bernercamper wrote:
Ok I'm selling my suburban to my father and looking at full sized Ford vans!
Quick question - how does a 1999 e350 v8 extended Ford van look for towing? It has a hitch. Automatic. Don't know anything else but from my limited research it has a large payload capacity! Thoughts?
Any full sized van made remotely recently will be an automatic. In 1999 it would have the 4R100 four speed transmission.
The E350 should be a very good tow vehicle. The rated tow limits for the gas V8 (I'm assuming this isn't one of the relatively rare diesel versions, which has higher tow limits) are 5700 pounds with the 3.55 rear axle ratio and 6700 pounds with the 4.10 rear axle. I vaguely recall that there's somewhere around a couple thousand pounds of payload capacity, so you can tow close to that and still have some people and stuff in the van, but double-check that (and all other information quoted here).
At any rate, if it were me and I am not too far off in my recollections, I would generally look for a trailer no heavier than around maybe 5000 pounds.
