Towed car trailer + muscle car

[WXman]

... and the truck performed admirably. Total trailer weight was around 6,000 lbs. Truck handled fine, braking was confident, no scary drama. Trans. would hold in 8th gear on level stretches of highway @ 55 MPH. Hills brought downshifts to 5th or 6th. There was one particularly long hill that's around a 6% grade and 2 miles long that took the trans. down to 4th. Otherwise, truck handled the load fine and maintained speed with ease. I'm very impressed.

My old '13 F-150 Supercrew 4x4 with the 5.0L V8 didn't have anything over this truck. In fact, the Gladiator got 12.5 MPGs while towing this load for 160 miles which exceeds what the F-150 would do with half the weight behind it.

Video forthcoming...

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[futzin']

Thanks for the review/video. Wish your route had taken you some 70 mph interstate, though.

 

[WXman]

Yeah, some interstate travel at 70 would have been nice. But, since Uhaul rules want you to cap your speed at 55, and this video is published for the world to see, I figured I should play it safe and keep my speed in check.

Next time, I'll be using our own trailer. My cousin who is "borrowing" it needs to clean it off and give it back to us.

I can tell you though that at 60 MPH it felt great so I can't imagine that 70 would be much different. Yes, the wind resistance at 70 is greater, but the engine RPM is also greater. So a lot of it would be a wash and I think the truck would still hold a high gear quite often.

 

[Alaska-HWY JK]

I wonder how 6000lbs of travel trailer with 64sq/ft of frontage would pull. That car or a boat is pretty slippery.

 

[futzin']

Yeah, some interstate travel at 70 would have been nice. But, since Uhaul rules want you to cap your speed at 55, and this video is published for the world to see, I figured I should play it safe and keep my speed in check.

Next time, I'll be using our own trailer. My cousin who is "borrowing" it needs to clean it off and give it back to us.

I can tell you though that at 60 MPH it felt great so I can't imagine that 70 would be much different. Yes, the wind resistance at 70 is greater, but the engine RPM is also greater. So a lot of it would be a wash and I think the truck would still hold a high gear quite often."

Thanks for the feedback. Leaning toward a Rubicon as of this writing! haha

I wonder how 6000lbs of travel trailer with 64sq/ft of frontage would pull. That car or a boat is pretty slippery.

That's a concern of mine with my tall cargo trailer.

my thoughts on towing with Durango with Pentastar and 8 speed.
So I loaded this up with my 4wheeler, a couple of coolers, and most of my gear/weight that would ever be in the thing. Towed it around for a while on 2 lane and interstate with the Pentastar in our 2015 Durango Citadel AWD to try to get a sense of how a JT would do. Tow rated at 6200 lbs. Truck was empty but for me. No weight distribution hitch. No sag. Trailer weighed in at 4440 lbs, per Pilot scale. Durango specs are 5100 lbs weight, 3.45 gears, 120" wheel base, 295 HP.

Actually, it felt pretty good. Much better than our 25' camper that I occasionally tow 2 miles at a time. (Camper is heavier and has more tongue weight.) I shifted manually with the paddle shifters. I anticipate shifting manually with the JT as well. There was no sway; was very stable. I ran 65 - 70 mph on the interstate, mostly in 6th gear. Fairly level, though. Downshifting was a must on the upgrades, but it responded well when shifting down. Fifth gear was sufficient, went to fourth once. Got 12 mpg.

My gut tells me that the JT Rubicon should tow this trailer similarly. But the boxiness of the Jeep, and the increased air against the trailer frontage won't help. Thinking/hoping the 4.10s and longer wheel base will offset. Wondering how the Rubi suspension will respond vs. the Rango.

 

[WXman]

I got some concrete weight for the trailer in my video. I was about 5,800 lbs. on the first leg of the trip with my car (in the video) on the trailer and I was at 6,312 lbs. on the second leg of the trip. My father's car is around 500 lbs. heavier than mine.

Sure, there would be another 1,300 lbs. to go to max out my truck, but it did so well with this weight that I don't see it being a major difference maxed out.

Obviously some good surge or electric trailer brakes are a must. The ones on this trailer I rented worked well.

 

[Englane]

The Gladiator and a Mach 1. That’s a good combo!

 

[futzin']

Appreciate the update.

 

[BigSteve484]

... and the truck performed admirably. Total trailer weight was around 6,000 lbs. Truck handled fine, braking was confident, no scary drama. Trans. would hold in 8th gear on level stretches of highway @ 55 MPH. Hills brought downshifts to 5th or 6th. There was one particularly long hill that's around a 6% grade and 2 miles long that took the trans. down to 4th. Otherwise, truck handled the load fine and maintained speed with ease. I'm very impressed.

My old '13 F-150 Supercrew 4x4 with the 5.0L V8 didn't have anything over this truck. In fact, the Gladiator got 12.5 MPGs while towing this load for 160 miles which exceeds what the F-150 would do with half the weight behind it.

THIS right here is good stuff. Do you think your economy had something to do with the UHAUL imposed 55 mph limit vs. towing at highway speeds with the Ferd? I would love to hear how it did at something like 70-75 mph which is basically the minimum highway speed here in NJ lol

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