We have a 2005 Ex, V10, 3.73 gears, pretty much stock except for the Hellwig. Currently tow a 5000# dry TT, but have been considering either a Class A/C, or keeping the Ex and getting a new TT more to our liking.

If we go the TT route, I am leaning to a Toy Hauler for a number of reasons, but to get the type/floorplan we want means a heavy beast. We really like the Fuzion Impact 303 but it weighs in at 8800# dry and 13000# GVW.

Is this asking too much of the Ex?

 

Cut and moved to your own thread.

Stewart

 

You are passing the CGVWR of 20000lbs if you're carrying all 13k# of that trailer. So scientifically you are exceeding what the Ex is capable of. That said, replace the rear springs, maybe some airbags, mod the engine a little for some more power (tune, exhaust, maybe some headers) and it would be fairly doable.

 

I'm not going to tell you what is and what isn't too much for you and your EX to tow, But I will relay what I have done and what I tow with my V-10 EX.
My EX started off with the 3.73 gears like yours and we bought a 31' TH that had a GVWR of 11,300lbs, it typically ran at 9,500lbs+/- for most of our longer road trips. Tongue weight on those trips was 1440lbs (THs with little loads in the garage are very tongue heavy). It came with a Draw-Tite 1200lb WD hitch with single friction anti-sway device. The combo of a bone stock EX and this hitch and trailer was terrible at best and scary at times, like going into downhill curves! Something had to change.
Our first mod was to add a Hellwig rear sway bar, significantly reduced the amount of rear steer we had been getting from the trailer pushing the soft rear springs around.
Next up was an X/B (both modded with extra leaves) spring swap, this pretty much corrected the remaining bit of trailer tongue weight induced rear steer.
I then found a used Hensley Arrow WD sway elimination hitch on craigslist, I refurbed it with new bearing, paint and upgraded to 1400lb spring bars. This tamed all the remining bad habits and behavior the TH still had on the highway, the Ex/TH combo tracked as a single unit in all wind and traffic conditions.
Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks came next. Nice units that smoothed out the ride towing and running solo, can actually feel a ride difference with adjustments.
A gear swap was next, found a set of EX axles already setup with 4.88 gears, I wanted to run 35" tires on a set of 18" SD rims I bought and 4.88s with 35"s net an effective ratio of 4.39, an excellent and proven great towing ratio for the V-10. These made a huge improvement in towing performance, where the 3.73s had the trans downshifting on any small hill these 4.88 let the trans stay in OD on all but the larger hills and acceleration was much better.
Next came a set of Banks headers with Y-pipe. Great quality and very noticeable performance boost over the entire RPM range. Balance of the exhaust was left stock.
SCT tuner from Mike at 5 Star Tuning to make sure I was getting all that was available from the headers and gears, custom tunes for 87 Economy, 87 Tow, 87 Performance, 89 Tow and 89 Perf.
After these mods the combo was the most comfortable truck/trailer I have ever driven and the performance was soo much better than stock. In stock trim we had seen towing MPGs of 6.5 to 7 MPG on trips on I-95 to/from home to the Carolinas, with the above mods the EX now delivers 8.5 to 9.25 MPG towing. These figures are also being repeated with our new travel trailer that is 41' long, 11k lbs and 1400lbs tongue weight.
With my experience pulling these heavy trailers all over the East coast, I wouldn't want to be behind the wheel of a stock V-10 with 3.73s pulling 13k lbs.
I have to run now, but if you have any questions about my rig I'll be happy to help out however I can.

 

I ran that exact set up for 4 years. 05' X V10 3.73's 4" lift and 35" tires pulling a 32' box Toyhauler that weighed 13,200 with 1500# tongue.

I cracked two 14,000# Equalizer hitch heads.

It did pull ok but I've been told I have more ***** than brains and my dad was a truck driver.

I now own an 02' F350 CC Long bed dually 7.3 to pull that same trailer and while I thought the X did an ok job I was completely wrong after towing it with this TRUCK.

If you were only going to tow it for short distances or once or twice a year I'd say you'd be fine but if it's going to be a regular affair I'd look into a smaller trailer or larger tow vehicle.

 

With that setup you ended up with a gutless excursion lol. Tom has 4.88's which makes a lot more sense.

 

I agree but it wasn't just the gears it was the finger marks in my steering wheel after each trip.

And there's the worry that if you were ever in an accident you might have to foot the bill for everything for all parties involved since your insurance might not pay out due to the fact that you were over weight.

 

Understood, the excursion is great for towing but nothing like a dually

 

Here's my old set up.

35' trailer 32' box 13,000 pounds

Like I said above, I ran it for 4 years but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

Ok, I know the GVW is 13,000#. But, say I only load with 2000# of gear, which is typical for our camping purposes. This would get me in the 10,000#, give or take, range. I can only see getting to 13,000# if I were to load a copple of 1500cc Hogs, which I do not have. We will haul bicycles, kyacks, doggies, etc. I know this will make a heavy hitch load, but I will just upgrade the WD bars.

Still too much for my Ex?

 

It seems most EXs need some suspension help to tow that heavy and deeper gears will make you more of a happy camper. Also with that size and weight trailer I strongly recommend a "pivot point projection" style sway elimination hitch like the Pro-Pride or Hensley Arrow. Expensive, yes, but worth every penny! Both can be found on the used market for much less than retail, search eBay and Craigslist, I found my HA on CL.

 

Hell no lol. I did and tried it and ended up with an F-450 to tow it. Its a Weekendwarrior Fsw 3200 and it weights in at 14k dry empty no water (Sticker said 11,000 empty and 13k full loaded as no where near that)
Could never get it to tow right or comfortably going down the road, always a white knuckle ride.
Before

After

 

ex seems like to short of a vehicle for serious long heavy towing.

 

I would say hell no to this idea!

You are exceeding the max tongue weight first off!

I spun my Ex and trailer this year due to being a newbie TT hauler and an idiot Mustang driver. I was nowhere near the weight that you are thinking about towing.

If you insist on going this route with your Ex, you will need to drop some cash and set the EX up right.

V/B spring swap, bag it, hellwig sway bar and get the hitch mentioned above.

If it was me, I would go get an F350 as a tow rig and leave the Ex at the house!

 

If I were to bite the bullet on this, then for sure we would amp up the Ex (spring swap, 4.30 gears, receiver/hitch redo), not saying we will bite though.

Going to the Hershey Show this weekend and hope to look at all the Toy Haulers.

My thinking is that the V10/4R100 isn't up to the task of towing 11,000# (the max trailer weight allowed with 4.30 gears, and V10 per Ford) much less 13,000#! A new truck is out of the question. It's either the Ex with something else in the Toy Hauler or TT market or a Motorhome.

We are in the market of ditching the current TT as it has double bunks and we are empty nesters now. A class "C", "A" or some other RV is definitely in our near future.

Thanks for the input.