Hello everyone. I bought a 2005 2wd Ex 6.0PSD Limited to tow a 7,000# trailer and haul a bunch of dang women and children. I had a 2004 almost identical rig (everything but the grill and dash color ) and got rid of it a few years ago and I can't help but notice this isn't the same caliber of tow vehicle I had before. I strayed off to some GMC Denali crap in between but I was miserable, it was like leaving the wife for some hot 20 year old and finding out she was the kind of girl that couldn't remember to leave the toilet seat up. At least the new X is way better than that POS.

First off I've had a lot of problems with meandering on the highway towing or not, I've gotten a lot (but not all) of that out with steering box adjustment to the point the steering wheel is a little off center so I stopped fooling with that.

It's also not as stable as the old truck when towing the TT. I first noticed when I was adjusting the equalizer hitch the rear end dropped a lot more than the old one when I first put a load on it (with no weight distribution), that tells me the old truck maybe had a stiffer suspension in the rear. OK, so I got everything installed and it's just not the same on the highway and in the mountains pulling the load. Sure I've got torque and brakes, all good there, but it just moves around alot. And I get pushed around by crappy little Nissan Cubes and that's not good for the ego at all. Only thing I've ascertained in all my research is that my old truck may have had a towing package that this truck doesn't, which would mean I don't have a rear sway bar (and those bad azz pull out mirrors, the new truck has the little skimpy F-150 mirrors).

So long story short ... I need new tires on the new Ex and need to figure out what tires and mods to put in the budget (I have 4 kids so the budget is a bit tight). Would reeeeaaaaallllyy appreciate some good advice on the best bang for the buck tires and suspension mods.

BTW, I use it for a grocery getter on the weekends but I don't care if the ride is stiff around town, I want a good solid ride on the highway pulling the camper.

 

BTW, I've already had ball joints replaced and it helped the drift a little but very little.
After spending some time last night researching this I'm looking at putting Yokohoma Geolander AT/S tires on it. I can get those for a better price for a Load Range E tire around here (better than most other options). I've had those before and they did the job. If I still have issues after that I'm looking at:
ActiveSuspension RAS and/or B/V code springs for the rear end sag
Helwig sway bar and/or Red Head steering box for the steering

Does that sound like a good plan?

 

Welcome back to the EX family!
These rigs are a real puzzle sometimes, some suffer from the wandering and others don't. And on the ones that do/did wander the cure seems to vary some also. Most see the issue go away with a spring swap or RAS on the rear, others have seen the wander go away after a steering box adjustment/swap. From all the reading and research I've done it appears that the majority of EX wandering is caused by the very soft rear factory springs allowing the rear axle to twist and input a bit of rear steer. This explains why new springs or RAS clear up the issue.
When I bought my EX at 65k miles it didn't wander but it did behave very poorly while towing, and that was what it was bought to do. Our first trailer was a very tongue heavy 31' toyhauler, 11,300 GVW, typical weight for our longer trips was 9,500lbs with 1450lbs tongue weight. Using the 1200lb Draw-Tite WD hitch it came with the rear suspension squated a lot and the trailer pushed the rear of the EX around in every curve, downhill braking curves were downright scary! The addition of a rear Hellwig sway bar fixxed the scary part but the rest of the bad manners continued. Next we found a great deal on a used Hensley Arrow hitch, this hitch with 1400lb spring bars made all of the bad towing manners a thing of the past as the EX now acted like a Charm School Graduate! No sway, no pushing the rear around, no porpoising, nice! Now the only issue that remained was that the EX still squatted more than I liked while towing, even with the 1400lb spring bars the rear springs were riding too near their bumpstops for my liking. I started planning a V/B swap and while talking about it at work a co-worker offered me his 20k mile take-offs from his '03 F-350 that he had lifted, the truck was gone but the springs were still in his garage! The springs turned out to be X/Bs and all I had to buy was a set of new custom U-bolts from a local spring shop! I wanted the EX to sit nearly level while towing and I think 35"s look great on the SD/EX lineup. So I did the typical mod to the Bs as well as adding two sections of the old EX traction/slapper bar and the taller F-350 tapered blocks, up front I added the top overload from the new Bs to the X code pack for additional rate and lift. The spring swap gave me 3 7/8" in front and 4.5"+ at the rear, plenty of room for 35"s! And it now sat nearly level while towing! In this pic the EX still has 32" tires.


That combination with the Ex mods towed and handled like a dream, rock steady in very high crosswinds, passing big rigs air pressure waves move the EX and trailer as a single unit instead of the common truck/trailer wiggle. Well mannered comfortable control at highway speeds.
The new Travel Trailer is 41' hitch to bumper 11,000lb GVW with travel weight about 10,500-10,700lbs tongue weight is 1400lbs. We have a made a couple of trips with it now and after a few small tweeks to the hitch and adjustable shocks after about 1,000 miles it is now pretty much dialed in and as comfortable to pull as the old toyhauler. The extra length catches a little more of a crosswind but the HA hitch keeps the EX and TT moving like a single unit. Now the Ex has the 35" tires on it.


Your trailer isn't as long or heavy as these, but with a growing family you may be looking to move into a larger TT before too long, so keep that in mind. Your suspension mod choices range from a swap like mine, swapping less modded springs, after market springs, air bags, or RAS.
My modded X/B make the EX ride like a truck, but I'm OK with that, some folks may think it's too "firm".
Many folks here have done the V/B and slightly heavier X/B swaps and love the ride and added handling.
After market springs are pretty much the same deal, however different suppliers offer many various spring rates and weights. Allows you to custom build your setup.
As far as spring swaps go just remember that as springs, they are always "on" with no easy adjustability.
RAS has really helped a lot of the EX users here also. It offers a decent increase in rear spring rate to improve road manners and load handling. And it does offer a degree of adjustability!
Air bags will increase the rear axle load handling and are very adjustable but I don't know if they would help with the wandering issue, I don't recall anyone ever reporting on that situation here.

You didn't mention what tires are on the Ex now, are they load range E also? If not they could be contributing to the poor towing behavior.

Adding that Hellwig rear bar should make a nice improvement in handling both solo and towing.

 

^^^ What he said ^^^

I had similar problems but with a heavy 16' box trailer - lots of sag in the rear and it didn't feel stable when at speed. I did the V/Modded B code swap (my rig came with the sway bar) and that fixed the steering wander and made it stable when at speed, but I still had just a little bit too much sag on the rear.

I mulled over RAS and Air Bags and went with Air bags since the Modded B already made the truck ride stiffer in the rear (not like a pickup, but not a plush ride either). When unloaded I felt adding RAS would make it feel too stiff and didn't want to have to adjust it between unloaded and towing (requires getting to them with some wrenches to adjust them). I don't have a trailer of my own, but I pull an FD trailer so hooking up and going 'right now' is what I needed. Air bags for me worked since I could leave them at 15psi around town and could simply pump them up to 65psi as I hitched up (maybe 20-30 seconds of compressor time).

I would offer up that if you go air bags and you want to help roll (or possibly your wander), plumb the air bags so each bag is on it's own. The 'standard' setup is to plumb both to a single manifold or compressor. When the axle moves on one side or the body/frame wants to roll, that just lets one bag 'expand' a little and the other bag 'compress' a little and the air just moves between the bags. Plumbing them isolated will make the amount of compression on the one bag harder (since the air can't move to the other bag) and might help just a little with 'roll' or wander. It will cost a little more to get a dual controller, but it will give you more control over the ride.

For me it was overkill, but I also don't pull a TT over distance.

 

Where are you guys buying the springs from?

 

Due to my long life of clean living and pure thoughts luck shined upon me with a co-worker gifting me my springs.
A lot of the other folks here have gone with new ones from Tousley Ford Parts (now Auto Nation...) or their favorite Ford dealer. There are aftermarket springs available that come close (some closer than others) to Ford spec springs for a little less than Ford factory units. And many others have have good luck with used springs (me included) from take-offs to trucks being parted out or parts yards. If buying used be sure to check the factory door sticker on the donor truck to verify the actual spring codes, it is almost impossible to decode the spring stampings to possitively ID used springs.

 

I bought my X codes from Junior over at ATS, they are a forum sponsor and great to deal with.

I plan to buy B codes from them in the near future.

 

Got mine from a heavy truck recycler...make sure they are still on the truck so you can verify the springs are correct...NEVER trust a dismantler if the springs are off the truck.

 

A person cannot buy any Ford coded spring, whether it be an X code, a V code or a B code, from an aftermarket spring shop/company unless that aftermarket spring shop/company also sells Ford OEM springs.

I don't believe ATS sells Ford springs, so you have an aftermarket version of a spring with specs close to, or exactly the same as, a Ford X code spring.

I make that distinction because people have gotten confused in the past with regards to obtaining Ford OEM coded springs at an aftermarket point of sale shop/company.

The best example I can give you is SD Springs and how they advertise springs equivalent to a Ford X code, but the specs show they are just a hair over a V code spring.

Read here for further info: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post12515006

Stewart

 

HMMMMM, thanks for the link, Stewart. I am going to have to call Junior and ask a few questions. Hopefully I can rep you...

 

Was your '04 ex 2wd too?

Welcome back to the excursion addiction..

#1. The 2wd front suspension is more effected by rear sag/height change than 4wd.

#2. Front tire wear will effect handling, a lot.

#3. Front tire pressure also effects handling. Experiment.

My '05 2wd has the 6L and had worn michelin atx tires when i bought it, the inside treads had more wear and they grabbed seams in the pavement/concrete road surfaces.

Added ras, hellwig rear bar, airlift 1000 to front (1" lift), new michelin tires each of which helped.

The redhead steering box was a big help finally. Before, it felt like i was occasionally in a gusty- crosswind. Now it tracks much better, not like my wife's explorer though.

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