Hello everyone. I will start by saying we have a 2001 Excursion 4x4 with the V10 and 3.73. I do also have the Hellwig rear sway bar and a load levelling hitch. We have a camper that weighs probably in the 5500 pound range and we can tow it easily without sway. We are thinking of getting a new camper that weighs about 7700 pounds. I know I can tow it going by the numbers in the owner's manual, but am concerned about two things.

1. My Excursion shows no signs of tranny troubles but I am over 125k miles.

2. I hate to lose the ease of towing that we have now. I also have a 2004 Expy that has plenty of motor to tow our current camper, but is nowhere near as stable. We gained that stability through buying the Excursion. I would hate to lose it by buying a heavier camper.

How much will the added weight change the way the Excursion tows? Helpful from anyone towing a silmilar weight would surely be appreciated.

 

[quote=fordracingfan;8669949]Hello everyone. I will start by saying we have a 2001 Excursion 4x4 with the V10 and 3.73. I do also have the Hellwig rear sway bar and a load levelling hitch. We have a camper that weighs probably in the 5500 pound range and we can tow it easily without sway. We are thinking of getting a new camper that weighs about 7700 pounds. I know I can tow it going by the numbers in the owner's manual, but am concerned about two things.

I have an 05 Ex Limited V-10 3.73. Weight / anti sway hitch.

TT is 10K GVW thats about 1700 lbs cargo plus trailer.

Benn towing for years but started this truck and trailer set up at about 75K miles.
I am only a shade tree / driveway mech.

Have someone check fluids in drive chain. pull trans pan change filters etc. check the maginet in the pan for metal. check if it smell burnt

check and change axel lube.

Wife loaded the hell out of the trailer this past summer for a cross country trip. (Going again this year, southern route this time.) Truck pulled fine with only a little trouble over some of the rockys. MPG sucked going up but we got 99.9 MPG going down the other side.

You have been towing so you know how, just check truck out, give things a look and a shake. it all depends on that

Good luck. where do you go camping?

 

Is that 7700 lbs. the dry weight? If so, you need to get the GVWR of the trailer. How long is the new trailer?

I have a 2002 2WD V10 Ex with 4.30 with 116K miles. I tow a 26 ft. Nomad 260 with GVWR of 7750 lbs. It tows well with just using WD hitch no sway control on flat roads. When I hit any grade, I have to take it off OD and it revs high in RPMs to maintain speed. Your 4x4 will have a harder time with the 3.73.

Your Ex will tow it, no doubt. You'll need load range E tires and increase to max psi. You will feel it when a semi passes you.

 

At first you will notice a change I am sure but it won't be long and you will forget all about it. It isn't about motor capability, its about stopping power and stability. The Ex has lots more of that than the Expy.

Go fo it, you won't regret it.

 

You know Bad bogger is correct. in all my post i forgot about mentioning stopping power. check brakes too.

the Ford Excursion is all about towing

 

What all of the previous posters said + 1.

I tow just shy of 8,000 lbs also - a well set up Weight Distribution/Sway Control makes all of the difference.

I have a vaccuum guage along with a dual Aeroforce Guage setup - mostly pay attention to the vaccuum guage and tach when towing.

Watch the upcoming grade, drop your right little finger down to kill the Over Drive just prior to the tranny doing it for you. Keep the OD off until you are sure you have several miles of "OD OK" in front of you.

I get about 8.5 mpg towing, 12.5 not towing - all at 63 to 65 mph.

Make sure to change ALL of the fluids at the recommended service interval.

 

I tow a 30' overall length and weighing 11K behind my Excursion. Make sure your Ex has load E rated tires!! Inflate them to the max PSI of 80 if they are E-rated! You may want to get Firestone Air Bags in the rear, I use them because of my hauler weight. When I lower my trailer onto my Ex the Ex does not move at all when I have them inflated to 75-85 PSI. It really stiffens the rear end like crazy! No lean, sway or sagging at all! Then you can run them at 5PSI when not towing, there nice to have! Also you need an Equalizer hitch or some other form of weight distribution/sway bar hitch. I don't own a V10 with 3.73, I have the Diesel but many have stated that a gear swap puts the V10 into the RPM sweet spot while towing so you don't have the annoying down shifting on slight inclines. 4.30 gears seem to be the ratio that many like for towing! Good luck getting set up!

 

I can't say this with knowing the V10, I have an 02 Ex w/7.3 I towed our TH many, many miles, I never weighed it, but my basics estimates were about 11,000k when it was fully loaded, towed it just awesome, I think the only thing you will notice initially will be the few extra lbs, and then as stated, you wont even know! As long as you have serviced your tranny regularly, you just have to use it, mine went @ 100k,,, but I had issues that forced it, (no thanks to BOB SILVA FORD a bunch of idiotic butthead morons, led by the biggest one who wouldn't admit their screw-up) but you should be fine.

 

I see an often unaddressed issue in these towing posts and that is trailer length. the longer your trailer and the longer the distance from the hitch to the trailer wheels will have a huge effect on the way it tows... for example a 35 foot travel trailer at say 10K lbs will tow much differently than my 20 ft triple axle (6 brake) trailer will using the same weight. the shape will also affect the towing, 35 ft of sail behind the Ex will be different than 20 feet of flatbed trailer with a few pallets of rock and most of the weight centered over the axles...
That is probably one reason why the load equalizing hitch and sway control are so much more essential on the longer travel trailers vs the trailer I have and what I use it for...
We have pretty much beat the weight pulling ability to death but the engine and tranny combo's in the Ex are capable of pulling far more weight than they are rated for....

 

Southpaw bring up good points as do previous posters, I have a 25' TT that weighs 7700# dry, when I first bought the TT I used my 98 Expedition to tow it and kept wondering if I should upgrade to an EX. After the first summer I did and My Ex tows it like it is not even there. I too have the V-10 with the 3.73 gears, trailer brakes/controller and load range E tires. I have also pulled my Brother-in-law's F-250 super cab 4X4 on a flatbed and had no issues. These things are made to tow!

 

Dont forget the wind factor. My box trailer and big boat are both over 30 ft. long. Both weigh close to 11,000 lbs. Yes. I know ..I know...I SHOULD (but cannot afford) to change over from the 3.73 to a lower final drive ratio ( with the 3.73 I find i need to lock out the over-drive even un-loaded unless on Interstates.)

With a large "sail", you are GOING to have SOME sway at anything over 60 mph, whenever a big-rig and/or cross-wind affects you.

I do have surge brakes on the boat trailer, and electric brakes on the box trailer (both trailers have brakes on ALL three axles - so I have reasonably good braking control.

Bottom line - Excursions are essentially one ton trucks. You will do fine so long as you recognize their limitations. And dont forget - if you can't handle slowing down on the grades while towing heavy loads (to some guys this is a major life's crisis..!) get a diesel !

 

First off make sure you are considering "loaded trailer weight" and not dry weight. Dry weights are used by RV salesman to convince people they can tow more than they can.

I like the 80% rule personally. This ensures you're towing well within your numbers which should result in a safe towing experience as well as not pushing your truck to the wall mechanically. Start with the tow rating of your Excursion, for arguements sake let's say 11000 lbs. 80% of that is 8800 lbs. Now look for a trailer that "loaded" will weigh no more than 8800 lbs. So, considering the average loading practices of people, I'd say trailer weights no more than 7500 lbs. dry weight will yield a loaded trailer no more than 8800 lbs which will put you well in the "comfort zone".

You'll need a good weight distribution hitch and sway control system. I personally use the Hensley Arrow but there are many systems out there. Good luck.

 

I've towed with both the Excursion (03) and the Expedition (99, 03 and 07) and they both honestly are great tow vehicles if setup correctly. With the 03 Expy I towed a 30ft Sunnybrook TT (29DBS) and used the dual cam sway control with excellent results. It's a fantastic system and worth looking into if you are in the market for an upgraded hitch. The Expy has great power with the 5.4 and great brakes and with the IRS it's very stable at speed and under load. The 07 Expy added more power and the 6spd trans which was a great tow vehicle. It actually towed my boat as well while I was looking for the Excursion. The advantage of the Excursion is the weight, wheelbase length and the Superduty foundation. If your Expy isn't stable towing 5500lbs then you do not have it setup correctly - tongue weight may be incorrectly set, equalizing bars may need to be at a different setting than your Excursion, etc. Lots of factors - but the Expy should definitely handle 5500 lbs without an issue.

With the Excursion - tires were mentioned above but want to add to it. It's not just a Load Range indicator you should look for - but also the actual max weight capacity of the tire at max pressure. Max pressure is key and you only get the max weight capacity if you are at the max pressure rating. Load Range D tires can have just as much weight capacity as E rated - the advantage of D is typically more choices and sizes as well as only having to run at 65psi for a better ride. The E's need to be at 80psi and it can help your mileage but the ride can be harsh depending on other factors (suspension setup, shocks, etc). If you narrow your choice to a few tires you can look at the manufacturers web pages for the technical specs on them and you'll see the capacity of the tires along with other information which may help you.

Just to give you an idea - I had narrowed my search down to the Mickey Thompson ATZs. I wanted to go to 285's but they only had them in D. Using their web site it turned out I was only going from 3415 (E at 80psi) down to 3305 (D at 65psi). I knew I would not run the E's at 80 psi from previous experience with the ride - I do run the D's at 65psi all of the time except on the beach. Good ride, low noise and very stable - no steering wander like I had with the Firestone Transforce AT's E rated which the truck came with.

LT265/75R16 32X10.50R16 123Q E 3,415 80
LT285/75R16 33X11.50R16 122N D 3,305 65

 

I got lots of good info and insight. Thanks everyone. We did go with a 6700 lb dry weight 30 ft Keystone, a little more within my comfort range but still has all the extras the wifey wanted.

Gman22Expy, I had never heard it referred to as the 80% Rule, but that is a very accurate name. I just like having the extra margin.

Several people mentioned tires. Last Spring, I bought new E rated Michelin AT2s and went with the 285s. They are excellent tires so far.

Dadsexcursion, we camp mostly in the Sevierville-Gatlinburg-Cosby area in Tennessee. We also like the mountains of North Carolina. I take it from your location, you go just about everywhere. We do mostly weekend trips and usually a week at Myrtle Beach.

Good advice on the fluids, etc. My wife and I changed our tranny fluid based on info we found here. The Excursion shifts alot more smoothly now. I am going to get some Bilsteins and I may go with some airbags later if needed.

Again, thanks everyone for the great advice.

Scott

 

I towed my race cars all over w a Jeep Cherokee and a Suburban

Jeeps are not good at towing, I learned this the hard way

I'd suggest you install a larger trans cooler and keep your eye on water temp. If water temp rises it means the trans is getting stressed and could blow

Also you'll want to get fresh brake fluid and you can upgrade the rotors & pads at Stillen and keep the stock rotors

Also, you probably know but never use Overdrive while towing