vehicle for travel trailer

Finding out if it has a 7 pin is the first step that a salesperson can look at with us on the phone and not driving all the way there. Then we'd have them look at some other thing thats extra on the coolant and brakes or oil. Sorry, my husband can decribe better. Stupid us thought all expeditions could pull travel trailers until we started looking. Any helfful hints?

Just because it has a 7 pin plug does not mean that it has the tow package. A 7 pin can be added after the fact...

Thank you for the info Wintersun. I am passing it along to my husband in case its anything he didnt look up yet.

On the Excursion? That's what we had with all our RV's before. Sadly we sold it years ago since we sold the RV's. Its a GREAT truck. My husband was in love with it, but at that time when gas was over 4.00 a gallon it was a liability just taking it out of the garage. They have not made them for some time now, so finding a low mileage one will be hard. Having hard time finding an Expedition with low miles and the heavy duty tow package that doesnt cost a fortune.

find a used low mileage Ford Excursion. It is on a 350 1 ton chassis.

You can use the VIN to lookup the specs for any vehicle as it left the factory. The tow package option is the only one that is actually a bargain as you get the hitch, the wiring, and a better radiator core and a transmission fluid cooler in the package for peanuts. They usually include a trailer brake controller and sway control. Ford calls this the "Heavy Duty Trailer Tow Package". With this tow package the maximum trailer weight increases from 6,000 lbs. to 9,000 lbs. with the 4WD version of the Expedition.

Download the Ford towing guide as it specifies by model and engine and gearing, how much of a load the vehicle can tow. You can find this easily to download for all the manufacturers' vehicles.

Take note of how much the gearing affects the towing capacity. Don't make the all to common mistake of getting higher gears that will hurt gas mileage when towing and not provide a noticeable difference in MPG in actual around town driving either. For the Expedition get the 3.73 gears and you will be glad that you did. The lower gears makes for faster acceleration to get onto a freeway with a trailer in tow and for safer passing when pulling a grade with semi's doing 10-20 MPH in the right lane.

The lighter the trailer the more stuff you can carry comfortably. The newer trailers are much lighter though also more expensive. Some like the ones from Lance are a good medium in terms of weight and priced lower than most.

trucks with cabs wont due becuase the bed area is not heated or air conditioned. No kids just pets. The bunks are going to made into large cages for the 2 cats, they hate each other and have to be separate. The back of a suburban folds down flat until you get to the back seats. Not flat at all and with them I cannot fit 4 larger crates in the back, believe me we walk around with a tape measure. What we wont do for our animals. :)

That's a bunkhouse... Are there kids too, or just the pets? Keep an eye on your payload if so.

If you take out the third row in a Suburban it's pretty flat. If you need to cover up the latch mounts you can always get a cargo liner to cover the floor. I believe I can fit four 2'x3' crates in the back of mine without flipping the backseat down, but not sure on newer ones.

You can always look at trucks with a cap too. We used to use the window and a fan in the cap to pass the heat & AC back from the cab.

The trailer is a Passport 2300bh. We've been looking at Expeditions from 2007 to 2011, money designates which we can get. The body style changed a little in 2007 so we figured thats as old as we want to get. But in 2010 they changed some sway thing, so there is alot to consider, and that's if we can even find one with the full tow package. A Suburba would be great, but the back does not fold down anywhere near FLAT. We will be traveling with 4 pets all in there own crates and an suv that doenst fold flat wont work for us. It's hard when there is only one type of suv to look for and sucks when you cant afford to just go buy something new.

What's the make/model of the trailer? not all 23/24 ft trailers are the same as there are many types of travel trailers.

I can't remember if the Expeditions are still limited to 900 lbs of tongue weight, but that could limit you to a trailer as low as 5300 lbs loaded once you factor in a 100 lbs hitch system. This was something I was concerned with when looking at older expeditions as mine would be slightly over.

How old of an Expedition are you looking at? Are you looking at a regular or extended length? Have you considered Suburbans too? Will this be a daily driver or dedicated tow vehicle?

luvmydogs wrote:
Who would have thought on a vehicle like that they wouldnt automatically put on a full tow package.
Allsworth, I'd be really amazed if they put car tires on an Expedition, but I've learned that anything is possible.

I think you have a lot of misconceptions about SUV's, even the Expedition. The Expedition is just a bigger Explorer.

all come with "car tires", because they're marketed as a family car. That way, along with a softer suspension, they won't ride like a truck.
And I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them, including Expeditions, don't have tow packages. At least over half.

Nearly all have low payload capacities, compared to what their towing capacities are.