V-10 problems
I started out years ago towing our 7,000 lb trailer with my old chevy 2500 with the 350. I tow mostly in the Sierra and Rocky Mts. I hated the way I had to slow down to 45 mph going up the grades. So ...
Forum Discussion
dodge guy wrote:
I have an 02 Excursion with the V-10 and 4.30 gears. I tow a 9200lb TT with no problems. Combined I'm about 17,500lbs. It'll do 60 with no problem up a mountain! It needs to rev! 4500 all day long!
The 4.10's are OK, but the 4.30's are the best, part of me wishes I would've went with 4.56's.
As far as the 5star tune, best money you can spend at this point. The biggest change is the shift programming. It makes a big difference in towing. No more short shifting and going into O/D too early. Worth every penny!
The diesel guys hate this but it will hang with a stock diesel of similar vintage all day long!
The OP would be happier with his V-10 if it had more gear behind it, his trailer isn't all that heavy, so if the truck is properly setup and driven correctly (get used to the sound of some revs!) it would do just fine for his usage. Yes, at the higher altitudes it (and any other NA engine) will loose some power, but again the OP's combined weight isn't that high.
Like Dodge Guy above, I too run a V-10 Excursion which serves as our dedicated tow rig for our 11,000 lb TT. I have regeared it to 4.88s but with my 35" tires it has an effective ratio of 4.39, which makes a big difference in getting the most out of these motors. With our combined weight of approx. 19,000 lbs I have held 60 MPH while fighting heavy truck traffic on I-81 up Fancy Gap in VA. We have only towed all through the Eastern states and haven't made it out West yet but that climb is one of the East's most challenging and our setup did just fine. I do run Banks headers, 5Star tunes and a performance muffler but the single biggest towing performance mod you can do for your V-10 rig is go with the deeper gears. I actually ran the 4.88s with stock sized tires for 2 full years and the thing pulled like a locomotive, better than a stock diesel of the same vintage, same as Dodge Guy's rig. The OP has the higher output 3 Valve V-10 and the much better transmission, so I am very confident that with a change to deeper gears he would be very happy with that 7,500 lb TT in the Western mountains, if he is willing to let the engine work as designed at the higher revs.
