Super Dragpack

Hi all,

According to the Jeep manual, data tag and general legal information, my 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 auto is permitted to tow 3,250kg/7165lb here in the UK. In fact any 4.0 XJ is permitted 3250kg/7165lb whilst a 4.0 Grand Cherokee is permitted 3500kg/7700lb (which is the highest legal towing weight in the UK for a domestic vehicle).

BUT according to information I read on the net, the XJ is rated at only 2000lbs in the US.

Why the difference? What is different from the UK and US models?

By the way, it tows 7000lbs rather well!!!!

The law here requires that a trailer over 750kg/1650lb (gross weight) needs brakes.

Mick

nygiants

Correct me if I'm wrong someone but i thought the XJ could tow up to 3500lbs the 4.0 that is and 5000 with the tranny cooler and weight distribution hitch.

F1Addict

Towing something from the U.S. to the UK is not advisable on account of the salt water and stuff.

bigbadon

Technically they will tow that much in the US too but the rating is dumbed down because of hungry lawyers

Super Dragpack

Lawyers show their ugly heads again!!!

So what can I check on my personal XJ to see if all UK spec Cherokees have what you refer to as the "towing package"?

The user manual covers all UK Cherokees and only has the one rating of 3250kg for this engine. Does this mean that all UK spec Cherokees have a tranny cooler and other towing packagae parts?

salad

Thats very strange. The 3500 pound limit a previous poster mentioned applies also to the 4.0 with AX-15 transmission.

I bet part of it has to do with the requirement for trailer brakes. Over here in Canada U-Haul will rent you a 1500 pound steel utility trailer without any brakes. It tows fine but stopping in the rain is pretty bad of course.

bigbadon

Tranny cooler keeps things cool,it does not increase towing capacity. If you know how to tow sensibly you can get by without it.

djb383

The 5K lb US tow rating requires the 4.0L motor, auto tranny, HD engine cooling and the optional factory installed auxiliary tranny cooler. If any of those 4 items are missing, it ain't rated at 5K lb towing. Obviously, one would not bolt on a 2K lb Class I rated hitch if they planed to tow 5K lbs......nor would bolting on a 10K lb Class V hitch raise the XJs tow capacity to 10K, duh. On a light duty vehicle with a manual tranny, the clutch is always the weak link in the drive train so light duty manual tranny vehicles almost always have a lower tow capacity vs the same vehicle equipped with a auto tranny.

bigbadon

In the U.S. tow ratings are only recommendations and have a wide margin for CYA. In the UK tow ratings are closer to the engineered absolute capacity.

djb383

The law firm of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe will CYA every time (do I hear a siren?).......with a pile of papers that start off saying "You have been sued". Might want give a little thought to/before exceeding factory recommendations.

salad

Indeed, this is what surprises me the most about the "blanket" weight rating that the OP mentioned

Super Dragpack

I appreciate that our max towing limits for a specific vehicle is the absolute max, and certainly less than ideal (i.e. too high) in many situations.

For example, I had an old 1968 Land Rover Series IIa 88" short wheel base (with a custom V8) but with stock drums brakes - which were rubbish on a good day - pointless on a bad day. Every attempt to stop was accompanied by a short prayer and a rewrite of your "will". Yep, it took that long. Anyway, despite this, they are legally permitted to tow 3500kg all day long. I did on many occasions - and I nearly messed myself on most of them, and that's with the correct trailer brakes.

Laws on trailers are complicated here, but they don't have to be licenced, checked or registered. You can make one yourself and pull it happily - until something goes wrong, then you have things to account for as the law is there, just not applied until needed.

A trailer over 750kg (gross) has to have trailer brakes, then over another weight they require suspension and even double axle etc.

A loop hole in the law is A-Frames. No one actually knows the law on these (even the Police who I've spoken to). I've towed around 5k miles a year with a simple unbraked A-Frame in the past. Most of this was done with a 1997 Fiat Ulysee, a 7 seater small euro mini-van (Multi Purpose Vehicle or MPV here) with a little 90hp 1.9 Turbo Deisel engine. I towed anything from smaller Alfa 147's (1250kg) to large MG ZT's (1750kg) with it, and it did fine. I must admit though, that it is only rated for 1350kg, but it never give me cause for concern. Slow to pick up speed, slow to loss that speed, but once on the motorway (highway to you) and cruising at 60mph all is fine. Always returned over 30mpg too.

Anyway, I got the Jeep to make this sort of trip a little saver - even though I rarely do them now. As it runs on half-price LPG (Propane) it is about the cheapest (price-per-mile) 4x4 I could find. While not towing, I get better price-per-mile than most modern silly little engine deisels.

I love half price fuel. We pay about the same for LPG (Propane) as you guys pay for Petrol.

I was considering upgrading to a circa 2000 Grand Cherokee - but they seem too complicated to me, and I prefer the 2WD option of the classic Cherokee I have.

My 98 Cherokee only has 90k miles on the clock and impecable history - serviced every 6 months at Crysler etc - so I think I would be stupid to try and replace it with an unknown.

mdtobe

I used my 1998 Jeep Cherokee to go pick up a Mazda Miata after buying it out of State. Rented a U-Haul car hauler trailer which itself weighs 2210 lbs. and with the weight of the 2100 lbs. Miata the total towed weight was about 4310 lbs. (and probably a bit more because the Miata had all options including an Automatic Transmission). Interestingly, my Jeep Cherokee XJ magically became a Jeep GRAND Cherokee when I picked up the trailer (U-Haul won't rent the car hauler for use with a Cherokee).

Note that before the trip I installed an auxiliary transmission cooler.

With the car loaded on the trailer my Cherokee towed it like it was nothing. Plenty of power, plenty of braking capability (surge brakes on the trailer), and no problems at all with trailer sway, even though I did not use an anti-sway bar(s) or even a weight distributing hitch (if I were to tow this much weight on a regular basis, I would definitely use a weight distributing hitch and probably throw in an anti-sway braking bar for good measure).

Fuel economy was quite good. Driving at about 70 mph I averaged about 12 mpg on the trip home (I normally get 19 - 20 mpg at a steady 70 mph), and if I remember correctly, I even managed one tank at 14 mpg during a stretch where I kept my speed down to around 60 mph just to see how high that would raise my mpg.

Based on my experience, I have no doubt I could use my Cherokee XJ to pull a 5000 to 7000 lb. Travel Trailer with the following caveats:

• I would definitely use a weight distributing hitch.
• I would definitely use at least one anti-sway braking bar (and probably two).
• Good trailer brakes are a must (stating the obvious here).
• I would replace my worn out rear leaf springs with new ones (need to do that anyway) and I'd probably have the packs built with an extra leaf in each of them.
• My Jeep has very good road tires (Goodyear TripleTreds in the summer; Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter) which give very good street traction. Using All-Terrain type tires with their comparatively low levels of traction on pavement would not be safe in my opinion due to the increased risk of sway.
• With that level of weight, I'd keep my speeds down to 65 mph or lower.

Here's a few pictures of my Jeep on the trip (note the rear end sag - my leaf springs are tired and in need of replacement to begin with, so adding the hitch weight certainly didn't help things!).







I'm hoping to eventually buy an 25' Airstream or a 26' Avion trailer and if and when I do, I think it will look great behind the Cherokee.

Cheers,

John

P.S. For what it's worth, I pulled a 31 foot Basement Model 2 Bedroom Travel Trailer (official GVWR of 7,000 lb. but I think it weighed closer to 8,000 lb. fully loaded with the water tank full) with a 1981 Ford Bronco 35,000 miles a year for three years while I was Music Director for several Shrine Circuses back in the 1980's. The Bronco was special - it had a 460 out of a 1972 Lincoln Continental and a C6 transmission and the all-gear-driven transfer case out of a Ford One Ton 4WD Pickup truck. Despite its short wheel base (which is actually a bit longer than a Cherokee's) it pulled the snot out of that huge trailer. The weight distribution hitch and especially the TWO anti-sway braking bars in the hitch setup kept trailer sway to a controllable minimum. So I'm no stranger to hauling big trailers with relatively small tow vehicles.

sjalbert

My 2WD 2001 Cherokee has that much rear end sag without the trailer

I regularly tow a 16' Tandem axle trailer loaded with a '44 MB (aka a "real" jeep) and a '42 MBT. Total towed weight is right at 5000# +/- a few pounds.

I bought a Cherokee without a towing package. Found and installed Factory Wiring Harness, Factory Hitch & a Factory Transmission Cooler. I also added a Brake Controller (the trailer has electric brakes on one axle) and a Jeep Liberty Transmission Cooler (I live in hot as Hades Texas). I use a load leveling hitch but haven't felt a need for a sway bar.

mdtobe

I'm interested in that factory wiring harness you mentioned. My hitch wiring kit/adapter was installed by semi-competent guys at U-Haul, and every time I need to tow something it needs to be refurbished or replaced by... yes, the semi-competent guys from U-Haul. (I'm reminded this moment of the definition of insanity...

Anyway, was installing the factory trailer wiring harness hard? Where does it attach? I assume you found it at a wrecking yard? Any info appreciated.

Cheers,

John

P.S. Nice combo you you have - a Jeep pulling a (real) Jeep and its trailer on a trailer.