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Old 02-03-2008, 04:02 PM   #1
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Towing with a Ford Expedition

Right now we have a T-1950 but may have an opportunity to get a T-2499. The Expedition tows the T-1950 with no problems at all as the tow capacity on the Expedition is 8600 pounds and the fully loaded weight of the T-1950 is 5500 pounds. I know the T-2499 is 7000 pounds so the question is whether the Expedition will easily tow the larger trailer. The engine is the Triton 5.4 V8 with 300 horsepower and the truck has the heavy duty tow package. We use the Equalizer weight and sway and Prodigy brake controller.
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Old 02-03-2008, 09:27 PM   #2
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Diane

Hopefully this will help you. I had a 2002, 1500 Chevy Tahoe when we bought our 2004 T2499. It had the 5.3 V8 with the 3.73 rear axle. The truck would pull the T2499 OK. The TT empty around 5,000#. My issue came when I started loading the camper.

Pulling was not so much the issue other then gas mileage went to heck and get use to 2nd gear, but I was at and over the truck GVWR and rear axle rating GAWR-RR quick with the T2499 once fully loaded. Teh SUV of any branmd has the same problem. The truck weighs a lot to start with. A 1/2 ton pickup has a lot better chance at doing well on the T2499 or a 3/4 ton SUV.

Even if you are a light packing camper and do not put much in the front cargo hole or the front bed room, you can have a problem once loaded with the T2499 on the Expedition.

See here on page 25 of the Ford towing guide. It lists a max receiver rating of 890# in WD mode. In the Expy this is driven by the rear axle limits. It is not that the they cannot put a heaver receiver on the Expy, it is the coil springs in the back of the truck to be able to hold up much more tongue weight.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...oknowJan06.pdf

Here is the full 2006 tow guide it list GVWR and rear axle rating are not to be exceeded on page 20. It is a 4 meg PDF that will take a minute to load.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...GsprdJan06.pdf

I do not know which options you are looking at, walk on roof, fiberglass sides but they add weight and even make the probem worse. I have alum siding and no walk on roof. When I was sorting this out I wrote to Sunline on my 2004 T2499 and they told me this.

Dear John:

I have a feeling your method may be a bit off. We weigh trailers periodically throughout the model year. In the 2004 Model Year we weighed a 2499 model twice.

Both trailers were very close in weight. We weigh a base model in both the dry and wet mode. Let me explain, the dry mode is without any water, battery, or propane in the trailer. The wet mode is with a battery installed, full propane tanks and full fresh water tank(nothing in the gray or black tanks).

In the dry mode the trailer weighed 4788 lbs including a hitch weight of 680 lbs. In the wet mode the trailer weighed 5165 lbs including a hitch weight of 895 lbs.

According to our records your trailer had the following factory installed options:
4 Leveling Jacks
Mounted spare tire kit

These options only add about 120 lbs to the total weight of the trailer. I would say the hitch weight when the unit left the factory was in the range of 680 lbs.

I would try going to a scale and getting the attendant to let you weigh you truck alone and then hitch the trailer to the truck without the equalizing bars and pull just the truck onto the scale and get a weight that way.

Hope this helped.

Happy Camping,

Tim Martin


So with the trailer empty if you ever haul fresh water, tongue weight is 895# with no gear in the TT. You can choose to not haul fresh water, but your tongue weight loaded can easily reach 1,000# with no water once you load the camper. The rear living area camper loads tongue forward as there is not much weight behind the rear axle to unload the tongue. In my case mine went to 1,200# loaded and 1400# with fresh water. I may have more stuff then you, but 1,000# tongue is not hard to get on a T2499. I had to go to a ¾ ton Suburban with a 6.0 engine and a 4.10 rear axle then I had no problems pulling the loaded 6500# T2499.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 02-04-2008, 11:28 AM   #3
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Thanks!

John,

Thanks for the post with so much great and useful information.
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Old 02-04-2008, 12:11 PM   #4
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Hi Diane,

Can’t add much more than what John has already said. As John mentioned, the T-2499 has some unique weight issues due to its rear living room floor plan and John knows what he’s talking about.

The 5.4L Triton is a good engine. We had a Ford E-150 Conversion Van with the 5.4L Triton and 3.55 rear end. It pulled our T-2670 with no problems. The T-2670 had a 7,000 lb GVWR and weighed about 6,000 lbs loaded. We had no problems towing the T-2670, even over the Rockies.

Your Expedition will pull the T-2499 with no problem. But I agree with John, your challenge will be keeping the T-2499’s tongue weight within the Expedition’s rear axle weight limits and GVWR. If you can keep the weights within your GAWR and GVWR you will be ok.

Hutch
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Old 02-04-2008, 05:03 PM   #5
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More thanks!

This list is such a wonderful asset. Hutch, many thanks for your input as well. We love the T-2499 and the one we heard about is in New Castle, DE, and is supposedly a 2006 new unit. As much as we like this TT, problems pulling it would not be much fun.
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Former 2007 Sunline T-1950
Former 2011 North Trail & 2014 Open Range
Current 2017 Grand Design Solitude 310GK
2016 Ford F-350 Lariat Diesel
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