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Bought my first Excursion to pull my toy hauler.
Not new to Fords or the FTE forums - I have a 97 E250 5.4 van.
I decided to get something with a little more guts to drag the trailer 1000 miles at a time.
Too cheap to buy a diesel and I'm comfortable with the Tritons.
2000 2WD V10 with a lot of miles and I probably paid too much but the AC works, the trans shifts great, non-smoker interior.
Found the owners manual in the glove box complete with master code for the keyless entry.
Also had the trailer brake dongle in the glove box.
And it made the first 1000 mile round trip hauling the trailer without issues. Except for a monster headwind keeping me locked in 3rd...
I already fixed a bunch of little things thanks to the forum (THANKS!) and installed a double-din with backup camera.
Still a few things to fix. Most annoying are the inop passenger side windows and the super-short accessory delay.
I think rear air bags, a bigger trans cooler, and a junkyard 4.30 rear end are on the summer projects list.
And fiddling with the hitch.
.... I think rear air bags, a bigger trans cooler, and a junkyard 4.30 rear end are on the summer projects list.
And fiddling with the hitch.
Definitely upgrade the trans cooler to the 2004 5R110 cooler and get the hitch adjusted.
Does your Ex have the radiator trans cooler? I've read that early 2000 Exs did not have it from the factory.
Our Ex had a lot of drop with the trailer hitched, no bars.
Changing to stock F250 rear leafs raised it an inch and it rides better, too.
The biggest overall handling improvement was adding the Hellwig rear anti-roll bar since ours had no rear bar.
I’m not an expert by any means, but that picture looks
like way more sag than I would expect. It looks
like you are using a WD hutch, what is the tongue weight of that TH?
Thanks for the tips - I'll dig into a few things. Now I'm curious about the radiator trans cooler.
I have no clue what the tongue weight really is. I'll drag it across a scale soon.
Thanks for the tips - I'll dig into a few things. Now I'm curious about the radiator trans cooler.
I have no clue what the tongue weight really is. I'll drag it across a scale soon.
no need to go to a scale.
post a pic of your rear leaf springs so i can verify the spring rate.
then measure from the center of the hub straight up to the bottom of the fender.
post the measurements both with and without the trailer and I can tell you the tounge weight
Thanks for the tips - I'll dig into a few things. Now I'm curious about the radiator trans cooler. ....
Also in 2000, the hitch receiver is rated for 10k/1k - does yours have a sticker in the hitch?
In 2002 the mounting bolts were larger which increased the rating to 12.5k/1.25k.
It would be nice to know the total weight of the trailer.
i would not worry about the hitch rating diffrence, the real world implications of it is at 55 mph when you get in a head on collision the bolts dont sheer if you are over 10k
so why dont i worry about it ? pretty sure those bolts will be the least of my problems if i get in a head on collision even without a trailer
No clue on the tongue weight.
Trailer is supposed to be about 5900lbs empty + about 1500lbs of ATVs in it.
Almost no liquids in any of the 4 tanks (fresh, gray, black, fuel).
Roughly 30lbs of propane.
Axles rated for 10400lbs. (Lippert LC152s)
Springs look like (based on reading a bunch of spring threads) stock Ex springs:
no need to go to a scale.
post a pic of your rear leaf springs so i can verify the spring rate.
then measure from the center of the hub straight up to the bottom of the fender.
post the measurements both with and without the trailer and I can tell you the tounge weight
Originally Posted by pirate4x4_camo
yes those are stock springs, post the 2 measurements i detailed above and i can tell you uour exact tounge weight
How much weight the rear axle is carrying yes, exact tongue weight maybe not...... . There looks to be a significant amount of weight being taken off the front axle of the EX, which of course will be added to the rear axle but not part of the trailer tongue weight. I think a thre pad commercial truck scale is still the best way to verify you true axle weights and trailer total weight as well as the exact tongue weight, it will take three passes over the scales to get all the info and will cost about $15 total. Armed with that info you can verify that your WD hitch spring bars are correctly sized for the job and adjusted properly. Toy Haulers do tend to have very high tongue weights to counter the load of toys in the garage. Our old 31' TH that scaled at 9,500lbs had a 1460lbs tongue weight with a load of a few bikes and camping gear loaded in the garage.
I spent a little time fiddling with my hitch today. First pic is without the WD bars hooked up.
2nd pic is with the bars hooked up, 1 link shorter than the picture above (6 links).
This did not level the Ex enough. So...
Final pic, I tilted the hitch head back. Trial and error I ended up adding 3 washers to the spacer stack. Bars hooked up with 7 links like picture at start of thread. Hard to tell vs. pic 2 above, but it made a difference. Ex is almost exactly same height as unloaded.
. There looks to be a significant amount of weight being taken off the front axle of the EX, which of course will be added to the rear axle but not part of the trailer tongue weight. I think a thre pad commercial truck scale is still the best way to verify you true axle weights and trailer total weight as well as the exact tongue weight, it will take three passes over the scales to get all the info and will cost about $15 total. Armed with that info you can verify that your WD hitch spring bars are correctly sized for the job and adjusted properly. Toy Haulers do tend to have very high tongue weights to counter the load of toys in the garage. Our old 31' TH that scaled at 9,500lbs had a 1460lbs tongue weight with a load of a few bikes and camping gear loaded in the garage.
