Towing Capacity for 2004 Ford Excursion
 

I am looking at buying a 2004 Ford Excursion. It has 104,000 miles on a V10 engine. What is the towing capacity for this size truck and motor? Will it tow a 10,000 # rated Travel Trailer? It is not a fifth wheel. Just a standard double slide 33' camper. Can some one please let me know? Thank you.

One of the weak links of the Ex is it's weight limitations. As per the pic of the door post certification at the bottom of the page see that the rear axle is only rated for 5,250 lbs.

When I last weighed at a scale the lightly loaded Ex (grill, EZ-Up, cooler, but no driver, dogs, or passengers) had 3,840 on the front axle, and 3,760lbs on the rear axle - 7,600 lbs total. The maximum allowable vehicle weight is 8,900 lbs.

Now, add the 31' Sovereign 875 lb tongue weight and you start to get close to the allowable.

See my various weighs belowwith different settings of thr Weight Distribution Bars:

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At the #2 WD setting above (seems to be a "sweet spot" for towing), I have a total of 8,340 lbs on the Excursion axles. This leaves only 560 lbs for driver, any passengers, plus the 100 lbs or so of dogs and dog "stuff" we usually travel with.

To borrow a quote from a Math Prof of a particularly horrid math class I was required to take back before the days of hand held calculators, "it is intuitively obvious that..." the Excursion is near the Ford qualified weight limitation of 8,900 lbs.

A diesel model would have a slightly heavier front axle loading, but also may have a slightly heavier axle rating.

Bottom line, to answer the original poster question, on paper anyway, a 33' Double Slide Out would probably exceed the stated weight limitations of any Excursion, diesel or gas.

Having said that, the Ex does a great job of handling the 7,335 lbs of Vintage Airstream, has a great ride, and is a real joy to drive - I will not comment on gasoline mileage here, other than to say it is in the single digits while towing and the mid teens while light. The Excursion is a heavy, softly sprung vehicle, and, if not pushed past it's limitations, makes a great tow vehicle.
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Here is the link for your towing:
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...e_Explorer.pdf

Indicates to me:
6.8L SEFI V10 3.73 17,000 10,000 9,600
4.30 20,000 11,000 11,000