Im i going to be ok towing a 4000lb trailer camper with my 98 Jeep Wrangler? Cross country … About 1200 miles
I’d be concerned, a short high Jeep wouldn’t be my pick for towing.
No, 4000# behind a short wheelbase Wrangler? A quick stop or a sharp turn at 65 mph could send this set up haywire. Cross winds on an interstate with semi’s in the traffic mix would be dicey.
Good luck… And you’ll need a lot of it.
Lol! Ive done crazier things
A Jeep is a great towing vehicle…on the FARM. Many farmers tow heavy loads with them at low speed. It’s top heavy and has a short wheel base and that combination can be deadly, especially in a crosswind.
We really are concerned with your safety.
I understand and i doubt i will attempt towing the camper.
I do question (just for fun) that my jeep is top heavy.
Thanks so much for your concern .
So you’re going to tow that trailer with that truck.
Knowing that, you also know that a sway or fishtail on that rig could do you in.
BUT. .
1 - Have working trailer brakes ! . . both to stop the mass and to conrtol sway.
2 - USE a weight distributing receiver even IF the truck could handle the tongue weight.
3- slow down and just take it easy and smooth.
It CAN be done. just plan right and don’t fool yourself.
Plus it will be the easiest rig to back into any spot with a short truck / long trailer.
My 79 chevy , short stepside, pickup could EASILY handle the tongue weight of my 27’ camp trailer. BUT…toodling down the highway with only the tongue hitch on made for a super bouncy AND super sway prone drive.
After hooking up the equalizer bars . . DUDE ! ! !
-
- Night and day !
I never drove that rig without EQ bars again ! it was tha best towing purchase I ever made.
- Night and day !
once upon a time - - Towing an empty one-car flatbed with my 92 Explorer to go get my daughter’s broken down Taurus , the trailer bumped a pothole and kicked into a sway. No brakes on that trailer and THAT was one scary ride for the next mile or two as I steered into the sway each time and tried NOT to brake exept when the trailer was mostly strait. I got it to stop swaying and got slowed down BUT . . .yikes !
and ,
that’s the same Explorer that gave me my biggest scare ever with its death defying brake fade while towing my country-rock band equipment trailer. That trailer also never had brakes, but if it comes to that again, I’ll invest in adding some , even for a single axle small box trailer.
A first-gen Explorer 2 door flipped in front of my wife under similar circumstances, @“ken green” .
Yes, I’m well aware of the risks of towing.
Out here in the wild west I’ve seen full sise pickups and suburbans flipped by their swaying trailers. We have many wind socks placed along I-40 for that very reason and I guess they just don’t heed the indicator.
That’s what made my sway episode so scary . . I knew what could happed , knew the theory of checking sway, and now had to put the theory into practice. . .a ‘‘time stood still’’ scary two minutes but I got it checked , and , yes, thanked God that I ran those scenarios in my head many times before actually needing to do it.
The other sway scare I got was when the band trailer exploded its right tire. Tokk off the fender and all. That shot the trailer into a hard left sway but , it being a little short box trailer made it a bit ro convince IT to follow ME and not give in to its wrestling me around.
Which brings up an additional subject about towing.
BadBearing . .
Do you normaly tow other types of trailers ? ( garden tools, boats, skidoos, cement mixer,
Or is this a rare or first occasion ?
One needs to practice both , live and in your mind, all these very sorts of functions and malfunctions that could occur while towing.
Nope
Check your owners manual, the towing capacity for a 98 Wrangler is around 2,000 lbs. It has a short wheelbase and is not stable enough to tow a big load.
Take a good look at the frame and see how much rust you have, at that age you may be surprised at how compromised the frame is. My son has a 98 and we had to have a welding shop reinforce much of the frame 2 years ago.
Endangering your life is one thing…endangering everyone else on the road is something different. The Wrangler is not the right vehicle to tow a 4000lb trailer with. You’ll be endangering yourself and everyone else on the road.
Ive towed all kinds of stuff including oversized with tractor trailer fairbanks to prudhoe bay.
During blows … Where you can barely see the deliniators on the side of the road. Its a kick. Im surprised more people dont die up there
Ive towed all kinds of stuff. Including oversized loads and longpipe. Fairbanks to prudhoe bay. Its interesting in a blow. Im surprised more people dont die up there
Some people get confused with the term towing vs pulling. A lot of vehicles can pull the load but towing involves safely moving and stopping with a certain load. Your Wrangler is poorly suited to safely tow a 4K load.
4000 pound trailer with a Wrangler, on the highway? This is a joke,right?
No, it wasn’t a joke.
However, the OP did kind of concede to our cautions and say they probably would not .
It’s just THAT very kind of towing rig where my earlier advice MUST be followed.
no matter the adility of the vehicle to handle the tongue weight of the trailer. . .
ABSOLUTELY
MUST
-
- Use an equalizing receiver ! - - ( aka ; weight distributing hitch ) The one with the spring arms that reach from the truck hitch to the trailer tongue.
Especially, and without compromise, with that little short Wrangler.
The BOUNCE 'tween truck and trailer ( with the weight pivoting on the rear axle, lifting the front end weight ) will throw you around un-controlably if you tow that rig without the EQ arms.
- Use an equalizing receiver ! - - ( aka ; weight distributing hitch ) The one with the spring arms that reach from the truck hitch to the trailer tongue.
Just two moths ago I told a co-worker about using the equalizer bars on his F250 and 22’ camp trailer.
He tried to rebut but tried them out anyway.
That following Monday he came quickly to me and thanked me for the sage advice.
it made a 100 % difference in the driveability and control of his rig which he had been fighting with for years.
To be a little more ‘‘in your face’’ , or, un-PC or direct . .
With that rig . . .you WILL use an equlizing hitch or you WILL be sorry.
I know it’s been a while for this thread . . .
BUT . . .
I thought of this poor towing rig today
Why ?
Gallup NM . . . SIXTY SIX MPH WIND GUSTS ! Yes right now at 5:25 pm !
You can’t see accross town for the dust clouds. What can be a river ( Rio Puerco ) is just a dust ravine and all of that is in the air.
See any of the Albuquerque tv websites for a wind report, KOB, KRQE, or KOAT .com
Dangerous, dangerous driving out there.
My parts counter is in the middle of the building facing the techs in the shop.
If the shop door is opn . .AND . .the receiving dock door is opened ?
wwwhhhhhhooooooooooossshhhh . . every paper not weighted down is strewn accross the shop for fifty feet. ( years ago I started saving all the old bearing races from rear axle jobs, thank goodness. )