TJ towing a boat
- Thread starter mrblue5150
- Start date
Can it - probably. Should it - never. I did not enjoy towing my lawn mower with my LJ (1200lb lawn mower on an aluminum trailer). There are a number of reasons why it is far from optimal. First off it really is not designed for it. It does not have the brake and cooling system for it. Second - short wheel base vehicles tow stuff terribly. Finally - the suspension is not designed for much tongue weight. Balancing a trailer is IMPORTANT. You need tongue wait to keep it from swaying. It does not take much tongue weight to squash your rear suspention (it is designed for the weight of the jeep and a little cargo). My wife's has a diesel unlimited. I thought it could tow - I quickly saw the rear in squash down 3-4".
Towing is about compromises. Jeeps, especially older Jeeps, were designed for off road use. Designing them to tow would have killed a lot of what makes them great offroad.
Towing is about compromises. Jeeps, especially older Jeeps, were designed for off road use. Designing them to tow would have killed a lot of what makes them great offroad.
Sort of. I've seen the Mexican pickups and trailers that @RINC mentioned down here passing through to Naco. Imagine a truck and trailer both stacked with 15 or so mattresses. Also double stacked with 20 or 30 different types of appliances. I literally laughed the first time I saw one. No weight police around here I guess.
I don't have any problem flat towing my LJ. When I need to trailer tow it -i have a heavy equipment trailer I can use. It honestly flat tows better without aux brakes than it tows on the hot shot trailer. You simply do not stop quickly with a heavy equipment trailer - even if it is lightly loaded.
I got the LJ to self portage while kayaking. Too many parking places simply don't have rooms to deal with a trailer - even a Jeep sized one.
I got the LJ to self portage while kayaking. Too many parking places simply don't have rooms to deal with a trailer - even a Jeep sized one.
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Ok I have a 19ft flats boat I’ve towed from Cincinnati to Myrtle beach to key west will say get a class 3 hitch drill and weld it to the frame if you get one of those hitch/bumper junk things it will bend I went through two of those type of bumpers and they bend. Better off get a class 3 hitch put that on then put a tube rear bumper with no hitch and go over top of it ….also I had no problems towing and launching the only problems I’ve had is going through mountains in West Virginia just drove slow. I’ve also towed a double axle center console and launched it, it was fine well over 5 thousand lbs it will tow that promise you if you got the right set up in the back. Hope this helps I’m pretty sure most of y’all haven’t even tried
You’ve now posted this twice, so I’ve copied my reponse from that other thread.
Welcome to the forum. Towing a 5,000+ pound boat around the boat yard or launching it with a TJ is fine, but there is absolutely no way you can tow that big of a load either safely or legally on public roads.
No matter what you do to it, the legal tow capacity behind a 4.0 TJ is still 2,000 pounds.
Probably could have save it if the captain of the boat hopped on and pushed forward. It looks more like she tried to back off the trailer but was already strapped at the bow.
CreepinDeth
TJ Addict
Legal capacity is what I would adhere to because a 2500lb boat Im guessin does not include the trailer
You dont wanna get into an accident and get coverage denied because you broke many safety regs
I had no idea of the miniscule tow rating of these TJs til now, but thankfully I have a half ton and larger Tahoe also
You dont wanna get into an accident and get coverage denied because you broke many safety regs
I had no idea of the miniscule tow rating of these TJs til now, but thankfully I have a half ton and larger Tahoe also
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Towing anything that heavy behind a TJ can be extremely risky due to its short wheelbase. It might be able to actually pull/tow up to 3500 lbs or so, what the longer wheelbase Unlimited is rated to tow, but the SWB TJ with the same engine and brakes doesn't have the stability required to control that much trailer weight due to its significantly shorter wheelbase.
You mentioned towing >5,000 lbs. behind your TJ which I consider extremely unwise/unsafe. It's when the TJ is put into an emergency maneuver/situation where can get dangerous REAL fast. I'd adhere to the official TJ's 2000 lb. safe tow limit.
This shows what happened with a close to 4,000 lb. boat being towed behind a SWB Jeep after it had to make an emergency evasive maneuver. Needing to get on the brakes on a curve while towing too much load can quickly tell you where the phrase 'the tail wagging the dog' came from. Really.
I saw one nearly that big pull into the boat ramp in Vilano Beach FL. Backed it right in the water. Opened the rear door and about 3-4 high end jet skis came out.
Could be but not for new members who haven't yet seen it. It does a good job of illustrating the serious nature of towing too much weight behind our TJs.Jerry - I think that is your second most posted picture.
There's a huge difference in being able to tow weight like that and being able to tow it safely.
Here is thought on legality, can a 3/4 or 1ton towpig, tow doubles? As in the truck towing a camper trailer and a vehicle trailer at once?
No idea - but I bet it varies by state. I’ve seen it done though. Regardless, it’s certainly still limited by tow capacity.
S
Some of y'all need to get you're money up not you're funny up and live a lil that hitch on that jeep pictured wouldn't haul a pack of hot dogs to y'all's swallowing contest. Talking about legal capacity when half you're rusted out jeeps aren't road worthy to begin with obviously you can tell who reads a manual and who actually has tested the limits of these things