How much weight are you guys hooking up to your stock hitches? Min says that it has a 10,000 lb capacity with with a WD hitch, of which, 1,000 lbs can be on the tongue. In looking at some signatures as well as what people are towing with their X's on RV boards, it seems these weights are being exceeded. Are people putting aftermarket hitches on, or can the weight of the stock hitch be exceeded?

I believe my 2003 has a tow rating of 11,000. But when figuring a 12-15% hitch weight, 8,500 appears to be the limit before I am at capacity.

 

Factory is 11,000 lbs and 1250lbs tongue weight. Class 4 hitches are 12,500lbs, however that plus the vehicles dry weight would exceed GVRW, so it was reduced to 11,000.

 

If you would like a PDF copy of the Ford 2003 Towing Guide, I can send one to you. Just PM your email address to me. I also have copies for all other years.

The Towing Guide is very complete and will answer most of your questions.

There is also a wealth of knowledge about towing over at the RV.net Forums



Bion

 

I just checked my hitch and it does indeed say 12,500 with 1,250 tongue weight. I must have been confusing it with my suburban hitch.

 

Stewart and mrad,

The guides are sent.


Bion

 

To cover an answer to the original question a little better, I also want to show you how the trailer towing limits had changed during the Excursion production run. So here is a copy of an old post from 2006 that I put up:

Just putting all the info I have into one place. Hope it helps.

All of the following info was gleaned from the Ford tow books. Each year book was checked.

2000 and 2001 year Excursions have Maximum loaded
trailer weights of:

6.8L v10
Axle Ratio-------GCWR--------4X2--------4X4
3.73 ------------17000-----10000-------9600
4.30 ------------18000-----10000-------10000


2002 year Excursions have:

6.8L v10
Axle Ratio-------GCWR--------4X2--------4X4
3.73 ------------17000-----10100-------9600
4.30 ------------20000-----10500-------11000


2003 Through 2005 year Excursions have:

6.8L v10
Axle Ratio-------GCWR--------4X2--------4X4
3.73 ------------17000-----10000-------9600
4.30 ------------20000-----11000-------11000

Remember, even though the hitch sticker may say it has a Weight distributing max tow capacity of 12500lbs, and 1250 toungue weight, the published maximum allowable weight limits for hitch as installed on the Excursion are as follows: (This is valid for diesels and gas)

2000 year through 2001 year
MAX capacity-------tongue weight
10000----------------1000


2002 through 2005
MAX capacity-------tongue weight
11000----------------1100


The 2000-2002 towing books only list the maximum allowable weight for the hitch/truck combo.

The 2003 -2005 towing books list the above, but also list the maximum RATED capacity of the WD hitch.

 

Pdf copies of the 2002 and later Towing Books can be found here:
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...ng/default.asp


I can provide the earlier ones.

 

Mrad - I tried sending the PDF, but your mail bounced back to me. could be for a bunch of reasons and not at your end. Try to download it from the link above.

Bion

 

Bion,
One question. Even though the max towing capacity of an 03 id 11,000, why couldn't I have 1,250 lbs of tongue weight. Ex. 10,000 lb trailer, 1,200 lbs of tongue weight.

 

I would guess it's due to the spring rating of the Excursion. Because it's as heavy as it is, and has that 3rd row seating and such, it takes that into account and has the max load of a class 4 reduced a bit to not exceed the max weight rating of the springs.

 

Close. It is not just the springs in question.

The Excursion platform is based on the Superduty Pickups. The drivetrain, suspension, and all else is shared.

Most of this question was covered in an old thread from Febuary 2008:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...-or-1-ton.html

 

As far as frame differences between the Excursion and Superduty, see this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...d-to-rest.html

 

I have been stopped by the DOT with the 15K trailers and they have never asked about my factory Ford hitches. They must figure they can hold more than they are rated for. Mine are getting 10 years old and have to start looking for rust.