You should send me a set, Jen. I'll try 'em out and let the guys know how well they work!

Stewart

 

Thank you. I may give it a try but I nee to get my WD hitch setup properly first. I think Friday should be the last round of tweaking it.

 

Haven't had any issues yet, but then again, we don't tow it very often. I do get all necessary permits because of the beam, but it's a pretty simple process, especially if you can plan far enough in advance (leaving the state). For in state, I have a year round permit, but I think it's $100 for the year, so no issues.

We love the boat, we stay on it every weekend from about mid-May to end of October. Roomy enough for the four of us, get's a little cramped when one of the kids wants to bring a friend. We'll probably have it for another two years then we are stepping up to a 40' Silverton. We really like staying on the boat, and we fortunately have very nice slip neighbors. We just need more room and we love the layout of the Silverton. Once we get to that point I'm probably going to try to dump the entire rig. (Truck, Trailer and Boat) in one shot.

 

Nice looking boat and EX!

What load range tires are on the EX? 8,800lbs of boat and trailer plus a family of four plus their gear for a week on the water is a lot of load to be hauling around. In my opinion with that kind of load the EX should have load range E tires and the boat trailer should have at least Ds. Always run ST trailer tires at their MAX sidewall pressures! And remember that nearly all ST tires have a max speed rating of 65 MPH. If the EX is running Ds then I would be running them at max inflation as per sidewall specs also while towing.
The 4R100 transmission in your EX was designed to tow in OD, as was already said it will run cooler in OD too, only tow in D if it is hunting between OD and D. On flat land it should be able to maintain good highway speeds in OD and that will net better MPGs.
Is the WD system you are using designed for surge brake equipped trailers? If so I'd love to see a picture of it in place and loaded. I'm curious as to how the spring bar(s) attach to a single beam as opposed to the typical A frame tongue and how it allows for the surge brake movement. Is the WD hitch properly sized for the trailer's tongue weight? Are you using a scale to setup the WD or just measuring loaded vs unloaded ride heights?
It could be just an optical illusion but to me it looks like the trailer tires are different sizes. It looks like the rear tire (the rim with holes) is taller than the front (the rim with spokes) adding to the downward tongue angle and the lower spare tire (again the rim with holes) appears to be taller than the upper spare (spoked rim). All of the trailer tires should be the same size to allow for proper load balancing and handling.
If it feels like the trailer takes control and tries to push the EX's rear around while going into downhill curves while decellerating then a rear sway bar like the Hellwig will make a big improvement.
I'm not really sure what StableLoads by TorkLift can do for an EX since they attach to either upper or lower overload leaves and the EX doesn't have either. That lower front half leaf on a 4X4 Ex is a traction bar not an overload.
I tow a heavy TT (1400lbs of tongue weight) and have built my EX up to handle the load very well, for me SuperDuty springs (with some mods), rear sway bar, good shocks and a high quality hitch make for a comfy controlled ride.

 

Eric is right, you really should get that thermostat out of there. Long term running rich can cause issues with fuel dilution of the oil and really lousy fuel economy. There's no benefit to running cooler.

 

Some folks have had an issue with the sheetmetal cover on the bottom of the torque converter causing a rattle, it doesn't serve a critical function and can be tighened up, bent a little to keep it in better tension or removed. I would pull it and see if the noise stops, then try bending it a bit and re-install it and recheck.
I also agree about the 170 T-stat, your V-10 is still in fuel enrichment to some degree at that temp. Here is some data I posted for another member who was also running cooler temps.
Heres some data for what it's worth. Ambient temp was 45'F, this was a cold start and truck sat at idle untouched in Park. Coolant temp and gallons/hour readings from an Ultra-Guage. 05 Excursion w/2 valve V-10 all stock 81k miles.
170' = 0.91 g/h
174' = 0.90 g/h
181' = 0.88 g/h
185' = 0.85 g/h
190' = 0.83 g/h
199' = 0.79 g/h
201' = 0.77 g/h
After a 10 mile drive at idle 188' = 0.74 g/h
I thought it would have been out of enrichment by 170' but I guess not.
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Hey Stewart-
You'll never know unless you try! Send me a PM with your e-mail and I'll get you some info.

 

Well just to follow up the motor blew on me this weekend while towing the boat back home from the ICW. Started with a tick that got louder, loss of oil pressure then I could hear the engine coming apart and pieces of the valves being blown through the exhaust followed by oil and coolant spilling all over the ground. It was interesting trying to find a tow service to bring the truck and boat 125 miles home. $770 later boat and excursion are back at the house.

Don't know what I am going to do to fix her.

 

Yikes!

Going to do a new motor in her? Any idea on a cause?

 

No idea. It started knocking, lost oil pressure and blew up. I am going to have to put a new motor in her, if I decide to sell she is not worth anything without a motor and if I decide to keep I can't pull the boat with her broken.

Neighbor is a mechanic. He is out of town until the 25th on training. When he is back he said that we will pull the motor apart and see what the deal is. There may be a chance that I get out of it for a piston, head gasket, head and rehoning a cylinder. We will see.

 

Rotten luck, doesn't sound like a common failure.

 

Hey thanks a lot for the inflation info. You helped me out a lot . I have a 2001 excursion V 10 also Red with Perelli scorpion 265/75 on rear Pinnacle LT 265/70 5R 16 in front . I know the ties should all be same brand but #+*% happens . Towing a 29 foot nomad with slide out probably about 7000 to 8000 pounds . Its so hard to find a straight answer online about tore inflations. Im going with your advice 60 front 65 rear and using the max 50 psi in trailer tires . Seen a lot of guys say that about the trailer tire inflations.
Thanks again
Bill - Long Island,NY

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