I love the two Jeeps I have, and I'm currently in need of a vehicle to transport cars from Texas to Georgia. It's a long trip, and I need something reliable and powerful enough to get the job done. One of the vehicles I'm considering is an XJ, since I enjoy working on the I6 motors and have found them to be very reliable. I'm looking at a few manual XJs with around 180k miles. I would do a lot of work before hauling (fluids, brakes, trans cooler, rear suspension), but I'm wondering if this is a reasonable vehicle for the job. I'd be towing a uhaul trailer loaded with one 3,000lb car per trip.

Are there any other upgrades that would help keep the engine cool and make the trip safer on the Jeep? Has anyone else done long distance hauls with an XJ? I'd love to bring another Jeep into the family, but I want to make sure it's suited for the job. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Are you talking a car trailer? Or a tow dolly?

 

I might consider it with a tow dolly or flat towing, but A full on car trailer is going to be HEAVY and beyond the XJ's designed maximum tow limit of 5000 lbs. The Uhaul car trailer by itself weighs 2200 lbs empty. Also there are no options for a trans cooler on a manual. Those transmissions dont' have a pump to pump the fluid it's all splash lubrication. The XJ's maximum tow rating from the factory with the manual was rated at 2000 lbs, the auto with a trans cooler was rated at 5000. You'd be better off renting a Uhaul pickup or box truck and pulling the car hauler with that but the cost would probably approach having a professional car hauling company to do it if you had to make multiple trips.

 

I wouldn't even consider using an XJ for that purpose, an XJ makes a good daily drive and a great offroader but is a poor choice for towing any more than a couple thousand pounds for any distance. For what you want to do I would recommend a 1/2 ton truck at minimum, if you want something that will tow it like it's not even there then a HD diesel truck.

 

I would tow my bug to track events with my XJ. It was somewhere around a 3500# load. Without trailer brakes, it was unsafe. However, it towed it just fine. Lifted 4.5" and no sway bars haha. I had some really stiff leafs on it though and it was geared right. Was a manual as well.

 

XJ Not a good choice. I regularly tow around 2000lbs (10' popup camper) for camping, with air shocks, and electric brakes. That is about the limit for safe/capable/comfortable towing, perhaps 3000lb if it was on flat land only. Anything more starts to get stressful for the driver and the vehicle.

 

Yeah man, you need wheelbase, weight, good brakes and an actual frame - none of which an XJ has.

 

Agree with the others. Love my XJ, but it's not the right tool for that job. It's not about getting it there, it's about stopping safely in the event of an emergency. The XJ is marginal, at best, for the towing part of it, and not even close to adequate for the stopping part of it.

Even if you never have an emergency, you'll beat it to death in short order, because you will be constantly pushing against its limits.