cherokee auto, towing and transmission coolers

Danny Firstly, congrats on your choice of vehicles. Secondly, if your new (to you) Cherokee came with a factory tow package, it'll have a trans cooler. Thirdly, hope this helps.

Thanks,

No tow package, or tow bar at all at present.

A someone else says, if it had the towing package stock, it will have the cooler. If it doesn't have a cooler, an aftermarket one runs US$30 to US$70. These are generic items, they hook up with rubber hoses and hose clamps so I'd expect them to be available over the counter locally.

The tow rating on the auto equiped vehicles is much larger than the rating on the manuals. It has to do with the stall speed on the torque converter being high enough (about 1800?? on yours) to allow easy starts from stop or on hill.

If you are only doing 6 miles, I doubt if it will be a big issue either way. The tranny won't get hot enough to make much difference.

1800kg is almost 4000 pounds, a decent handfull of trailer to tow. For any used vehicle for heavy service like this I'd have a look at tires, shocks, brake pads, brake rotors, belts, tranny fluid (do a trany service and flush), cooling system (flush, drain, refill with new coolant), etc.

Nake sure you are us> Firstly, hello. It looks like I'll be picking up a new (to me) '97

In the UK we don't have "receiver hitches" - they're illegal here. We have a towball mounted on a bar that attaches each side of the rear of the vehicle.

On a seperate note, a Jeep spares dealer over here tells me that all Cherokees have a transmission cooler as standard, will have to look when I get the vehicle...

I also have a qestion about towing with my jeep. I have a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Laredo with the 4.0. It didn't come with the tow package, however I was looking at a Class III hitch for towing my Boat in the summer. I was wondering if anybody knew the tow rating for my Jeep. I've read on a few sites that it can handle up to 5000 pounds. Any help would be great.

k_902

The mount issue with the tow setup is the same regardless of the ball attachment - the rig has to attach to the subframe so that it spreads the load. The channels are not as heavy as a ladder frame so one or two bolts too close together will pull through.

As for the 'standard' cooler - virtually all automatics have a cooler in the radiator - you'll see the hoses to one of the end caps. Unless that 6 miles is a 6-10% grade, that should do you.

The owners manual for my Canadian 88 says 5000 if auto with a cooler and

2000 lb if 5 speed.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

k_902 wrote:

Thanks. My drive to work is mostly motorway with a reasonably long uphill sliproad, at the top of which I need to be doing 50. I would prefer to ensure the transmission couldn't overheat, so given that there is a cooler as standard, is there a heavy duty cooler available as well?

As some of the others have noted, there are generic cooling units - about like a small radiator of a heater core - that you simply patch inline with the existing plumbing that runs up to the radiator. Some ill mount the add-on in front of the radiator for the air flow but that blocks some of the air to the radiator. These are cheap - $30-50 US - and quick to install (if a little messy - you are dealing with hydraulic oil ). Check out some local RV shops - this is a big issue with those pulling trailers (I think it's what you would call a caravan) so they can likely set you up quickly. Personally, I'm more concerned with stopping than anything else with a load like that - I don't give any Jeep a world-class rating for excess braking power.

Thanks for the info. WRT stopping - I doubt that the Jeeps brakes are any worse than a 1984 Landrover 110, which stopped fine (aided by the trailer brakes, of the overrun variety)... I suppose the manual gearbox in the 110 helped - not much engine braking in a Jeep automatic, I assume?

I actually drive looking ahead (I'm a biker also) and look for situations where advance action might be required. I have actually ridden my 1100cc bike for 45 miles through countryside, towns and villages to work each day with little or no braking (even whilst travelling up to 150mph) :)

I forget that they require trailer brakes on one that size on your side of the pond - makes a bug difference.

On my old Triumph, 90+ and braking were pretty much mutually exclusive

- too easy to break the tires loose and the least bump in the road was nasty. Only time I got in your speed range was on a 14,000 foot runway aboard a Vincent (shows how long ago that was).

Yes - every trailer over 750kg has to have overrun brakes (they operate through the hitch as it's depressed during vehicle braking). My trailer is a twin axle so it has twin brakes.

You're right - too early for me :)

In the '70's all jap bikes came with crap tyres and the first thing was to put Avon Roadrunners on. At least you could then cross white lines and drains in the wet :)

I was being Coy - the Blackbird actually does just under 190mph and will cruise happily two-up at 170+...