Well, my first post and have only been an Excursion owner for about 2 months. Bought it and a 30 foot TT from the same guy...2001 with only 51,000 miles, v-10. Great condition. So I took the family (wife and 4 kids) and the camper from Easton, Pa to Salisbury, NC heading down Rt. 81. It was 99 degrees and so humid it felt you were walking through a wet blanket. Truck was being sucked in and spit out by every passing rig and my fingers were sticking to the steering wheel. Almost to Pulaski, Va. when it started swaying worse than ever. Kept one hand on the electric brake control ready to activate it, when all of a sudden a loud bang, truck lurched to the right and a horrible grinding noise. God was taking care of us because it happened just before an onramp, no vehicles on it, with an extra-wide shoulder. I managed to wrestle the whole rig over to the shoulder, got out and saw that my rear right tire was absolutely shredded and the truck was basically sitting on the rim.

Did I mention it was 99 degrees hot and humid?? I didn't even know where all the handles were for the jack. Luckily, I found a piece of paper in the jack compartment that told me where they were. But they were so hot, I couldn't even touch them and I had no gloves. I called Good Sam's that we joined the day before in case something like this would happen, and they covered the trailer as well. But they told us we had to be members for 48 hours before they will help. GREAT! I'll do it myself. Unhitched the trailer, took a rag, wrapped it around the jack handles, changed the tire and got back on the road in 45 minutes. Drove 3 1/2 more hours and thankfully went to bed! Not a fun day! But could have been way worse!!!

First towing experience feedback? Lots of power to tow. Sways all over the place. Already ordered the Hellwig Sway bar and hoping that will help! All in all, this truck is a beast!!

 

Sorry you had such a crappy day, but hey. No injuries, no damage and you had a "learnign experience." All in all, a good day

When we tow the resuce or training boats, we always carry the following at a minimum:

-Flares/Triangle safety markers
-Gloves
-Towels and rags (for the dirt and grease and sweat)
-Blanket or packing quilt to get down on the ground
-something flat and hard to brace the jack if needed.
-Extra T-shirt so you don't spend the rest of the day looking and smelling like you just crawled out from under the overpass.
-Tools (basis stuff-nothing fancy)
-Hand cleaner.

Always know your rig before you need to. I did the same thing once and had no idea how to get to the spare tire down on a new ride. Talk about embarrasing!

Always check with travel/motor clubs and check thier specific limitations and requirements (AAA/Good Sam/Boat US/SeaTow, etc)

If you can afford it, always opt for the higher end packages (AAA+ for example). IT has always paid off for us in the past. Never failed to get our $$$ worth.

Glad everyone is ok and you hopefully had a good trip afterward.

 

Great advice!! At least I had the rags!!!! Next time, I will be much better prepared. And you're right, it was a learning experience!

 

good too hear you and family is Ok.
What tire load range you got and their condition?

 

Scorpion Perelli E-Rated at 75 PSI. Pretty good condition with at least half of the tread life and no discernible cracks.

 

I am glad you are safe, we have all had nightmare trailering trips.

My Ex sways too with my enclosed car hauler, I learned to move away from the trucks when passing, definitely not fun. I am installing sway control and load leveling, a sway bar and possibly different springs.

 

I have the sway control and wdh installed. May not have had it adjusted right going south, readjusted it coming back north and it was slightly better. Hopeing Hellwig anti-sway bar will help. There is alot on this forum by way of info to help with the rolling tendency of this truck, so I am trying to learn it as thoroughly as I can.

 

Don't mess around with the sway. Get this it's called RASS
Roadmaster Active Suspension, rear leaf spring suspension, simple installation, improve road handling, reduce sway, reduce dangerous body roll on cornering, eliminate bottoming out, eliminate wheel hop, eliminate axle wrap, strengthen the rear leaf s

 

Tim,

Sorry to hear about your crappy experience, definitely not needed on vacation right? I have been towing my 30 ft. 11K toy hauler all over the USA for the last 3 years and my first trip was a scary white knuckle experience too! I made several changes and purchases and it tows so good now that I actually can relax a bit while towing even when being passed by semi trucks etc...

1. E rated tires required on the Ex set at 80 PSI
2. Make sure the tongue of your trailer is slightly nose down. (Slightly)
3. Must use a sway and weight dist. Hitch
Even after thes first 3 it won't tow that great yet.....
4. Install Firestone Ride Rite air bags in the rear and inflate to 75 PSI
5. Install very stiff shocks at all 4 corners. I bought the 9000 XLs
6. Tighten/adjust the steering gear
7. Install dual steering stabilizers, this will take the steering wheel back an forth constant adjusting away!

The above list is what I did after my 1st trip. Night and day difference! At times when passing I occasionly hit 80 for a short period of time and my truck and trailer run straight and true! I usually run 65 while towing and I'm not saying go 80! Some guys will substitute the air bags for RAS. I didn't since I prefer the large range of adjustment that the air bags offer. The rear of my truck is rock solid at 75 PSI!

I know it sucks that our Excursions didn't come equipped for heavy towing right from the factory! If you do get the mods you can turn your truck into a very stable towing machine!!

 

I like the idea of the RASS. Can anybody give me an idea of what to expect for price. both installed and not installed?

 

I have seen RAS installed 2 Excursions and they both still sagged in the rear with heavy trailers. I've never towed with them but didn't like the steel spring nature of the RAS. I prefer air bags/air ride. RAS seems to react to actions being exerted upon them. Air Bags prevent those forces from affecting the tow vehicle at all. Air Bags at 80 PSI will eliminate roll period the end. Now RAS may give a better ride according to their web site descriptions, but they are using springs to react, where a stiffer air bag doesn't let movement take place at all which makes for a very solid towing platform! I find it hard to believe that the RAS would create a solid tow platform. They look to me like they sacrifice slightly to preserve a better ride.

 

I've picked up the RAS from about $200, but still need to install it. I have a 33' TT and the Hensley Arrow hitch. I've only had the rig a few months, but don't really like towing with it yet.

Next step is the RAS install and 9000XL's. As it stands, I have zero sway due to the Hensley, but the front end bounces all over creation if I put enough WD adjustment to the front. So long as I stay below 5/8 of a tank of fuel, it's much better. Hopefully the 2000 or so extra pound capacity that the RAS gives will make the difference. If you go that way, just remember to pick up new U bolts - you cannot reuse the old ones.

If your E rated tire blew, I'd suspect that you had too much weight on the rear, but maybe you just hit something.

 

The first thing I would do before any mod is to make sure the hitch is set up correctly. There are several videos on youtube from etrailer.com that cover how to adjust and check that your WD is setup properly. I tow a 7000# travel trailer with few problems using a standard reese type WD hitch. Is there room for improvement, yes but I am getting a satisfactory tow experience on a mainly stock setup. I do have a 2005 ex with stock sway bar and E-rated tires, this is probably a large factor in influencing my experience.

 

Tim welcome to the site and sorry to here about your experience, there are some things that I noticed that could have contributed to your tire failure.
1) the temps that day, at 99 deg the black top would have been over 150 deg and this causes tires to heat faster and expand which can cause a blowout due to increased tire pressure.
2) Vehicle speed- that faster of travel the hotter the tire, thus expansion occurs.
3) amount of time driving- if you had been driving for a long period of time it will heat up tires, I mean longer than 4-5 hours in that heat
4) you indicated the tire pressure was at 80, is that the max for that tire? if so you did not allow for tire expansion in that heat
5) take 1-4 and put them all together you have several things that can cause tire problems but when you put them all together you increase that 2 fold for each added to the 99 deg temps.
Most do not notice it because most will stop every 2-3 for some reason which allows the tires to cool, then tire pressure plays a big part in it too. This is why you should run manufact recomended tire preasure for the temp you are in.
About your sway- park your truck/trailer on a as level as possible surface, unhook level your trailer front to rear, back up to the trailer and the top of the ball should be center on the hitch cup (top to bottom), this will tell you how much you need to raise or lower your truck. If they are equal as mentioned above measure from the surface to the bottom of your ball hitch, then hook up, once hooked up measure again and this is where your WD/Sway bars should have it setting at the measurement that you took.
NOTE; the truck/trailer should be loaded just like as if you was going camping.
If you are putting too much pressure on the bars to obtain the levelness then you should see about helper springs, air bags, RSS, etc. One thing that occurs is when the hitch is low you are lifting the front off the ground.
I pull a 34 foot Airstream at 11,000 lbs loaded and a tong weight of 1100 lbs I had the sway issues with semis even with the hensley hitch, added the Ride Rites to it set everything on level ground hooked up added air until level (30lbs) then went for a ride, aired up to 60, 10lbs at a time to get a good idea of what worked best. Now I run 10lbs normal driving, 40lbs hooked to the trailer, whole thing sets level and I have a slight preasure to the steer and I barely feel the semis now.
Point here is that although all of us use something to correct Fords lackings, but it is different for each of us and you will have to do what works best for you. Maybe the Ride Rites, Hensley hitch, Standard WD/Sway Hitch/bar, RSS, Overloads, etc. All we can do is let you know what we do.
Hope we have helped.

Sarge

 

Welcome to the forum Tim. I would suggest you check out here and go to the towing forum. At the top of that forum is a weight distribution setup sticky. Lots of good info on how to properly setup your hitch.
I have the RAS, Helwig sway bar, Rancho RSX shocks, Rancho steering stabilizer, and V code front springs. Tows pretty good now but I think it could still be better. Front end alignment will probably be my next move. Even with all I have done I still feel the semi's as they pass. Although it is much better.
Maybe Joe X Hemi Guy will jump in here. He has a ton of experience and knowledge as to what it takes to make the Ex a awesome tow machine!
Anyway hang in there and do your research as to what you want to do to your Ex. It can be made better. Good luck, John