Towing a Wrangler..Dolly, Flat, or Trailer?

Hey guys, looking for some insight on towing with the Taco. I know this is heavily discussed on the forum but I havent seen much on different towing options. I am starting to dig into the process of getting my jeep from my home to where I am now living for work. I left the jeep home when I moved and just took my tacoma with me. I am now looking into getting the jeep here too. More specifically I am looking at 1,100 miles from CT to Alabama. I posted this discussion in the wrangler forum too and they had some great points and the consensus seemed to be the uhaul car trailer. About my taco, 124k miles (mostly highway), tow package, trans cooler, oil cooler, 6400lbs capacity, 640lbs tongue capacity, 7 pin connector, 275/70/17 BFG ko2. If any of you guys have any experience with this or input that would be awesome!

https://www.wranglerforum.com/f282/dolly-flat-or-trailer-2395725.html

 

I would recommend a car hauler, I have used the tow dolleys and they work fine with front wheel drive cars, Also the uhaul tow dolley was weird to back up, auto transport is just a trailer that happens to carry a vehicle.

 

As long as your wrangler can be flat towed, I'm 99.9% sure it can, that's the route I'd take. It's the lightest combo possible!

 

Full trailer will be the least wear and tear and easiest, it's a one time gig the tacoma can handle it.

Dumb question...is the Jeep road legal?

e: Just read your post on the wrangler forum, honestly I'd say suck it up and just fly home and drive it back. It's a road legal vehicle that can make the trip....

If you're convinced not to drive it, either (as it looks like they've already dealt with over there) look at having it shipped, or do a flat car hauler.

 

For what that's going to weigh, you want something with brakes. This effectively eliminates the dolly & flat tow options. I've used both a U-Haul dolly and trailer before. The dolly sucked because it had no brakes. I pulled my 2006 xB 5 hours home with a short box / regular cab 4x4 F-150 and it towed like a dream. No problems backing up either, but I tow boats for a living.

Your biggest issue is going to be convincing U-Haul to rent you the trailer given your truck and what you want to tow. They're really conservative with what they'll let you pull. They almost wouldn't rent me the trailer for the xB because they thought it weighed too much. Then I told them there was no engine in it. (Ok, so I lied.)

 

Yeah too stroked is right.
Had several U Hauls in So Cal refuse to rent me a car trailer at all with the Tacoma.
Even though it was technically rated and capable of doing so.
They considered it a mid size truck.
Had to bring a full size truck.
UShip would probably be similar in price.

 

The Uhaul car trailers are nice. I used one to haul a Mazda RX8. You can enter in what you want to tow on the uhaul website. The site wouldn’t let me so I put in ‘89 Nissan Sentra and it was happy.

 

Conn to Alabama? I would at least get a quote from UShip.

 

Fly and drive back.

 

As noted above, I’d get a quote on shipping it. Google car transport. Might be worth it in the long run. Hmmm, CT to Alabama - Lockheed or Collins Aerospace??

Edit: I’m jealous you’re moving out of the hell hole...

 

Flat towing needs a braking system in the Jeep, and they start at $1100: https://rvibrake.com/collections/fl...lat-towing-braking-system?variant=20046642181

Flying may become difficult in the near term due to corona. Also may need to factor in ground transportation costs from the airport to your home.

You'll spend about $300 in fuel round-trip driving the Taco to CT and towing the Jeep back (either flat or on a trailer). Shipping may end up being the easiest if you don't need to be present for the company to load up the Jeep.

 

What does the Jeep weigh? Looks like it's a 1999 and it should be around 3500 lbs before any modifications. Add 2000 for the trailer and you're at 5500 lbs minimum and maybe over 6000.

Your Tacoma is going to weigh about 4500. Uhaul won't rent if the towed weight is more than about 25-50% over than the weight of the tow vehicle.

The bigger tires you have will rob power too. If you can tow it, it will be close

 

Thats my main concern and why im posting on the tacoma side too. Im just not sure how much i can push the tacoma to tow. Yes the jeep is just about 3500lbs and the trailer is about 2000. So overall im looking at probably 6000lbs+. So i guess the question is how is the tacoma when towing that close to its max

 

I work at a marina and tow quite a few boats. I've towed anything from jet skis to boats weighing over 7,000 lbs with my Tacoma, so I speak from experience here. Towing over 6,000 lbs from Ct to Alabama with a Tacoma isn't a great idea. First of all, you'll have to get used to about 12 MPG while towing. (Yea, it's that bad.) Second, you're going to wind the crap out of your motor on hills. Third, when you keep your transmission out of overdrive - which you should - you're still not going to be kind to it. If you want my 2 cents, get the Jeep shipped down there.