Brand new Excursion owner
 

I just traded my 2002 Chevy Avalanche for a 2005 Excursion 4x4 V10 Limited. My kids love the room and I am very impressed that it turns heads when I park at the hardware store. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I have noticed that it rides A LOT rougher than my Avalanche did and may be looking at trying to smooth out the ride soon. <o:p></o:p>
I am getting ready to pull my RV this weekend with it and am also curious on how it will handle with my 7800 Lbs RV behind it. <o:p></o:p>
I have several items I need to get fixed but we purchased an extended warranty so hopefully they will be honest about some minor repairs. I am so glad I found these forums, several things posted are going to help me with explaining to the repair facility what is going on (power locks not going all the way up) <o:p></o:p>
Thanks for everyone keeping the communication flowing. I was a member of the Chevy Avalanche fan club and saved a ton of money with repairs found on the forums and am glad you guys are here.<o:p></o:p>
Do you guys have meet ups at anytime with the Excursions? We would love to get together with other owners in my area and talk trucks.<o:p></o:p>
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Thanks, <o:p></o:p>
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Greg<o:p></o:p>
Redwingbd<o:p></o:p>
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Welcome !
Lots of info on here about towing mods......read away !

Hey there! I just got my 05 PSD Ex this weekend. I actually bought it to haul my travel trailer and to help us prepare for our 3 little one.

The avalanche will ride smoother. it's a glorified car. This is a truck. F350 springs/shocks. Rated 11,000 pound towing capacity. However I've heard of people breaching 20,000lbs. It's a real vehicle.

As far as meets go, join your regional forum. There are periodic meets for all of them.

So, how does it feel to have a set of balls under your ruck? Even though it is a V10...

Ha! Thanks for reminding me about the truck aspect :-)
trust me my Avalanche was all truck too... And I will tell you how it feels to have balls under my new truck after pulling the RV.

Hi Greg and congrats on your X! I don't know how many miles are on yours, but you will probably find that your front leaf springs are worn out, causing them to sag and your truck is hitting the bump stops, which is why it is riding so rough.

As for your door locks, you can replace those easy enough, or better yet if you're cheap like many of us here, you can fix your door lock actuators yourself for nothing but time.

Both of these problems have many threads devoted to them because they are very common to the X, but the solutions are pretty straight forward. :-X22

Thanks PigDaddy my Ex has 77000 miles on it. I am towing my RV this weekend and I think that will be my decision maker if I need to smooth it out or not.
I appreaciate the advice

Where i nthe US are you?

Congrats and welcome to the KING of SUV family!

Towing your 7800# TT shouldn't require any major modifications to your Ex.

When I had my 7500# TT I towed that thing all over the US and thru the Rockies with the only addition being a Hellwig rear sway bar and a 1200# Reese DC WDH properly adjusted via the CAT scales to insure proper tongue weight.

I would recommend you visiting a CAT scale to insure your Ex and TT are properly balanced for stability on the road...lots of folks go by the RV mfg brochure numbers...which are NOT accurate once YOU load YOUR TT...

I found that my initial scale readings had my TT loaded with over 1400#'s of tongue weight due to having too much under the front bed...a few movements of gear later to the dinette bench seats and I was at 1200#'s...so do yourself a favor and load up BOTH the Ex and TT as you would for a hauling trip and go to the scales...

Also make sure your Ex has the rear sway bar from the factory...if not...add the Hellwig yourself for like $200 and 1 hour of your time...well worth it.

Finally...hopefully you aren't relying on just a friction sway bar for sway control...go DC or Equal-I-zer BRAND hitch which both give you WD AND Sway control in them...both are many times more effective than a simple friction bar...

If you have ANY questions on how to properly weigh and set up your hitch...just ask...it is kind of a hobby of mine to get rigs properly balanced and WD hitches properly tuned...so don't be shy.

Good luck and WELCOME to the family!

Joe.

Wow X Hemi guy! I have no idea what younare talking about right now...that means I seriously need to study your posts and ask more questions before I tow ANYTHING serious with my beast! You are the man!

Peace2peep, I thought the same thing. It is great to have resources to hit for questions! Thanks X Hemi guy

Just wanted to let you know, your Ex will ride much nicer when towing your trailer. I know mine does!

For the best on-line tutorial of how to set up your WD hitch via a CAT scale...take a look at this thread over on RV.net RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Towing: Travel Trailer Hitch Set-up Procedure

I camp with the guys that penned that post...Barney, Les and John...all great guys!...but it is an excellent bit of information to assist people with a step by step process of what to do at the scales to get your WD hitch tweaked.

In a nutshell here's what that thread will tell you...I'll put some numbers in as an example for you...

A trip to a scales is the only real way to get your WD balanced properly...you can get "close" via measuring the fender heights pre and post hitching...but the scale is the only way to know for sure that you have returned the FRONT axle to the same weight after hitching and haven't lightened it because of the tongue load and improperly applied WD. Going to the scales will cost you about $10 and you need three weights total

1) Ex unhitched but loaded for the trip...meaning have the people and gear INSIDE the Ex when you make this weight. These are your baseline measurements.

2) Ex HITCHED to the trailer withOUT WD applied. For each of these weights get individual axle weights for the Ex and a combined tandem axle weight for the trailer in #2 Once you get these two weights you will be able to see what your loaded trailer weight is from the GCW you get from the tickets.

Once you know the trailer LOADED weight you can then determine what your tongue weight is.

Simply take the rear axle weight in #2 above and subtract the weight that is UNLOADED from the FRONT axle and showing up on the rear axle and then subtract the unloaded weight in #1 from that and you have your tongue weight. Then divide the tongue weight by the loaded trailer weight to find the percentage of tongue weight...it should be in the 10-15% range with 12%-13% being ideal.

As an example...here's some numbers...remember only for example purposes these are made up numbers...

1) Ex front = 3200#, Ex rear = 4400#, GCW = 7600#
2) Ex front = 3000#, Ex rear = 5000#, GCW = 12,600#

What is that telling you?

Well it is telling you that you have a tongue weight of 400# (5000-200 (the amount UNLOADED from the FRONT axle) - 4400 = 400#)

It is also telling you that your trailer LOADED weight is 5000#'s (12,600 - 7,600 = 5000).

It is also telling you that you need to ADD MORE TONGUE WEIGHT since in this example the tongue weight is only 8% of the LOADED trailer (400/5000 = 0.08)

You would need to shift weight inside the trailer and repeat the measurements until you get the tongue weight in the 12-13% range AND under the receiver rating (1000# or 1250#'s depending on year of Ex).

3) The third weight you need is the trailer hitched and the WD ENGAGED. The goal in this part is to make sure the FRONT axle weight is returned to the same weight as you got in #1 above...I know we've all seen folks rolling down the road with their headlights pointing north...well that is because the tongue weight is UNloading the FRONT axle...one of the purposes of a WD hitch is to re-distribute the weight on the REAR axle and shift it BACK to the front axle as well as to the trailer axles...so in this exercise thru hitch head tilt and links in the chain...you are to adjust the amount of WD applied until you return the FRONT axle to what it was in #1 above...this will insure that the balance of the TV is returned to what the mfg wanted for steering and braking stability...does that make sense?...you will likely spend time here adjusting and reweighing...don't rush this or any step and you will be rewarded with a very well handling rig.

As far as sway control...well...the Reese dual cam (DC) or actual Equal-I-zer BRAND hitch give you far superior sway control than the simple fricition bar...opt for one of these

The only true way to know if you are balanced properly is to hit a scale...while the Ex is a big vehicle...an improperly balanced trailer can certainly ruin your trip.

Oh yeah and BTW...you need to make sure that you either level the trailer or make it slightly nose LOW...nose high is least desirable.

Hope this helps...let me know if you have any questions.

Be safe and good luck.
Joe.

Close. He actually has Excursion springs, I forgot what exact code they are, but they're very soft are more than likely very worn out.

redwingbd, check the amount of clearance you have between the bump stop and spring pad. I'm guessing 1/2-1" of clearance. What's happening is, you're bottoming out your front suspension which hits pretty hard. If you increase that clearance, your ride quality will get much better as well.

I installed a pair of V code (F250) front spring and the ride is way better. My suspension is actually working now. Do some searches on this topic. Many have converted and have been very pleased with the results.

Congrats on your new REAL truck :-drink.

I pull my Nash Travel trailer which weighs in at 10,000 loaded and then I add my ATV trailer behind that with 2 ATV's and my 3000 Honda generator. I am 63' in length. I try and keep the speed around 60 to 65 mph. I appear to be balanced very well. Not the greatest gas mileage, but sure is alot of fun and I get the looks when pulling up to the pumps. I have no issues pullling this much.