Towing with Wrangler Unlimited

Martin, here is an answer to your question, from the Yahoo Unlimited group,

Here is the text of that posting, please see original at the above address..... the writer is encouraging any questions, see original post at Yahoo site.

Gus Hrncir

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I want to share my great experiences with a yellow Unlimited that has towed a 3500lb. travel trailer over 13,000 miles so far (Florida to Alaska to Maine).

First I should describe the modifications made:

31X10.5 Goodyear MT/R tires Air-Lifts on rear springs (0-3.5in variable lift) Trailer hitch - Draw-Tite 3500lb/350lb tongue with one friction antisway bar Prodigy brake controller Cruise control (Mopar) Smoke Bug shield and fender guards Grill covers for fog and headlights Garmin ChartPlotter navigation GPS mounted on dash "tray" over radio

The trailer os an '04 Trail-Lite Bantam Flier F17 (17ft. length)

I will post a photo in the photo section.

The combination was towed at 50-55 mph for the 13,000 mile trip with wonderful results (only negative was a windshield chip). Milage was about 10-12mpg on the average. I was able to climb hills at 40-50 mph that left the other two rigs we were on the trip with way behind (larger trailers with trucks to tow them). No overheating problems and I generally just left the overdrive on unless some back and forth gear hunting was observed.

The air-lift arrangement perfectly compensated for the 3in. rear drop that would have occured with the stock suspension and the

350lb. tongue load. Breaking with the Prodigy controller was fine including a panic stop in Alaska that came within 6in. of a crazy local driver that pulled out in front of me from a side road.

Comfort was good including 10-12hr. days (returned in 11 days -

4700mi.)using cruise control 90% of the time Playing an iPod MP3 thru the FM radio gave us many hours of music when stations were weak or non-existing.

All in all this trip exceeded my expectations. While running at the maximum ratings for towing sounds potentially problimatic for such a long trip I think that conservative driving made the difference. I don't think driving at over 55mph would have been acceptable and could have caused downshifting much more frequently thus lowering milage and drive train stress. Use of a lower frontal area pop-up camper would possibly have allowed higher speeds but we wanted the convinience of the more standard height trailer we used. (Our other RV is a 40' triple slide-out diesel pusher motor home!) This was much more like traditional camping and we used a Honda 2000 watt portable generator when boondocking about half the time.

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have either in this forum or directly to me at al@s...

PS - The Unlimited now has 19,000 miles on it since May 15,2004.

I'm curious as to the basis of this opinion. Apparently he is within factory towing specifications, albeit at the very high end.

>

According to the Jeep website, all the Wranglers EXCEPT the two Unlimited models are rated at 2000 pound gross trailer weight. (SE is only rated to 1000 pounds.) I wonder what is so special about the Unlimited? The issue is not power from the engine or brakes, it is handling under emergancy conditions. I for one do not want to be anywhere near (in front of, beside, or behind) someone doing the legal speed limit in traffic with that rig, finds the car ahead jams on the brakes, needs to take evasive action, hops to the next lane.

Short wheel base and high center of gravity are the culprits. Add in some soft springs suitable for off road and you have a deadly combination at highway speeds. The OP on yahoo says he kept it down to

50 to 55 mph. This will cause a traffic jam on any interstate I've driven.

I might add that the usual guide is a minimum of 10% of the gross trailer weight as tongue weight. This is the minimum to keep the trailer from fish tailing under most conditions. In this case, that is a 350 pound load MINIMUM on the hitch.

Tom Green> I'm curious as to the basis of this opinion. Apparently he is within

I don't know what differentials they're throwing in the Unlimited, but I can tell you NEVER try to pull anything over the rated weight in a Sport!! Whatever you do, adhere religiously to what they tell you in the manual or they won't replace the parts. I'm writing from sad new differential experience :) If the parts are at all alike, I wouldn't go crazy with the Unlimited either.

Matt

All that may be so but the unlimited is rated at 3500# towing capacity which I would imagine has something to do with the increased wheelbase and factory stock D44 rear axle. I really don't see the big issue with this. The trailer is not "that" incredibly heavy, the jeep is not "that" much of a lightweight, and most importantly the jeep/trailer combo apparently has a functioning electric brake system for the trailer.

Yet you don't have any issue with an 85,000# tractor trailer barreling down the road at 70mph? A good 50,000# or so which is likely to be payload. How about a 1-ton duelly towing a single car trailer?

Most traffic jams are caused by rubber-neckers and looky-loos and people that havent figured out the passing lane is for just that, passing. If the OP stayed in the travel lane for the most part he isn't likely to be the source of any significant hold ups.

Not sure of your point here but here are some numbers for comparison. A regular cab 4x2 shortbox Ford F-150 has a 123" wheelbase and is rated to tow

6500lbs. That is not quite double the rating of the Jeep with not quite 2 more feet of wheelbase and the truck weighing in about 5000lbs.

The Jeep on the other hand with its 103" wheelbase weighs in at about

3700lbs with an auto tranny and can only haul 3500lbs.

I really don't see where the OP or anyone else would need to "have their head examined".

I stand corrected. The Unlimited is a Scrambler revisted with a 10" longer wheel base, 12" longer body, 5" longer overhang, 3' larger turning radius, way less departure angle clearance, heavier axle, higher axle ratio than a standard Wrangler, 16" tires (Rubicon Unlimited)etc. Every item there (except for the rear overhang) increases the towing capacity.

But I've towed all sorts of strange things behind cars and pickups and a

17', 3500 pound full sized travel trailer is NOT fun to pull, especially at freeway speeds. And not for 13,000 miles.

Tom Green> All that may be so but the unlimited is rated at 3500# towing capacity which

that may explain why the Wrangler in the UK, which comes with D44s, is rated at 2000lb with an unbraked trailer, and 4000lb with a braked trailer.

Check this out. I'm not sure what type of travel trailer you're looking for and what type of amenities you're looking for, but this would definitely work well. My wife and I saw them at Camp Jeep both times we went.

When the $ rolls around, we will probably be getting one.

Chad

I took the "heavier axle" from the Jeep website that shows

"Heavy Duty Dana 44/226mm Rear Axle" (8.89") > the Unlimited, may not have stronger axles like the Rubicon, as I