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You'd never maintain speeds on I80 that way. Even my LS V8 couldn't.
It took 6th for the JT to maintain speed on our hills. You also don't drop down to 58 here like you did there. You'll have traffic so backed up..........and people pissed. You share the road with hundreds of 18 wheelers that struggle on the hills. Slow down below 60 and you have them so close you could jump bumper to bumper.
Anything under 2,000 was in the "lugging" range.
I was pretty happy when mine was running about 2200 RPM or so.
I truly don't give a sh*t about what other drivers think. I'm driving my own drive where I am comfortable with my situation. If they don't like it, they can easily go around me and, eff'em. It's not how fast you get there, it's how you get there...i.e. on one piece, safely.
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I truly don't give a sh*t about what other drivers think. I'm driving my own drive where I am comfortable with my situation. If they don't like it, they can easily go around me and, eff'em. It's not how fast you get there, it's how you get there...i.e. on one piece, safely.
Agreed - and that's why I stuck to 65, even 64 at times coming back. It was dark, truck traffic was heavy, etc. I was smacked on a FB post for driving so slow like an old lady or something. I lit back into them - yeah, and total TWO of my own vehicles when someone else also does something stupid? Use MORE fuel, more wear and tear (towing fast is harder on the truck's other parts, not just engine load) It's crazy out there.
But on I80 if you don't at least try to keep 60-65, you actually are a danger on the road as people WILL squeeze in and cut you off. One cut in so close I couldn't see their bumper or license plate. If they had then hit the brakes............. So I drive to avoid that sort of stuff. When there's a truck in the left lane trying to make the grades and it's a bit ahead, then a bit behind, then a bit ahead - people will squeeze through one way or another. So I tried to keep enough speed to avoid those situations.
Around here - there's usually no "easily going around" because the traffic is heavy with trucks and the hills prevent them from keeping even speeds. It's a bit different than some places. And you get some - luckily only a few - but some OTR drivers who like to play games. It's a heck of a topic out there! I used think it was just me imagining it, then I started finding sites talking about it - and people listening in on the conversations over the radio, drivers signalling each other, purposely doing stupid stuff on the hills. A guy from New York even commented he noticed it as well.
I didn't run into that this time - save for one truck who every so often passed me and then pulled in tight ahead of me (with no one behind him in the left lane) then he'd slow way down again, and I'd go around, a couple miles later here he came, pulled in tight ahead of me again..... and slowed down.
So I finally upped my speed and got far enough ahead I think he either tired of the game or had too much of a load to catch me. I settled back to 65.
 

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I truly don't give a sh*t about what other drivers think. I'm driving my own drive where I am comfortable with my situation. If they don't like it, they can easily go around me and, eff'em. It's not how fast you get there, it's how you get there...i.e. on one piece, safely.
I fully agree! What many driver's don't get is that vehicles pulling trailers are recommended to travel at 55MPH (roughly 90km/h). If they think you're holding them up at 55MPH, they're going to love travelling at 0 MPH due to an overturned truck & trailer blocking the HWY.
 
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I fully agree! What many driver's don't get is that vehicles pulling trailers are recommended to travel at 55MPH (roughly 90km/h). If they think you're holding them up at 55MPH, they're going to love travelling at 0 MPH due to an overturned truck & trailer blocking the HWY.
That number varies. Iowa says 65........ And it's ok to ride in 5th wheel campers and pickup campers in Iowa.


The maximum speed for a towing vehicle in Texas is 70 mph on the interstate unless posted otherwise. Under code 545.352, that's only in the daytime; it applies to passenger vehicles and light trucks pulling small trailers less than 26 feet long, carrying a boat, motorcycle or animals.


Alaska

Towing speed limit: 55 mph
Did you know?: RVers are required to carry flares or reflective signs, fire extinguishers and a gas detector in Alaska.

Arizona

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Triple towing is allowed with a fifth wheel.

Arkansas

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Overnight parking in rest areas is allowed unless posted otherwise.

California

Towing speed limit: 55 mph
Did you know?: Vehicles towing in California are restricted to the right hand lane.

Colorado

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Colorado allows you to tow two trailers at once.

Connecticut

Towing speed limit: 55 mph
Did you know?: RVs are not allowed in carpool lanes in Connecticut.

Georgia

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Overnight parking in rest areas is not allowed in Georgia.

Hawaii

Towing speed limit: 55 mph
Did you know?: The maximum trailer length in Hawaii is 48 feet.

Idaho

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Passengers are allowed to ride inside truck campers.

Illinois

Towing speed limit: 55 mph
Did you know?: Trailers are not allowed on boulevards in and around Chicago.

Indiana

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: The maximum motorhome length in Indiana is 45 feet.

Iowa

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Passengers are allowed to ride in fifth wheels, travel trailers and pickup campers.

Kansas

Towing speed limit: 65 mph
Did you know?: Kansas allows trailers and RVs up to 14 feet in height.
 
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DAVECS1

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Hopefully no one will jump in with their perennial "the diesel would do better" stuff - please no.
This is about my real-world experience finally towing a real load over a distance and some long hills (I80 between Des Moines and the Mississippi and back again.

Trailer -with spare tire, straps, tool box and some simple emergency supplies (for in case I lose a bearing, etc.) comes in at 1600.

My car - I thought it was 3200. I did more research and found that to be the base model 4 cyl car. Mine is a 6, loaded Sport, and comes in closer to 3276 with the I6 and T5, Sport spoiler, etc. I'll call it 3300 since I've learned what people report an SX4 as weighing is incorrectly based off the base model 4 cyl.

That means 1600 plus 3300 for a total of 4900 pounds tow load.

I weighed the tongue with the trailer setting level like it would when connected and got a tongue weight of 520 pounds.

Aluma says their ALL aluminum trailer should have a tongue weight of 10 to 12% That means mine should be running between 490 and 588. I'm running just shy of 11% tongue weight.

I have the Overland. Those are geared at 3.73:1 and it has the 8 speed automatic. They are rated to tow 6,000 pounds and the payload on mine is something around 1060 give or take.
So my tongue weight took about half of my payload. That means I'm down to about 540. Take away for the bumper and winch I put on - I'll call it 150 total to cover the added equipment on my truck. I still have roughly 400 left.

Not a biggy - I travel light - sleeping bag, tent, cooler, all of my gear isn't more than about 100 pounds.

I was running some experiments with my truck just for kicks. It runs GREAT, no pinging at all, no rough idle, it simply runs. Unloaded I think it hunts too much and towing my trailer empty was a disaster a year ago. I was concerned. It was horrible, 11 mpg, it sucked pulling just 1600 pounds.
My tires are General A/TX about the same diameter as the stock Dueller tires, but are obviously wider and an A/T tread and not H/T tread. I aired them up for the load.

I wanted to play around with it and ran some 89 octane. After most of the tank had run through I noticed the engine sound was different - intake area and exhaust all sounded different. Makes sense if the valve lift and timing also changed. I usually run the really cheap stuff in my truck, 87, not usually "top tier", just whatever I can get.

I figured for the trip and towing I'd go into town and find some top tier gas. I went to a Quiktrip and filled it with their 91 10%.

The first thing I noticed on the trip over was that it really ran the low gears and RPM was way up in the 4,xxx range a few times. As the trip progresses I saw that change a bit and is seldom went over about 3200-3300 rpm (I tried to run 65).

I seldom saw 8th gear except on down hill areas. It spent most of the time in 7th. 5th and 6th were common on hills but it really didn't hammer the engine as much as the LS in my Silverado did. Shifting smoothed out and it got into a routine. I'd say most of the trip was in the 2200-2300 rpm range or so. Again, tried to stick to 65 mph.

I stopped a couple of times just to check the tires and everything - they weren't hot, barely warm to the touch. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe 100 degrees or so??

I made it all the way with a bit over 100 miles left on the tank. The truck showed 13.8 mpg average.
There was a shell station not far from the events, so on the way back I stopped there and filled up with their 91.

The FilIUp app on my phone said I did 13.94 mpg average but I may not have pulled the trigger the same so perhaps I could have gotten a couple of tenths more in it (gas was expensive in IL)
In other words, looks like I really did get a good 13.8 mpg running 65 on I80 with the hills and all hauling 5900 pounds behind me.

Coming back the mpg was about 13.7 average - maybe the wind was different, who knows. It was warmer outside - about 90 degrees part of the way back where on the way over was very early AM and it was COOL. So the difference could be ambient air temp. Difference was likely 20 degrees.

It seemed to have plenty of power. I never felt it suffered for power. It didn't hunt or shift any more often or any worse than my Silverado - perhaps a bit less. It was in the 2,xxx rpm area a lot and to me that's fine. It's like it learned on the trip over.

In short, it had the power to pull, it didn't hunt badly, yes - I only saw 8th gear maybe a handful of times but who cares - it got better mpg than my Silverado. I'd have been happy if all it did was the same or matched that Chevy towing. Not the totally planted feeling a slightly wider or heavier truck would have but honestly, I'm not sure 4.10 gears would have made any real difference. The automatic compensated and kept the engine where it was needing to be. Taking off, yes, it would have mattered. I was happy with how the transmission acted after it had pulled a while. I was glad to see it didn't push the RPM up too often - it did get up to about 5,000 rpm once as I was trying to get back on I80 on a ramp that was short and up a hill (tons of truck traffic). Otherwise it was mostly 22-2300 and 32-3300 rpm. I suspect the 8 speed vs. my Chevy's 6 speed made the difference there.

First thing my wife asked when I got back in last night- "how did it tow"? I said fine. She said "so getting the Overland wasn't a bad thing after-all then, was it". Nope.

Bigger tires may have not been a good thing - that's one reason I bought these A/T tires in the same diameter - to keep the final RPM to road speed ratio the same (it was rated with the 32.2" tires to tow 6,000 - it was figured with this RPM to road speed ratio so I wanted to stick with that)

This is direct from the Iowa DOT - it doesn't take into account the grades on the Iowa side of the river or some others in that area:

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.


I measured several times, it always settled to 520 pounds tongue weight.

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I stopped at a rest stop to stretch my legs (LOVE THE Hooke Road DEAD PEDAL!) and to check the looks of the tires, feel the sidewalls, trailer bearing area, car straps, etc. - all was fine.

20210910_063711_HDR.jpg


Oh, mine wasn't the only Gladiator there! They hauled that Gremlin over from a town only 30 minutes south of us.

20210910_092428_HDR.jpg


20210910_191117.jpg


I'm glad I'm only 5'8" A taller person would have had their feet sticking out over the tail gate but it worked out ok for me. I took a ratchet and TORX bit to remove the tonneau cover before putting the tent up. Made a huge difference and those covers come off in under 5 minutes - less if you hurry.

20210910_191133_HDR.jpg


And back home again, ready to unload -

20210912_101305_HDR.jpg


Parking my trailer in a tight spot without running into my neighbors stuff or over the wall is a piece of cake with a JT and a front receiver................

20210912_111743_HDR.jpg

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Any Jeep owners with power needs can always consider something like this, I guess........... you may end up having to cut the hood, though. There's a clearance issue.

20210911_153657_HDR.jpg

20210911_153756_HDR.jpg
Oh I love me some huffers

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image_zpsd8d01f47.jpg


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I tow damn near 6500 lbs once a month with my sport willys. 5400 trailer, 2 kids wife dog camping equipment. Only time I couldn't hit 70 mph with ease was in Pennsylvania on a 25 mph backroad. Had to take it at about 10 mph in second. Other then that I set it cruise to 70 mph amd get around 11 mpg.

20210709_160021.jpg
 

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I tow damn near 6500 lbs once a month with my sport willys. 5400 trailer, 2 kids wife dog camping equipment. Only time I couldn't hit 70 mph with ease was in Pennsylvania on a 25 mph backroad. Had to take it at about 10 mph in second. Other then that I set it cruise to 70 mph amd get around 11 mpg.
Good to know. Wife and I are looking at purchasing a similarly-sized trailer. Am I seeing right that the Willys can't get the Max Tow and has the 3.73 rear end?
 

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Good to know. Wife and I are looking at purchasing a similarly-sized trailer. Am I seeing right that the Willys can't get the Max Tow and has the 3.73 rear end?
Yes all but the max tow, Mojave and rubicon come with 3.73 gears (front and back). The other diff is the max tow has a bigger cooling fan, alternator, battery and the camera can zoom. But no other differences. Trans is the same. Axles same. Frame same. I would recommend getting the mopar class iv hitch and the mopar brake controller. I installed both myself in under two hours. The truck is already pre wired for the brake controller.
 
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Yes all but the max tow, Mojave and rubicon come with 3.73 gears (front and back). The other diff is the max tow has a bigger cooling fan, alternator, battery and the camera can zoom. But no other differences. Trans is the same. Axles same. Frame same. I would recommend getting the mopar class iv hitch and the mopar brake controller. I installed both myself in under two hours. The truck is already pre wired for the brake controller.
If you get the factory tow package, like I have on my Overland - you get the same alternator, same fans, same battery, same camera w/zoom and same hitch as the max tow.
There is no difference between the max tow and normal towing package as far as those items.

As far as brake controller - your options are wide open - Redarc, Curt, MOPAR, they'll all fit sand wire in fine because ALL Gladiators have the wiring harness for towing taped to a harness next to the left kick panel.
The only advantage the MOPAR controller has over any other is that it looks like it was put there from the factory - the design matches other center dash items. Otherwise, some of the others could be a bit easier to install in the end. I've installed both the Redarc and MOPAR. The Redarc was actually slightly easier to install and won't interfere with any dead pedal installation later. Some dead pedals mount in the same area as the MOPAR controller.

The other diff is the max tow has a bigger cooling fan, alternator, battery and the camera can zoom. But no other differences.
Not correct.
Max tow has same axle width as Rubicon, etc.
Sport, Sport S, Overland, have the narrow axle (by a whopping 1.5" total)
Max tow has different springs.


Keep in mind - go over your states TOWING speed limit (which is 55 in a number of states, 65 in others) and go over the rating on the door jamb sticker and in the book and have any sort of an accident, major or minor, and you can find yourself in a sticky pickle. You could be ticketed for towing over that states TOWING speed limit (which is not the same as on the signs you see along the road) and get into other troubles.
 

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If you get the factory tow package, like I have on my Overland - you get the same alternator, same fans, same battery, same camera w/zoom and same hitch as the max tow.
There is no difference between the max tow and normal towing package as far as those items.

As far as brake controller - your options are wide open - Redarc, Curt, MOPAR, they'll all fit sand wire in fine because ALL Gladiators have the wiring harness for towing taped to a harness next to the left kick panel.
The only advantage the MOPAR controller has over any other is that it looks like it was put there from the factory - the design matches other center dash items. Otherwise, some of the others could be a bit easier to install in the end. I've installed both the Redarc and MOPAR. The Redarc was actually slightly easier to install and won't interfere with any dead pedal installation later. Some dead pedals mount in the same area as the MOPAR controller.



Not correct.
Max tow has same axle width as Rubicon, etc.
Sport, Sport S, Overland, have the narrow axle (by a whopping 1.5" total)
Max tow has different springs.


Keep in mind - go over your states TOWING speed limit (which is 55 in a number of states, 65 in others) and go over the rating on the door jamb sticker and in the book and have any sort of an accident, major or minor, and you can find yourself in a sticky pickle. You could be ticketed for towing over that states TOWING speed limit (which is not the same as on the signs you see along the road) and get into other troubles.
"Easier to install". I'm guessing you didn't have that stupid cigarette lighter removal tool either lol. That was the hardest part. Good point on the other stuff I missed. Yes wider axles on max tow and springs. But I thought tow package was just bigger battery and alternator. Not that fan. Could be wrong.
 
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"Easier to install". I'm guessing you didn't have that stupid cigarette lighter removal tool either lol. That was the hardest part. Good point on the other stuff I missed. Yes wider axles on max tow and springs. But I thought tow package was just bigger battery and alternator. Not that fan. Could be wrong.
I have the 240 amp alternator - the purpose for that was to handle the huge fan draw on these.

I had the tool. I had the Redarc in the exact same place the MOPAR dial installs.
But the rest was easier. The box was a piece of cake - didn't have to reach clear up under the dash and crawl on the floor and undo harness ties and get to a corner.
As I found out, not all trucks have exactly the same parts in the same places and mine was extremely tight in the area where the MOPAR controller "box" installs, and I had to tweak my truck's wiring harness for clearance.
The Redarc was simply a lot easier to install - and in some ways I like it better (It's dual function and a lot easier to access where I installed it)
But I wanted the integrated look and because my wife's new WK2 had 6200 pound towing capacity and the towing package, I opted to move the Redarc to her Jeep and put the Mopar unit in mine.
(my dealer and I were likely also responsible for helping Jeep determine that they had a lot of "issues" to take care of on the truck itself and their horrible, incorrect instructions. My dealer spent hours on the phone with the STAR team and their central parts people)

Here's my Redarc install so you can see I put the dial in the same place - I moved my 12volt outlet to the glove box area. I've got multiple posts and a couple of threads on brake controller installs dating back a year.

Jeep Gladiator First REAL towing with the Gladiator Overland --  4900 pounds tow load 19-20200915_144213_HDR
 

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I had an Eagle 4x4 in high school!!! Loved that car! I fabricated a 2" lift and put larger tires on it. What year is yours, 1981?
 
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I had an Eagle 4x4 in high school!!! Loved that car! I fabricated a 2" lift and put larger tires on it. What year is yours, 1981?
82

The SX4 was only made 3 years - 81-83
I have an 83 in my shop I've been working on off and on for a while for someone else.

My first was an 84 wagon my first wife and I ordered,
She got that in the divorce (it would handle car seats, etc.)
I bought a used 81 SX4 as a daily driver after that.
(can't remember what I did with that car - I must have sold it when I bought my Comanche)

Jeep Gladiator First REAL towing with the Gladiator Overland --  4900 pounds tow load 20210912_103042_HDR
 

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Well we had an interesting 400 mile trip with two points of note for this thread. Going there 11.7 MPG, back 14.7 mpg. Weird. We did take a slightly less highway route back so I suspect the lower speeds helped the mpg. More evidence that frontal area and wind are much bigger enemies of Gladiator towing than weight.
Also had a slightly scary glitch where the brake controller would conk out every time the lights went on (like auto headlights on through a tunnel). Cleaned the contacts and cycled everything a few times and seemed to go back to normal.
Probably brought back 50 lbs of mud!

20210919_130843.jpg
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