of it...

So...once you know the ball joints, steering box is tight (search on here to find out how easy it is to tighten up your steering box), tie rods are good, etc...next suggestion is to look at the tire pressures you are running.

I have found that too HIGH of tire pressures made things worse on the Ex (my personal experience)...I found that with the stock 265/75/16 Rugged Trail T/A tires that 70psi rear and 60psi front with a V10 was a perfect combination for towing...tire pressures are an easy **** for tuning a trailering setup...many ignore it...spend some time working UP from the RECOMMENDED tire pressures on the drivers door...FYI...the RECOMMENDED tires pressures will carry FULL GAWR's...so anything ABOVE RECOMMENDED are not "needed" per say...but to be used to "tune" the setup...

Next...onto the WD hitch itself...have you been to a CAT scale to verify your weights and balance?...doing it is cheap and painless and pays DIVIDENDS!

Here's a great link on how to insure your WD hitch is set up properly RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Towing: Travel Trailer Hitch Set-up Procedure

What you are essentially trying to do is make sure you have the proper tongue weight for your specific trailering setup but also you are trying to use the WD bars to return the FRONT axle to the SAME weight it was BEFORE you hitch anything up...we've all seen setups with headlights pointing skyward...that is NOT a proper setup...the front axle is way too light and handling is greatly compromised.

That is an easy one to spot...as is if your trailer is level when hitched or slightly nose down...nose high is BAD.

One that is impossible to spot without the aid of a scale is your tongue weight...having less than 10% tongue weight will make for an unstable towing experience...you should shoot for 10-15% of the LOADED trailer weight as tongue weight with a goal of 12-13% to allow for some load shifting without reducing below 10%...visiting a CAT scale will help you tweak your balance to insure your setup is tuned properly.

Now...once you have all of that looked at and confident it is good...NOW you can start to look at mods to the Ex...although it is my opinion that the Hellwig is a critical mod for anyone towing...so do that first.

As far as rear springs...yeah the rear spring rate on the Ex's is incorrectly matched to this vehicle IF you tow...Ford tuned the springs for the family and soccer mom crowd to make for a "softer" ride...but that "soft" ride is what plagues us that tow with the Ex.

one of the biggest things that fights us is axle wrap and/or rear steer...those "slapper" bars...are a half baked fix...they work under acceleration only to help stop the axle wrap...but under trailering or braking conditions...when the trailer is "pushing" on the rear of the Ex...those "slapper" bars do NOTHING to resist the forces and those "soft" springs can flex and thus your rear end can actually "steer" your vehicle.

you have a couple of fixes/options.

1) V/B code springs - these are stiffer springs and resist that "flex"...a good option not sure how hard the springs are to swap though...

2) RAS - Easy DIY bolt on option that essentially "stiffens" the rear springs and resists that "flex" from a heavy trailer "pushing"...At the time I was fighting my issues...the RAS was not well liked or believed in...I can tell you IT WORKS!

3) Landyot Radius rods - Not sure if Ken is still making them...but these essentially PIN the axle fore and aft and resists that "rear steer" phenom...does NOTHING to add rear spring capacity to resist squat from heavy tongued trailers...so many go with option 4 in addition

4) Air bags - an easy DIY project...but does NOTHING to resist "rear steer" so you'll need #3 so this is a much more costly solution IMO but an effective one if you utilize #3 and 4

So...as you can see...those of us that tow or towed with the Ex did do some suspension modifications...but like I said above...before you delve into the mods...make sure your Ex is mechanically sound up front.

Good luck and let me know if I've confused you in any way.

Joe.

 

My experience with the Hellwig is spot on to what everyone mentioned here. I was having bad handling and wander problems before my install. The Hellwig fixed the handling / lean problem, and had a minor impact on the wander issue. Can only imagine the stress on that bar, because I've hit some exit ramps pretty hot and you can feel the difference it makes. Best advice here, disconnect both lower shock bolts and it's a breeze to put on.

Tire pressure is a big deal in these trucks. I run 65 psi front / 70 psi rear in my 285 Michelins, and that seems to be where things are the happiest. They're stiff, but I really don't drive down any rough roads. Plus, I want the mileage.

Drove the truck 1020 miles yesterday and when we get home in January, it's getting the V/B spring swap. I'm done trying to hold this thing together at 75 mph in a cross-wind and heavy traffic.