I am interested in making the Ex the safest towing vehicle possible prior to our Yellowstone trip next month. I purchased the vehicle in June and do not have much experience towing with it yet. This is not my first TT but it is my first EX. It is a 05 EB 4WD with the 6.0 in it. 2 weeks ago I purchased a 2007 Jayco 31BHS travel trailer and towed it to the storage facility. It towed horribly but the reason was that the equalizer hitch was all screwed up from towing using the former owners Chevy.

I am currently planning on the following to ensure a good towing experience

Base:
Equalizer hitch - not one of the expensive ones wit the dual cams and all
but a basic one with the chains.
Friction Anti Sway device
Properly inflated tires
Ensure that the trailer is weighted properly and not light on the tongue.

Mods:
Hellvig Rear Sway Bar (ordered)
Stiff Shocks (like Rancho 9000xls - Not ordered)
Steering Stabilizers (for my own comfort - not ordered)

Others which I have read about on this forum but am not interested (yet) enough to move on:
RAS
Air Bags
Front Sway Bar
New Springs
Steering Gear rebuilds
LandYots rardius rods
Chip/towing program
Brake Upgrade

I plan on getting my initial mods done and loading up the Travel Trailer for a couple of hour test run. It is around 8k lbs empty and probably well over 9k when loaded. I really load up when on the road. (Just in case SHTF).

Oh yeah - and I would like it to ride nice when not towing

What would you do if you were me? What did you do? What works?

 

CPT -

I have an 05 6.0 Limited 4x4. Here are my thoughts after towing about 15,000 miles with my 2008 Keystone Outback 28ft 7500# trailer plus 6 people and all their stuff.

- Hellwig rear sway is a is a must. Replace the sway that came with the
truck.
- Upgraded shocks are a good idea. You choose the brand.
- Load rating E tires are a must. Run them at close to 80psi when towing, 65 when not.
- Your hitch must absolutely be set up right. If not, it WILL be miserable. Check and re-check all the specs on your hitch.
- I installed Firestone air bags and like them but they are not a must do item.
- Steering stabilizer - great idea
- Alignment done by the best alignment shop you can find
- Programmer - I use the Edge so that I can monitor TFT, EGT, EOT, and Boost. I don't run a program since I have not done the stud replacement nor EGR delete nor larger exhaust. But I do use it to constantly monitor those 4 items. Not sure where you are, but if you are traveling through Colorado or Wyoming to get to Yellowstone, you will cross over the continental divide. This takes a lot of power and will really work the truck. Guages will ensure you do not over heat or run too hot EGTs. I highly recommend not running programs but using the guages until you can do some motor mods to your truck. The 6.0 out of the box is not bullet proof...my guages have warned me when pulling over I-70 in the mountains more than one time...I am REALLY glad I have them.
- Load your trailer correctly with more weight up front.

I have been working on my truck for 2 years and feel like I just got it dialed in. Still want to do the studs, EGR delete and larger turbo-back exhaust...in time.

Good luck. From where will you be coming?

 

My base was the same as yours and my mods as well excepting Bilstein shocks and factory stabilizer. My trailer is a Keystone 29BH.

Towing was a complete and total nightmare. Semi trucks were scary. Dual semis blowing by were terrifying. Semis and strong winds would probably have been fatal.

The air bags I added keep the nose where it belongs instead of pointing to the sky, but the single biggest and most worthwhile addition was the Hensley Arrow hitch.

My truck drives just fine unloaded and I don't see the need for spring swapping, steering rebuilds, etc etc when a simple change in hitch made all the problems go away. Before was a two-handed white knuckle experience the instant I got on the highway. Now I can tow the TT with 3 fingers on one hand with only good strong winds still able to push me around a bit. THAT will never be eliminated. There is just way too much surface area back there to be immune to wind. The difference now is I'll get pushed as a unit instead of the tail wagging the dog.

The arrow is an expensive hitch but I picked mine up used for a bit over $1K. Still nothing to sneeze at price wise, but quite a bit cheaper than swapping this, buying that, and rebuilding the other.

 

The single most important upgrade I did was to replace the steering gear. Here are the rest in order of install.

New Michelin load range E road tires - 65 psi unloaded / 80 psi loaded

Four new Bilstien shocks

Adjusted steering gear

Replaced OEM 24mm RSB 30mm OEM RSB

Installed Rough Country dual steering stabilizers

Adjusted steering gear again

Installed Landyot Radius Rods

Adjusted steering gear again

Installed Firestone Airbags

Replaced OEM steering gear with Red Head reman gear, removed Rough Country dual steering stabilizers and installed OEM steering stabilizer.

Handles great!

The X OEM steering gear is a POS!

DSMMH

 

I have to agree that a Hensley Arrow or Pro-Pride will make a dramatic difference however I just could not swing the cost since I already had a really good hitch (but not a great hitch). You can see the mods I have done but it I had to put them in priority, I would say:

1) Good upgraded Rear Sway Bar.
2) As good a hitch as you can buy
3) Trans guage (somehting that uses the ODB port is ok like a ScanGuage). You need EOT, TOT, EGT for sure.

That's the minimum. Here's the rest of my story.

The EX front springs are notroiously soft and sag wiht age. If they do sag, you will have very little clearance between the spring and "bumper". That's why many people change them out.

EGT's will climb when towing so I added the 4in turbo back exhaust to "get the gas out" (no pun intended for the V10 guys) as well as handle the extra power gained from the tuner (Edge Evo which does double duty as gauges).

The Cold Air intake takes better advantage of the tuner as well.

The front shocks I added because the OEM were just shot...

I did tighten my Steering box just 1 turn (truck has 135,000 on it) althoguh ther was not a lot of slop in the steering to begin with.

I am installing a 31 row trans coole rthis week (another weakeness of the earlier EXs but not your 6.0L) and would like the air bags to lift the back end since I have rasied the front wiht the V codes.

I am happy wiht the EX rear springs although they are stiff riding when empty.

Best of lucj to Yellowstone. The EX makes a truely awesome TV.

D

 

Thanks for the input so far.

CarMK: I will be heading from Mpls to Carbondale, CO to Yellowstone, to Pierre SD, back home so yes it looks like I will be hitting some good hills..

Tgreening: Yes I hear you but wonder if there was another issue causing problems. My last 30 foot TT was towed by an Expedition and I had no problems in SoDak when it was windy. Only when there was a 30 mph cross wind was I ever really nervous and then only when truckers were passing - 30 mph cross wind -> no cross wind -> 30 mph cross wind... lol - good times!
I think I will see how it acts after my first mods on a test run and hopefully there are no concerns.

DSMMH - the Red Head remanufactured gear sounds very interesting - How big a deal is it to get one and get one put in? This is not something that I would do myself.


Question - Why not a towing or performance program? My dad has the same engine in his 04 250. Been towing a massive 5th wheel for years with a tuner and just got back from another 6 week trip. He swears by it and has never had a problem. My experience with tuners was on an 01 Audi S4 with twin turbos. Blast to drive with the tuner and the worse that could happen was the turbos would blow and you needed to put some real turbos on it which was expensive but not that big of a deal.

Aside from wrecking our trip - what is the worse that could happen? I would be forced to make the mods everyone says to make anyway.

 

I just returned from out trip from North of the Twin Cities to Yellowstone and back, we went thru Deadwood, SD then on thru the Big Horn Mountains out there then back thru the Big Horns and thru the Badlands on the way home. Lots of mountain terrain, pulling my old 10,000lb TT. Zero issues aside from tailpipe rusting off the rear of the muffler. Wired it up with a roasting stick and off we went! The only upgrades for towing I have are the 5 star tuner with tow mode, load range E tires and trailer brake controller. I have towed with this combination to Yellowstone, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, and All over Minnesota with no issues.

 

By the way, I have the V-10 with 3:73 gears, where you have the Diesel, so it should be no issue as long as you have the proper hitch set-up.

 

Some answers I can attest to:

Equalizer/Friction Anti Sway:

Equalizer is a good hitch - I need to disagree about the Friction Anti Sway. The friction can change with dampness, temperature, use, and age. The Dual Cam (in my opinion) is much better than other "mid-range" hitches for keeping the tow straight (and arresting an induced sway). I've towed with a Hensley, a Dual Cam, and an Equalizer - and that is the order of preference from my experience. Bear in mind that any weight distributing system is preferable to no distribution system.

Properly inflated tires:

A must, but just because a tire is "rated" for any given maximum pressure, that pressure not may be the most optimal. Pressure rating of the rims must be evaluated, if a high pressure would provide for an excess amount of overall carrying capacity, a lower pressure would give a much smoother ride. Check out the various tire manufacturers for tables giving tire weight rating vs pressure. If, for any given tire pressure, you experience excessive pressure increase when hot (over 8 to 10 lbs) your tires are probably under inflated and pressure must be added (when cold) up to the max allowable to prevent excess heat from causing a pressure increase over the maximum allowed by the manufacturer due to "normal" heat increase.

Ensure proper weight:

Probably the most important of these three items - the only way to REALLY know what you have is to take the rig, loaded for normal highway travel, to a public scale and do a series of weighing to properly adjust the weight distribution bars. The primary use of the weight distribution system is to put ALMOST the amount of weight back onto the front axle which was deleted (lifted) when you dropped the tongue (WD bars loose) onto the hitch. This takes several weighings and recordings - drive off of the scales for each weighing to allow the WD bars to "reset". Weigh the trailer axles at the same time to insure you are not overweight on your overall GVWR or on any individual axle. CAT scales first weigh is around ten bucks, one scheckle more for each additional weigh in any 24 hour period. You can derive a LOT of information for twenty bucks. Several threads here in the forum present good tables to use and discuss the proper procedure for weighing to dial in your WD system. Trailer manufacturers are famous for underestimating actual weights.


Your '05 should already have a pretty good sway bar installed - might want to try the rig as is prior to deciding to delete the "better" sway control Ford finally installed at the end of the production run.


Of the above list, I think I would try the RAS system and new front springs. Don't go overboard with rear end mods without trying adding things one at a time. The front springs are known to degrade over time - you should have about 1 1/2 inch clear between the front spring "bumper" and the frame stop. Others will hopefully chime in if another distance should be considered.

On air bags - with the WD system you should not need any additional help if all is within Ford rated parameters. The maximum weight allowed on each axle according to Ford is found on the driver side front door/pillar. A heavy airbag system "could" allow the vehicle to apparently be level, yet dangerously overloaded on the rear axle.

The plus and minuses of the chip weight heavily on the side of "no" on the install. The power to weight ratio for this engine is already pushed by the standard for settings. I wonder about how much of the "bad press" the 6.0 engine has received because many of these engines are being run beyond their design limits. Use your best judgement, but bear in mind that even minor repairs on these engines can get really expensive.

Get the best brake controller you can afford and pull the hubs on the trailer to inspect the bearings and shoes. Turning the hubs are about $20 per wheel, and many recommend to turn them each time they are removed.

Remember that a lot of ST tire manufacturers recommend tire replacement every 3 years due to age degradation.

One thing i didn't see on your list was a gauge upgrade. With a diesel I would think that an EGT/Turbo temp guage, boost, oil temp, and an accurate tranny temp would be necessary for serious towing.

Good luck - Please post the results of your upgrades and WD dial-in.

 

This is all VERY good information. I have spent a ton on getting my Engine done up right. Now to set up the towing requirements.

 

Anyone else?

I was hoping to get a few more comments even if you are running stock and have no problem towing 11k lbs.

 

I towed my open car trailer with a total of 5500 lbs and the Ex was full of luggage 800 miles this week and it was a joy.

OTOH my enclosed 28 foot trailer is a beast, I definitely need to modify the truck or trailer for it.

 

If you find yourself on the road and having handling problems, remember your tire pressure. It's the easiest to adjust and it does make a difference. When I'm fully loaded with my toyhauler, it's 70psi in the front and 75 psi in the rear. Do yourself a big favor and try to get some miles towing your rig around home before the big adventure you're talking about. Good Luck

 

I have a 04' with the 6.0L here my set-up: Equalizer hitch, proidogy brake controller, 4" turbo back, Diablo tuner, gauges(trans,turbo boost,egt), load range E tires.
I would like to get air bags, beacause in the fall I load 4 guys to dogs and guns in the back, then hook up to my 30' Holiday Rambler. She sits down all loaded up. But it pulls GREAT!

 

I would think your first priority should be your hitch setup. I would not tow that big of a TT with a friction sway bar setup. You can add the Reese dual cams to your existing hitch. Get your hitch setup right first then see what you have. Also tire pressure is very important. It's something that you will need to play with to achieve the right amount for your rig. Your might check out RV and go to the towing forum. There is a sticky at the top that will walk you through a proper hitch setup. The Ex is a very capable towing platform with some tweaking. Good luck, John

P.S. I have done the RAS, V code springs and added a Helwig rear sway bar. Plus added the Reese dual cam to my TT hitch.