Towing Camper without Max Tow

[JHTrail]

I have a Sport S but no max tow package. Anyone towing without the max tow? I'm looking at a camper around 3400lbs.

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[old motorhead]

I have a thread a few notches down. Towed more with less. I have the Sport S with the tow package (not the max tow) with taller tires. It handled my 4000# bay boat without any issues. I was very comfortable while towing. My boat probably slipped through the wind better than your camper. But you have the advantage of better gearing. Just stay ahead of the idiots. They will appear out of nowhere. I've towed a whole lot more with less. Don't don't let yourself get into a panic stop situation.

 

[Ferg]

I have the Sport with the tow package -- NOT the MaxTow package. My rig tows my 3,500# trailer easily. I use the Curt Echo bluetooth brake controller.

 

[JHTrail]

Thanks for the posts guys! I might just pull the trigger and figure it out later LOL

 

[troy_brady]

We have a fairly large pop up - dry weight is 3,300 lbs so loaded up we're probably close to 4,000 lbs and no issues. Towing around central Pennsylvania and barely notice the camper is back there. Seems to be a sweet spot of 7th gear around 65 mph and around 16-19 mpg when hauling highway.

 

[Jt-wrx]

I have a Sport S but no max tow package. Anyone towing without the max tow? I'm looking at a camper around 3400lbs.

I just towed exactly 3400 lbs of trailer/gear for camping trip about 700 miles. Sport S, 6 - speed manual, tow package, 37's and 4.88's. Plus 380 lbs of me and my two kids, plus 5150 lbs of JT...total scaled weight was 8930 lbs, 6 days camping. I've reported a lot of the data in the link below. I used the Curt Echo trailer brake controller, seems to work pretty good. I have dual axle with brakes on both, 6'x6'x14' v-nose all aluminum cargo trailer set up 'vanlife' style, home built camper. Didn't have any emergency braking testing and hope i never do.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/forums/transmission-axles-and-gears.25/

Hope that helps. You'll see more about this jeep on instagram, @gladiatoryyc, i haven't posted the trip details yet but will within the next few days i suspect.

 

[wannajeep]

I have a Sport S but no max tow package. Anyone towing without the max tow? I'm looking at a camper around 3400lbs.

Just because you don't have Max Tow doesn't mean you can't safely tow. I'm the first to say the Gladiator isn't a great tow vehicle but will say I tow a camper that weighs about 3,500 lb and my non Max Tow Rubicon with manual 6-speed transmission does okay with it. It's not great, but it's just okay. And that's without a brake controller. If you have an auto, you're probably already in better shape as far as pulling power is concerned. However, tongue weight is still an issue.

If you do nothing else, consider a weight distributing hitch. This will keep your front/steering wheels from getting light (and losing control). I'd even say get the WDH before a brake controller.

Keep in mind if your camper is 3,400 lb that might be dry/unloaded. Add to that any water you carry, plus gear, plus passengers, etc. You should be good with a 3,400 lb camper but the WDH is almost mandatory. Size it properly for the trailer weight / tongue weight. If I recall correctly, for my trailer of similar weight, I got a WDH rated for 600 lb tongue weight, and it's a great match.

For now I run without a brake controller because I travel light (no water) and trailer only about 100 miles each year on a known route. If you're doing lots of miles, depending on terrain, a brake controller might be worth adding.

 

[ADK Tiro]

I just read in the manual that Rubicon with manual transmission max tow capacity is 4500 pounds. Is this true? And why is the manual the first place I saw this? When building it at Jeep.com it states that the max tow for Rubicon is 7000 lbs. It doesn’t state anywhere in the builder that it would be any different for manual transmission! WTF?!? My wife’s going to be pissed if we can’t tow the camper. It has a dry weight of 4500 lbs!

 

[Ferg]

I just read in the manual that Rubicon with manual transmission max tow capacity is 4500 pounds. Is this true? And why is the manual the first place I saw this? When building it at Jeep.com it states that the max tow for Rubicon is 7000 lbs. It doesn’t state anywhere in the builder that it would be any different for manual transmission! WTF?!? My wife’s going to be pissed if we can’t tow the camper. It has a dry weight of 4500 lbs!

I *think* you're correct about the 4.5K# with the standard tranny. The owner's manual I have shows max 4.5K# with 450# hitch weight on Rubi w/standard trans. I'm by no means an expert, though.

 

[ADK Tiro]

Well...sometimes miracles DO happen. I started out out by asking my wife, "Remember how we talked about downsizing the camper...?" She actually took the news well.

We won’t be doing any serious road travel with a camper for another couple of years when I retire, so in the meantime we can either tent camp or keep the distances short with the current monstrosity close to empty of cargo. I can certainly stow the gear in the bed of the truck. However... if the trailer is 4500 and the truck curb weight is 4600 or more, and my wife and I tip in at 500...that only leaves 400 or less for gear...10,000 GCWR. I am putting a winch on the front bumper. Pretty tight...However, we would camp at campsites anyway - no need to tow water of any color.

When I retire, we get the smaller camper and keep it’s overall Combined weight under 4500 lbs., including waters. That should serve us for 2 or 3 days boondocking - which is probably the most we could stand anyway.

Does it sound like I’ve rationalized this enough? Does this sound right? Why would they make a vehicle max tow weight that barely leaves room for passengers? Why does the manual transmission make the capacities 2500lbs less?

 

[Blade1668]

Well...sometimes miracles DO happen. I started out out by asking my wife, "Remember how we talked about downsizing the camper...?" She actually took the news well.

We won’t be doing any serious road travel with a camper for another couple of years when I retire, so in the meantime we can either tent camp or keep the distances short with the current monstrosity close to empty of cargo. I can certainly stow the gear in the bed of the truck. However... if the trailer is 4500 and the truck curb weight is 4600 or more, and my wife and I tip in at 500...that only leaves 400 or less for gear...10,000 GCWR. I am putting a winch on the front bumper. Pretty tight...However, we would camp at campsites anyway - no need to tow water of any color.

When I retire, we get the smaller camper and keep it’s overall Combined weight under 4500 lbs., including waters. That should serve us for 2 or 3 days boondocking - which is probably the most we could stand anyway.

Does it sound like I’ve rationalized this enough? Does this sound right? Why would they make a vehicle max tow weight that barely leaves room for passengers? Why does the manual transmission make the capacities 2500lbs less?

The bad news is modern manual transmission's are not what they was in the past, the one's being made now are to maximize MPG if anything. "Muncie" and like is gone. You, I and many more might not like it. I'm not going to say manual transmission is dead. But it's not getting R&D that automatics have been for heavy duty use (USA and Europe) OTR trucks are using automatic transmission even. I've been towing with the 6 speed manual in my LJ up to 5k I do have trailer brake controller for it too. The manual it said no need to change it, I have been changing it every few years at least. That transmission was considered a light duty one.
Late models light duty clutch low clamping force for less driver effort AKA easy drive-ablity. The last part is possible the manual transmission problems on JL/JT's ???

 

[JHTrail]

We did buy a Keystone Bullet, dry weight is 3470. Getting the hit/swaybars/brake controller added Friday when we go for the final walk through. We'll see what happens!

 

[finallyajeep]

We did buy a Keystone Bullet, dry weight is 3470. Getting the hit/swaybars/brake controller added Friday when we go for the final walk through. We'll see what happens!

Following this.. I plan to get a Forest River Wolf Pup 16BH and it ways about the same. I do have an overland with tow package with 6000 lb towable.

 

[JHTrail]

Following this.. I plan to get a Forest River Wolf Pup 16BH and it ways about the same. I do have an overland with tow package with 6000 lb towable.

It will be interesting LOL

 

[finallyajeep]

It will be interesting LOL

Good thing is the trailer I’m looking at is 3500. Well under the max.

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