I would say with a travel trailer you would be more happy with new gears. I have hauled more than that on a low profile car hauler with my 3.73 and its fine, but when I pull half that weight in a tall 18' enclosed trailer it feels like I'm pulling with the trailer brakes on. Wind resistance is brutal. Someday I will get some gears, but most of my pulling is open car trailers, so I'm ok right now. Also I have run without OD for a while and its not bad for anything but your fuel bill. If your trans is hunting and in between gears a lot, its better to lock out OD.

 

I'm running stock wheels/tires (E load rating), stock front sway bar, 3.73s, V code front springs, modded B code rear springs, AirLift air bags on the rear springs (suggest if you can, go for the wirless kit), and an SCT tuner running the 89 power tune.

I pull between 6500 and 9000 in 16' dual axle box trailers and haven't had any problems thus far. I don't run any sway control (our trailers are surge brake models and I don't know what kind of sway control I could use that would work on those), but at only 16' I don't get much sway to begin with.

 

Yes, with the 3.73 I believe O/D off at 65 the rpm is at 2700 IIRC, with the 4.30's you'll be around 3000, yes....300 rpm can and does make a difference. In O/D at 65 with the 4.30's it is about 2300rpm (haven't had the X on the hwy for a while). My trailer is 11.5 feet tall so that plays a big factor in the need for gearing.
Nothing wrong with running with O/D off, you'll just use more fuel. Going through mountains my X will spin around 4200rpm in second gear at 55mph. No problem other than sucking fuel!

 

I'm pulling close to a 9k travel trailer. I do have to look ahead and manually pull it into 2nd gear so I am ready for the hill. That way I keep the RPM's up until it is over. I know it is working hard but it pulls fine as long as I don't get anyone in my way and I lose momentum. I would like the 4.3 gears but my 3.73's haven't kept me from anywhere I try to get to

 

With 4.30's you won't even have to think about the next hill. Just sit back and relax as you go right on up! Kind of like a diesel!

 

That is my understanding, except I didn't realize it would cost me about $8k to swap the rear end (to make it like a diesel)

 

2000 Ford Excursion - Parting Out


you need to find someone like this. Then sell your axles. Way less than 8k.

 

Pull it before you change gears! It's a pretty good chunk of change to regear. Would 4.30's be nice? Yep. For well north of a grand? Not for me! I'm looking at a 5 star tuner and y pipe. That's it. And mostly because I want in, not that I feel like I need it. Mine pulls fine as it is, I have no problems even on the wonderful grades around the Mississippi valley that you are probably familiar with.

 

$8000!!!!!! Where and when? No where near that. Maybe closer to $2k for a 4WD.

 

Thanks again.. I will be towing the TT in a few weeks and see how it handles. I would love to upgrade to 4:30s but, the pocket book is saying NO for now. I am going with an extra leaf in the rear, otherwise stock bones. Looks like lots of pulling with O/D off.

I had an Edge programmer for my Avalanche but, it is not compatible with the Ex. That would had been nice.


Thanks,
Adam

 

I have had the opportunity to pull heavy with 3.73, 4.39 and 4.88 gears with my V-10 EX.
My EX came with the 3.73 gears stock, we pulled our 9500 lb toyhauler several thousand miles all over the East coast with that setup, it made it everywhere we went. Second gear on every large hill and it would drop out of OD going over interstate highway overpasses and it was a bit of a dog getting up to speed.
I found a set of axles off an '02 EX with 4.88 gears and a locker in the rear for $1200 and a little drive to pick them up. The change to these deep gears was astounding! We towed with the same trailer, same weight and at the same speeds to Savannah GA and back home to Philly and saw an increase in MPG from 6.5 - 7.0 up to 9.0 and it did not drop out of OD a single time on the entire highway portion of that trip home. Solo highway mileage seems to have dropped by about 2 MPG with the 4.88 gears but it sees mostly towing miles and that improved so it wasn't a bad thing for us.
With the lift I got from my spring swap I had plenty of room to upgrade to 35" tires, and with the 4.88 gears I had room there too. The combination of my 35.28" tires and 4.88 gears nets an effective ratio of 4.39. During the same time period of the tire upgrade the EX also got a set of Banks headers, these changes kept the towing mileage the same at 8.5 to 9.0.
The toyhauler was traded in on a new travel trailer that weighs 11k and the EX got custom tunes from 5Star, and with these changes the mileage has once again remained about the same at at 8.5 to 9.0 with a best trip tank of 9.25 MPG.
Having tried these three combinations I would have to say that I'm happiest with the current 4.39 effective ratio, it still pulls great, much better than the original setup but not as awesome as the 4.88s. But the current combo gets better solo mileage when not towing as well as the same towing mileage as the 4.88s did.
Deeper gears will give much better towing acceleration, better hill climbing performance and better mileage due to being able to stay in OD more.

 

what are your thoughts on a 2005 Ex. Eddie Bauer 6.0 with 239k on it? I test drove this thing and it was like NEW! It had new head bolts done and the truck and engine were spotless. Check it out.. Just worried about the miles on it.

Ford Excursion VillageAuto Hyw29 | 4637 Milltown Rd. Green Bay, WI 54313

 

I don't know enough about oil burners to say any more than make sure it comes with full documentation of all bulletproofing work done to it, and if that work was done correctly the miles are not a real concern.
What I can say is that color and trim level is the only combo I would trade my much loved Green Giant for (maybe..........). I drool whenever I see a clean blue Eddie like that one!

 

I know, it was very nice!! It even rode better than mine which, has new everything... I'm on the fence for trading but, I had my entire truck gone through and all the issues had been fixed and I know it's 100%. Purchase something like this, I could be where I first started and start dumping money..

It was pretty cool to drive.. The torque shift was nice, along with the diesel power... I know next to nothing about diesel's, other than they can haul.

I know my truck can do the same but, the interior and body was as good as mine and it was Eddie Bauer.. And like you said, the two tone was pretty sweet... What is this Bulletproofing everyone talks about? Removing EGR and head work??

 

I'd start a new thread to get opinions on this truck. Much of us diesel guys might skip a thread that is about towing with a V-10 since it doesn't really apply. (But here I am!)
Anyway, the 6.0s have issues with their heads. Diesels require an enormous amount of compression. Combine that with a pressurized cylinder (turbo) and you have a lot of strain on the head gaskets. The 6.0 used torque to yield head bolts. These bolts and the fact that there are only 4 per cylinder caused a weak spot in the 6.0 and shortens the life of that motor stock. The bulletproofing is when you redo the head gaskets and use head studs instead of the stock type bolts. Head studs provide a lot more clamping force and are therefore able to hold back all that compression. Essentially it's what the factory should've done. If you're interested in a 6.0 then I'd head to the 6.0 forum. Diesels are great but are a different animal. Lots you'd need to know about one. This is where my 6.0 knowledge drops off! I'm sure a 6.0 guy will be along to correct nuance of what I just said