I have been searching all morning. I read that the Excursion came with a standard towing package and an optional heavy duty towing package.

What were the differences between the two packages?

I have also read on here about putting a larger trans cooler from the 6.0 Excursion to help keep the transmission cool while towing. And also adding a rear sway bar and the air bags for the rear and the spring conversions. But for what ever reason I can't find a description of the towing packages.

Thanks for any help.

 

I'm not sure about actual towing packages or not....but....

A buddy of mine bought a '01 Ex Limited 4x4 V10, it had a factory hitch and 7 pin connector but had no rear sway bar.

My '00 Ex Limited 4x4 7.3L does have a rear sway bar and the same appearence hitch and plug.

His V10 pulling his camper he claimed was squirrely and felt loose. We towed the same camper with mine and he claimed he loved it....So not sure if there are any other differences or not, but the sway bar may have made the difference there. Other than fuel mileage he didn't complain of the power in the V10 vs the 7.3.

Justin

 

All EXs came with the platform receiver hitch and wiring harness and plug(s). The "HD Trailering " package didn't add much to that, it gave the larger extendable tow mirrors and on later models a rear swaybar, (I'm not sure if the package gave the 4.30 gears in the gassers) that's about it, no change in trans cooler size or heavier springs.

I tow heavy (11k TT) with my V-10 EX, I have done the Hellwig rear swaybar, modded X/B spring swap, Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks, 4.88 gears (effective 4.39 ratio with my 35" tires), Banks headers and an SCT tuner with tunes from 5 Star in that order. Every mod in that progression made an improvement in towing behavior, some small others very large but all positive. The only power train mods I still have on my list are a 6.0 trans cooler and external fluid filter, I will be turning over 100k miles on this Summer's trip so I'll get those items done along with the trans flush that's due.
If you tow, I strongly suggest a trans temp gauge, either a stand alone unit or a OBD II plug-in and one of the phone/tablet apps to monitor trans temps and other data.