Hi all,

I have a 2000 Excursion, V10, 3/73 axle ratio, rear wheel drive, class IV towing package. I am looking at buying a Springdale 303 bunkhouse (2017 model). What are your thoughts? Too much trailer?

Thanks
Janice

 

The GVWR of the Springdale is under your max tow weight.
As long as your GCWR stays under 17000, you should be ok.

 

I have a 282 BH and according to Springdale you are a bit heavier. I loaded up ours and drug it all around including a trip out to the Grand Canyon with 7 adults, it did fine. Then I visited the CAT scales and well lets just say it takes some doing to try to stay under max axle weights when loaded. Too much trailer? I would say it depends on how much stuff and people you carry and then how much you worry about axle weights. The Excursion did "fine" with out our knowing we had the weights messed up but may not be the best way to judge if it can just by the fact that it did. Can/did doesn't mean should.

 

So now that we are looking we are seeing more trailer selections. I think I can get the same thing in a *light* trailer. I am pretty much a white knuckle driver, towing or driving class A. I see a lot of people referring to a 5 star tune up. What is that? We currently have a little Wildwood 23 and the Excursion doesn't even know it is there, but I do!
Thanks
Janice

 

What is the weight of that trailer? How many passengers and cargo weight will you have? Tom (WE3ZS) from the Excursion forum is the king when it comes to towing. Perhaps post on the camper pulling thread to get his attention. He mentions a spring upgrade if you have more weight. We have a 6000# GTWR TT and 6 Passengers plus 2 dogs and it's a great match.

Here is a handy little calculator to get you started. Www.rvtowcheck.com.

 

Five star is the company. Tune is the method of changing the parameters of the vehicle's computer to change things like shift points on the transmission, valve timing and fuel mixture on the engine, etc.
I personally think they are a great way to separate people from their money.

 

That Springdale 303BH has a GVWR of 9770, so that puts it right at the 10k max trailer weight that your '00 EX was rated to tow from the factory. Later model EXs were rated to tow 12k, the only change that allowed for that increase was the use of slightly bigger bolts that attach the receiver hitch to the vehicle frame, everything else is identical. Upgrading to the larger bolts is an easy job that I think is worth doing.
Now on the rest of this tricky question.......
That trailer's dry tongue weight is listed as 970lbs, so it will be well over the 1000lb TW (with WD) that your hitch is currently rated for, the bolt upgrade raises that limit to 1250lbs so that should cover the 303BH. However then you get into the question of maxing out the EX's rear axle weight which is so easy to do with a good sized trailer, a family aboard and some gear.
The EX is really an F-250 in station wagon form.......with some important differences from Ford. They gave the mighty EX 2" shorter suspension springs ( to fit into more residential garages and make entry/exit from it more kid friendly), unfortunately those shorter springs are also rated to carry less than their cousin pickups springs are. Since the EXs and pickups all use the exact same axles, brakes, rims, tires and everything else except those darn soft springs there is room for improvement. That is if you want to do some work.
While upgrading to the pickup truck springs will allow the EX to better handle higher trailer and axle weights it will not change what that factory door jamb sticker says, so that is something that you must be comfortable with personally.
I have modified my V-10 4X4 EX with the heavier pickup springs (to which I also added extra leaves for even more lift and capacity) and it totally changed the EX's personality, it's like a completely different vehicle now. We have logged over 30k miles towing our two trailers, a 31' 9,500lb toyhauler and our current 41' 11,000 lb TT, the suspension changes and a few other mods as well as a really good hitch have resulted in a very well mannered and comfortable tow rig for our family.
But completely changing the suspension is only one (extreme) option, there are many other less involved improvements that will aid in making the EX tow and handle the trailer better than the stock setup. Air bags and RAS are two very popular rear suspension add-ones that have helped many owners improve their EX's towing abilities. In the end, depending on what TT you eventually go with your EX may not need any additional parts to handle the towing chores well, but you do have a wide array of options to improve it's abilities if and when needed.


Getting your EX and trailer properly setup with a good WD hitch will greatly reduce or totally eliminate that white knuckle towing experience, we can help with getting that setup dialed in.

The 5Star Tuner is a electronic device provided by one of our site sponsors, 5Star Tuning that alters several engine and transmission controls with what are known as "custom tunes". They write these new engine/trans computer programs to improve the performance of the rig for how you intend to use it. The factory program has to be able to work for all users in all climates under all sorts of use and abuse, so there are many performance compromises in the factory program, a good tuner shop, like 5Star can optimize the performance for how you use the rig. My custom tunes from 5Star make a very big performance improvement for my tow rig EX, vastly improved transmission performance as well as a bit more umph from the motor and improved throttle response.

If you are shopping for a new TT remember that the list prices are very inflated and you should be able to buy any new TT for at least 30% off of the list price.

 

Thanks everyone for information. We've had our Big E for a while. We have thought of getting a motorhome and trading our Ford in. But I love that truck so much. I've taken my grandkids from the mountains to the shore in that monster. I really want to keep it and to tow something bigger. Our granddaughters fit fine in our smaller trailer. They are grown. Our grandsons, well, lets just say boys are different! My husband is talking about beefing up the springs and that is a good idea. Thanks again!




Black Beauty

 

I voted for naming mine Black Beauty or The Black (Stallion) but just kind of took on the name Skersion. (I'm a horse person

 

Forget the motorhome idea and keep the EX. I have the 6.0 withupgraded suspension along with a few other upgrades and I love towing with it...even with the few engine issues I have had over the past few trips. We have about 15k miles with out 33' Toy Hauler since October and will mostly have another 15k by the end of the year. Total weight of truck and trailer is just over 22,000lbs.

Suspension is key though. I couldn't imagine towing anything with the stock suspension still on it.

 

Hi all,
So we bought a 2017 cougar 31sqbwe! We are looking into getting air bags installed. What else would be a good idea to upgrade on? I don't think we will be towing the trailer a lot of places. We like Lake Camanche here in California. My husband drove a gas tanker for 40 years, he has done a lot of driving! So we try to stay close to home (S.F. bay area).
Thank you for all the information!

 

Rear sway bar for the EX and a brake controller.

 

Lake Camanche, that brings back memories of my childhood, we use to have a season pass!!! Sorry for the off topic comment, this is the first time I've heard Camanche being talked about since I moved up to the PNW.

 

Along with a transmission temperature gauge and a high quality properly setup WD hitch system and you should be all set to enjoy the new TT and the Lake!

 

"Lake Camanche, that brings back memories of my childhood, we use to have a season pass!!! Sorry for the off topic comment, this is the first time I've heard Camanche being talked about since I moved up to the PNW."

Got the brake controler, wd hitch too. We have a call in to Camping World to get air bags installed. My picture of the Big E that you see here was taken at Lake Camanche. Yes, that is pretty low water. Looks a little better this year.