Towing questions.

[Jason Randall]

About to make an offer on travel trailer and am trying to decide if weights are too much. First Expedition and first trailer so excuse ignorance. Looking at specs says trailer dry weight 8000lbs and trailer can be loaded to 9600lbs. With the better hitch shows 9200lbs max so as long as don’t load camper over 9200 should be good to go? Also hitch weight 695 and they have the Equalizer branded 4 point load equalizer Hitch & sway bars.

 

[Traveler]

What year Expedition? Does it have the towing package?

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[Jason Randall]

2017. Don’t believe has tow package. Manual says 9200 with stab hitch and a 920 hitch weight.

 

[JExpedition07]

Slow down their friend. 9,200 pounds is with no gear or people in the truck. Take a look at your payload sticker, notice it says 1460 pounds. Take 920 pounds off that and that leaves you with 500 pounds left. Assuming you’re a 200 pound dude that only leaves you with 300 pounds left. Is it just you and one other person and no gear in the Expedition? If you have any kids or dogs/gear with you it’s going to max out the truck or go over and you’ll be doing some white knuckle driving.

 

[Fasttimes]

About to make an offer on travel trailer and am trying to decide if weights are too much. First Expedition and first trailer so excuse ignorance. Looking at specs says trailer dry weight 8000lbs and trailer can be loaded to 9600lbs. With the better hitch shows 9200lbs max so as long as don’t load camper over 9200 should be good to go? Also hitch weight 695 and they have the Equalizer branded 4 point load equalizer Hitch & sway bars.

Jason, you will be over the limit almost certainly and it will be not only scary driving but a legal liability should you get involved in an accident. I have a 30ft total length (27' model) travel trailer with a 6400# dry weight and pull with a 2010 Eddie Bauer Expy with Heavy Duty Tow package (9200 tow capacity) with the Equalizer WD hitch set up and I'm at the limit honestly. Although this set up never seems like an issue with the pulling, the real issue is the Trucks payload capacity. Once you factor in hitch weight, battery, propane, stuff in storage in front of trailer, stuff in tow vehicle and the passengers you are over in no time. And it took a good year of trips making tweaks to the WD hitch to get it where I think it needs to be, but let me tell you some of those trips were pure white knuckle till I got it right. Squirly front end driving is no fun.

My suggestion is either downsize the trailer slightly or upsize the tow vehicle to a 250 class Pickup.

 

[JExpedition07]

Yep, for that trailer an F-250 would fit it like a glove. I’d agree with Fasttimes in downsizing the trailer to something lighter if you want to tow with the expy.

 

[Fasttimes]

Yeah, it's a shame there never was a new version of the Excursion. I'd be first in line to buy one.

 

[07navi]

Yeah, it's a shame there never was a new version of the Excursion. I'd be first in line to buy one.

I had mine for 10 years and never towed with it other than a snowmobile but still sold it easily to someone that did tow. It was tow king and never knew the snowmobile was even back there.

 

[B-McD]

I have almost the exact setup as Fasttimes except a 30' box so 33' all in. Trailer is about the same weight. My truck pulls it fine but we use my son-in-law's F150 max crew cab if towing more than 150 miles. His tow rating is only another 1000 lbs higher but his long wheelbase helps. Good luck but you have lots of nice trailer choices in the 6-7K pound range.

 

[Fasttimes]

It usually the payload number that really limits you with the Expy. 9200 tow rating is very nice, but if your payload capacity isn't up to ***** then it really affects how the set up rides.

Jason's sticker says 1460lb max payload, but my Expy is only 1402lb, I imagine because it's Eddie Bauer version, perhaps more options, usually means less payload.

In my case....

• Hitch weight of trailer, 700
• battery, 45
• propane tanks full, 30
• Stuff in front storage compartment of RV (grill, chairs, tools, hoses, etc) conservative 50
• Equalizer hitch set up, 100
• Cooler in back of Expy, 40
• Large Rotty dog, 120
• My fat azz, 280
• Wife, 120

1485lbs : over by 83lb

Now, a true metric would be going to scale and have it really tested, but this is just a rough estimate. So, I'm often over my payload capacity on trips. It stinks, just the two of us and the dog and we're over. Can't even invite anyone for fear of really pushing the limit. Lately I've been moving stuff around to reduce the weight on the hitch. Nix the cooler, move items out of front storage to back over the axles in the RV, only filling one of the two propane tanks when really needed, running lean. Need to get on a diet too, that would definitely help, easier said than done.

My point is, tow capacity is really just one factor in the over-all set up and for an Expy the payload capacity is the true limiting factor.

 

[JExpedition07]

My 2007 Expedition EL Eddie Bauer has a payload of 1,580 and has all the factory options (heated/cooled seats, electric liftgate, DVD entertainment, moonroof etc....) only option skipped was the navigation radio. I wonder if the EL gets heavier springs.

 

[Rebecca Hines]

I’m looking at a Travel trailer weighing 6400 pounds, expedition will tow 9300.

Added up people and gave very liberal estimates on things we will carry, thinking the most total weight of trailer and everything included will be 7800 max, and that’s giving an extra 200-300 pounds for things I’ve not thought of.

Mia that to much? Should we get a smaller TT?

It usually the payload number that really limits you with the Expy. 9200 tow rating is very nice, but if your payload capacity isn't up to ***** then it really affects how the set up rides.

Jason's sticker says 1460lb max payload, but my Expy is only 1402lb, I imagine because it's Eddie Bauer version, perhaps more options, usually means less payload.

In my case....

• Hitch weight of trailer, 700
• battery, 45
• propane tanks full, 30
• Stuff in front storage compartment of RV (grill, chairs, tools, hoses, etc) conservative 50
• Equalizer hitch set up, 100
• Cooler in back of Expy, 40
• Large Rotty dog, 120
• My fat azz, 280
• Wife, 120

1485lbs : over by 83lb

Now, a true metric would be going to scale and have it really tested, but this is just a rough estimate. So, I'm often over my payload capacity on trips. It stinks, just the two of us and the dog and we're over. Can't even invite anyone for fear of really pushing the limit. Lately I've been moving stuff around to reduce the weight on the hitch. Nix the cooler, move items out of front storage to back over the axles in the RV, only filling one of the two propane tanks when really needed, running lean. Need to get on a diet too, that would definitely help, easier said than done.

My point is, tow capacity is really just one factor in the over-all set up and for an Expy the payload capacity is the true limiting factor.

 

[Fasttimes]

If you have the HD tow package on your Expy, then you should be fine with that weight of a TT. The tow weight seems fine, just be sure to check your payload weight of the truck. Check your sticker in the door jam and see what number is there. Then do that math of your expected average payload. Like the example I gave, the tongue weight from the trailer, battery if in front, propane if in front , extras in front of trailer, weight distribution hitch, then on to stuff in the truck, passengers and any other stuff in the truck. It's that number that usually ends up being higher than people realize, and can cause issues with trying to get the Weight Dist set up just right. Not to mention the liability and safety issues.

 

[John Kohler]

I've heard many stories from people who towed once at their max capacity with white knuckles, then wound up at the dealer buying a bigger truck. Towing maxed out isn't fun. I've done it.

 

[CharlesP]

We tow with our gen 3. Ours has the 8900 lb max tow weight - do NOT believe that. With our 6500 lb loaded Winnie Minnie and a weight distribution/anti-sway hitch it tows great in Florida and acceptably in hilly terrain. Going across the Rockies it was ok (albeit slow going up - had to use the truckers lane), but another 1500 lbs and it would not have been acceptable at all - doubt we would have safely been able to traverse the 10% grades going from Idaho to Wyoming.

Be aware the travel trailer places will sell you right up to your vehicle maximum, as has been stated earlier you need to allow for people/gear in the truck and the loaded weight of your TT. I think on flat ground like here in Florida I could go up to 7500 lbs. but it wouldn't be great dragging that up and down a lot of hills elsewhere.

Also one thing I did to help the handling a ton was to replace the tires with a stiffer sidewall/heavier weight capacity tire - yeah it made the ride stiffer when not towing, but it took a lot of bounce out while towing.

 

[Adieu]

We tow with our gen 3. Ours has the 8900 lb max tow weight - do NOT believe that. With our 6500 lb loaded Winnie Minnie and a weight distribution/anti-sway hitch it tows great in Florida and acceptably in hilly terrain. Going across the Rockies it was fine (albeit slow going up - had to use the truckers lane), but another 1500 lbs and it would not have been acceptable at all.

Be aware the travel trailer places will sell you right up to your vehicle maximum, as has been stated earlier you need to allow for people/gear in the truck and the loaded weight of your TT. I think on flat ground like here in Florida I could go up to 7500 lbs. but it wouldn't be great dragging that up and down a lot of hills elsewhere.

Also one thing I did to help the handling a ton was to replace the tires with a stiffer sidewall tire - yeah it made the ride stiffer when not towing, but it took a lot of bounce out while towing.

Just because it CAN tow something doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed - comfortable dragging it at 80 mph or uphill / through mountain twisties or for hours on end

 

[CaptOchs]

If you don't have a Heavy Duty Tow your max is closer to 6,000. There seems to be fewer HD tow Expeditions out there on the market. When I looked it was mostly Limited trims that had HD tow. Your target trailer size should be 70% tow capacity of the truck. So 70% of 6000 lbs or 9200.

 

[rollinstone]

I've always subtracted about 20%-25% from the published tow weight and used that as my tow weight limiter...gives me that much more of a realistic safety margin. This way I'm not pushing up to the bare limits as published AND gives me a bit of safety cushion if I'm sloppy.

 

[Jamo]

Back in the 80's, my sister and bro in law wanted to do a family trip from upstate NY to Florida and bum around the SE to see friends. They had a Chevy Astro van and rented a trailer to tow. Four kids, M&D, and stuff for 4 weeks. When they got back, my BiL said he towed a $1500 mistake for 3,000 miles, and it kept reminding him with every mile...

 

[WEDGE]

2017. Don’t believe has tow package. Manual says 9200 with stab hitch and a 920 hitch weight.

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You DO have the heavy duty trailer tow package, with HD auxiliary transmission cooler.... I checked