Towing my jeep.

I plan on towing my jeep from the Chicago area to moab. Next week I should be on the road. I've read through the towing bible and skimmed the pics in the show what you tow thread. I have a trans cooler and brake controller on the way, should be here later today. My plan was to rent a trailer keeping all 4 wheels off the ground that was a lighter weight trailer I think they said like 1700lbs but it got booked. I'm going to go look at the other rental trailer today and see what the weigh in at I'm guessing 2500 ish. My jeep is around 4k so fully loaded I'd be pushing the tow capacity. I've talked my self in and out of doing this over and over. I think I'm over thinking it. What do yo all think should I just get the two wheel dolly type or run with the max cap.

TL;DR
Towing jeep, tow dolly or full size trailer.

 

Towing light with a dolly is worse than towing heavy with a trailer. I've done both and use to flat tow my samurai as well. With a trailer you have brakes, you have tongue weight pushing down, both of which help a lot to control during a stop. Plus, you cab back up if needed. With flat or a dolly, you have 0 tongue, and at best surge brakes which makes panic stops really interesting, and you can't reverse without a 2nd driver helping. And you have a 2600 mile trip ahead of you.

Not knowing what you're towing with makes recommendation difficult. If you're doing it behind a Honda civic you're going to have problems. If it's behind a 3/4 ton, youll be fine. And if it's behind a taco you're probably overloaded at worst and deep into sucksville at best.

Have you actually weighed the load or are you guessing? "Jeep" can mean all kinds of things and all kinds of weights. A 91 wrangler curbs at 4700 all by itself, +1700 trailer and you're at 6400lbs without adding a spare pair of undies in the towed rig. If youve added armor to your rig, you're overweight assuming youre set for 6500.


Since I'm guessing here, let's assume you have an 03, v6 double cab 4x4. It has a gcwr of 9k, which is as high as it goes in 03. 9k-6400 -3700=1100 pounds overloaded as soon as you hitch up. You're rated to tow 5k, so you're 1400 lbs overloaded as soon as you load the jeep onto the trailer.

Regardless of the vehicle, max tow rate is determined using a basically stripped down tow rig, no extra payload and only iirc a single 150lb occupant and NO CARGO. It's in the fine print. If you're towing at max, you're probably overloaded. If you're towing within spec but at max, you're going to have a sucky trip, regardless of your tow vehicle. Towing at max is not fun.

From a "will I get pulled over?" Standpoint...
I was a cop for about a decade. Where I worked and the people I worked with, probably not unless you were visibly dangerous. Few would know that it's an issue and most would assume, truck + towing = ok. But... you'll be on the interstate and HP were assholes. Which means getting stopped, followed to the nearest weigh station and onto the scales if they think they see a potential ticket. And fun things to think about, if you get stopped and are found to be overweight, that is the end of your trip. They can't ticket you and let you continue as they can't let an offense and safety issue continue after they ID it. You'll need a 2nd driver to continue because the jeep won't be on the trailer anymore. While it sucks for you, it sucks less for them because going to deal with dead bodies sucks more and getting sued because they let it happen sucks the most and that's potentially what is about to happen.

Then you'll think, no problem you'll just unload and drive a few miles and reload. Which is exactly what they assume you'll do so they're waiting! And you're trip is really over because you're in jail and your entire rig is in impound!

Moab sees obviously a lot of tow rigs, their le can likely eyeball a problem pretty quick and I have no idea how ticket happy they are.

 

Check out this thread currently on page 4 of this section...2nd Gen Coast to Coast to Coast Tow Test **Mission Complete**.

 

Sorry I thought I put this in there. 09 Trd offroad double cab short bed. Jeep is 00 Cherokee with armor never actually weighed it.

 

Cherokee is a unibody so some weight savings there, but if you have real armor you're probably in the 4000 to 4500lb range unless you've stripped doors and the like to make an actual trail rig. Since it snows in Chicago I'm guessing that hasn't been done. With a few trail spares, full tank and recovery gear you're floating around that 6500lb mark using the 1700lb trailer.

With a v6 and towing package and a WD hitch you're good to 6500 towing, 11k combined. With a 6500lb load you've got 4500lbs left to play with. Look on your door sticker and you'll see what the truck weighs, subtract that from 4500 and you have how much you have left for cargo. With the dc you're probably around 4100, which leaves you with about 400lbs for all passengers and cargo combined. Perfect you say, ease you only weigh 90lbs and your wife is 50, and all she is packing is lingerie! Except we go back to your 6500lb load, which you carefully loaded to have exactly 10% tongue weight. That 650 lbs is added on as cargo, which means before you're anerexic wife gets into the truck with her dainty underthings, you're 250lbs overweight.

Light duty trucks run out of capability pretty quick when you do the math. I haven't looked into the latest tacos but the early ones really don't make very good tow vehicles. Any second though someone will be along saying they tow 42 bajiliion pounds thousands of miles each day and their 1st gen is AWESOME at it and multi-bIllion dollar corportions that get sued daily just make up their tow ratings with no regard to civil liability so ignore their specs. Which is the run on sentence way of saying ratings matter. No one ever has a problem until they have a problem, and you can play Russian roulette a long time before you lose.

Fwiw, most recycling places have a drive on scale and many will let you weigh without charging you to do it. My local dump weighs you in and has the reading right in front of you.

 

You make too much sense. I never even thought about the highway patrol aspect of it.
With the tow dolly I only really have to worry about the backing up and pucker factor in an emergency stop. I guess I'll go that route. Or rent a full size truck and the normal trailer. I just don't want to screw up my new to me truck.

 

I would never use a tow dolly. Trailer yes.

 

Simple, easy peasy, get a front tow hitch for your Jeep (assuming your Jeep is not an automatic) and just tow your Jeep directly attached to your truck. You save a couple thousand pounds. If it’s an automatic then you are screwed. You need a heavier duty to tow it and trailer.

 

I just flat towed my YJ from RI to NE last Tuesday in a third gen, you'll survive no matter your choice.

 

The dolly trades 1 problem (weight) for another (control). With no tongue weight when you stop you'll generally end up with the dolly lifting up on your rear end, which can lead to pivoting on your front as your front wheels are trying to do 100% of the braking for 2 vehicles.

Many states require separate brakes for a load heavier than 1500lbs/3500lns. You'll be towing 4000ish. If your dolly has surge brakes you'll fit within the law but you need to be ready for way surge brakes work. With a heavy stop the towed vehicle basically slams forward until the brakes compress, then the vehicle slams backwards as the trailer slows, then slams forward again etc. It's not linear like regular and electric brakes. I've dollyd a few times and only did panics stop, and it was interesting to say the least. That was a 4 door f150 pulling an old cj5.

Flat tow is going to be difficult to get set up in the next few days, and is a whole other world of pain and t
One of the big reasons to trailer is in case you have a breakdown. With a busted axle and no trailer youre no better than just driving the jeep down. Depending on your rig, if given the choice of driving it or flat towing, I'd just drive it.

Or get a better tow rig and trailer for the trip. Rent a 26' u haul and get some good ramps...

 

Not sure what was wrong with the surge brakes you used, but when properly working, they stop a lot more predictably in emergency situations than electric brakes.
Of course, there's nothing stopping you from using electric brakes on a flat towed vehicle....
http://www.brakebuddy.com/

As for reversing, its not impossible. You just have to be very cautious with it.

 

Over very short distance, carefully and in a straight line yes. But as to what most would actually call "backing up" you need to be better than i or anyone ive ever met

I used to tow all the time and was pretty good backing a trailer. The last time i tried backing my samurai (flat tow) i didn't even make it out of my house and get into the truck before it jackknifed, did 3 rolls and caught on fire. It was horrible!

The brake buddy works been around forever. If you're going to flat tow a lot it's a good option. If you're doing it once, it's too expensive.