Is an Excursion safe for towing?

[mbot]

I have a 30' TT that weighs about 7,000 empty......maybe 9000 wet. I run a Reese Dual Cam anti-sway and WD hitch, with Prodigy brake controller.

I am looking to replace my Crew Cab Duramax, and will either be getting an V10 Lariat F250/350 and putting a fiberglass cap on the back, or I can just buy a V10 Limited Excursion, which is cheaper and a lot easier to find.

Have read some horror stories of towing with an X. Are they safe or not?

With 1000$$ spent in upgrading the springs, shocks, and rear anti-sway, will it be OK??

I also have an 8' Western Plow I'll be mounting on it for plowing my own driveway.

Thx, Ben

[huj]

i pull 27 ft boat with mine no issues at all

[SmokeyWren]

The X-Car has lots of heavy fancy stuff inside, so it's heavy. It has only a 9,200 GVWR, so it's easy to overload it.

Your 9,000-pound trailer will have a hitch weight of around 1,000 pounds. That leaves 8,200 pounds for the wet and loaded X-Car before you tie onto the trailer. With a V-10 engine and not the diesel towing machine, you might be able to limit the weight of the wet and loaded X-Car to only 8,200 pounds. Before I bought one, I would load up the family and take it to a truckstop that has a CAT scale, fill the gas tank, and weigh the rascal. If it weighs less than 8,200 wet and loaded before you tie onto the trailer, then it might be okay. Not nearly as good as the diesel version, but okay.

First step is to install Firestone RideRite air bags in the rear suspension. That's probably the only mod you'll need to keep the headlights aimed down the road and not trying to light up the stars.

But if you don't need the luxury of the rear air conditioner and other neat X-Car stuff, then your best bet is to go for an F-350 SRW pickup. No need to worry about overloading the F-350 SRW with a 9,000-pound trailer. If you look at an F-250, be certain it is at least a 2005 model. Older than 2005 F-250s had only 8,800 GVWR, so not enough payload to drag a 9,000 pound trailer.

[mbot]

Thank you SO much for the info.

I just looked online, from what I read, the GVWR is 8900 on a V10 X...........Base curb weight is 7300 (so, a Limited might be more around 7500#), plus 1000 worth of tongue weight.

We only have 350 lbs of people in the truck, but that's pushing things, eh?

Should I skip the X and get a 350 instead?

Thx, Ben

[carringb]

Many Excursion owners end up doing some sort of rear end mod to remove its sloppy behavior. Lanyots rods, track bars, air bags, sway bar, Roadmaster are all products that are popular.

If you need more payload than what an Excursion offers, but want passenger space, then how about an E350 van? You get double the payload of an Excursion.

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by mbot

I just looked online, from what I read, the GVWR is 8900 on a V10 X......

Yes, and then only if it's a 4x4. 4x2 gassers have only 8,600 and 4x2 diesels have only 8,900.

.....Base curb weight is 7300 (so, a Limited might be more around 7500#),

That's a bad joke. You probably won't find an ordinary civilian gasser X-Car that weighs less then 8,000 pounds when full of diesel and sitting on a CAT scale.

Should I skip the X and get a 350 instead?

If you find a suitable X-Car, the first thing is to take it to a truckstop that has a CAT scale and fill it full of diesel, then weigh it. Then do the math using the GVWR on the door.

But you probably won't find one that can handle 1,000 pounds of hitch weight without being overloaded over the GVWR of the tow vehicle. So in that case, skip the numerous F-250s available and find the rare F-350 SRW.