Towing 7000# Yamaha FSH 255 Sport H

[PrimeYC]

Hello,

I am a new member on this forum. I spent almost a full day reading various & re-gearing threads and all its comments before posting this question.

I have a rather heavy 2020 Rubicon Launch Edition with 315/70 Toyo AT3s on stock wheels and stock height.

I am equipped with full Metal Cloak roof rack, Metal Cloak bed rack, Warn 12S winch on the front, Yakima Top Water Fishing Rod Box, Thule Awning, Yakima 7 gal. Road Shower on the roof rack; iKamper Skycamp 3.0 mini and accessories like shovel and axe on the bed rack; along with WaterPORT 4 gal. water tank inside the bed rail full time.

I live in Alabama but am taking camping trips all over the U.S. at least a once per month for a week. I also take fishing/boating trips to various lakes and beaches in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi at least twice per month.

I towed a small Robalo Center Console boat about 3000# on above set up with stock 33s and stock 4.10 gears without any problems (at least in my point of view).

Just signed up and made the down payment for the 2024 Yamaha FSH 255 Sport H. It's dry weight on the trailer is 6,025 lbs but with 111 gal. fuel capacity and fresh water; I am pushing very close to 7000# max tow rate.

The boat won't arrive at my local dealership until late January or early February.

What can I upgrade to enhance my future towing experience with above set up?

I scheduled for a re-gearing with 4.88 Yukon gears. The shop recommended 4.56 as I mentioned I would never go bigger than 35s on this JT but I felt like 4.88 was a better choice after multiple reads on this forum. Please, correct me if I am wrong. I am also considering 5.13 but some stated that this gear is weaker compared to 4.88 due to smaller size and missing tooth?!

First question should have been if it was even OK for me to tow that heavy of a boat with stock JT with no performance upgrades.

What other mods (other than gears) do you guys recommend for this heavy towing?

Thank you for your time and inputs in advance.

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[Blade1668]

Best thing I would recommend is reading a few of the threads that populate in simular threads below.

 

[DylanM]

First question should have been if it was even OK for me to tow that heavy of a boat with stock JT with no performance upgrades.

A stock JT Rubicon (automatic trans) can tow that boat, but the problem is yours is no longer stock. With the weight of the added equipment you have installed and assuming the boat/trailer has a tongue weight at 10% of its total, simply hooking up the boat will result in your truck being overweight.... and that's without the driver even in the vehicle.

 

[Panthers65]

Hate to say it man, but you're going to be overloaded with all the accessories. Plus there's going to be extra weight with all your belongings in the boat and people with you that will push it over the top real fast.

I'm all for "common sense" towing. Are you going to kill anyone if you at or above max with the boat ramp a mile from your house? Probably not. But with you talking about towing "all over the country", a 7K boat needs a modern half ton or an older 3/4 ton to tow it safely. At the end of the day the gladiator is a MIDSIZE truck, you are simply asking too much of it.

To answer your question, there is plenty you can do that make a truck tow something within it's rating more comfortably (bags, traction control, upgraded brakes, anti-sway hitch, ect.... but there is NOTHING that can be done to increase the tow rating of the vehicle. Get into an accident exceeding your max tow rating, and you become personally liable for the damages when your insurance tells you to kick rocks that they aren't covering anything because you were over the limit.

the GCWR of a 2020 Gladiator is 12,450 lbs. Go weight your gladiator as you would tow with it (occupants, full tank of gas, all the beach/lake toys and supplies you'd have, ect....) and subtract that weight from 12,450 and that'll let you know what you can safely pull. It's going to be well below the 7K max trailer rating.

 

[Timoleon]

I never tell my wife the real numbers for anything. She rounds down to make it more palatable (for her). So, if I tell her the max tow rate on the Gladiator, she looks for something that starts at that number. Not good. Our trailer weighs 5100 fully loaded with water and all the camping supplies needed to make it feel like we never left the back yard. Then I gotta throw the rest of the stuff in the bed of the truck or the back seat. Pretty sure that when we roll out of the driveway, we are nearly 1.5K above the max tow/pay load,

My survival tactic (and to prevent burning up the Pentastar motor) is to lie to her. She thinks the max tow is 5100 pounds so the craziness is minimal. I have just given up on moving to 315's when the original tires are done.

The trailer is a 2022 Coleman Rubicon 16RB.

P.S. I did not on another thread that someone was talking about their Kel Tec Sub 2000. I love both of mine. They are both .40 S%W calibers with Glock mags.

 

[Gmac03]

I have a AR190 and it tows well, all of the friends have either the 252sd, AR250 or the 255xd. I would not want to tow any of their boats with my diesel gladiator unless it was a short trip. They all tow with 1500’s or 2500’s and I’d recommend you look towards something similar. Maybe outfit a power wagon for over landing?!
Either way, good luck, welcome to the Yami club and check out Jetboaters.net if you haven’t already.

 

[Labswine]

Yeah, you cannot 'gear' your way into a safe tow weight level for your truck.

It is what it is stock from the factory. Add on all the extras and your tow rating drops dramatically.

I tow a 27' camper that's around 5,100 lbs with all we want or need and empty tanks with my stone stock Overland (6,000 lb tow rating) and it handles it fine. My tongue weight is around 520 lbs...empty pass thru is stated to be 420 lbs tongue weight but I gots stuff in there so...

Like others have said, for a boat that weight either go with a full size half ton or 3/4 ton, or a lighter boat that fits in to what towing capacity you have left over with all your schtuffola.

 

[Osteodoc08]

I have a 2019 242 SE Limited. My 20 JTM will tow it in stock form. It isn’t happy about it but it will do it. My expedition is a much better rig to tow that boat. Nothing you can do will make the Galdiator a great 7K tow rig.

 

[RJinPV]

There are basically 2 numbers to worry about: GVWR and GCWR. Assuming your trailer has a tongue weight of 700lbs (it might be higher) you already exceed the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating with all of those accessories you’ve added, and you and your passenger’s weight. With a 7000# trailer you also have very likely exceeded the Gross Combined Weight Rating. You can’t change these ratings.. The only thing you can do is go back to stock and then rear seat delete and drop the spare tire. Then you might be able to get within ratings if you and your passenger are 160# people with no luggage. Sorry, do not tow with this setup.

 

[Tyandpi]

With all due respect, I am afraid there is more to it than just rear end gearing. Think of transmission, engine , cooling and all the associated fluids that need to be kept within operating temps....then there are brakes! Once you get moving, something has to be able to stop it all without overheating.

Personally, I never to tow more than 75% of the rated tow weight. I have heard about a 10% margin for error. My margin for error is to stay away from the total tow weight for any given vehicle.

We just bought a JT with Max Tow package to move around a 4000lb boat. I would not do it with a JT without the Max Tow.....but that is just me!

 

[PrimeYC]

Wow! Thank you so much guys for all the love and education even though it is my first posting being new and everything to this forum. I really appreciate it.

This is my truck and I never had any prior experience with towing, etc. I completely forgot to consider the cargo, passengers, refrigerator in the back seat; basically everything inside the truck itself. haha

I was worried about this issue from the beginning but my local boat dealership was pushing me and being very certain that the job can be done without problems over and over... (saying they've seen the gladiator tow much bigger boats all the time).

I would hate to let this boat go. I loved it very much in person. But I guess I will need to either step down a size to purchase a 222 FSH Sport E (4,977# dry weight on the trailer) OR trade the truck with a R1T. :'(

I love this Jeep though. SMH

 

[RJinPV]

I love this Jeep though. SMH

I bought my travel trailer before I bought my JTR. If one has to go then it will be the trailer!

Sales people will always tell you that your truck can do it. They want the sale. My trailer is about 5,800 lbs loaded. When I went to a CAT scale to check things out I found I was right at the JTR's GVWR and about 900lbs less than the GCWR. My wife and I were in the truck with no luggage and my JTR is basically stock with only a few accessories. Some of my accessories are even lighter such as aluminum sides steps in place of the stock rock rails. I feel I am right at the limit and I can't really go faster than about 60 mph on the freeway. On a steep grade I have to drop to 3rd gear and slow down to about 52mph or the little V6 Pentastar will be just screaming.

Good luck!

 

[Labswine]

I bought my travel trailer before I bought my JTR. If one has to go then it will be the trailer!

Sales people will always tell you that your truck can do it. They want the sale. My trailer is about 5,800 lbs loaded. When I went to a CAT scale to check things out I found I was right at the JTR's GVWR and about 900lbs less than the GCWR. My wife and I were in the truck with no luggage and my JTR is basically stock with only a few accessories. Some of my accessories are even lighter such as aluminum sides steps in place of the stock rock rails. I feel I am right at the limit and I can't really go faster than about 60 mph on the freeway. On a steep grade I have to drop to 3rd gear and slow down to about 52mph or the little V6 Pentastar will be just screaming.

Good luck!

Well, you shouldn't actually tow more than 65 MPH.

I found that shifting manually, I can better control the RPM range and speed. If you're going slower than traffic whilst towing, then 'eff' them. Drive your own drive and maintain your own level of comfort and safety. If you've inconvenienced someone for a few seconds of their lives, then 'eff' em. You maybe, actually, might have saved their lives from a horrendous accident.

Drive your own drive, not someone else's.

 

[PrimeYC]

Sales people will always tell you that your truck can do it. They want the sale.

I just didn't thought they would recommend something that can directly cause a safety issue. Thank you for all your input! I really appreciate it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hello,

I am a new member on this forum. I spent almost a full day reading various & re-gearing threads and all its comments before posting this question.

been if it was even OK for me to tow that heavy of a boat with stock JT with no performance upgrades.

What other mods (other than gears) do you guys recommend for this heavy towing?

Thank you for your time and inputs in advance.

Nothing you can do. any mods reduce towing capacity, not enhance it.
gearing, springs, shocks, whatever, nothing will increase the towing capacity.

And no - I'd not do it.
You never want to tow at or too close to the rated towing ability of any vehicle anyway.

Like the others have basically said - "don't".
You also must consider the tongue weight.
7,000 pound trailer, means 700 pound tongue weight. So you have to subtract that 700 from your payload - and subtract all of your accessories and add-ons from the payload.
So if your payload - just for easy figuring - was 1,000 pounds, with the tongue weight of the trailer you have 300 left. Add people, dog, beer, cooler, any gear in the cab or the bed - you can max out payload. Then you are not only at or over max payload but at max, maybe over, towing limits.

Some of us have to watch trailer weight in large part because trailer tongue weight counts against payload.

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