You've hit the nail on the head. These 4.0 petrol engines will do the job fine, but the revs sit alarmingly high compared to a smaller turbo deisel engine. They therefore give the impression of struggling - especially if your used to towing with a low revving manual deisel.

One thing I noticed, when towing heavy loads with the deisel, I almost always had my foot flat on the floor to pull away and therefore worked the manual box to keep the revs sensible. However, whilst towing with the Jeep I've NEVER floored it, I never needed to, and needed far less throttle to happily pull away or to keep my speed, BUT the revs were higher, the changes were higher and therefore it gives the impression that you are at the limit when you actually have a lot more throttle left and a lot more revs to go still.

I pulled a 3350lb load with my Jeep last weekend, whilst also having my wife and baby in the fully loaded Jeep. We did 180 miles on some of the largest hills we have here in the UK, and it did fine with the cruise set at between 50 and 60mph (very lazy of me). I rested my foot on the throttle on the steeper hills to see how much throttle the cruise control was using, and it was never at its limit. And it never slowed even on the steepest of hills. Sure the tranny changed a lot, sure the revs sat nice and high whilst climbing, but once on the highway at 60mph it cruised all day long with only the odd change down noted on steeper hills.

So, yes it will rev and sound like it's being killed - but it will do it. As said, you just have to remember the torque curve.

Would I tow a XJ with an XJ? Sure I would. At around 1640kg/3615lb a XJ is a light load in view of the 3250kg/7165lb legal towing capacity - whilst leaving plenty of spare weight for a suitable braked trailer.

The thing is, we tend to potter around in an almost empty (therefore light) XJ. Rarely will the revs touch 2000rpm, rarely will you even hear the engine. So when you chuck on a load, sure you're going to notice it. It has the power to do it, but when empty it just isn't doing anything so just potters. Maybe this is why they last so flipping long.

 

Heh yes, the torque peak on a 4.0 is right around where a lot of turbo diesels redline

Over here the "tow package" XJ is rated for the maximum of a Class III hitch, 5000 lbs. A "toy" XJ (built) that it towed instead of driven will weigh considerably more than stock. Armor, heavy bumpers, full sized axles... could be 3500 pounds or more. A decent trailer with brakes that can haul that around would be at least 1500. Legally over here it's not that hard to hit that limit.

 

There is a very important point in Salad's message and that is "with brakes"! You can get the XJ to move something like another XJ but if you don't have a good set of brakes on the trailer you are not going to be able to stop it, the stock XJ brakes are just not good enough nor does the XJ have enough mass of its own to manage the weight of trailer and another XJ. Tail wagging the dog sort of thing.
Another point is that you have to include the weight of the trailer in your calculations and a trailer that can manage 3500 LBS or so isn't going to be light. Remember that you have to include all the 'junk in the trunk' in your calcualations as well.
My experience in hauling heavy stuff with my XJ is that you really have to plan ahead when stopping!

 

sorry if i got it wrong heard by word of mouth... i would have guessed the manual to be a better tower for better use of power...

if your looking for a tow rig and dont mind lesser gas miledge i would go bigger than a cherokee and im very much a fan of diesel as well

 

Ah, yeah I would've thought the manual would fare better but the clutch is apparently the weak spot. The AX-15 can sure take a beating though.

Diesel always! A Volkswagen Jetta TDI can tow a 2000 lb engine + trailer and still get 39 mpg

 

im still doing my research (have a AX15 to swap into my chero now) in the donner jeep (my first jeep) it was a sticky situation to say the least but it was my first stick so i blamed myself( iv driven a few cars with stick and can say they whr much easyer), i plan on upgrading it but didnt know they had that as a natural weakness, also planning aftermarket torque converter..

which tdi output are you talking about, iv heard of the 1.4,1.6 and 2L being swaped into samys but never a chrokee... if you have an example rig of your own or a friends im interested to hear more... midsize diesel swaps id first consider would be the cummins sister 4bt and 6bt, another choice with huge aftermarket suport mostly for toyotas though i would consider is the mercedes OM series 3L inline 5

 

i curently hv an AX15 to swap into my curren chero, the donner jeep was my first stick and has given me more trouble than any other stick iv driven, i thought it was simply warn out and planed on looking for an aftermarket kit for it, didnt know it was a common weakspot... i also plan an aftermarket torque converter for it to

im %100 for diesel to but wich output of tdi are you talking bout i dnt know my vw's? iv heard of common swaps in samys but never a cherokee, id like to hear more bout it.... im more than conntent and happy with my I6 but my first thoughts for any diesel swap are the sister cummins 4bt and 6bt, another 1 most popular for toyota applications is the mercedes OM series diesels 3L inline 5

oops didnt mean for that to send twice my comp froze on me and didnt think it sent lol srry

 

No idea which engine, I saw it here: http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showth...-of-a-Gradeall.

 

ha ya thats no tdi
http://www.fourwheeler.com/featuredv...l_engineering/

its the cummins 4bt , 3.9L I4... and the are beasts... the cummins 6bt i also mentiond is and identical engine apart from an extra 2 cylinders making it a 5.9L.... BEASTS DUDE ABSOLUTE BEASTS

 

Eh? The VW is definitely a TDI...

4BT pah. Click the link again and look at the engine he's hauling

 

k closer look, page dosnt realy give me much info on the powerplant itself and im googleing and wikipediaing it but only geting vehicles it came in not any statistics, although with everything iv looked up for it its under detroit diesel