Do you think 480lbs is to much?

[Shifter]

I'm confused at this point, do you already have the trailer, and you are saying everything is already in the camper, and you've weighed the camper with all that stuff in it, propane tank full and such, and THAT weight is 4980?

Or the manufacturer's rated weight of the trailer you are looking at is 4980?

As far as water goes, are you sure you going to have a completely dry camper whenever you are towing it? Are you always going to be hooked up to city water and sewer, you're never going to be using the dump station on the way out of a campground?

Ok, let me start again.
We have the camper. Yes everything is already in it. Yes, it will be hooked up to city water & sewer.
The jeep and the trailer along W/my wife and myself 3/4 tank of fuel weighs 10920lbs (Cat scale).
Steer axle 2900lbs
Rear axle 3160lbs
Trailer axle's 4860lbs

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[Shifter]

yes

you can pull it, sure. But my guess is it will be an unpleasant experience. You could look at airlift bags and/or sumo spring bump stops. Both will help with the extra weight and how it feels behind the truck.

But if a different camper is possible, id absolutely consider it. There are just TONS of brand and models that will fit in your weight range.

give forrest river wolf pup a look. I have an 18to and love it.
[/Q


We have pulled it already, about 40 miles. To be honest with you, it pulled great.
When we hooked it up for the 1st time the measurement from the front fender and the ground barely change, less the a 1/4 of an inch. Same with the rear but we are using a WDH.

 

[Shifter]

We have pulled it already, about 40 miles. To be honest with you, it pulled great.
When we hooked it up for the 1st time the measurement from the front fender and the ground barely change, less the a 1/4 of an inch. Same with the rear but we are using a WDH.[/QUOTE]

 

[dcmdon]

With trailer brakes which I'm assuming the camper obviously has, you'll be OK. Just be mindful of the clutch when you're driving. Don't slip it much when taking off in 1st gear. And never ever let the engine lug on the highway. More RPM might burn more fuel, but fuel is cheaper than a clutch.

This. Remember that running in lower gears at higher RPM subjects the clutch to less torque.

Also, how far and where you are towing are practical considerations. Steep up and down hill at interstate speeds are much more stressful on everything than towing somewhere that is flat at 50 mph.

 

[dcmdon]

We have pulled it already, about 40 miles. To be honest with you, it pulled great.
When we hooked it up for the 1st time the measurement from the front fender and the ground barely change, less the a 1/4 of an inch. Same with the rear but we are using a WDH.

[/QUOTE]

This isn't surprising. You are well under the Gladiator's limits when it comes to what its chassis can handle. Since reduced towing capacity of the manual trans seems to be related to either the clutch or the transmission.

 

[Gren71]

We have pulled it already, about 40 miles. To be honest with you, it pulled great.
When we hooked it up for the 1st time the measurement from the front fender and the ground barely change, less the a 1/4 of an inch. Same with the rear but we are using a WDH.

[/QUOTE]

nice!! Then i think you know what works for you! Id still give the airlif bags a look. Even with a wdh they made a difference with my similar weight TT and my max tow jt

 

[Josh00333]

Now we have better info.

You are not over tow rating by much, every thing else is in spec. I would not sweat it. Maybe know/put an upgraded clutch in the maintenance plan. All I would do.

Go camp, enjoy.

Ok, let me start again.
We have the camper. Yes everything is already in it. Yes, it will be hooked up to city water & sewer.
The jeep and the trailer along W/my wife and myself 3/4 tank of fuel weighs 10920lbs (Cat scale).
Steer axle 2900lbs
Rear axle 3160lbs
Trailer axle's 4860lbs

 

[stampedingTurtles]

Ok, let me start again.
We have the camper. Yes everything is already in it. Yes, it will be hooked up to city water & sewer.
The jeep and the trailer along W/my wife and myself 3/4 tank of fuel weighs 10920lbs (Cat scale).
Steer axle 2900lbs
Rear axle 3160lbs
Trailer axle's 4860lbs

It makes more sense now understanding that you already have the trailer and are getting a real, ready-to-roll weight.

Something to consider here is that if you are getting those weights from a scale is that you aren't directly seeing the tongue weight of the trailer; it is "hidden"; if you had an exact 10% tongue weight, those numbers above would correspond to a ~5400 lb trailer weight (5400 total = 540 lb tongue weight + 4860 lb axle weight). Of course, that is just an estimate; if you wanted to know a bit more exactly you could weigh just the jeep (in the same config as you weighed it when you had the trailer attached), or weigh just the trailer.

A quick google search is telling me the combined weight limit for a manual JT Rubicon is 10000 lbs, where your number was almost 1000lbs over that. Considering that you are still under the combined weight rating for a diesel or automatic Rubicon, it seems reasonable that the transmission/clutch is the limiting factor, as others have mentioned, so the big question is how the transmission and clutch will hold up. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you that how you drive is going to make a huge difference there.

 

[syreeves]

Long story short: don't tow 6k with a vehicle rated for 4500. Unless of course you really want to, in which case just keep asking different people until one of them agrees with you then do whatever you were going to do in the first place.

Sounds like you need a sport s max tow.

This 100%.

Also - if you have an accident this is the kind of thing your insurance company will use to avoid coverage. Plus you posted this in a public forum. With good electronic discovery practices they will be able to find this out even if you perjure yourself denying it.

But in answer to your question clutch will be fine. Drive will not be great - better get to love 4th and you'll be shifting at 5K 1-3rd. You will have a hard time starting up hills. Any serious maneuvering (backing uphill etc) will need to be in low gear. I speak from 3500lbs of experience.

 

[dcmdon]

This 100%.

Also - if you have an accident this is the kind of thing your insurance company will use to avoid coverage. Plus you posted this in a public forum. With good electronic discovery practices they will be able to find this out even if you perjure yourself denying it.

But in answer to your question clutch will be fine. Drive will not be great - better get to love 4th and you'll be shifting at 5K 1-3rd. You will have a hard time starting up hills. Any serious maneuvering (backing uphill etc) will need to be in low gear. I speak from 3500lbs of experience.

The reality is that the Jeep's chassis can more than handle this. The questionable item is the clutch. To which I reply, run the thing in a low gear at high rpm to limit the torque the clutch has to handle and you will minimize the stress on the weak link.

To all the people talking about liability. I will give $50 to the charity of your choice if you can provide a link to a single civil suit against someone who was otherwise driving in a reasonable way whose tow vehicle was over its rated limit.

By "reasonable way", I mean not someone who was driving drunk or recklessly. Just some guy driving along who was a bit overweight who was in an accident who was sued.

 

[Shifter]

All valid points.
Thanks for your input.

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