Considering purchase, need to tow car hauler

[ShadowsPapa]

My purposes are for occasional towing. Trailer with car perhaps 2 times a year, three max. Shortest trips would be Des Moines area to Kenosha, or DSM to Cordova, IL, longest would be DSM to Colorado Springs, or Cleveland, that sort of thing.
Some years it might be 1, some 2, the most, 3 trips with a load. Most of the miles and time would be no towing, and minimal loading (maybe a couple hundred pounds in the back - cat food, cat litter, supplies at Menards, Lowes, etcl)

So I can't call my purposes "regular towing duties" when I put maybe 5500-6000 miles a year TOTAL on my trucks, and not even a fourth of that is towing in most years. To me regular is more than 2 or 3 times a year and more miles. I guess someone needs to define "regular towing"?

LOL - what fool takes those marketing stunts on TV seriously? Good grief! Why even bother with those images - only a real ding-dong would try to pull anything that WAS the max advertised weight, let alone something that weighs in the multiple tons OVER that max.
(besides, anyone with sense sees they are on FLAT ground and once you get something like that moving, it pulls fairly easily - especially at LOW speeds like that)

I'm talking MAX a trailer with a car - and the heaviest car is 3100 pounds, trailer I currently own is 2350 and I'm looking into a trailer that is 1500 so that would mean 1500 plus the 3100 for a weight of about 4600 plus maybe a couple hundred pounds of parts and tools - well under 5,000 pounds, including ME. So, 5000 is a lot less than their advertised 7650 (or just call it 7500 pounds to be more real)
So in reality, I will likely be looking at under 5000 pounds, their max is 7500, that means I'd be 2500 pounds under their max.
No pulling stumps, no pulling Case Optum tractor, that sort of thing.

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[KVJ]

If you travel on four lane roads so people can get around you, you'll be good to go.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So you HAVE towed 5,000 pounds with one and it can't keep up the speed limit - that's what you are saying?
You have a flatbed car hauler? Or a tall camper?

Trying to find first-hand experience or at least logic related to towing with a very similar vehicle, a car on a trailer, not a high profile thing like a huge tall camper. Wind resistance increases exponentially above about 60. Pushing a brick through the air is a problem at highway speeds.
Tall tow loads like big campers, enclosed trailers, and so on present their own issues with wind resistance - weight is one thing but add a sail to the thing and suddenly you are pulling the weight of the trailer load plus pulling against another force- wind on a high profile load.

It's hard to compare towing a 6,000 pound tall item like a camper or something that sticks well above the cab of the tow vehicles to towing a 5,000 pound item that doesn't stick up above the tow vehicle - at least not very much..........
I'd never try to pull a 30' double axle camper behind one - the high profile, the WIND resistance, in my personal experience, would fight you even if the load wasn't over 5,000 pounds. I had a 22' camper that sat pretty high and I had more trouble, or at least as much trouble, towing it behind my Chevy, than I do pulling my car trailer loaded. The camper was a fraction of the weight of my car hauler with car on it.

 

[Plippi07]

Just towed a ex cab ranger with a U-Haul trailer 2.5 hours in 6th gear at 70-75 mph 3500rpm. Still got 13.5 mpg too. I do have max tow package btw.

 

[smlobx]

^^^^
Perfect.
Those UHaul trailers are heavy duty too.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

U-Haul designed those trailers to be bullet-proof, safe, easy.

13.5 mpg? Wow, I have trouble hitting 13 when I tow my rig even in fairly flat Illinois. I can easily do better not towing - like 18-20.
Isn't Florida fairly flat? Never been there (my wife wants to change that and go there for a vacation soon)

I was trying to find the weight of a Ranger using the window sticker from my father's 2010 Ranger he had- not extended cab, but it doesn't show weight. (just to know what you were towing on that U-Haul trailer)

 

[Plippi07]

U-Haul designed those trailers to be bullet-proof, safe, easy.

13.5 mpg? Wow, I have trouble hitting 13 when I tow my rig even in fairly flat Illinois. I can easily do better not towing - like 18-20.
Isn't Florida fairly flat? Never been there (my wife wants to change that and go there for a vacation soon)

I was trying to find the weight of a Ranger using the window sticker from my father's 2010 Ranger he had- not extended cab, but it doesn't show weight. (just to know what you were towing on that U-Haul trailer)

I asked a few different people because I honestly wasn’t sure. From what I told it is around 3k lbs plus trailer weight. Yeah I was surprised with the mpgs. ESP beings I have 3.5” lift 20s and 33s.

 

[DylanR]

The truck with the max tow is fully capable... id say even with what you are towing the normal version would do it fine... but I would get the max tow if possible.

I’ve been wanting to post a video of towing my boat... this thread is enough to make me do it. lol my road to the lake is the perfect example.

If I knew I was just towing around 5,000lbs... I wouldn’t think twice about it.

The older jeeps can’t tow hardly anything... so
the people that have experienced those and don’t have a Gladiator have this still imbedded in their brains... but the gladiator is fully capable. I know. I’ve done it.

If you are trying to haul it up the Appalachian mountains for 20 miles everyday then no you need 3.5 EcoBoost or 6.2 Chevrolet or diesel.

Vehicles I have previously had other than jeeps are silverados, tahoe, tundra, F-150 3.5 EcoBoost, currently have Navigator as well...

The gladiator performs as well as the 5.4 Navigator. IMO

If you are towing down normal roads with a few steep hills and curved inclines then it will do it just fine... will it jump up to higher RPM’s yes but you have to expect that.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Post away with the videos. I love first-hand info and visuals.

 

[KVJ]

15 years experience here towing similar car hauler and fox body mustangs and 4th gen Camaro's, as well as lightweight utility trailers with tractors weighing a few thousand pounds. That being said, forget all about your specs and dealers opinions and FCA claiming it can do this and that, find a place that rents them, hook up to your trailer, and get some first hand experience. Sure it all works out on paper, but real world is where it's at. I'll tell you what, sure the gladiator CAN do it....tow it, stop it, maybe even not destroy the little motor and trans/drive line after 50k miles. The question is, is it going to be a pleasant experience in doing so. My first hand experience says hell no. When towing all the same loads with my old 4.6 F150, my newish F150 with coyote V8, and now my gladiator with max tow, the gladiator is an absolute miserable experience even only at roughly 5,500lbs. I would NEVER want to use this thing to tow the max....let alone anywhere that has the slightest hill.

Actually I was agreeing with XJ2JTCHRIS.

 

[DylanR]

I respect everyone’s opinion ... I personally just don’t feel like it’s an awful experience. The first time I towed with it I was just like... wow, this is actually doing this. Because I was really skeptical at first. I’m just proud of the capabilities.

When I purchased mine they had to go get it from
another dealer all the way in Alabama... little haul from Tennessee. I told them the only way I was buying one was if I could get the Max Tow. See if your dealer can pull from a different dealer.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Because of my requirements or wish list (either it has this or I won't buy list), it will most likely be a special order. I strongly doubt that there's another one equipped as I want it, the color, etc. on another lot somewhere.
A sales person who has been to the top Jeep training sat with me and came up with an example order sheet. I suppose it's possible that someone in a far away state has one, but this is Iowa here..........
I even told them I wanted leather, one way or another, and they have a company they work with to put leather in these Sport and Sport S models for a similar price to the Jeep option.

 

[Plippi07]

I posted a the same picture from above in some FB Jeep pages, most people were impressed but you know there has to be a few idiots. I had someone say that the motor isn’t built for towing even though Jeep says it can haul 7600lbs. They were saying that I’d destroy my engine with in a few years or towing like this. I’m sure it was an old school jeeper use to the small capacity of the wranglers towing abilities. I had no issues my 2.5 hr trip hauling it. I knew it was back there, and the semis caused me to sway a little but other then that It did great

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I know SHORT tow vehicles aren't a good thing. The Wrangler, as much as I LOVE them, the looks, the concept, just the whole thing, I would never tow anything over a REALLY SMALL camper with a Wrangler. You need the wheelbase to help with sway, braking stability and so on. So these can't be compared to any vehicle that is shorter in wheelbase. Width matters, too......... but length is a big factor based on my towing with various cars and trucks over my short life of 62.
I have to admit that having started in cars at age 14 in the early 70s, I'm still stuck in "old-school" mode in a lot of ways. I still have a hang-up about the old muscle vs. a "ricer" winding up and screaming - and yet when that ricer blows my car away......... my tech training kicks in and I get real. Redline has shifted upward a couple thou RPM in the last few years. I'd NEVER take my 4.0 up to the RPM modern engines make. On the other hand, I can idle that baby down SOOOO LOW and put it in low gear and let it idle up a hill the others would lug and die on.
Anyway, I grew up and started in my career in the age of real heavy iron where you wanted your HP to come in a lot lower or rods would leave the crankshaft. I put aluminum roller rockers on my 4.0 - haha - modern stuff often comes that way, with roller lifters as well. Valve float can be a problem with old-school iron at high RPM - not so much these days.

You get into the draft of a semi - one has to expect the wind to toss anything but the heaviest vehicle around a bit. That's where you don't want a SHORT vehicle - like a Wrangler towing.

Anyway, SERIOUSLY looking at aluminum trailers and you towing that Ranger can't be much different than my SX4 or the Javelin which is physically larger than the Eagle but a bit lighter. And the Javelins are low-slung cars, so no real height to them About like an early gen Camaro on a trailer.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I found the info on the highway I've been most concerned about - I 80 in the eastern half of Iowa. So now I can compare with what others have said they've used the Gladiator to pull a trailer on.
I see people post where they've towed a trailer with load using Gladiator - but when they say "hill" I could never know what THEY mean by hill. A steep hill here means one thing, in Nebraska, it may mean a pile of sand in the back yard, in Colorado - it's a mountain but at what grade?
So, I checked on the highway I had trouble with when I had my F250 4x4 with 351 (of course my trailer then was about 3500 pounds EMPTY, maybe more)

So, in order to know what a hill is, this is the area that's caused my Silverado to drop two gears and wind up tight to keep up 70 mph.........

Grades along I-80 between Des Moines and Iowa City.
The steepest grade was located between Jasper County Road F-48 (Baxter exit) and Newton.
There is 1800’ of tangent grade at 3.9946%(as built).
The next steepest grade is near the rest areas near Grinnell at 3.4%.
There are several other widely scattered locations of 3% grade.

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