Ford Excursion tow vehicle

[rmesfo]

Hi all,

We are in the midst of purchasing a 2007 27FB Classic with a 9000 GVR. My wife doesn't care for pickups so I am looking for a Ford Excursion with a 7.3 diesel or the Ford v10.

Has anyone had any experience towing an 8 to 10K trailer with an Excursion?
Any input would be appreciated and if the excursion work works it will be an F250 Super Duty.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[mrfallover]

You might want to call these guys, all the do are Fords. I know they do a lot of Excursions. Excellent reputation. I know one of the mechanics; true lovers of Excursions.

http://grandvalleyperformance.com/

[Manning G]

Hi,
We just bought a 7.3 Excursion in anticipation of buying our first Airstream, so I have no useful expertise in her yet. I'm hope people pop up with some info, I'm very interested myself.
Manning

[Russ Abbey]

Originally Posted by rmesfo

Hi all,

We are in the midst of purchasing a 2007 27FB Classic with a 9000 GVR. My wife doesn't care for pickups so I am looking for a Ford Excursion with a 7.3 diesel or the Ford v10.

Has anyone had any experience towing an 8 to 10K trailer with an Excursion?
Any input would be appreciated and if the excursion work works it will be an F250 Super Duty.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Just a quick note here. The Excursion was built on an F-250 frame in order to carry the diesel. In short it should not be a problem towing with it.

73

[AtomicNo13]

We tow a heavily laden 34', and the truck is loaded too. We are full-time airstreamers, love our Ex.

[perryg114]

I have been pulling my 31 Excella II since 2011 with a 2000 V10 Excursion. 7.3 is a good motor as well and the 6.0 can be made into a reliable motor as well. I would get the tow package version. I think all the 7.3L have the tow package but I am not 100% on that. Tow package has the extendable mirrors which are really not much of an upgrade. Spot mirror on right side is way too small (dangerously useless). It will pull anything you put behind it. Brakes are good. Best Ford I have had as far as brakes. Will stop the trailer and truck without the trailer brakes working.


Perry

[Manning G]

Perry, In my list of things to do to our Excursion, I was looking at an exhaust brake add-on, maybe Banks. For the Rockies, do you think the brakes are sufficient alone?
Manning

[Woosch]

We've been towing our 2007 Classic with an F250 for eight years now. If the Excursion is on the F250 frame I would defiantly get the engine brake if you will be doing any mountain driving.

[ITSNO60]

Just so happens there is an exhaust brake discussion going on right now over at the FTE 7.3 forum. Incidentally FTE is the most active forum for the 7.3 that I know of, and a lot of good people, just like the Airforums.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-no-worky.html

[Silver Otter]

Two of our club members pull with the Ford Ex. and love it. One pulls a 30 and one pulls a 28. No problems so far.

[perryg114]

That is a good question. Exhaust brake is not a bad idea but don't know if you need it or not. It being a diesel means no engine braking so maybe you do need it. I would say try some mountains without it and see how it does. If you stay on them long enough you can overheat any brakes. I would be more concerned about the state of the brakes on the trailer. I just replace my trailer brakes with the 12" self adjusting type and they work well. If you have crappy trailer brakes, your tow vehicle's brakes will take a beating.

Perry

Originally Posted by Manning G

Perry, In my list of things to do to our Excursion, I was looking at an exhaust brake add-on, maybe Banks. For the Rockies, do you think the brakes are sufficient alone?
Manning

[Daquenzer]

I just looked at the specs on the web. Should be beast. From what I understand from this web site is that it will only come with a diesel. My guess it will probably be around $70,000. And if it is on a F250 frame the ride will probably be similar unless they use different suspension, but I doubt it. Unless there's a need for seating 8 I'd go with an F250 Super Crew.

[casarodante]

Diesel.

We had a gas V10 Excursion and I was not happy with the performance with our 25'.

Think of the needs before you commit to an Excursion. With a single cabin, you may not want to carry fuel in there. However, with a 4door F250 and a shell, you have some more flexibility unless you need to haul more than 5 people.

[jimmini]

Been towing my 29 ft Squarestream for years with my 2000,V10 Ex.
It is grate TV best there is in the hills.Only have 111.000 miles on it.
BUT I only get about 9.5 MPG on the flat land.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Daquenzer

I just looked at the specs on the web. Should be beast. From what I understand from this web site is that it will only come with a diesel. My guess it will probably be around $70,000.

$70K would be pretty high considering the last Excursion rolled off the assembly line in 2005!

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by perryg114

It being a diesel means no engine braking

Perry

Just curious about this, what do you mean? My 7.3 has engine braking especially when the OD is off. I can feel the coast clutch engage.

[Vycan]

I have an excursion (7.3L) I may part with, PM me if interested.

[perryg114]

Typically diesels don't have as much engine braking as a gas engine. The reason being the throttle plate is not there to give the engine something to suck against and create some drag.

Originally Posted by ITSNO60

Just curious about this, what do you mean? My 7.3 has engine braking especially when the OD is off. I can feel the coast clutch engage.

[Haulin8or]

We have a 2004 6.0 4x4 that I absolutely love! Bought it with 13k miles on it back in '05. Hauled our 38' Forest River Sierra, which weighed right at 11k fully loaded, for 13 years. Ran with a Hensley Arrow hitch (which I moved to the 2018 25FB we just bought in March) and never, ever had a towing problem with the rig. Not counting the camper, we also have a family of 5 (sometimes an extra teenager too!), a 70# Collie, 2 kayaks and a canoe in and on top of the Ex.

Love, love, love the 44 gallon fuel tank! This thing will go forever and a day on a tank of diesel! As far as the engine braking goes, these have the Torque Shift 6 speed tranny in them (at least the 04 does, not sure about others). When switched to tow/haul mode, the rig handles well coming down steep grades. Been down some steep ones (Monteagle in Tennessee to name one. Johnny Cash wrote a song about that one!) and never have felt out of control.

I would not shy away from the 6.0's. Yes, they had their problems, but it is mainly the emissions stuff that gets in the way. Once you take care of those (aka 'bulletproofing'), it is smooth sailing.

Here are some things that I added to mine to make it better:

• Factory style extendable towing mirrors (bought on Ebay)
• Tekonsha Brake Controller
• Timbren Rear Load Boosters (Amazon)
• Hellwig Rear Anti-Sway Bar (Amazon) I would get this even if I weren't towing!! Huge difference in body roll.
• ISSPRO A-Pillar Gauges - Turbo Boost, Trans Temp, and Exhaust Gas Temp gauges. (lets you know when you may want to back off when going up steep grades. Aluminum begins melting at 1,250 degrees. You can surpass this in no time going up a mountain!)
• Sinister cooling system filter
• Bullet Proof Oil Cooler

Did I mention that this is my daily drive as well? I absolutely love my Excursion!! It currently has 240k miles on it and I would not hesitate to drive this rig to the West Coast from the East Coast.

[slowmover]

Excursion was worst tow vehicle of past twenty years for what counts: steering, braking &. handling.

None of these trailers “needs” a pickup. Or is better with one.

There’s a large range of vehicle choices better suited.

Solo needs are more important. Start there.