Anyone tow a TH with an Excursion?

vjstangelo wrote:
Anyone tow a toy hauler with an Excursion? V10 or diesel? Any upgrade over stock?

"Toy hauler" is pretty broad. How much weight you looking to tow is more helpful than what you intend to tow.


I pulled a 33' TT weighing 8,500 lbs rolling with the V10 version, 3.73 gears. For the most part it got the job done, but drove me nuts in the hills screaming at 4,000-5,000 rpm. Got somewhere around 8-8.5 mpg with that combo.

Towing experience stock was an incredibly unpleasant white knuckle experience due to sway from wind and/or every semi-truck that blew by at their apparent speed limit of 85 mph.

I tried various anti-sway devices/hitches and most were marginally effective. I spent the money for a Hensley and the sway was not minimized, it was elimnated 100%. Extremely impressed with the effectiveness of the hitch. Also added air bags to the rear because I can/t stand rear end squat. Drives me bat s***.

Couldnt stand the rpm, and bought a new trailer that was double the rolling weight anyway, so bought an oil burner. Rarely cracks 3,000 rpm (mostly DOWN hill) and gets the same fuel mileage pulling double the weight. Still have the hitch, just because I've been too lazy to put it up for sale.

Traded the Excursion (not MY idea) for an extremely manly and attractive mini-van. Happy wife. Nuff said there.

Not my first choice for heavy pulling, but liked the truck.

I tow a 22' Wolf pack and a 17' Wolf pack TH with my 2000 7.3 Diesel X. I have the AIS filter, large exaust, 10 ply tires, Hellwig sway bar, power slot rotors and Hawk lts pads, Bilstein shocks, Reese dual cam eq hitch. It's not a power house but I've always felt in control.

I used to with a Diesel X, and did tow once with the V10. IMHO they are scary to tow with. Ford really softened up the springs to make it ride more like a car and because of that they do not tow heavy trailers well. There are many recommendations online to make it tow better. First run the tires at max like 70PSI, that makes a big difference. Next make sure you have a good weight distribution set up, with sway control, get air bags, then a larger sway bar you can get a F250/350 one or Hellwig makes one. Last but not least (and this is the one I didn't do) is recommended to put F250/350 springs, both front and rear....in hindsight I would start there if I were to do it all over.


PS. I also did the bilstien shocks, they helped.

I was towing an 11,000 lbs weekend warrior.

25' TH with a V10 X, no upgrades, 4" lift and 285/75/16 Es, Rancho 9000XL. Crossed the scales to go hunting @ 18,460 total here in Colorado.