I'm in the market for a new DD/tow vehicle. It's gotta be a Ford (don't argue). I also definitely want a diesel. I test drove an F350 and an Excursion today and am wondering if anyone has thoughts between the two. The Excursion seems more practical as a daily driver, but i love the manual tranny in the F350 and truck beds always seem to come in handy. Does the Excursion pull decently? It'll be pulling my 1-ton Early Bronco on a trailer. Any advice??

-Steve

They seem ideal to me.........1ton chassis, fit a queen size matress in the rear, tons of room, style, comfort, and Ford tough.........go for it!!!

LanBrzr, tows his 1 ton FJ on 42's with an '01 EXC Ltd. on 38.5 PJ's.

He says it tows much nicer with the 8" lift 38.5's and 4.56's, than it did before.

It did eat one tranny (covered under a TSB, new updated tranny was weaker than the old style, so the TSB said to put the old style sprags back in)

Also ate a set of Mickey Thomson BAJABelted 39's. National covered them under warranty and prorated a set of the PJ's. Mickey and National both said it was a load issue, something about 7k+ lbs. them all the time!:rolleyes:

Otherwise he hasn't had any real problems. I've driven it and it drives better than stock. But it sure is BIG!!!

It does look damn good, and He doesn't sleep in a tent anymore.

Don't get the excursion unless you want to do a tranny at 75-80k miles. Unfortunately, Ford knows that the autoboxes they have don't hold up to towing, but they chose to reduce the length of the warrantee rather than fix the problems.

I love my F350 with the Powerstroke.

Actually, if you want it, it's for sale! e-mail me for details. No, I'm not selling because I don't like it, I'm selling because I'm moving up to an F550.

-John

i'm thinking about leasing the Excursion...that way i couldn't care less if the transmission :nuke: . I wish they made a 6-speed excursion, that would be the ideal vehicle for me. Any other opinions?

-Steve

Our company Excursion has gone thru 3 transmissions in 60,000 miles. Down time is long , waiting for parts. DONT GET ONE!!!!!!!:mad:

I tow my 1 ton EB (actually closer to 5000pounds) on a 16' car hauler, without a leveler hitch or any anti-sway device. Cruise down 99, from Fresno to Truckee, going 70MPH and I couldn't even feel it back there. Sure you notice the weight on steep hills, but otherwise it's awesome! Pull into the trailhead staging area about 11pm, and crawl into the back for a nice comfy night's rest.

I don't drive it like I stole it, so maybe I'll have better luck with the tranny??? Plus, I see that Ford added a huge tranny cooler in 99' or 00', so hopefully that will do the trick. I'm pulling a 31' ALJO (9500 pounds loaded) 240 miles to Barstow Thursday. I think the leveler hitch and sway bar will be needed. I'm not looking forward to the side winds, on the freeway near Mojave!

I've got a '01 Powerstroke Excursion that I tow my 94 fullsize bronco(very heavy) with. It tows like a dream. I pass everyone going uphill towing. I love towing with it. I look forward to every time I get to haul the bronco just to feel the power that thing produces. And it is so comfy. It's quieter than the pickups and rides a lot smoother

It tows like a dream

do you know your actual trailer weight w/ your bronco on it? What kind of hitch and are you using a Weight Distributing hitch with it??

I am having a hard time deciding if i should buy a Class V to replace my Class IV, or buy a WD hitch and use my Class IV. My GVW of the trailer loaded will be 5300# Jimmy + 1700# trailer =7000#. My Class IV is only rated at 6000# GVW w/o the WD hitch, which bumps it up to 10000#.

My Bronco weighs close to 5000lbs., and the trailer is right at 1500. I don't use a special hitch for towing this setup. Seems that there is not a significant amount of wind resistance (remember the shoe box shaped EB with 38's and 7.5" of total lift), and by allowing the hitch to shift without bind, ZERO effect is felt in the Excursion. BTW, mine is a 01' power stroke also.

Now pulling the 31' ALJO (7300lbs. with water) Camping trailer, I pull out the big hitch with levelers and anti-sway device. The ride is much more rigid, and uncomfortable, but you don't want to loose control of a trailer that big with a big gust of wind.