With 31's and a heavy load it may not even shift to 4th/OD. If it won't shift to 4th, or seldom shifts to/stays in 4th, u might want to consider +/-50 mph driving speed tops in 3rd. U'll be seeing some brutal ambient temps, keep that in mind.

 

Well. I am not going to argue, because my Durango manual says to tow with turned of overdrive, so maybe I am wrong about Cherokee.
Lower gear= higher RPM= better cooling for engine and transmission

 

With 31's and a heavy load it may not even shift to 4th/OD. If it won't shift to 4th, or seldom shifts to/stays in 4th, u might want to consider +/-50 mph driving speed tops in 3rd. U'll be seeing some brutal ambient temps, keep that in mind. If at all possible, don't guess at the towed weight, look in the phone book and find some public scales.

Oooops, double post.

 

Only reason you dont want od is because its not a powerful gear and the shifting in and out would cause wear, but 3rd (as i said) still gives the tc lockup which acts as a faux od.

 

How do u "turned of overdrive"????

 

Im hoping your rear axle is also going to stand up to this? 5k is alot of stress on that rear

 

--are you sure about that? rpm drop would be the clue--heat is what scares the **** outta me--

-x whatever, your rig will take awhile at the least, to stop,-n-prolly wont, if panic is involved--

-then you know,or have more knowledge, of the tc lock-up parameters in this trans than i do, but all that weight, passengers-n-all? i wouldnt do it without a AAA membership, or at the least, a tranny temp gauge--

 

You're post reads as if you are aiming to test the limits of towing capacity with a 13-year-old Jeep full of people during the hottest part of the year on 31s. Probably not a good idea. The health of your Jeep and it's passengers are at stake.

However, if your XJ is impeccably maintained and in perfect running condition with all of the HD towing options then there's no reason not to provided you err on the side of caution, subtract passenger weight and interior cargo from towing capacity, and maybe another 30%-40% to compensate for the larger tires. Personally, I would rent a U-Haul before I'd risk it.

 

-well, i'm hoping that everything else is up to snuff, cuz this,again is a haul!!

 

Best advice so far. ......but the OP may be taking a vacation and not moving.

 

--there fify!!

 

If the OP is taking a 24 hour vacation while lugging 5000 pounds and three passengers over a thousand plus miles in a 13-year-old truck in the middle of summer then I'm going to change my recommendation from U-Haul to a good psychiatrist

 

He could be driving non-stop 24 hrs to his vacation stop, staying a while, possibly dropping off the trailer, and taking more than 24 hrs to return to Kahli4neah.

 

U haul prob dose about the same as my 10 mpg lol

 

The OP isn't either........he's going to TX from CA. LOL