Towing with an Excursion

[pensadawg]

Hey All, I will be towing a 32BHDS with a 2005 PSD Excursion using a Equalizer 4-point and probably Prodigy BC. Has anyone else here towed with this vehicle and what have you learned from this. I emergency towed a relatives 28' ? TT once, without the WDH hooked up, and he was amazed how well it handled. He was pulling with a 3/4 Dodge p/u that had A/C problems. He stated that his truck was set up to pull the trailer and he couldn't feel any difference. Now I drove while he rode but I don't think that would make much difference in how it felt to him. It truly felt as if nothing was behind the truck. I only pulled about 20 miles with a top speed around 50 and flat too. The reason I ask is I will be going 1000 miles one way to take delivery. It will be the first long tow of any kind of vehicle this size and anything helpful is appreciated. Thanks for any help. I look forward to meeting some from on here out there, Rick.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

I've never owned an Excursion so this reply is not from personal experience. I did look into Excursions a while back when I had a 27FK Dutchmen. It was a heavy trailer and the front kitchen and forward slide room made it a tongue heavy trailer. Very near 1000#. As heavy a vehicle as the Excursion is there isn't much room for capacity. It will probably do a fine job but you might want to do the math with the GVRW numbers and cargo capacity. Just for your own reassurance.

 

[kampfirekid]

Verify your cargo capacity via the door jamb sticker on your Excursion. Properly add all the cargo, passengers, and tongue weight, and see where you are weight-wise.

My Dad has a friend who made a toy hauler travel trailer from a box trailer and flipped the trailer on an overpass in the wind. Supposedly, he had a WDH and maintains the Excursion was just too light, so now he pulls the trailer with his F-550 dump truck. I question the WDH set-up, the trailer weight and distribution of weight in the trailer, and the load in the Excursion. I doubt he was in excess of towing 6,500 pounds like I do, and my F-350 with the WDH seems pretty stable.

 

[Bluestatueman]

An Excursion is a fine vehicle. You will be just fine pulling that trailer. You are basically driving a 3/4 ton, diesel powered, pickup with a permanent cap. The 7000k lbs you are pulling will be nothing for that truck. You should not need to do any modifications.

 

[jnbhobe]

Don't worry a bit, Its just like driving an F-250 superduty. JON

 

[scotth92]

We tow a 31QBSS with a 6900 GVWR with a 2002 Excursion PSD.

I have to watch the tranny temperatures climbing at elevation at medium speeds on the Colorado mountain state highways. On I-70 it screams along at 65mph on all the mountain passes and I had no problems doing the Barstow climb and Mojave desert climbs in 90-100+ degree temps. It's the 35mph speed limits on the smaller state highway passes at elevation here in CO that are a bit problematic.

I hope that helps.

 

[charlie51]

I can't speak from personal experience, but I have a friend who owns another brand TT that is 32' with 3 slides, and weighs around 7000#. His has the V-10,and he says he has no problem pulling his and says he rarely even uses sway control (I wouldn't recommend it). That's a heavy vehicle and I don't think you would have a problem. Like Bluestatueman said it's you've basically got a 3/4 ton truck with a cap.

 

[pensadawg]

It's doing a fine job!

Thanks for the replies. The Ex is absolutely brilliant at towing the 32BHDS. I do have another question though. What are ya'lls ideas on using the cruise control while the tranny is set to tow/haul. I've had more than a couple of people tell me this is not a good thing to do. Any reasons why ? Thanks again, Rick.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Thanks for the replies. The Ex is absolutely brilliant at towing the 32BHDS. I do have another question though. What are ya'lls ideas on using the cruise control while the tranny is set to tow/haul. I've had more than a couple of people tell me this is not a good thing to do. Any reasons why ? Thanks again, Rick.

Rick, I use cruise when I'm on fairly level roads where there's minimal to no chance of a downshift to maintain speeds. In moderately hilly areas I don't use cruise. I like to pick the speed up a little going down a hill before going up then just maintain enough throttle to keep it in OD. Sometimes I have no choice because it's a pretty good grade. On those, I let it come out of OD and if I can't maintain my speed, no big deal. That's just what I do. Right or wrong? I don't know. I do know that it's not good for the tranny to be continuously going in and out of OD or doing a lot of down shifting. That creates heat.

 

[jayc]

I have a buddy that tows a 32' Sunnybrook TT with his TD Excursion without any problems. He uses a Hensley Arrow hitch to take out the sway. I have talked to him about trading for a fiver but he is very satisfied with the TT.