For anyone curious on towing with a 97 Expy 5.4 with HD Tw Package....

My truck has 148k miles and we use it to tow a 28' Jayco toyhauler. Dry weight is about 5,900lbs and comfortably loaded about 7,400lbs.

The truck pulls it ok but we could use more power. We get between 5 and 6 mpg. That's it, so any trip of distance is expensive.

I have a Prodigy brake controller and Equalizer weight-distribution/anti-sway set up. Both work well and make towing much safer. We do not get swept around as big rigs pass which is impressive considering the rear air suspension does not work and the rear sags....badly. We typically drive around 65mph and always lock out the OD on the transmission, which is a must. Absolutely no problem stopping. You can't even tell it's back there.

The majority of our towing is in South Georgia, North Florida, and Central Florida so no major uphill traveling. The lack of power is such that we try to avoid corkscrew on-ramps (not technically a word) as much as possible opting for long straightaway ramps. We have pulled the trailer over the Dames Point Bridge in Jacksonville (Google it) and while the truck was straining, I was able to maintain speed and even slighly gain speed but not by much. We have never run hot. We have only towed this about 5 times with our longest drive being 200 miles one way so take all of this with a grain of salt.

We would love to have more power and the convenience of traveling more than a 130 miles before refueling. We will be upgrading the truck next year to a 250 or Excursion.

 

I've heard of performance chip tuning may get more HP. Changing the rear differential would improve the towing capacity.

 

I thought about changing the rear differential but doing so would mean even worse fuel mileage which is pretty bad as it is

 

No.
You'll actually see no change in towing mileage,or actually an increase due to the engine not seeing as much load.
JL

 

Also try a K&N filter to let the motor breathe easier.

 

PI heads might help as well with another 30hp.

And man you get worse MPG's then I get with my Excursion V10 with 4:30's with pretty much the same weight.

 

It's all about load.
JL

 

The truck is woefully underpowered for that much trailer. I bet you never got out of 3rd gear.

I had a 97 Expy 4.6L with the tow package. The TC occasionally unlocked to maintain 70 mph with just me and the wife, no trailer.

The 97 5.4 only has about 15 more hp (215 versus 230) and about 30-35 ft/lbs of torque (295 versus 330, I think) than the 4.6.

In 98-99, Ford upped the HP to about 260 on the 5.4. Still pretty low.

My solution? I upgraded to an 01 Navigator with the 32V 5.4. WOWEE! What a difference. The Gator is a hot rod compared to the 97 Expy. I had to lock out 4th gear in the Expy towing my 1300 lbs. trailer empty. The Gator pulled that trailer with a 69 SCJ Mach 1 at 65 mph and never kicked out of overdrive. MPGs are only 1-2 less, at most, when unloaded in the Gator. Pulling a trailer (OD versus 3rd gear) Gator MPGs are higher (but still not good). Did I mention that the Gator is full time AWD?

The bottom line is that the early Expy's are not very good tow vehicles. Too underpowered.

PS - I am running regular gas in the Gator with no problems.

 

You're on borrowed time. It's gonna catch up with you eventually, and will damage the pistons.
JL

 

Emsand1,
See my sig and read my posts on towing...the information may help you.

 

Thanks for the community involvement JuneBug.

Question, what type of mpg do you get when towing your TT?

 

You are operating the truck at or above its rated capacity. As you have found, it works, but only so well. The best option is to move up to a heavy duty truck. The turbo deisels work the best, any one of them would pull that load without struggling and get 2-3x better milage. I have pulled a 28' car hauler, loaded truck and trailer was 24,700 lbs, though the mountains in Colorado. The truck was a Dodge Cummins, it easily pulled up steep grades at 70 mph and returned 12 mpg doing it.

 

Thanks everyone for your insight. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a 2000 Excursion 6.8 with 127k miles for $6,500. I'm looking forward to our next road trip to see how it handles the toy hauler. It has 90 more hp and 100 more ft lbs torque so we should be good to go now. Plus, it has a 44 gallon tank vs the 24 in the Expy.

 

That'll be a barrel of laughs at your first fill up.

 

That ain't no kidding....
JL