Traveller

I need to fit a tow bar to my 2000 Grand Cherokee LE.

Can someone please tell me how long a job it is and if there's anything I need to watch out for and also if there is a plug tucked awaysomewhere I can just put my towbar plug into into or do I need to cut into the wiring please?

dave1123

If you mean a front towbar, no there isn't. The front frame isn't even there on the WJ. You'd be much safer using a dolly or hooking directly to the axle. As far as lighting goes, the easeist way is to use a tow lighting system which plugs into your tow vehicle.

Traveller

Sorry..... I meant a rear tow bar.

dave1123

Trailer Hitch? There are 4 bolt holes in the chassis to bolt it on with. Jeeps with "tow packages" have a lighting module in the rear compartment behind a side panel and an auxillary transmission cooler. You can add an aftermarket lighting module by plugging into the harness in the rear. It should come with instructions. Without the trans cooler, you'll have to be very careful not to overheat your trans, however. Even with the cooler, you should lock out O/D on hills.

Traveller

Sorry. I'm talking English, English and you're talking American English.

Yes. I meant a tow hitch....... it's only to pull an 11 foot bass boat on a lightweight trailer and only about 8 miles each way on mostly flat roads so I wouldn't have thought I'd need a cooler but am of course open to your advice because I don't know anything about it!

dave1123

Hi, Traveller! I didn't read your profile to realize I've posted with you before! I think you'll be all right without a cooler as long as you take it easy. A bit of advise about boats and trailers. Your boat isn't large, but this goes for anything towed. Limit you tow's tongue weight to 150 lbs. by shifting the boat or loading the trailer to compensate. This will not overload your springs or cause the front end to raise and lose control. I once worked for a guy who did a lot of work with boats and trailers. He's method for sitting up a boat/trailer combo was to block up the trailer tongue so the trailer was level with a bathroom scale under it. Then he'd crank the boat onto the trailer until the scale read 150 lbs. Then we moved the cradle supports to contact the hull at that point. He said that gave the owner a little flexability on stuff he put in the boat. He also did a lot of upgrades, that is, rebalancing when owners went from say a 40 hp motor to a 75 hp motor.

You should also use a hitch insert that places the ball at the proper height to keep you trailer frame level. If you do all this, You'll be good to go for any distances you may want to tow. Say you wanted to tow your boat cross-country.

Traveller

Thanks...... I've done a fair bit of boat towing & an awful lot of offroading (mostly in Africa) so should be OK on those aspects of it but I just wanted to check on the technicalities of fitting a tow bar/hitch before I started.

Thanks for the advice.

dave1123

One thing you've got to remember. The ZJ and the WJ are two completely different animals. The WJ is more of a passenger car with off-road capabilitys whereas the ZJ is an off-road vehicle that's trying to be a passenger car. Just my opinion, however.

Traveller

I agree completely but reckon it won't have any problems with this & if it does, I'll use my 1982 Cherokee instead & that'll do the job without breaking sweat.

dave1123

Cool! keep the faith, pass the word. Frenchdragon out.

Traveller

Thanks for your help.