send pics for no other reason then share cool adventures.

 

here are some pictures from Red Clay Ralley last May. One from Rovers on the rocks. The bulk of the RCR pics are from the Daniel Boone National Forest if memory serves me

 

bitchen,
let us know how the Ex does out there. when/if you are ready to build a mid travel suspension on the Ex consider the procomp setup I have detailed in other threads.

 

Looks like fun!

 

I Was reading this thread and wanted your opinion on a suspension setup. I have a 2000 7.3 excursion all stock. I don't off road. It's a tow vehicle for my 37ft TT weighing in at 9000#. With gear and family I'm in the 10,500# neighborhood. I have a new weight distribution hitch to go along with it. My goal is just to be safe and cut down the any additional swa . What mods would you do to achieve that? springs? If so what spring mods? Air bags? I have newer rancho shocks on already. Also i have a set of 18 inch tires and rims available but need spacers if i where to use them. Would all steel spacers be safe to tow that weight or do i stick with stock tire size ? Thank you.

 

just for fun here is a new trail out in Johnson Valley OHV we have been working on.

No excursion is likely to ever run it but its still pretty cool.

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a crew cab dually or a Freightliner sport chassis is the first mod that comes to mind.

weight isnt your problem, surface area is, 37’ feet of sail against a 137” wheel base tow vehicle that only weight 8000 lbs is difficult to over come with a narrow width single rear wheel tow rig

payload and tongue weight wise, airbags are the obvious choice but still, when that big sail on a huge lever wants to whip you around it is going to have its way with you. fwiw, my old race trailer was 37’ and 14k loaded. my 7.3 Ex towed the weight no problem but it wasn't what i would call confidence inspiring. I bought a fifth wheel and freightliner.

 

I knew i could pull it no problem since i did pull it from NY to Florida and back last February. I just wanted to try to get the sway down. I will tell you I've been driving 18 wheelers for a living for 25 years so I'm not rookie in that respect. Would bigger tires help ? Would you feel confident towing with steel spacers? I was already looking up air bag choices. Would x/c mod springs help ?

 

perfect, mount a ball hitch on your tractor and pull the TT with that. that would be much better suited to the task then the Excursion.

spacers.
no i would not personally use spacers for the simple fact they are an additional maintenance item and failure point. there are plenty of rim choices that fit with no need for spacers.

bigger tires
bigger tires are not going to help with trailer sway.
but tires with stiffer sidewalls will help to maintain control of your vehicle when it does sway.

x/c springs
about as much as a new carpet kit.

you seem to be looking for a magic bullet that does not exist. 2 things cause trailer sway, 1 of them you can optimize and the other you cant not.

1. payload balance, loading your trailer to 60/40 weight bias front to rear with a 10-15% tongue weight is the critical.

with the trailer weight set correctly and using a correct size bars in your weight distribution hitch it should squat the rear of the Excursion 2” which would be 1” lower then a level ride height. ( with sir bags you can level it )

assuming everything is in proper working order on you excursion and a properly weighted trailer you have dome what you can to minimize load balance induced sway.

2. trailer surface area. back to the 37’ of sail.
your trailer is a 500 square foot sail, wind or air currents on it creates a large pressure differential between trailer and tow vehicle that is then multiplied by the fact you are pulling from the bumper and not from a hitch located over the axle. the force generated by your sail and lever are simply going to over come the stability offered by the short wheelbase and light weight of your tow vehicle.

you either need a smaller trailer to reduce the sail area or a larger tow rig to overcome the force generated by the sail area of your 37’ bumper pull trailer.

Key in on the caveat of “ your excursion being in proper working order”. as and suspension, tire, steering components or alignment that are out of spec are going to make towing worse. if your Ex doesn't drive perfect without a trailer it certainly isnt going to tow to its potential.

 

Due to the storms that hit my area I didn’t get it off road as planned before it left for Orlando. I did put a new KYB steering stabilizer on it while I had the truck down for some other maintenance along with adding some Hella LED lights up front.

So next week before I get a chance to see it and screw with it some more.