Car is sold now time to choose an Ex!

[tuckman]

Its been a long few months trying to sell my car privately so I could get us the Ex we so desperately need. We have 4 kids with the 3 girls all in 4H riding club and the wife wanting a 30' + travel trailer. I had only 1 real choice in our next vehicle, an excursion with a powerstroke!

I have been researching these rigs for over 3 months now and have started to narrow down my choices. At first I was only looking at ones with 7.3's but upon further review I have found many owners having good luck with their 6.0's also. So then I figured well I would include 6.0's if they had lower Km's and came back with good oasis reports. The one thing I was keeping constant was that I wanted it to be basically stock (little or no upgrades), thinking that they wouldn't be bagged to beat hell. Well that went out the window pretty fast when I took a closer look at a couple 05's that are just awesome. 1 has a 6" procomp lift with it looks to be 35's, magnaflow turbo back, bullydog tuner and a CAI. The other 05 rig has a 4" lift with 33's and stainless steel aftermarket exhaust (don't know about any tuners yet).

These are both beautiful rigs and I would be happy with either one sitting on my acerage! The question is about towing with these rigs, what affect does 4" and 6" lifts do to my towing abilities? Should I go mostly stock or should I be seriously considering these 2 lifted Ex's? There will be lots of towing in the summer months but almost none in the winter, this will be our main family vehicle for some time.

Oh and one more question
Any thoughts on a basically stock 02 7.3 with a hypertech 100hp programmer?

[tuckman]

I really have no knowledge when it comes to lifts and bigger tires. Should I rename the post and put it somewhere else?

[big sig]

I have a 2002 7.3 powerstroke. I had a 6 inch and 35s on it. I towed 30k with it one day. It went good but took a mile to stop. My problem with the lift was it was sagging my azz down and it was making it harder to steer. I took my lift off so I could tow better and so I could get a gooseneck. Now I am fine to tow 15k easily (thats all I have done yet). I would be careful with the canned tune trucks like bullydog, edge, superchips, banks, etc. Those are harder on the drivetrain than the custom tunes.

[tuckman]

There is one with a leveling kit and 33's, would that be the better option over say the 6" procomp for towing?

[big sig]

My truck drives better, gets better mileage, and has a better feel without the lift. I liked the look of a lifted truck but I got tired of it lifted after 4 months. And with it being a family car, it would be easier for the family to get in a nonlifted truck. My grandpa could barely get in my truck, and it hurt his knees to step up that high. The reason Ford makes the trucks and excursions lower in the front is so when you hook a trailer up, the vehicle will sit level. That helps with the steering and handling of a vehicle.

[thesmokinstroke02]

Originally Posted by big sig

My truck drives better, gets better mileage, and has a better feel without the lift. I liked the look of a lifted truck but I got tired of it lifted after 4 months. And with it being a family car, it would be easier for the family to get in a nonlifted truck. My grandpa could barely get in my truck, and it hurt his knees to step up that high. The reason Ford makes the trucks and excursions lower in the front is so when you hook a trailer up, the vehicle will sit level. That helps with the steering and handling of a vehicle.

[tuckman]

I want a mostly stock Ex but I missed out on a bunch of them, I have one on my list but its got the highest mileage of all my choices (219,xxx kms aka, 136,xxx mi). I still have 2 weeks until I pull the trigger on one, hopefully another one comes up by then..

I did talk to the guy that owns the one with the leveling kit, other than the kit, rims and tires its a stock truck.
If I didn't like it, how hard would it be to return to stock?

[big sig]

Well the leveling kit will be easily taken. Someone could do that in an hour. If you found some stock rims you could put them back on it and the tires will tell the stock size on the door. How many miles does the one with the leveling kit on it have? Really 136xxx miles isnt too high.

[tuckman]

Originally Posted by big sig

Well the leveling kit will be easily taken. Someone could do that in an hour. If you found some stock rims you could put them back on it and the tires will tell the stock size on the door. How many miles does the one with the leveling kit on it have? Really 136xxx miles isnt too high.

98,000mi
It came from Texas, everything on the CarProof looks good, just gotta call my ford dealership to get an Oasis. The guys dad bought it when he was working near San Antonio.

[big sig]

Yeah and be sure to get the oasis on the 136k one too. I absolutely love my truck and love to drive it even more everyday. You should be fine with either truck.