Can I trust a 2015-2017 Expedition EL to be reliable AND to tow in Rockies?

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Rosko

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EDIT: I reposted this in the general area forum, not just the towing area, can a mod just delete this post?

Hi all, I'm hoping I can gain some insight from others here that are towing TTs at high elevation (or maybe just towing a large TT), and just get some general feedback from everyone here that owns the 2015-2017 ecoboost ELs.

Where I tow:
I will almost always be towing the "ike guantlet". I just call it I-70 here, but it is very very hard on tow vehicles, just like the youtube channel says. Lots of 6-7% grades.
Towing Elevation: 4500ft - 12000ft almost all of the time.

Trailer:
2010 Rockwood 2901SS (33ft TT, 5670 dry weight).

My latest CAT scale weigh in with my 2004 GMC Yukon XL 2500 w/8.1L
Steer Weight: 3440 lb
Drive Weight: 5240 lb
Trailer Weight: 5920 lb
Gross Weight: 14600 lb

I'm a little leery to "upgrade" from my old 2004 GMC Yukon XL 2500 because it has 3/4 ton axles, a straight rear axle and springs, but the expedition is MUCH more comfortable for my kids (4 of them), and general day to day is a much better vehicle than the Yukon.

I'm looking at some fleet vehicles for sale here, We have quite a few of the 2015-2017 Expedition ELs for sale around the 31-34k price range, with about 50k miles on them (rentals). I'm looking at the limited trim.

My biggest concern is while looking at the Carfax on several of them, I see rear differential issues being serviced or replaced, and rear main seals being replaced on the ecoboost. I know the rear main seal was a problem with the F150s too....but holy cow, this is super low mileage. I just talked to a dealership to test drive a 2017, I had to wait 2 days to test drive it because it was getting a new......you guessed it, rear diff and new rear main seal. WTH? Initially I thought....nah it's just people complaining on the internet, only a small percentage have those issues...but then locally I've found at least 3 in the short amount of searching I have performed.

Are the 2015-2017 expeditions with the ecoboost really that unreliable and prone to this happening? So far I've seen 3 locally with the exact same pattern of problems and miles, and they likely aren't even being used as tow vehicles at all.

Any thoughts/help/experience are appreciated from current owners.

EDIT: I reposted this in the general area forum, not just the towing area, can a mod just delete this post?
 
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