Anyone use a ford expedition 97-02 to tow with?

I'm getting a sweet deal on one to tow a concession trailer I'm buying. It's a 98 2wd model with the 4.6 .

Any concerns or areas I need to address?

not really, just like towing with an f150.

the 4.6 isnt torquey.

if you are close to cleveland ohio i'll give you a set of factory 17's with tires for it if it is 6 lugs.

I had a '97 with 5.4 and it was marginal towing my 20ft Wells Cargo. It also had the air susp and I got complaints about motion sickness due to its slow response. I had to replace the stock Firestones too in order to find a tire with a stiffer sidewall. In '99, Ford added 30hp to the 5.4 and you could feel everyone of the hp. I special ordered an Eddie Bauer package without the air susp and some other deletions and that was a pretty good towing package. When the lease expired however I turned it in and bought an Excursion. No comparison in towiing ability.

Our tow rig is a 97 Explorer with 5.0L V8 and factory towing package. My usual trailer is a 14' Coleman Popup camperwhich pushes 2800lbs loaded down, plus a truck full of bikes, gear, dogs, etc. It's rated to tow up to 6800lbs - more than my 2010 F150 work pickup.

I LOVE THAT TRUCK. It honestly tows our camper better than my buddy's 04 F150 does. I can run 75mph with the overdrive off and get 16mph all day long. And it has 180k on the clock at that. Given the smaller chassis on our 'Sploder, I would certainly get a brake controller if I was towing anything heavier than our camper. Also, watch the transmissions from that era. Install a trans heat guage if it doesn't have one and switch to full synthetic Mercon fluid. It made a big enough difference in ours that I changed my mind about rebuilding the trans.

I don't know about the larger chassis, I would expect it to be fine. I'm a little surprised to hear fastmiata's experience to the contrary. The folks we bought our camper from were happily towing a 18-20 travel trailer with a midlevel Expedition using a weight distrib hitch.

patgizz wrote: not really, just like towing with an f150. the 4.6 isnt torquey. if you are close to cleveland ohio i'll give you a set of factory 17's with tires for it if it is 6 lugs.

Wiki says the 4.6 for 97/98 had 290 ft lbs. Is that not much?

Sadly I'm in cincinnati . Not sure if this one has 6 lug or not.

Would it be worth getting a used trans cooler from a J yard? If mine didn't come with one?

The trailer is about 5K llbs. w/ electric brakes. 16x8 is size

the '99 was a good tow vehicle. The '97 was not partially due to not enough balls to tow from the 230hp 5.4 and then also the air suspension and soft tires By the time I got the '99, I knew what the issues were with that chassis and corrected most of them. Better tires, more air pressure and stiffer suspension. I like Fords better but the longer wheelbase of a 'Burb is tough to beat unless you can find a low mileage Excursion.
It really depends on where you tow. My shortest tow at the time was to Road Atlanta on I-75 or I-85 for 4 hours. Excessive tow capacity was a high priority in those days.

fastmiata wrote: the '99 was a good tow vehicle. The '97 was not partially due to not enough balls to tow from the 230hp 5.4 and then also the air suspension and soft tires By the time I got the '99, I knew what the issues were with that chassis and corrected most of them. Better tires, more air pressure and stiffer suspension. I like Fords better but the longer wheelbase of a 'Burb is tough to beat unless you can find a low mileage Excursion. It really depends on where you tow. My shortest tow at the time was to Road Atlanta on I-75 or I-85 for 4 hours. Excessive tow capacity was a high priority in those days.

It's a food concession business so not far. maybe 20 miles to and then 20 back.

Any 1/2 ton should be able to handle the 20 mile tow. Brakes would seem to be the only issue.

dankspeed wrote:

patgizz wrote: not really, just like towing with an f150. the 4.6 isnt torquey. if you are close to cleveland ohio i'll give you a set of factory 17's with tires for it if it is 6 lugs.

Wiki says the 4.6 for 97/98 had 290 ft lbs. Is that not much? Sadly I'm in cincinnati . Not sure if this one has 6 lug or not. Would it be worth getting a used trans cooler from a J yard? If mine didn't come with one? The trailer is about 5K llbs. w/ electric brakes. 16x8 is size

Cinci to Cleveland, that isn't far.

Me and my wife use her 4.6L '97 expedition for towing our camper seems to pull ok given our camper is 27ft long and 5,800 lbs. Now I'm just trying to find what upgrades could make it pull better? I've installed electric brake system already and upgraded shocks, just don't know what else to do.

I know this is a Zombie Thread, but I once rented a new Expedition to tow my Jeep in my 24' Haulmark Racetrailer.   It seemed to pull and stop the trailer fine, but crosswinds on the big slab sides were another matter entirely.  Do you have load levelers ad a sway controller on your hitch?   I highly recommend both for your application, but the combination of the wheelbase and the softly sprung suspension don't work well with something that long with that much cross section.

Have an 07 expedition and I am towing a small enclosed with the f500 in it. No trailer brakes, but a weight distribution hitch. Barely know it's back there, but I haven't pulled any big hills like western maryland with it yet.

Cooter said:

I know this is a Zombie Thread, but I once rented a new Expedition to tow my Jeep in my 24' Haulmark Racetrailer.   It seemed to pull and stop the trailer fine, but crosswinds on the big slab sides were another matter entirely.  Do you have load levelers ad a sway controller on your hitch?   I highly recommend both for your application, but the combination of the wheelbase and the softly sprung suspension don't work well with something that long with that much cross section.

Yes I do a seat control and leveling hitch. Cross section actually that bad the vehicle just had tough accelerating and a crazy amount of squat to it. It pulled from North Carolina to Texas with no problem. Just want it to pull better with a little bit more power.