grand cherokee 5.2 - 5.9 V8

I would start by reading

3,5 short ton is 7000 lbs 3,5 metric ton is 7716,18 lbs

Either way that is over the tow capacity (6,500 lbs). It's not over by a lot but you will experience the load pushing you around. Especially if you take a sharp corner at any speed. I've towed 5,000 lbs before and it was noticable.

Minimally your Jeep will need

- three core radiator (for the added cooling)

- transmission cooler (in addition to the in-radiator one)

- power steering cooler (optional but nice to have)

- electroinc brake control

- properly rated (load rated) tires

- air bags for the rear coils (nice to have, helps keep things level)

I would suggest a Class IV hitch, Class III is not strong enough.

All that aside, if you are towing something over the vehicle rated capacity the police can ticket you. It's worse if you get into an accident with an overloaded trailer.

Check your local laws.

The reason the 5.2 is better at towing is gearing. The 5.9 is geared more for performace.

Never done an LPG conversion. If Scott Milne is still reading this group he might know more about that. He lives over in England I believe.

Thought about diesel instead of LPG?

"Mario Milinoviæ" wrote As I mentioned in my previous mail; I can buy this Jeep for as low as 5000? here in Croatia, and then reinforce or replace critical parts to make it durable. What do you think about the brakes on this Jeep? When towing this trailor I would be very cautious and drive slowly (not over 50mph, very slow in tight curves). Regards, Mario

Mario,

Depending on what you're planning on towing the Jeep may or may not be the right idea.

If it's something within the limits of the vehicle, then go for it but otherwise do NOT take the chance on it.

You can drive at 35 and if the thing starts to whipsaw behind you, it's going to be all over with and someone may be hurt.

K.

06 Rubi, with a couple of chrome plated flammywhammers zip tied to it.

You got that right, for sure. The laws of physics don't have speed limits.

A properly set up Class IV hitch to distribute the load will really help and trailer brakes are absolutely required but you're going to have one worn out driver in short order.

"Will Honea" wrote A properly set up Class IV hitch to distribute the load will really help and trailer brakes are absolutely required but you're going to have one worn out driver in short order.

It will still leave you with two questions.

1) where did the seat cover go? and 2) why am I so full all of a sudden?

Thanks Kate, I already towed this trailor mounted 3,5t crane with my BMW X5 and it didn't seem to be a problem although we were going about 75mph (just for testing purposes)! I just want something cheap and reliable to tow this trailor since gearbox on my X5 died... Regards, Mario

I agree with you on that but would like to tell you that I also towed another 1t lighter trailor that was basically the same but didn't have as long tow bar as this 3,5t trailor did. Now, that was a major scare. The difference in tow bars between those two trailors was about 2 meters and when I decided to give it a go and try to tow this bigger one, honestly, I didn't expect that I could manage it with half trouble that I had with a smaller one. Now, I know that towing a trailor 75mph is not very clever thing to do, and for sure it's not something I will do again, but I was amazed how this big trailor behived on the road. The only conclusion I have is that length of the towing bar really matters much. I understand your concearn and agree. Thanks, Mario

**Throws her hands in the air***

Ok, if you want to "Run Forrest, Run!" then get on it.

But let me share a little story with you.

Once upon a time, I had a CJ, with a tow hitch.

I was building a frame up restoration on a 69 Chevy pickup.

We needed to tow it from one shop to another for some work. We put the truck on the trailer, buckled it down good and tight and started on our way, a trip of about five miles.

We got on the freeway, on an early Sunday morning, going 40-45 mph. I asked my husband why we were going so slowly and his reply was that "If it starts to whipsaw, that it will...." At that very moment, we had entered onto a slight decline with an even lesser curve under an overpass. I felt something kind of rock the Jeep, and looked back.

In an instant I saw the trailer whip left, then right then - we were jackknifed in the middle of the freeway.

Lucky, OMFG yes we were. There was no other traffic at that hour of the morning and we pulled off to the side, checked everything out and proceed on our way very slowly.

Yes, the trailer was loaded properly, everything was well tied down, thank god because we had two years of hard labor on that truck. BUT we were trying to get that CJ to do something it was not designed or equipped to do.

Moral of the story: If you're going to do something stupid, hoping that you can pull it off, eventually it's going to catch up with you andbite you on the ass.

"Stupid is as stupid does"

I totally agree with you. And special attention will be payed to stopping, I assure you. Although, I didn't have too much problems with braking on the X5. The trailer brakes excelent but still, I think if I buy a cherokee, I would upgrade brakes. Can you recommend this upgrade since I do not know brake upgrade options for GC? And, do you think that, carrying a heavy load in the cargo space (directly above the rear axle) would help make Jeep more stable? I'm wondering this since I saw a commercial or something with a Touareg V10 TDI pulling a 155 tonn plane and towing was possible only when they added some 4 tonns of load in the Touareg's boot (otherwise, the car was skidding or something). Interesting thing happened to me also; when I towed this 3,5 trailer with

400kg of hook load it behived significantly better on the road than when I reduced (don't ask me how) this hook load to only 150kg. I know this is streching a bit but would like to know your opinions. Regards, Mario

We could get into a very long discussion on towing configurations ;)

I ran into one interesting issue with my MJ (the pickup version of the XJ Cherokee, long discontinued) that might apply. There was an option for either the lighter duty D35 rear end or the heavier D44. The D44 had heavier axle shafts and - more to the point - substantially larger rear drum brakes. The D44 version was probably intended for export as some of the literature referred to it as the "metric Ton" version, but it was rated at almost double the towing capacity.

Another subtle point bears on the idea of added weight in the bed of the tow vehicle. I have the extended bed pickup so the rear bumper is considerably further behind the rear wheels than other configurations - by a good foot or so. That tends to limit the allowable tongue weight beyond the simple material strength of the tow rigging as the increased moment arm tends to decrease the weight on the front wheels. Adding weight to the bed forward of the axle to offset this lifting of the front end is an old trick, especially where the center of gravity of the trailer is well above the trailer axle. When stopping, a high cg on the trailer causes the effective tongue weight to increase substantially during braking. I don't recommend stopping with the front wheels up in the air ;) That's also the reason I recommend a type IV hitch - it mounts to the tow vehicle in a way that transfers part of the tongue weight forward of the rear axle and puts more load on the front wheels.

All this be> I totally agree with you. And special attention will be payed to stopping,

Yes, I'm aware that these 3,5t is somewhat "slippery terrain" (meaning dangerous), but, with right preparations and skilled driver, it seems doable. If I end up buying this GC I'll post my experience on towing heavy load with it. Thanks for the interesting infos and advices. Regards, Mario

iirc the 5.9 was only offered as a high performance option with the full-time AWD system

the cooling system is only equipped with an electric fan and it doesn't have the cooling capacity for towing.

reboot