upgrades to improve towing in a 2001 Expedition?

LT tires and stiffer shocks or air bags will help with stability.
As many will point out nothing will legally change the ratings of the vehicle, but tires and shocks will be about the cheapest improvements.
Going to a smaller rim and tire will effectively change the apparent rearend ratio. ex from 20" to 17" of from 17 to 15.

pitch wrote:
LT tires and stiffer shocks or air bags will help with stability.
As many will point out nothing will legally change the ratings of the vehicle, but tires and shocks will be about the cheapest improvements.
Going to a smaller rim and tire will effectively change the apparent rearend ratio. ex from 20" to 17" of from 17 to 15.

I already have 16" LTs. Not trying to tow more, just want ot feel like it's not workign os hard.

Over on the F150 forums they talk about electric vans, headers, cold air intakes, and a few other bolt ons. All resutling in better MPG and/or higher HP on the dyno.

But are those good mods for towing?

Having towed with a 2001 Expy for years (with 3.73) I can tell you that the weak link is the transmission. I would do nothing more than maybe spring for the 3.73. If you start messing with tuners, headers, etc, you will soon be in the shop for transmission work.

As they like to say, "It is what it is." Stay with a trailer around 5K dry, skip all the bolt on band-aids, and save your money for the kid's college.

X2, changing to 3.73 will be the best investment. Don't go the other route, it's not a race car.
P.S., I have had 3 Expo's, all with 3.73 tow pkg, and they will handle that weight easily.
Good luck.

Rear gear change is the only thing that will make it pull better IMO and that is a very limited improvement. Did Ford offer a 4.10 rear in that vehicle? If so it would get you better towing performance than the 3.73. Since you already have LT tires rear gear is the only things that makes sense.

If that 5500 lbs is the loaded weight and you want a little more oomph I would seon the vote on the 3.73's. If the 5500 lbs is the empty weight...welllll...that would put you at 6500 lbs or so, a little heavy for the Expy.

The 26' Mallard that we towed with our 2000 Expy weighed at 6200 lbs loaded and it was a handful for that truck with the 3.55's, lower gears would have definitely helped. I added air bags and was getting ready to go down the road of the Banks power pack with hi flow exhaust and tuner when DW informed me after our 1800 mile 2 week road trip that "ever since we got back from that last trip with the trailer the truck is shifting funny....".

Woke up to the realization, and as was mentioned in this thread "it is what it is". The 5.4 is a strong motor but not cost effective to try and wring more power out of it, and if you did, it would toast the transmission. Friend with an 02 Expy toasted 3 transmissions towing their 28' UltraLite trailer.

Best thing you can do for your Expy at that weight is add a transmission temp gauge so you can watch what's happening when you are towing.

BurbMan wrote:
Best thing you can do for your Expy at that weight is add a transmission temp gauge so you can watch what's happening when you are towing.

Got one. With our previous, 4800 lb trailer (another old Boles Aero) it never even got warm. I can't remember the temp but it was about the same as when not towing.

I am little unclear on the physincs of what ya'll are saying.

Do performance mods not extract more power and efficiency from the engine ?

I would not use that power to go faster or shoot off the line quicker.

But how does the transmission know if the engine turning it is doing so more efficiently?

After spending $2500 in mods to the engine in my first tow vehicle I was able to go up the same hills 10 MPH faster and improved gas mileage by 1 MPG.

It wasn't worth the $2500.

On my 2nd tow vehicle I changed out the rear end gears for $600 and was able to go up the same hills 10 MPH faster and with the same gas mileage while towing. But when not towing the gas mileage suffered.

The gears provided improved towing performance for less money.

I'm not arguing the logic of a gear swap but your first sentence supports the notion that there is value performance upgrades. It's not even about gaining MPG. It would take 75,000 miles to pay for itself. But if it's more efficient it isn't working as hard.

Skip 3.73 and go straight to 4.10 gear. I am very pleased with the improvement with my 2001 F150. I still don't use overdrive. Been over the Sierras and Rockies plenty of times.