We tow with the JK. Sucks on mileage, but oh well.

 

that is a nice camper you are getting. I might look into it also.

 

Have you tried to vary your cruising speed to see its effect on mileage? I think if you stay around 60 you should see pretty big improvement compared to 70. I just got my trailer a few weeks ago and have not had a chance to experiment yet.

 

Seigmund

I was showing my wife your trailer this morning (she likes it as well BTW) I was trying to see where your holding tanks and other utilities were.

It seems like your fresh water and water heater are under the rear bunk. Your holding tank drain is also in the rear on the oppisite side. That is good and bad. The good is your tongue weight won't change the longer you are on the road, as all the water will stay in the rear of the trailer. The rocket scientists that built my trailer put the fresh water in the front and the holding tanks in the rear so the longer you are on the road the tongue weight gets lighter.
The bad is. When you are ready to hit the road with a tank full of water (or how ever much you decide you need) it takes weight off of the tongue. There is nothing you can do about it, but you will need to be aware if that when you load your trailer.

It looks from the layout that most of non moveable weight is centered over or near the axle. That is also a good so when you do load your trailer you can use your gear to get the best possible tongue weight. A full tank of water weighs 166lbs that should be no problem adjusting for with gear. You don't have a lot of storage inside in the front so you will have to use your outdoor gear under the front bed to make those adjustments.

The longer you are camping the more dirty clothes you aquire, for some reason it is alwas a PITA to find a good place to keep dirty clothes when camping. In your instance i would get soft collapsable clothes hampers and keep them in the shower during the day and while on the road. Keep in mind that dirty clothes and wet towels add weight in places that they were not originally stored when clean and dry. So that will also change tongue weight. I know it seems like I am really making a big deal out of tongue weight, it's because when you are pulling at or near your Jeeps capacity it will make a big difference. Once you get home and start filling your trailer with all the things you will take with you and adjust there location and get the perfect tongue weight it wont be a pain any more, everything will have it's place and your tongue weight won't change much.

Once you decide where your little one will sleep (I would guess lower rear bunk, it has a window?) Just take the upper/lower matress out and store it someplace at home. Use that area for more storage for weird crap that is sometimes to big to hide away. You can make bins or cubbys to keep your stuff from sliding around. I have seen some people actually put cabinet faces and doors on that area so all your stuff is hidden.

 

This is my travel trailer I pull with my 2011 j/k ru. Looking into buying a weight equalizer for it to distribute weight alittle better

 

I was looking into that same trailer myself (I loved it) and decided against it due to the terrain I have to drive and the wind. My Jeep now climbs moderate hills against a head wind floored in fourth (manual) at 65. I can't even think about what pulling a square box 3 feet taller than the roof would do on the highway. It might make the weight, but what about the wind resistance? I compromised and bought a pop up trailer, not nearly as nice as the E196S, but the trailer is out of the wind.

 

I get about 11-12 pulling the camper. I went camping at Hartwick Pines State park last weekend. I drove about 60-65. The 35's don't help, but I can't pull it with the Focus, lol.

 

My 2011 manual does not show more than 8000 for any JKU except a couple Rubicons and Saharas. Inconsistent information sure does not help the discussion, but oh well. In any case, the discrepency is well under 300 pounds.

Regarding curb weight, its been my understanding for years that published curb weight is dry weight but maybe that standard has changed. Anyway, the published curb weight for my JK is around 3750, but that's for a base model Sport. The 'S' package adds a bunch of weight for A/C, power everything, 32" tires, etc; and then there is the automatic. It was well over 4K empty when I got it.

The manual makes another interesting point: When towing, the tongue weight gets added to the Jeep's weight, so there's another ~350 pounds. This doesn't change the CGWR but it could possibly encroach on the Jeep's GVWR.

The main point here is to weigh your stuff and know for sure where you stand. I've never been surprised to the downside when weighing a vehicle. No matter how you count it, max towing capacity is CGWR minus the actual loaded weight of the towing vehicle. If you tow 3500 and use 8257 CGWR then the loaded Jeep can't weigh more than 4757. Don't guess; get weighed. I know a couple of JKU owners that have been surprised to find their actual weighed weight is over 5K with a couple passengers and some gear. As I said, the actual weighed weight of our JK is 4650 with two adults, mods, and gear.

I couldn't agree more about the Hensley hitch. Even if safety weren't an issue, the ease of driving would make it worthwhile.

 

Agree about weighing the JKU. Going to weigh it on the way up, AND weigh both the trailer and the jeep separately and together on the way back.

CUT AND PASTED FROM THE 2011 owner's manual:
Sorry about the formatting, but the GCWR IS 8257lbs

 

If you did a copy/paste then those figures must be from the CD. I'm using the hard copy version. Very disconcerting that the data doesn't agree. Pretty hard to know which one is right. In this case its just 2-3 hundred pounds, but what if it were a really significant error? Thanks Chrysler!

Good luck with it. Be interesting to see how the real-world weights work out.