2002 Excursion 7.3 LT D 2WD + 2012 JayFlight 32TSBH

They have just weighed the vehicle, 1/2 tank of gas, no kids/stuff/dogs (they have a gigantic dog - a bull mastive)and attached to an EMPTY trailer. They are already at 8200#. This isn't looking good. I will post back with the tongue weight which, I now understand, is a different issue - not to exceed 1200#. Will post back.

I tow a 35ft TT with a V-10 X with 4.30 gears and i have the 11,500 lb tow rating. The V10 X's had an 8900lb tow rating while the diesel has a 9100 or 9200 lb GVWR. Not sure on a 2WD diesel X. The 02 receiver has a 1250/12,500 lb weight rating. It was upgraded from 01 with nothing more than larger hardware. I can tell you i am at my trucks max GVWR, but you would never know it maybe even a couple hundred over. With 4 kids they will be over the X's GVWR, but i would not be concerned with going upwards of 9500lbs. The limiting factor will be the weak rear springs. Everyone that has an X does something with the rear suspension, air bags, F250/350 springs and a rear sway bar.

I've had my setup for well over 15k towing miles with no issues. The biggest key is proper hitch setup and a good sway control system. I like the dual cam system. As you can see it has worked great for me!

camp-n-family wrote:
Best way to know for sure is to get exact weights. First load the Excursion with fuel, family and any stuff they would keep in it while travelling. Go to the scale and weigh it. Get front and rear axle weights and combined. Take the combined number and subtract it from the vehicles payload and that is what is left for the hitch and tongue weight.

Next, load the trailer ready to camp and go to the scales again. Get tv axle weights again as well as trailer weight. From this you can determine if you are within payload, axle and tow ratings as well as the tongue weight.

this is what you need to do. get the all the numbers and compare to ratings. the high curb weight of the excursion doesnt leave much cargo capacity compared to gvwr, but the key is not to be able ove the axle ratings or tire ratings.

Our X pulls a 34 ft TT easily. We have aWD hitch and don't use a sway bar. Nothing has been done to or added to it and it handles fine and all the numbers are good BUT. There is only 200 lb left on the rear axle and we have 2 chairs, 2 bikes, a 30 lb dog, 2 blocks of wood and the 2 of us. I weighed 3 times when camping and know one more person would put us over. It works for us but I don't think it would work for a big family.

Unfortunately, I would suggest that there is no way they aren't going to be overloaded. As capable as the X is, the GVWR usually leaves a cargo capacity more akin to a regular 1/2 ton SUV. That trailer, alone, is likely to use the entire available payload of the X before you consider passengers and gear in the truck.

Now, there are MANY Excursion owners who argue that the rating of the X is very low, and that you are ok to exceed it. That is a decision your friends will need to make for themselves. Hoping to stay within ratings within that set-up, however, is pret unlikely.

4johnsonsandadog wrote:
Our friends are about to take off on their first RV adventure (year long - cross country!) and this is all new to them. I am trying to help as I can. I want to help them make sure they are not overloaded, and they want to go weigh in before their first trip, but I have forgotten more about all of these numbers than I thought and want to make sure I am giving them correct information. Can any of you help me give them the correct #'s? I see that her Tow Limit is 11,000#. Is that just dry trailer (7855#) + trailer cargo (up to 2645#?) ? There is also a GVWR of 8,900#. Is this the Truck (5,635) + Gas (321#) + passengers + stuff in car + tongue weight (??)? Then, where does dry hitch weight factor in? I start to glaze over at that point. Should they just go weigh in and make sure that they aren't pulling over 11,000#, or is it more complicated than that?

Thank you! Want to make sure my friends & their 4 kids +2 dogs are safe!

I think there are a few members here that have owned similar Excursions and hopefully they will chime in with better info, but I have heard in the past several things one has to understand as it pretains to towing with an "X" and especially a 7.3L one.

1. I think that year the GVWR is as you alluded to 8900 and with the diesel engine and options and the HUGE passenger capacity folks can easily run out of TV GVWR very much like a lot of 1/2T trucks do and even more so.

2. That trailer is HUGE 35'+ long and with and over 10K GVWR tells me this is not just a two person family so there are going to me large amounts of wts. added everywhere and this can quickly get out of hand. Again, you will have plenty of "TOWING POWER" your issues will TW and GVWR of the TV.

3. "X" have been know to be for lack of a better word "squirrelly" in the rear towing because of a combo of tires and suspensions. There are fixes/help in this area, but that if beyond my knowledge.

4. I think later X's had their receiver integrated into the bumper/frame and upgrading that to a higher capacity was not an option and the max receivers rating avail was in the 1K to maybe 1.2K TW range so that needs to be checked and understood for any limitations.

Bottom Line is that there are VERY IMPORTANT considerations here and I'm not sure at this point we have enough input to help much except in generalities. In other works "THERE IS A LOT MORE TO THIS STORY" and that's not a criticism, but just an observation ... we need to know more about the family, how they think they pack, any mods already done to their X, what they now have for WDH/Sway, and finally IMO a must is the already mentioned TV wt. by axle FULLY LOADED with all passengers and expected cargo by axle wt.

Larry

Best way to know for sure is to get exact weights. First load the Excursion with fuel, family and any stuff they would keep in it while travelling. Go to the scale and weigh it. Get front and rear axle weights and combined. Take the combined number and subtract it from the vehicles payload and that is what is left for the hitch and tongue weight.

Next, load the trailer ready to camp and go to the scales again. Get tv axle weights again as well as trailer weight. From this you can determine if you are within payload, axle and tow ratings as well as the tongue weight.