Towing Capacity?

I recently bought a used 2007 Expedition EL. I was wondering if anyone knew how I can check to see if it has the towing package on it. The dealer didn't know because he didn't have the original sticker. I don't do a lot of towing but it would be nice to know if I could tow 6000# or 9000#. Thanks

got the stock 4 wire or 7 wire connection? - might be a good start - not to mention the tranny cooler under the hood infront of the rad

Excuse the ignorance, but does the 7 wire connection look round with 6 metal pieces in a circular pattern with one in the middle to total 7? 4 Pin would be 4 inline connectors? If so, I have the 7, and there is a wire harness kit in the compartment where the jack is.

The best thing to do is go to your local Ford dealers parts department with your vin #. They can pull up the as built spec sheet and tell you everything your Expy came with. But the only department that can do it is the parts department.

Thanks for the tip, I will do that!

Look at the hitch it should say it. Towing capacity is not what the truck is capable of pulling power wise. Its what the frame and hitch can handle. A class III hitch is good to 6000 lbs, a class IV is good to 10 or 12k lbs and class V is good to 16k lbs. I'm not a hundred percent on the numbers, thats just off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure the class III is 6k lbs though. But the info should be on the hitch

huklebuk said:

Look at the hitch it should say it. Towing capacity is not what the truck is capable of pulling power wise. Its what the frame and hitch can handle. A class III hitch is good to 6000 lbs, a class IV is good to 10 or 12k lbs and class V is good to 16k lbs. I'm not a hundred percent on the numbers, thats just off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure the class III is 6k lbs though. But the info should be on the hitch

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NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

On all vehicles not only the Expy's you actually do need to find out what the truck was equiped with in order to find out what your total payload can be. The Expy's ran a few different gear ratio's in them along with the upgraded tranny cooler and so forth if equiped with a factory tow package. For the 2002 model the max load rating is listed on page 181 of the owners manual. It breaks it down by 2wd or 4wd, Engine size, Axel ratio, and Tire rim size, if you do not fallow these guide lines you could severly overload your vehicle and cause an unsafe driving condition ( OR WORSE AN ACCIDENT ). You also need to factor in the weight rating of your tires so that you do not overload them as well.

Engine Gear Rim Maximum Trailer weight
Size Ratio Size GCWR range

( ALL WEIGHT RATINGS ARE IN LBS )

4.6L 3.31 (16) (11 000) (0-5 900)
4.6L 3.31 (17) (11 000) (0-5 900)
5.4L 3.31 (16) (12 000) (0-6 800)
5.4L 3.55 (16) (13 000) (0-7 800)
5.4L 3.55 (17) (13 000) (0-7 800)
5.4L 3.73 (16) (13 500) (0-8 300)
5.4L 3.73 (17) (13 500) (0-8 300)

4x4

4.6L 3.55 (16) (11 500) (0-6 000)
4.6L 3.55 (17) (11 000) (0-5 500)
5.4L 3.31 (16) (12 000) (0-6 400)
5.4L 3.55 (16) (13 000) (0-7 400)
5.4L 3.55 (17) (12 500) (0-6 900)

So IT DOES NOT ONLY DEPEND ON THE HITCH THAT YOUR VEHICLE HAS but that is a factor along with all the others listed above. Anyone could mount a class V hitch under a vehicle even if the frame is not rated to carry that kind of load, not only the frame but the suspension and the rear axle itself (especially since these are 1/2 ton platforms and NOT 3/4 ton).

Mine is a 2wd 5.4L with the 3.55 gear ratio and 17in rims. So I have a max trailer weight raiting of 7,800LBS as long as my GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating ) does not exceed 13,000LBS (fully loaded with all passangers and cargo + trailer). My Expy is also equiped with a Class IV hitch factory SO WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS THAT I CAN PULL A TRAILER THAT WEIGHS BETWEEN 10K - 12K LBS ( BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE HITCH IS RATED AT ) WHEN IN REALITY MY VEHICLE IS ONLY RATED TO PULL A TRAILER THAT WEIGHS 7,800LBS. If you over load a vehicle like that you are asking for problems, sure with the power of the 5.4L I could probably PULL that kind of weight ( since the same motor is used in the Super Duty trucks ) but the vehicle itself will not hold up to that kind of weight. Just because the HITCH has a weight rating does not mean that the vehicle will have the same rating because 99.999999% of the time the Hitch can take more of a load than what the vehicle can!

Make sure you find out what your vehicle is rated to tow ( you can also find this info on the sticker inside the drivers door ) and DO NOT JUST GO BY THE HITCH RATING!!!!!

Racenut, I was answering the question he asked, without going into detail. Coming from the factory equipped with the towing package, we can assume that Ford is not going to make the tow capability for drive train, tire, etc exceed what the truck itself is capable of pulling. That was my mistake, not saying to look in the manual. Since he was asking what the factory specs where, I assumed that he meant what it is equipped with. I didn't know they came factory equipped with a class IV hitch. Mine is a class III so even thought the truck is rated to pull 7800 pounds I can in reality only pull 5000 lbs because that is all the hitch can handle. I should have gone into more detail. I would like to throw in that the GCVW is going on the assumption that the trailer has brakes, so a 9K trailer with no brake assist might skew the numbers. Thank you for the detail.

I also thought that coming from the factory they are required to put the specs for the vehicle and hitch on the safety sticker. I can't see mine since I painted over it. I will be more thorough in my responses, my apologies wrigley, didnt want to steer you wrong.

huklebuk said:

I also thought that coming from the factory they are required to put the specs for the vehicle and hitch on the safety sticker. I can't see mine since I painted over it. I will be more thorough in my responses, my apologies wrigley, didnt want to steer you wrong.

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After re-reading my post I see that I may have come off really harsh and that was not my intention so I am sorry for that, I hope that I did not upset anyone.

I just wanted to make sure that the point was to make sure you know your vehicles limits as to avoid a vehicle failure or an accident. I have done a lot of towing and have seen too many accidents caused by people not understanding there vehicles limits and over loading them to the point of failure, some just had a broken vehicle to fix while other times there where families holding memorial services and neither of those do I wish upon anyone.