I own a 1999 Wrangler that is a hobby and the wife and I enjoy crusing around in it. We have a travel trailer that we tow with a Ford F250. We would like to be able to tow our travel trailer with a wrangler unlimited 4- door. The GVW of the travel trailer is 7000 lb. Can someone tell me if there is a set up available that would allow me to do this ?

 

Well, the GVW of your trailer doubles the tow capacity of a JKU. Yes, the JKU's rated tow capacity is definitely on the conservative side and the Jeep is capable of towing more, but not 7000lbs. Not only is there a power problem but you also have to take in the weight of the Jeep, and most importantly braking power. You also run a huge risk of a lawsuit (definitely civil and possibly criminal) if you are involved in a traffic collision and it does not even have to be your fault if you are towing more than the vehicles certified capabilities. I'm with you on wishing the Jeep could tow more because I would be running out the door to buy a 23ft toy hauler. Unfortunately the lightest toy haulers of that size run about 6000lbs empty.

 

I'm afraid the answer is no. While 3500 is ridiculously low rating compared to what it can actually tow, in my experience 7000 pounds is certainly a show stopper. My toy hauler has a dry weight of around 3500. Loaded I figure it is around 4500 pounds once the Harley goes inside. I just got back from an 1100 mile trip towing the trailer. 65mph is the fastest it will go. Simply runs out of power to go any faster. So 7,000 pounds will be worse. I have a 2012 with manual trans and max tow package. My jeep tows the 4500 pound trailer ok, but I would not go any higher than that.

 

They do make lightweight toy haulers. Please look at the "Rush" line of toy haulers. It's a small company but they specialize in lightweight ones. I had been looking at their FC19 ft model. Brand new they are around $15k depending on options. I see some of the 23 footers come up on eBay. I ended up getting a 2009 coachmen blast because I hate to buy new stuff and couldn't find a used FC19 at the time. Just do a google search for rush toy hauler.

 

ok so ive read a lot of posts on here about towing and the general consensus is that you cant tow much with the JK. Im looking at buying a boat and both boat and trailer would be around 6k thats a little more than the 4 door jk i have
the idea here is that you cant tow more than you weigh and i am wondering why
ive been driving semi truck for years and i continually gross out at 98,000lbs the tractor itself only weighs 21,000lb that means im pulling 77,000lbs and this is fairly safe as safe as big trucks get anyway
so again why cant i haul 6k with my jeep thats only 1k more then the weight the biggest thing that comes to my mind is that you just cant drive it like normal more like a big truck dont step on the breaks hard means you gotta watch following distance and be alert


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You may see from my earlier posts that I tow up to about 5k. I personally would not recommend much higher than 5k. Has more to do about running out of power than it does about safety in braking. My trailer has dual axle brakes, so braking is not an issue. It's the get-up-and-go that's the issue.

 

Who said you can't haul more than the jeep weighs? It comes down to what the jeep is rated at to safely haul

 

I guess I need to know how a tow rating is set what factors contribute to the low rating
I know a gentleman that hauls a 25k excavator with a dodge one ton
But with the jeep and other similar rigs the rating is busted back to below vehicle weight

 

No one on any of the Jeep forums has come up with the real answer to how Jeep set the tow rating for the JK. It's all been speculation.

 

It probably due to being classified like a convertible. I know U-haul won't rent you a trailer if you have a soft or no top. Luckily I had my hardtop on when I rented one but seen it in the rules for Jeeps.