I know, I know, it's not enough engine for "the tank". But when I ordered it I was only going to be "tooling around town", in grand style of course! And it has been great, I love it.

But now I'm going to sell my SD F350 and gooseneck rig but don't want to be completely without a horse trailer.

I've looked into bumper pulls and can get a 2500lb 2 horse. That would leave me 3700lbs for horses and stuff, way more than I would ever use. (max.tow.cap. is 6200lbs.)

Anyone use there 5.4 for towing? Did you add any extras(ie.external transmission cooler)?

I've been told you guys are not all snoozing over here in "X Land", so I'll be awaiting your feedback!

Thanks, Carole

 

Well, maybe some of us are snoozin', so I'll give it a shot. It sounds like you are slowly getting there. Yup, 6200 lbs with the 5.4l But at least you know that the limitation is the engine, which deals with how fast you can go up a hill. Peace of mind should come from knowing that the brakes, chassis, handling, etc are capable of far more.
1/2 ton vs 3/4 ton is a simplistic throwback. Nowadays you've got to do the math. With all those kids in college you should be getting REAL good at math, especially subtraction.

OK, so I've never even been on a horse, so I'm not sure whether their trailers are front heavy or not. A weight distributing hitch usually has spring bars about 2ft long attached to the front of the trailer, which you pry up when hitching up. They use leverage and spring tension to shift the hitch weight foward to the middle of the truck. Not a big deal if you need one. $200-$500. An outboard boat is an obvious example of a trailer that usually does NOT need that type of hitch as most of the weight is towards the rear. When you hook up with just a ball it is called a dead weight hitch. The Ex (and almost everything else)has a 500lb dead weight limit on the ball. The rest of the trailer weight is carried on the trailer axles.

I have a V10, and I can't tell from the online service manual whether the 5.4l comes with the external trans cooler as the V10 does. I expect it does....perhaps someone with a 5.4 can chime in. Not a big deal to add one $100-$200(?)

You mentioned a friend with a bumper pull horse trailer, why don't you just hook up hers and test it out?

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-Mar-01 AT 01:23 AM (EST)[/font][p]John (my son's name),

At this point "fast" is not the problem. I just want to know I'm towing the load safely and not putting undue stress on the truck.
A friend of a friend gave me a transmission guy to call and he said,like you, that I probably already have the external transmission cooler thing on the truck. If I ever get it back from the body shop (delays, delays!) I'll be able to check it out.

Bumper pull horse trailers use a dead weight hitch. The horses (average 1200lbs ea.) stand over the axle. Tack (fancy name for horse stuff) is stored in front. It's a matter of leveling to make sure the weight stays over the axle and not on the ball (trailer hitch guy's job)

3 reasons I don't hook up my friend's trailer
1. My Excursion's in the shop
2. It's not wired yet, hence no lights or brakes!
3. I'm in San Diego, she's in Los Angeles
Plus her trailer is a 3 horse steel, probably close to 4500lbs, empty. (it was actually mine before I got my gooseneck) It's a great trailer but it pulls like a rock, definitely not what I need!

I think I have it pretty much figured out I was just hoping to get some comments from "the snoozers".

Thanks for all YOUR help,

Carole

 

Carole, One more thing. Getting the wiring done is a no brainer. In the same bag with the aforementioned 7 to 4 pin adapter is a cable that you wire to your brake controller, then plug in behind the panel under the steering wheel. The easiest setup I ever came across.

 

Well, it looks like I AM the only one with a 5.4L (or at least the only one willing to admit it!)

Finally got the Ex back from the body shop (as much as I love my 350 SD SD, the noise and 172" wheel base was getting to be a little much around town).

I found the wiring packet and will be getting set up for towing in the next couple of days. Once I get the new trailer, the truck and gooseneck go up for sale. That will be a sad day! Hey, maybe nobody will buy it (wishful thinking).

Thanks to everybody for the help on all the posts,

Carole.

 

 

Hey I two have a 2000 x with a 5.4 I dont know what rear end ratio you have but that will make a big difference in your 5.4 towing. Like others said the truck itself will haul about anything you want I bought my truck used for my wife and it had all good options liked except for the engine but the price was right so I bought it. I do a lot of towing with my truck. It is mine full time know and it probably does more work than most sd pickups. last fall all the guys at my job like to give me hard time about driving a school bus. well I say put up or shut up. in october we had a local truck pull. Yap I was the only X. chuckin dirt. There were definately some chuckles and talk when I hooked up to the sled.I ran in two classes stock, and modified stock. I took 4th out of 6 truck in stock. I pulled 98 feet. that kindoff shut everybody up. the winning truck was old chevy one ton with bigblock and super swamper he pulled 150 feet. in the next class I was just pulling too have fun. these truck were running pretty hot open headers.weight bars on the front. the flag guy hooking me up said the sled was 4,000 lbs heavier this time. I pulled 98.8 feet on that run. they shut me down cause I was still pulling probably the last 15 feet inching but steady all four tires were pulling. I had just enough traction too keep me going but not too much for my power. It was awesome needless too say. Oh yah I also beat a dodge in that class. not bad for a school bus. My oint is its not always the motor that makes a good puller. there are lots off factors. Any body want to pull.

 

My buddies call mine the big rig. I take it as a compliment.

I know someone with a 5.4. Is the truck slow? They're all slow, I know, but you can merge just fine with a V10 and it's got great top end. What's the power like on the 5.4 when you need it?

 

I've got a bigger engine on my Scooter

Nah, just kidding but when I did research the X before I bought it I read that they felt it was a bit underpowered with the V8 so I made my decision then and I don't regret it.

As for towing advice, i'll let the others handle that. Just wanted to be a smartass

George

 

We are buying 05 Jayco 32ft Traver Trailer w Super Slide, going half with my parents. I know my 01 7.3 X will pull it as we rented a similar model last summer and pulled it through the mountains from salt lake city to central washington and back. My parents have an 05 E350 12 Passenger 5.4 and we will be picking up the trailer next week with the E350, I am quite intrested in seeing how she will do.
Gonna do the Torque Convertor Lock switch mod this weekend.
Have you checked to see if you have a trans cooler, if not I recommend the cooler from the 6.0

 

I have a buddy who pulls a 20' car trailer on the weekends. He had an exedition with the 5.4, added airbags, swaybar, other goodies and it still REALLY struggled pulling through the hills on trips out east.

He has on '03 V-10 and the difference it night and day. We expected an improvement, but just looking at the torque and HP differences, then adding the weight of the Excursion we didn't expect it to be this dramatic.

Gears, transmission and suspension and other items I'm sure factor in to the equation, but the V-10 seems significantly better.

... The deisel must be amazing...

 

Ooooh, the diesel is amazing! You should hear it in the morning! Even beats coffee sometimes!

 

I have a 5.4 it gets okay milage but not a lot of power, It is actually about as quick as my 96f150 5.0 so i guess power/ speed is relavent to time it was purchased. I tow a car and trailer with it circa 8000 lbs and it does okay.