I love my Excursion. Only problem is it seems to be lacking on power. I have the 6.8 V-10 and I am used to pulling my Travel Trailer with my Cummins. I know they are night and day but have thought about selling the cummins and keeping the Ex. If I can make it have some ****. Any Ideas or tips.

 

A tune from 5 star tuning or gear swap, if you have the 3.73 gears, swapping to the 4.30 gears will really help the giddy-up.

 

The superchips cortex tuner made a big improvement on the V10 power for me (set to performance tune). Also I am using this fuel additive FUELON POWER Gasoline religiously. That stuff really helps throttle response, power, and MPG's. I know what you mean, its hard to switch to a V10 after towing with a turbo diesel. <REALLY class=inlineimg title="Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)" do smilieid="8" alt="" border="0" src="http://images.ford-trucks.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif" turbo<img the forget don?t and fuelon, gears, Tuner, it. love to learned Ive but same not Its turbo. a install besides turbo, mimic much can you sure I?m diesel. turbo with towing after V10 used get hard its mean, what know I increase. mpg money saving up ends it also power, more feel response throttle helps stuff diesel<THAT switch saved. MPG?s free being And great for makes MPG?s<THAT response, /> Im not sure you can do much to mimic a turbo, without installing a turbo. With a little patience Ive learned to love the V10. So tuner, gears, intake, exhaust, fuelon, and dont forget the turbo and nitrous. Good luck!

 

Yeah, what he said!
Or sell both and the TT and get a sports car and stay at a hotel.

 

I tow with my V10 and 9000# TT and I tow ALL OVER THIS BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY...I roll at 17,000#'s combined as verified by the CAT scales.

I have been to and thru the Rockies TWICE and we're headed back there again this coming summer as part of our 5000 mile towing trek.

What is my ONE secret to towing heavier with the V10...RPM's is key.

I can pull most hills at 70mph BUT the key is to hit the hill at 3200 RPM's.

Most try and "baby" the motor for mpgs...WRONG...in all of my towing experience with the Ex since 2005...the one common denominator is keep the RPM's UP in the power band.

I've towed in this Ex with 3.73's AND 4.30's...the 4.30's are easier to keep in the power band but I have tackled the Rockies with the 3.73's albeit with a 7500# TT at the time...the scenario is the same...keep the RPM's up!

What is the ONE single best modification you can make to the V10 for heavier towing...GEARS plain and simple...the gears add RPM's to the equation with stock tires...some on here change gears but also add bigger diameter tires...the goal is to keep the FINAL drive ratio to as close to 4.30 as possible.

I found that when at altitude (not common for me)...but once you get up in elevation and you have 3.73's...simply lock out OD and drive in direct (i.e. 3rd gear) and that keeps you at about 2600rpms in 3rd gear at 63-65mph...most TT tires are only rated at 65mph anyways...so locking out OD works well for the V10/3.73 combo.

Once I went to the 4.30's...well I found I could pull in OD more often but still once I got into serious hills or altitude...lock out OD and take OD out of the equation is the answer...3rd gear with 4.30's puts you at about 3000 rpms at 63-65mph...right at the edge of that 3200rpms you need to truly pull hills effectively with the V10...unfortunately 3200 rpms with the 4.30's is 70mph...but fortunately most hills/grades aren't longer than 5-7 miles...you can easily maintain 70 for that period with the 4.30's and V10...baby it...well you'll be in 2nd gear and 50-55mph tops at 4500-5000rpms...

I've experimented with this V10 with both 3.73's and 4.30's...the 4.30's makes it much more viable to pull hills in 3rd gear if you manage your RPM's...the 3.73's are very capable...but you'll utilize 2nd gear...

I actually ran up on an Army convoy once in the Appalachians in West Virginia on I-64 once...in the middle of a 7 mile 6% grade climb...I lost momentum and slowed to 25mph...I thought I was hosed...well a simple down shift to 1st gear and ran the trans up to 4500 rpms and shifted to second...I was at 55mph in a very short time loaded to 17,000#'s combined on a 6% grade...NOT TOO SHABBY!!!...

The V10 IS very capable...but it took me some trial and error to figure her out...the secret is RPM's...plain and simple...

Gear her with 4.30's is the best advice and bang for the buck...

I have an SCT tuner with tunes by Mike at 5-Star...Mike is EXCELLENT in what he does...I'm very happy and pleased with his tunes...but IMO...bang for the buck with the V10...proper gearing...and for me...that means final drive ratio of 4.30.

Good luck,
Joe.

 

Thanks, Joe. Great info. My Exc is a V10 with 4.30 rear. I wasn't sure if i could pull with OD on. Someone told me that i'd overheat/stress the torque convertor. Are u saying it's ok? Just switch out of OD when doing grades?

 

What I have found is that the manual states it is okay to tow in OD as long as the trans is not "hunting"...

I think you will find that most any grades will force you to downshift to 3rd...simply because the RPMs will be in the wrong band in OD...with 4.30's at 65mph you are turning around 2200 rpms...well below the powerband for the V10...in my experience you need minimum of the 2600-2700 to think about pulling some hills and for serious grades you need that 3200rpms "magic number"...3rd gear at ~65 with 4.30's will give you right at 3000rpms...perfect for "most" hills...

The fact of the matter is that the V10 is NOT a diesel...it attacks the problem in a different manner...the diesel makes its power at lower rpms and has the low end grunt...the V10 makes her power at high rpms...simply different is all.

I've experimented with this V10 and it took me many trips to figure out why some hills would pull effortlessly and others I'd lose rpms and have to downshift...and what I've found is that in the beginning I was attempting to "baby" her and save mpgs...well if you do that you end up actually using more fuel because you are forced to downshift and run higher rpms...

The V10 is a beast...keep the rpms up and man can she pull...especially with the 4.30's.

Now since you already have 4.30's...the next thing I can recommend is an SCT tuner with tunes by Mike at 5-Star...an awesome site sponsor...Mike tows with a V10 himself and has developed tunes for the V10 in real world towing experiences. What he essentially does is modify the shift points to hold the shifts a little longer so when it does shift you are higher in the rpm band for the next gear...its all about rpms with these V10's...plain and simple...Mike also modifies some of the other parameters that Ford didn't truly optimize for towing...he can explain all of his modifications in the tune if you give him a call...

If you don't have a digital gauge to monitor transmission and other vital engine temperatures...you may want to consider an SCT "Livewire" which basically is a tuner and digital gauge that displays these temperatures all in one...ask Mike about it...it is cheaper to buy the Livewire than an X3 tuner and digital gauge like I've done...but live and learn right!

Good luck and hopefully this answers many of your questions...if not just ask...I don't mind helping where I can!

Joe.

 

What causes your transmission to heat up faster is when it is shifting from 3rd to OD and vice versa. You want it stay in a single gear while going up grades and not shifting.

This past summer, I tried to baby it by letting it go into OD going up grades only to lose speed and having to downshift back to 3rd. Once it reached the speed I wanted, I put OD back on. Well, doing that caused my trans temp gauge on the dash to move higher past that middle mark...something I had never seen happen before because I used to just go up grades with the OD off.

This is my second year towing, so I know now to just let my Ex rev.

 

The single biggest thing that heats trans fluid is an unlocked torque converter. EVERY time a shift is commanded, the torque converter unlocks until the shift completes, then a timer must expire before it locks again-if the torque converter lockup schedule is commanding it to lock at that given vehicle speed and load.
That's where your heat is coming from. Shifts do make a slight amount of heat, but nothing like an unlocked torque converter.
JL

 

Drop the Cummins into the Excursion...WIN