Chad Brooks
Tifton GA 31794
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Joined: 10/26/2003
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Made the decision this week to purchase a second vehicle just for towing our travel trailer. Our Expedition has really done a great job on the flats but I feel it will be quite lacking on long grades when the time comes. Since the market on large SUV's is somewhere in the toilet, I figured it was a perfect time to buy. We are on the way no to pick it up, so as of yet I am not sure if I am happy with my purchase or not. The new tow vehicle will be a 2002 Excursion Limited 4X4 V10. It has 102K miles but in the photos looked to be in excellent condition. I can't wait to get it hooked to the flagstaff and try it out. The loaded flagstaff should be a fairly easy pull for the V10 I am hoping. I once owned a 2001 X with a 7.3PSD and it was a great tow vehicle. I know from experience that the springs are quite soft on the rear which I will need to address (air bags) and possibly new shocks. Hopefully the 3.73's will be sufficient as I would hate to pay for 2 gear swaps. Is there anything else that needs attention on these vehicles? I have searched the forums and other than the plug issue, the springs are the only thing I have found an issue with. thanks
2002 Ford Excursion Limited V10 4X4
2008 Flagstaff 831KRSS Classic Super Lite
-Equalizer
-Prodigy
Prior RV's
2005 Montana 3380RL 5ver
1999 Holiday Rambler 33RL 5ver
1996 Jayco 302FK TT
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Capt Skup
Southern Maryland/Nantucket
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Joined: 05/14/2004
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I would not buy an V10 Excursion unless it had the three valve engine and Torqueshift transmission. Not sure what gear ratios were available, but would want at least 4.10s, prefer 4.30s with the big gasser. Lots available to choose from these days, pick carefully.
Capt Skup
AD-1(AW)USN Ret.
Wonderful Wife, 3 beautiful Daughters
"Never get in a battle of wits with an unarmed man"
2008 F-450 Lariat 4x4
2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L
SunlineF281SR
SeaRay215EC
http://community.webshots.com/user/CaptSkup?vhost=community
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Chad Brooks
Tifton GA 31794
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Joined: 10/26/2003
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I agree, but I got this one for half of what an 05 V10 would cost. I think the truck will pull my 7700GVWR trailer perfectly. We shall see....
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rlh6805
Michigan
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Joined: 05/15/2001
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Don't even worry about it. My TT weighs in at 7,400 dry!! with a GVWR of 9,500. My 01 Ex V10 tows it just fine.
Rob and Cindy in Michigan
2004 Prowler Regal
2001 Ford Excursion V10 4x4
Tasha, Deanna (RIP), and Abby (our dogs)
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mooreadventures
North Carolina
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Joined: 03/22/2004
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Capt Skup wrote:I would not buy an V10 Excursion unless it had the three valve engine and Torqueshift transmission. Not sure what gear ratios were available, but would want at least 4.10s, prefer 4.30s with the big gasser. Lots available to choose from these days, pick carefully.
The Excursions never came with a 3v engine unfortunately.
Capt Skup is right about the gears - I have the 3.73's and wish I had the 4.30's (that was the only 2 OEM options). The 4.30's were not very common, but they are out there and a lot of owners have swapped them out with after market gears. With gas @ $4, there are a lot of these beasts for sale at some excellent prices... you just have to look around.
Also - come on over to Ford Truck Enthusiasts - you'll find lots of info on the Excursion and the V10 engines.
Mark & Tammy
'01 Excursion Limited, 4x4, V10, RoadMaster Active Suspension
'01 Prowler 31G
Equal-i-zer Hitch - Prodigy Brake Controller
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Country Traveler
All over the Country
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Joined: 07/18/2007
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I have an Excursion with 3.73 gears. All I know is that it is a tow beast. My truck even pulls up fairly steep grades without slowing down at all at 2500 rpm's. I don't have a link handy, but you can look up the torque/hp charts for the truck to see where it makes most of it's power. I never swapped out my rear leaf springs. F250, F350 spring fit right in there though if thats what you want. Enjoy that truck. I keep my tires at 65psi rear and 50 psi up front. I like the way it handles at these pressures. I played around with them after noticing the steering wander a little. These pressures actually solved that problem for me. Also, keep an eye on your front tires. My allignment went out once and the tires wore out kind of like in horizontal stripes. Anyway, new tires are not cheap. One other thing to keep in the back of your mind, if you gear shifter becomes loose or has a real sensitive feel to it or you need to push it all the way up into park to start it, there is a clamp that holds the shift cable on the steering column. There are 2 allen screws that hold it on and may become loose over time. Just tighten the screws and it fixes the loose feel. Also, about every 60,000 miles, the door lock actuators go bad all at the same time usually. Don't forget to check the one for the rear hatch. They are fairly easy to change yourself. Other than that, ball joints may wear out. This is all that has happened to me so far. Mine is a 2000 Limited 4x4. I enjoy spending $175.00 to fill the tank with gas.
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Chad Brooks
Tifton GA 31794
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Joined: 10/26/2003
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Well, I just made it back home with the Excursion ~200mile trip. First off, I cannot believe such a vehicle exist as clean as this one with 102K miles. This truck would pass as 2 years old and 35K miles if you didn't know they were not made that year!! It rides and drives perfectly, no pulling, no wind noise, no oil leaks, and the a/c is ice cold. The only problem I found was that the door locks do not work (as noted above). The dealer apologized and assured me he would take care of locks. The transmission is either 1.) very well maintained or 2.) recently replaced.... actually the entire underside is spotless, but the trans looks especially new. I checked the fluid and it also looks very fresh. Hopefully I will get many trouble free miles out of it!! I can't wait to hook it up and see how it pulls..
**thanks Country Traveler for the great information.
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mooreadventures
North Carolina
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Joined: 03/22/2004
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The door locks are a common Ford problem and since the dealer is going to make good on them I won't worry about going in to the fix - but there is one and it's simple and cheap to do.
Congrats on the X and welcome to the BSEG (Big Sh!t Eating Grin) club of V10 owners.
One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post (and surprised no one else did either) is to look and see if you have a rear Anti-Sway bar. If you are unfamiliar, it should be a round bar attached to the axle - if you don;t have one, you may want to make that your first investment. Or look at the RoadMaster Active Suspension or the Landyot Radius Rods. If you do a little searching you'll find that 'out of the box' the suspension on the X is somewhat lacking; this come from Ford trying to make it ride like a car instead of a 1 ton truck (which it is). If you do a search for crappie_fisherman and his posts on towing, you'll find an abundance of knowledge. He has done a lot of research in to maximizing the towing stability of the X.
Finally, it's coming up quick, but if you have the free time you should come on up to Gatlinburg for the Excursion Diversion (or link in my sig) on the weekend of July 25th. We're gonna have a great time and get to see a bunch of other X's!
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DznyFan
Lorton, VA
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Joined: 01/25/2004
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mooreadventures wrote:The door locks are a common Ford problem and since the dealer is going to make good on them I won't worry about going in to the fix - but there is one and it's simple and cheap to do.
I'd be very interested in this since I'm most likely going to face it in the future.
2006 Fleetwood Wilderness 3102BDS
2004 Excursion XLT 4x4 V10 4.30
Ride-Rite Air Bags | Air Lift SureSet
Hensley Arrow | Prodigy
Honda EU2000i Gennies
Garmin nüvi 350 | ScanGaugeII
_________________________________________
Me, the Wife & the Kid
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mooreadventures
North Carolina
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Joined: 03/22/2004
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DznyFan wrote:mooreadventures wrote:The door locks are a common Ford problem and since the dealer is going to make good on them I won't worry about going in to the fix - but there is one and it's simple and cheap to do.
I'd be very interested in this since I'm most likely going to face it in the future.
Read thru this post on FTE and you'll find a couple different fixes - one only costs $0.01 per lock. Post #20 has some pretty good pics of the inside of the lock.
It's a long thread, but the 'meat' of it is in the first few pages.
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