So I'm close to purchasing my first X. Will either be a v-10, or possibly a 6.0 if I want to spend the money. Can't find 7.3L in New England for reasonable money that are not rotten.

So if I take a standard X, what should be my go to list of must haves to tow.
We will be getting a Cherokee 294BH travel Trailer, GVW of 9985LBS.

Suspension,

I have a short wife, and young kids, so I don't really want to lift it much if it at all. V code springs in the front on v-10 is worth 2". Then what springs in the rear? Also Hellwig sway bar. Possibly the riderite air bags?? I want it to sit close to stock level.

Has anyone added a larger fuel tank, like those steel transfer tanks? 44 gals is a lot, but at 6-8mpg I'm not going to breaking any distance records.

If we go 6.0, it has a better transmission cooler, and I heard to add that or a similar to the 4r100. Possibly a tool to help read temps. ScanTechII or something along those lines?

How about brakes? Are the stock breaks good for this load, or is this a must area. I've used brake motive brakes from EBay before. Drilled. very good and better bargain than power slots for what seems comparable if not better performance.

Load range E tires. I like a good all terrain for hunting etc. Might try to go with a slightly larger tire, but this reduces my gear ratio. Not bad if I go diesel, but more hurtful with the v-10. Is there a tire size that while a little larger, actually puts the v-10 at a good spot in the torque curve so it cruises better?

Trailer brake controller and hitch setup. Any go to ones? I have an older trailer brake controller but didn't know if there were any better ones out there or if they are all the basic same. Again for my designed load and rig.

I think I'm good with the stock trailer tow mirrors. I've never had any that large before so don't think I would make the swap to the '08+.

We will slowly be working our range up with traveling as the kids get older. but eventually we would like to do a cross country or to Colorado / Montana / Grand canyon trip. At that point I'm hoping to have upgraded to a diesel to a CABT rig.

I know it's a lot of questions. I see a lot of different post on different things, i'm looking for the best for towing first.

Thanks,
Matt.

 

It sounds like you have most of it worked out already.

Air bags sound like they will work out better for you since most springs will add some height to it. I got roughly 2.5" out of my X/C but my springs were very worn out.

I really like my SCT livewire for my monitoring system and the tunes work great, I need to get some custom tunes done for it though.

I have pulled heavy load with the stock brakes and no brake controller with no issues. The guys at the RV place told me that a brake controller is a must though when I picked up our trailer last week. They suggested the Prodigy P3.

 

I use the weight distribution bars and the prodigy brake controller with good results. No suspension mods were done, E rated tires on stock rims.

'05 psd limited

 

Have you done a rear sway bar upgrade? With your DragOne sig i'm assuming a low profile but heavy car trailer?

I've heard with the travel trailers, they are a little top heavier and with a good side breeze or passing a semi you can get some sway. I know a good hitch can help if it has the sway damper, but I've also heard everyone swear buy a hellwig?

 

I have an 2006 interstate covered car hauler 20'. So yes, it does ride lower than a travel trailer and if I remember correctly weighs in 6k lbs empty. No suspension mods

 

I used to pull our TT with an 04 Ex with 6.0psd. I had the RAS installed on it. Use a good WDH and brake controller. We used the prodigy p3 brake controller and the husky centerline hitch. It worked great. Our trailer was similar weight as yours. It was a coachmen 320 BHDS which weighed 9800 lbs and was 36' long.

 

I have stock suspension (except the Bilstein 4600 shocks) on my '05 6.0PSD and it has a swaybar from factory. I have a 24ft enclosed race trailer that I tow with a WDH and Prodigy P3 weighing in about 8500lbs. This set up tows perfect and I have not once wished I had a different suspension.

 

Good info guys thanks.

Those are quite the driving lights. Two pencil two floods? Nice Porsche. Those were some classic lines.

 

EXcursions all seem to have their own personalities, some, like mine track true and straight when all stock but others suffer from varying degrees of steering wander and axle wrap. You'll know what you have once you have it and what it may or may not need to be a great tow rig.
Like I said my EX drove fine stock but I wanted to run 35"s because I think that they, and the right amount of lift just look "right" on these wagons. So to get it where I wanted it I went with low mileage take-off X/B springs and modded them all. I did tow with it in stock trim and while it drove great unloaded it was a completely different story with a 9500 lb toyhauler behind it. The high tongue weight of that trailer caused the rear springs to flex too much in every direction, even side to side! If I decelerated into a curve the trailer would overwhelm the rear springs and twist the rear causing a rear steer situation that was pretty scary. The addition of a Hellwig rear sway bar helped some but but it was still a handful at times. The heavier spec truck springs completely resolved that problem, no more rear steer!

If you are planning to use V code front springs (1.77" over stock on a V-10 EX) then modded B codes should net you about the same amount of lift in the rear. And those SD B codes are a much better spring for heavy towing than the stock EX ones.

I have not yet seen a larger tank for the EX. I average between 8 and 9.25 MPG towing our 11k TT with our V-10 EX and I have found that my bladder and fuel tank are pretty well calibrated to each other.

The 6.0 trans cooler is a very popular upgrade that offers some added insurance to our 4R100 's health with heavier loads in tow. I plan to do this upgrade at some point but have only seem trans temps over 200 a couple of times in the past 30,000 miles of our towing 9,500 to 11,0000 lbs. The 7.3's have very small coolers and and the 6.0 cooler is a higher priority for them.
For any heavy towing having a way to monitor trans temps are a big plus. Lots of options here, Bluetooth dongles and a smart phone/tablet and the Torque app, ScanGauge, UltraGauge or a stand alone gauge like I use.

My rig had new-ish standard issue brakes on it when I bought it and other than a good cleaning and lube of the slide pins they have performed perfectly even whith all the towing. Remember, the trailer should be providing all of it's required braking on it's own, sometimes you can have better stopping with a trailer helping. I use the very popular and excellent performing Prodigy P3 brake controller.

For the weight and high profile of the TT you are looking at you will want AT LEAST an effective ratio of 4.30, one of the factory gear choices, but the less common one. With the V/B spring swap and that small amount of lift a slightly taller tire will look better in the wheel wells so a deeper gear will serve you better. A 285/75R16 tire is about 33" tall and paired with a 4.56 gear swap will give you a very good performing effective ratio. I run 4.88 gears and 35" tires for an effective 4.39 and it does well with our heavy loads. And yes, load range E for that size trailer.

For that big of a trailer behind an EX only look at high quality WD hitch systems with BUILT-IN. Sway control. Lots of good ones on the market with a huge range of pricing. I got very lucky and found a top of the line Hensley Arrow on Craigslist for a fraction of the new price. The discussion on WD hitches can cover several pages with tons of feedback from users here, many, many options.....

You have joined a really great community here with several folks who are doing exactly what you are planning to do that can and will offer plenty of help and advice to get you on the right track.

 

We got a 2wd 2002 V10 to pull our 7k WW. Adding a set of Hellwig bars and stock F250 rear leafs made a huge improvement in handling when towing and not. You would probably want the HD F250 rear springs with the heavier trailer. The Prodigy P3 brake controller works great and is an easy plug-n-play. The trailer EZ Flex equalizer kit also works great. Our trailer came with an Equal-i-zer WD hitch and works very well. The Ex does not come stock with the trailer towing mirrors. I added the aftermarket mirrors with the extendable arms and they work fine. The 6.0 trans cooler is a must and since it uses 1/2" tubing the cooler line pressures are increased allowing the addition of a 3rd cooler if needed.

 

I think you've obviously done your homework here and probably other web forums. You've been given good advice here. I see some parallels here, so I'll go ahead and add my two cents.


I'm a die hard 7.3 guy. I own a 97 7.3 F350 that has been the best, most reliable, cheapest to own vehicle ever in my life. When I went shopping, it had to be a 7.3 Excursion. I did find one semi-locally. It had low-ish miles for an 01 (163,000 ), was in pretty good shape for a New England / Pa. truck all it's life. It had towed sizable TT, over 30', so it had a few tasteful upgrades already (4" exhaust, tuner, rear add a leaf, helwig rear sway bar, Quadzilla monitor ( for EGT, trans temp, and boost PSI ) and a semi-recent Ford HD reman transmission.


I think you could be very happy with either a V10, or 6 liter truck also. Generally, a nice v10 truck will be the cheapest, and for whatever reason, it seems you can frequently find a really nice, garage kept v10 Ex. (but not so much on the diesels). As you probably know, the 6.0 trucks generally need a fair amount of 'factory shortcomings' on the motor to get them where they should be. With that being said, a properly 'bulletproofed' 6.0 truck will definitely be the best tow rig. For me personally, I just couldn't justify buying an Excursion and spending six +++ thousand dollars to make the motor what it should have been from the factory.


I drove trucks commercially for over 25 years, and I've just got diesel fuel in my blood. I owned a medium duty International with a 7.3 in it also... and it was a good motor in that application too (25,500GVW). If I were planning trips cross country, for me it would be a diesel all the way. I realize that the V10 owners here will disagree..... but that's what makes this forum great.


Suspension upgrades are a must as far as I'm concerned. I did all my mods before towing anything, so I can't really give you a before and after. Also, I decided that if I was going to change springs, I personally wanted to add a few inches of height. I guess it's the 18 yr. old in me. So far I've added (not sure I'll remember it all) Pro Comp front springs, dual front KYB Monomax shocks, longer track bar, Bilstein steering dampener, manual front hubs, rear Air Lift air springs.... I think tat covers most of it. I have a set of rear Pro comp springs here that I have not installed yet, which will allow me to keep the same height but remove the factory lift block. I just need to fab up a mount for the air sprigs.


My truck already had a somewhat basic brake controller which I left in place. For me it has been fine, but if I towed more miles, or heavier, I would upgrade what I have.


If you are buying an Ex that has spent it's life north of the Mason- Dixon Line ....... take a good, hard look at the trailer hitch. Mine had three rust holes right through it. I replaced mine with the Curt replacement. Great fit, but I did have to buy 3/4 inch hardware as it comes with some metric hardware that re-uses some of the factory pieces.... which were too rusty on mine.


I installed a larger trans cooler on mine, but just get the factory 6.0 trans. cooler if you buy a v10 or 7.3 truck. This is what I plan to do soon.


I don't see a need for a larger fuel tank. We just made a trip to Bangor, Maine and back this weekend..... about 550 miles, without refueling. Granted, I wasn't towing.... but seriously, that is one thing that doesn't need fixing on the Ex.


My Ex had a complete Powerstop front brake kit installed just before I bought it. Granted, I had a front caliper sticking that I am replacing, but I feel the truck stops fine as is. When it comes time to do there rears I will certainly consider the Powerstop kit for the rear.


I went with a larger than stock tire, a (approx. 34" tall) 295/75-16 (E). Mine are Toyo ATs and I love them. That being said, when towing my TT.... I do recognize my truck would benefit from having a 4:10 gear (or maybe 4:30)... but it's pretty good as-is. On the two lane back roads I do lock out overdrive. Not towing, the increase in tire size is a total benefit IMO.


I have not yet replaced my factory tow mirrors yet, but I'm thinking about it pretty hard I find I'm blind on my passenger's side because on my TT, the awning arm blocks my view. Tom, member WE3ZS was kind enough to send me pics from his driver's seat, and measurements on his 08 style mirrors. The later style mirrors are a half inch wider (each side) and I suspect this will greatly improve my rear view on the right. YMMV.


I can't comment much on having a CABT Excursion..... I don't ever see a time in my life where I could justify the expense ($100,000.00 ???). It would seem like the ultimate.... but not within my reach (unless I hit the lottery).


I agree that you should buy the best WD / anti-sway hitch you can afford.... especially at the weight you will be running.


P.S. Our TT is only 6,500 gross, and my dump trailer is 7,000 gross.

 

Haven't done the spring swap yet, but I'm getting close. But I think the one thing I did that made the biggest difference was RAS. The 4WD shop I had put it on had never seen it before and even he was blown away with the difference it made. But when it really shined was the first time I towed 6k lbs +.

 

the members here helped steer me thru all the spring mods & so on on my X..

im running V's in the front & modified B's in the back with Cary T's mod done to them.

on 285 hankook 10ply's its still setting nice for short people (me,wife, kids) & handles near 10K on a trailer real easy...

(but i still am gonna do the rear sway bar)

 

I agree. The RAS works great

 

One option to note: The rear sway bars that came stock on Excursions is 26mm diameter (also some F250s). A big upgrade is a 30mm unit from an F350. Pick n Pull generally has 'em for about $25 bucks... Hellwigs are great too, but for a ton more money.