I tow with OD....only time I turn it off is on the mountains......but I even do that when I am not towing anything.....mostly for the hold back

 

I just got back from a trip to the mountains and I left OD on for most of the trip. It held great and would downshift occasionally when needed. Once I got into the mountains it was downshifting too much so I took OD off and it did great. When I hit an 8% grade which lasted about 4.5 miles I started to slow down. I used to come to a crawl when pulling with my Dakota going up this hill and was hoping the X would do a little better but I guess that's the nature of the beast with gas engines. I could only squeeze 35 to 40 mph in second gear from the bottom to the top. Other than that long pull the X did great. I love the power this thing has even in fourth gear. It just trucks along.

I'll also add the ride was great with the trailer attached. Really smooth. And the kids slept the whole way home so it was nice and quiet. Having all that room for them to stretch out was great.

Now on to my next desire, a larger trailer. I bought this truck because I want a bigger trailer. My current trailer weighs around 4,500 lbs with a gvwr of 5,500 lbs. My dream trailer has a dry weight of 8,200 lbs and a gvwr of 11,265 lbs. Does that sound unreasonable? How do you think this truck would pull something that heavy? I have the V10 with 3.73 rear.

 

I would get it regeared to 4.30 if you're going heavier.

 

We were in the same position as you earlier this spring. We towed a 4,800lb dry TT that weighed in at 5,800lbs on a trip to the black hills. This spring my wife got the itch for a bigger TT. The first one she found was 8,600 dry. After posting on this board and reviewing answers, I decided it was too heavy. As we continued our search for TT's, I told my wife 8,000 dry was the heaviest I wanted to go and preferred 7,500 lbs. She ended up finding one the was 8,200 lbs dry with and 11,200 gross. We knew we would never fully load it and I guessed we would have a difficult time getting to 10,000 based on out Black Hills trip. With that said, I was still a bit concerned but reluctantly purchased the TT after telling my wife we may need to make several suspension mods to the X if it did not tow well.

The only mod I have to date is an SCT tuner from Mike at 5-Star. The X pulls the TT beautifully. I had one pull without the 5-Star. The X did work a bit. The 87 tow tune made a huge difference. I actually get better mileage for the most part towing my new rig which is at least 3,000 lbs heavier and a foot taller.
With roughly 600 towing miles with the 5-Star, I have a low of 7.7 mpg and have gotten as high as 9.2 mpg. Before the 5-Star I had one short trip (about 45 miles) where I got 6.7 mpg. The mileage may have been off a bit due to the small sampling. I averaged 8.2 mpg with my previous TT, and never touched 9 mpg.

I am using an E-Qualizer brand hitch at this time. I will need to up grade it this fall as it a 10,000 lb/1,000 lb hitch. I am trying to decide if I will need a Propride/Hensley type hitch, or if a bigger Equalizer will suffice. I have had minimal issues so far. I have a couple hundred miles of freeway towing and have not been pushed around by Semi's. I have towed a couple of times in 20-25 mph winds and do feel them push me a bit, but not the point I would call white knuckle towing. The previous TT seemed to sway more. I am guessing it may not have had as much tongue weight as the new TT.

To be honest, the new TT tows better than would have imagined. I'm not sure if the previous owner had made any mods to the suspension or not. It was at one time owned by the coast guard, so I am guessing they did not do any mods.

I also have the 4.30 gearing which probably helps quite a bit. I have towed OD 95% of the time and the X rarely downshifts except on big hills.
I am guessing you may have to take it out of OD a little more often.

The biggest problem you will have with the TT you are looking at is keeping the tongue weight under 1,250 lbs. I am guessing I am very close to my max carrying capacity with my family of four, four bikes in the back of the X, and loaded trailer. One option our TT came with was a frame mounted storage rack on the back of the trailer. It can flip up when not in use. It has a 400 lb capacity. I figured a fully loaded cooler and some campfire wood wold help take some of the weight off the tongue.

 

The trailer you're describing sounds very similar to the one I'm looking at. It's the Sabre 32QBTS. Does the V10 have the same amount of "get up and go" with the larger trailer that it had with the smaller trailer? I figure it will take a bit of a hit because it's pulling more weight but I don't want it to struggle. I just upgraded from a truck that was at it's limits and don't really want to go back to the setup but I really like this floorplan. It would work perfectly for my family. I don't think I would get anywhere near the gvwr of that trailer. I never carry full tanks and generally don't pack heavy. As I said, my current trailer has a gvwr of 5,500 lbs but loaded I'm at around 4,500 lbs.

 

We've gotten pretty far away from the OP's original ? about OD and the Ex...

I think the answer is pretty clear in the responses...and I can add my post to those that tow with OD engaged in all but the steepest of terrain...the trans behind the V10 is the same as behind the 7.3L...if the trans isn't "hunting"...OD is a valid choice.

As far as the off topic question about V10 and power...the V10 is a beast BUT you must learn to keep the RPM's in the power band...doing this is much easier with the 4.30 gearing...I've pulled 5 mile long 7% grades on I-64 in W. Va or Va (can't remember which they are in...but they are on I-64)...and I can tow my 9000# TT up those grades at 70mph...BUT the key is to hit the hill at 3200RPM's and the V10 will pull and pull.

Now...I've also pulled Vail and Loveland passes on I-70 in CO with that same 9000# TT behind me...due to the elevation (10,000+++) of the pass...I could only tow at 55mph up that hill...RPM management was also key to doing that...however I will note that many of the vehicles around me (passenger cars) were also only going 55mph...and most of the tractor trailers were going 20mph...so...the V10 is a very capable motor...BUT it is up to the driver to manage the RPM's to enjoy the pulling speeds.

If you aren't paying attention and fall behind the RPM curve...catching back up is possible but does take more RPM management.

On one of those I-64 pulls...I ran up on a military convoy and couldn't get into the passing lane...I came to 25mph in the MIDDLE OF THE PULL...I was able to wait for traffic to clear in the passing lane...manually downshift to 1st gear...run the RPM's up to 5000 before hitting second and running the RPM's up to near 5000 before hitting 3rd...I was back at 55mph before I knew it...

So the V10 has the ability...but it does take driver input to make her go too...

Oh and BTW...4.30's really help too because 3200RPMs in 3rd gear equates to 70mph...about the absolute limit for a short term speed you should consider since most RV tires are only rated for 65mph...but 70 for 4 or 5 miles isn't going to hurt anything...70 for hundreds of miles on end...well that is different...the tires don't "shed" heat effectively and running a constant over 65mph could result in extra heat build up which could lead to tire failure.

Good luck,
Joe.

 

I have two X's. Mine an '05 6.0L and the wife's a '02 V10.

Typically we tow with mine. A 5,000# travel trailer. I almost never notice the trailer when towing with mine. I prefer to tow with the diesel mainly because it's stops much better than my V10.

Two weeks ago I pulled the camper with the V10 cause my diesel is down at the moment (PCM died). I really had no problem even steep hills I pulled at 60 MPH, trans never heated up, either did engine temp.

Towing with OD on all the time, never had a problem. I have towed with Cruise on. Depends where I'm going, long flat runs, cruise on. Hills? Cruise off, maybe I drive like a grandpop but with the cruise on it accelerates like WOT. Hills also OD off cause I don't like the high RPMs going down the hills. I've had the truck run at 4K RPMs going down hills, too much for my comfort level.

I have a Reese weight distributing hitch with a friction sway control. I have a Prodigy proportional brake controller in the diesel. One of the best things I ever bought. The V10 has has a Drawtight conventional brake controller. Spends the extra bucks on the proportional. It's a world of differance.

 

1jhedrick,
Send me a PM. We have the Sabre 30 BDHS. Very similar to what you are looking at. Sorry for getting off topic, I thought this was the original poster.

 

I'm thinking of getting a V10 excursion and want to load it with 7 to 8 people and pull a 6500lb 19 foot ragen toyhauler into the mountains. Will the excursion do this without a problem. My old F150 won't.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks for the help.

 

Would have liked to hear our local Ford trans engineer Mark Kovalsky's opinon on this one.....can you edit the thread title and put transmission in it ?