Funatic

I know there are a lot of articles about towing, but I haven't seen anyone with specific towing examples. Is anyone towing a boat with the weight of about 4300lbs? I know my towing capabilities are 350 tongue, and 3500 towing, but I want to know if anyone has towed this weight for around 2.5 hours interstate. My normal lake drive is about 10 miles, which I'm sure the jeep can take. I just want to know about longer distances and handling.

ronjenx

People will chime in saying they have towed that and more. Which is fine, until something goes wrong. Then there will be no recovering from a bad situation.
If it is something you want to do, and you believe you can get away with it, nobody's advice against it will change your mind.
However, if you tow beyond the vehicle's published towing and/or gross combined weight, and you end up hurting, or killing, someone, you stand to lose everything. It will automatically be your fault, even if someone else caused the accident. Lawyers LOVE to go after things like this.

JackMac4

Get a tow rig or borrow somebody's truck....that's too much to safely tow.

glennco

Here's the irony of the tow rating.

My old WJ had a 7000lb tow rating. The Jeep was lighter, and had smaller brakes.

Sometimes where they get these tow ratings from perplexes me

glennco

That being said, if you get in an accident towing a heavier load than your tow rating, your insurance doesn't have to cover the damages to either side, the accident is more likely to be ruled your fault.

pearl-drum-man

Read the article on towing in the July issue of Four Wheeler titled "Knowing Towing", it really hammers home the points of towing safely, and most importantly why not to exceed the stated limits.

ronjenx

That is a great article. Very informative. For those who insist on over-towing, it won't make any difference. You may be able to control things most of the time. But, when something goes wrong, you will NOT be able to control the litigation. That should be deterrent enough.

hohokom

I agree with what's been said by everyone. That aside, I had a 4-door Unlimited pass me on the freeway last week towing a 18' boat and he was from New Mexico. I was coming back into Salt Lake from the North, and he must have been in Wyoming or Idaho. I cannot believe he towed that rig that far from home. I mentioned to the little lady that I hoped all went well with him on his way.
No sense in risking everything you have worked for just to two something that is over the limits. I just feel that Jeeps are not the ideal towing vehicle and we must realize that. I did not buy mine with that intention. Good luck.