Come again?

I had to watch this over and over, I laughed so hard! I pull my jeep's with a class C motorhome, works way better.:guns:

Last week I pulled my 22' camper (4400 lb empty, probably getting close to 4800 lb with food, bicycles, clothes etc loaded in) about 400 km (250 miles) each way.
96 XJ, 4.0, AX15, 2" lift (spacers front, S10 springs rear), weighs in at 4000 lbs empty.
On my test run with 31x10.5 tires, it really struggled, so i got a set of 225/70R15's to use when towing.
Typical speed 80 km/h (50 mph).
Maximum 90 km/h (55 mph), above that things start to get squirrely.
Trailer has weight distributing hitch, but no sway control bar. When people passed me, it pushed me around a bit, but nothing really bad. Worst was a greyhound bus overtaking me.
Trailer brakes are ESSENTIAL. There's no way the XJ could stop it without.
I just replaced all the trailer brakes last year, so I have some confidence in them. A good controller is also essential - the cheap controllers don't sense how hard you are stopping, they just ramp up to your max setting. The better ones sense how hard you are stopping, and apply trailer brakes accordingly. I had no trouble stopping, never even had to push hard, the trailer brakes did most of the work. Of course, when towing I also leave good space in front of me. Stopping with the XJ and trailer brakes was much better than it was 2 years ago towing with my Suburban and bad trailer brakes.
I wouldn't even think of pulling this with an auto trans. My clutch tends to chatter, so I did take some care to keep rolling, so I wouldn't have to pull away from a dead stop very often. When pulling away, I did so gently, at least until the clutch was fully engaged. If I had to pull away up a steep incline, I planned to put it in low range to get rolling, but I never had to do this.
Almost any sort of hill required 3rd gear, bigger hills needed 2nd, and down to 40 mph or so.
Using A/C while towing this rig resulted in engine temps climbing. (On my test run I found I was cooling-limited, so I replaced the fan clutch - that helped a lot). On level ground, I could run at 50 mph, with A/C on low, without getting too hot (it was maybe 80 degrees out, and when you are pulling like this, the floor gets almost too hot for your feet).

That's my experience and opinion, YMMV. I plan to do it again.

so hauling a vehicle is totally out of the question? I've been asking people as I see Cherokee's running around if its possible and they all seem really confident in the XJ; who knows if they are a credible source. I was wondering whether a 5 speed XJ could haul a 2700lbs car on a split deck hauler; same problems?

i would tow a car on a dolly rather than a trailer...

this is a 2700 lb trailer that i towed to school at 80 mph with a 5speed trip was 377 miles door to door. Never had cooling issues, going up hill i lost speed but nothing terrible... But that is about the max i think.

btw i have 33's and stock gearing...BUT like others have said its not power issues its braking issues. my tongue weight was only 250 lbs. i could lift the tongue onto the ball with a bit of effort.

Thats hilarious lol

Over here the 4.0 XJ is rated at towing 750kg unbraked and 3300kg braked.

Rob

My friend blew his clutch in his 81 CJ as soon as we got to rausch creek 200 miles from home. It was our first time there and neither of us trailered of course. So we drove to harrisburg to buy a tow bar and a drill with the money we had. Hooked it up to his bumper to pull him all the way home.

I COULDNT GO OVER 45 MPH WITHOUT LOSING TOTAL CONTROL. I had people cutting me off, beeping everything. It took us 8 hours to get home.

Although flat towing is a different because there is no tongue weight and he had no sway bars and i have 33s. It sucked but now we laugh.

My advice, get a full size truck to tow

-Mike

You are much better off towing any kind of heavy load the auto trans. The auto has a higher factory tow rating than the 5 speed. As far as I'm concerned the only thing the 5 speed is good for is a boar anchor. The 5 speed is barely rated for the GVW of the XJ it's self. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all the xj's that came from the factory with the tow package were all autos.

Some other things to consider when talking about towing are length of the tow vehicle, and weight of the tow vehicle. A xj is just too damn short to be towing a trailer 22 feet long, not to mention to light. You need a bigger, heavier rig. If that trailer starts to whip on you bend over and kiss your butt goodbye. Chances of getting it stopped with out wrecking are about zero.

But remember, this is just my opinion. And opinions are like you know what, everyone has one.

I pull my wheeler 95xj caged 4000lbs on a duel axle flat trailer at least 700lbs if not more with my 99 xj without any prob. Its a little slow cause I don't floor it. But it works great. The trailer dose have fluid brakes with that hole tong set up. Braking pulling sway none of these are any issue.

I towed a tandam axle u-haul (loaded weighed over 6000lbs) 3500miles 1 way.
4.0, ax-15 4x4... I had the stock cooling system, stock clutch stock sized tires.
I went from east of Maine to Phoenix AZ. Lots of mountains.
On the hills I never had to use less than 3rd gear, and at that was passing tractor trailers and some 5th wheel setups. It would run warm, but never close to overheating.
The stock clutch lasted another 85,000k's before needing replaced.

Now, having said that, going downhill with surge brakes was a nightmare!
A good trailer brake controller and trailer brakes would make the world of difference.
The trailer often tried to steer the XJ, and made for an extreamly exhausting drive.
I don't know if a load distributing hitch and sway controler would eliminate this or not, but if I were to ever do it again I would have that type of setup.

I would not want to tow that much weight with the XJ on a regular basis, but yes, the XJ can do it without self destructing.

As others have said, I would recommend a proper tow vehicle, or a smaller (think pop-up) camper if the XJ is to remain your tow vehicle.

My 98XJ pulls my enclosed work trailer daily. it's a single axle 6X6X10 3500 GVW trailer. Have never weighed it but I'm sure I've had it near max. Once had 30 sheets of 4X8 1/2 inch drywall in it. I do have the weight transfer hitch setup. I also run air shocks. I'm going to finally put brakes on the trailer soon after 4 years. I've even pulled a 10,000 GVW tandem axle dump trailer with almost 4K on the load. About the only thing that ever worried me was the stopping. I do have a good trailer brake controller but still have not hooked it up. My bad. Other than that I am also going to install the biggest trans cooler I can find.
We have a guy here in London (who I went to school with) who is considered the Einstein of trailer hitches. He's even put one on a new Mini cooper that pulls a 20 ft Airstream. His own personal vehicle of choice is a Jag pulling a 28 ft. Airstream. He has people coming from around the world and every vehicle manufacturer to learn from him.
I think I'll give him a call. I'm pretty sure he's over losing his high school girlfriend to me:sweatdrop:

Do not do it! One idiot pull out in front of you and it is all over with except the crying...if you are lucky
I have pulled a lot fo stuff I shouldn't in my 71 F100. It has disc brakes a 460 with c6 automatic and 3.25 rear end. It will pull a lot of weight but stopping it and controlling sway is all something else

clint

Can't they do that even if your not towing anything?

I agree. I leave lots of space in front of me, whether I'm towing or not. And when towing a trailer (anything more than a little utility trailer), reliable trailer brakes are essential. Stopping my trailer behind my Suburban with trailer brakes not working was a lot worse than with the same trailer behind my XJ with trailer brakes fixed.
Sure an automatic is easier to drive, but I didn't buy a jeep for "easier". If you pull away gently, without revving up high, the clutch will hardly know the difference. Every single automatic transmission I have ever owned has caused me grief (and I've owned 20+ vehicles now...). The only manual transmission trouble I've had was on the stupid Volkwagen Golf - I lost reverse, because the reverse lockout wasn't reliable, and the wife and kids hit reverse instead of 2nd too often. (never me, of course :icon_redface:). The only good place for an automatic transmission is in a Cadillac.
I did need to run premium fuel when towing - it knocked pretty bad on regular fuel.