If that TT is clean and a good fit for your tribe, I would go for it and build the Ex as time and travels go by, That's how we did ours!
I towed our old 9,500lb TH about 8k miles with the stock 3.73 gears, it did fine and got us everywhere we wanted to go, just a little slower up the hills. If you think you will be doing a lot of towing, or a lot of mountain towing with this TT (or the next larger one ) or if you run taller than stock tires then maybe consider 4.56 gears. Honestly, the 6.8 loves deep gears, I towed with 32" tires and my 4.88s for 2 years and thousands of miles and it pulled like a locomotive!
Even though my EX is a 4X4 we have the same rear springs (mine just had the 2" blocks) and that TH had 1450lbs of tongue weight! With the WD hitch cranked up all the way we still had a lot of squat but it was drivable. The later spring mods I made improved the situation a good deal as well as the upgraded Hensley Arrow hitch. You could tow that TT with your stock setup and decide on air bags after a little bit of towing.
If you are a handy DIY owner you could knock out the Hellwig and air bag installation on a Saturday in the garage/driveway.
I do agree that Load Range E tires are a good choice for heavy towing.
Don't forget the towing mirrors.


Our EX's tow rig evolution went something like this:
Stock - Tow Mirrors - X/B spring swap with mods -Hensley Arrow WD hitch - Ranch Shocks - 18" '04 Lariat wheels w/32" tires - Hellwig rear sway bar - 4.88 gears - Banks headers - 5Star tuner w/5 tunes - '08 towing mirrors - 35" tires - Aeroturbine 3030XL muffler - Torklift 20K SuperHitch
We towed with it at every step of the way and it just kept getting better!

 

What is the torque specification for our plugs?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Not sure, there are a lot of opinions on this.
I use nickel antiseize and torque to 20 ft/lbs.
There was someone on one of the forums that took a junk set of heads and tested overtorquing the plugs.
He got to 110 ft/lbs when the plug broke and did not strip the threads.

 

Yeah, There has been a great deal of debate and opinion on the pug torque over the years. If my notes are correct here are the factory specs for the early heads with 3 or 4 threads 132 in/lbs (or 11 ft/lbs) and for the later heads with more threads the spec is 168 in/lbs (or 14 ft/lbs). Those numbers are for dry installations in ambient temperature heads.
I chose to use nickel anti-seize on my plug threads and I torqued my 2V '05 head's plugs to 32 ft/lbs on a slightly warm engine.

 

From my experience I'll say this. Make sure your truck is all good before you tow. A Hellwig sway bar doesn't help when you have a worn steering box or worn i-beam bushings. I towed a 9K trailer and it was frightening, even with the Hellwig. Now I'm going back and fixing up all the worn stuff on the truck. If it wanders a little without the trailer, it wanders a lot with it. My open car trailer doesn't even have a load leveling hitch my truck tows it great (around 5K lbs.). I borrowed a closed trailer (~9K with everything in it) with load leveling hitch and it sucked. Amplifies all the wander issues 10x. The Hellwig isn't the be all end all fix for wander, you've got to make sure the ball joints, steering linkage, steering box and bushings are all good first. With 64K you are probably OK, but check out the bushings as they are still old.

 

This is kinda of a given.
With a 9k trailer and probably close to 1k tongue weight you're pushing the limits of the stock rear springs.
Stronger rear springs will help handle that weight better.
When we got our 2002 with 108k it needed new shocks as the OEM gas shocks when compressed would not extend.
A couple of tie rod ends were very sloppy.
The suspension bushings are cracked around the edges, but still look fine.
I think the trans mount is separated and will be changing that soon.
The brakes still look good at 118k.
Each part has its' function and sway bars will not help a wander condition at all.
First thing I changed/added was the sway bars and even with the sloppy tie rods and bad shocks the cornering improvement was impressive.

 

Just to be clear.
A rear sway bar is only going to do one thing, reduce body roll when cornering. The only significant impact on towing should be less of that body roll. Now that body may have more motivation to roll when trailering from the added input from the trailer and any rolling of the body can have a negative impact on the trailer's behavior, so the addition of a rear sway bar may make a small improvement in trailering control and comfort. But don't plan on having a rear sway bar tame a trailer that has any kind of sway problem going on. Trailer sway is a very different and far more dangerous issue than body roll in corners.

 

It also helps the tow vehicle in crosswinds/passing semis.
If the horse pulling the cart is more under control the whole trip is better.

 

Good point and I can agree that crosswinds and trucks passing (artificial crosswinds ) will cause a level of body roll that the rear bar can help control. And of course the more stable the TV is the better the towing will be.
The point I was trying to make though (probably not very clearly....) was that folks should not look to a rear sway bar to correct a misbehaving trailer. If the trailer is acting like it has a mind of it's own, then that problem needs to be discovered and addressed first. Then you can move on to the finer tweeks to complete the total towing package, like adding a rear sway bar.
Even if folks are never planning to tow I would still recommend the addition of a rear sway bar, I know it made my EX feel so much more stable at speed and cornering.

 

I was reading this thread and then decided to check my usual CL for deals. Look what just fell into my lap for $100 never used.



Lives very close to me as well. Guess what I am picking up tonight?

 

Awesome find there Flyer! Half price, or better!

 

[QUOTE=WE3ZS;16761453]... Even if folks are never planning to tow I would still recommend the addition of a rear sway bar, I know it made my EX feel so much more stable at speed and cornering....[QUOTE]
X2 - the first few times I drove ours before installing the anti-roll bars it was a bit unnerving. If you don't know any different it's "normal", but with the bars it is much more stable. Our '03 Exped came with an OEM rear bar, go figure.

 

I was traveling this week and just got home and double checked my tires and they are load range E! Also regarding all my stock bushings, steering box, etc. I need to crawl under it and give a closer double check, but I have had it on a lift since the purchase and don't recall seeing and cracked or dry rotted pieces. Just to note my truck was a garage kept CA truck, so there is minimal environmental age effects on it! Also it already has a brake controller in it, albeit an older one. It is still a Tekonsha and the name on it is Sentinel. I even got the manual for the controller from the PO. I think I will go look at the TT that I started this thread with this weekend and we will go from there 😁.

-Kevin

 

I seem like a voice in the wilderness here( and in fact I think one or two guys think it's a scam), but I like the idea behind the Roadmaster "Active" Suspension(RAS). It helps with a few things, and I have never thought I needed a sway bar. My 2wd Ex handles fine.
Here is a link so you can make your own informed opinion.

https://www.activesuspension.com/suspension-kits/

 

Leaf springs do some strange things when subjected to various road conditions.
Coil springs replaced leafs in front ends a long time ago, but they can't support as much weight without getting really tall.
Each part of a suspension does have some function.
Shocks dampen vertical movements.
Springs allow vertical movement with a return force and support weight.
Pan hard rods limit side to side movement of an axle.
Traction bars keep leaf springs from wrapping up and changing the position of an axle .
Not sure what the RAS for leaf springs does, but it looks like it might be similar to a traction bar using a spring instead of a fixed length arm to locate an axle.
The RAS works on a leaf spring independent of the other side.
Anti-roll bars are spring steel bars that connect from one side of a suspension to the other.
When one side of a suspension moves up or down the deflection of the bar end applies tension to the other end resisting the change.
The side-to-side effect of an anti-roll bar works the same for either leaf spring, coil spring or torsion bar suspensions.