Towing a Jeep
 

I'm looking to get a 3/4 ton truck with a small (8.5ft) cabover camper and then tow the Jeep behind it. My first thought was to get a tow bar for the Jeep. I really don't want to spend $1K or $2K for a trailer. Any thoughts on whether to tow the Jeep or trailer it?

I flat tow mine. A trailer is going to add atleast a thousand pounds to the equasion (probably more). The upside to the trailer is you can make it home even if the jeep no longer has 4 rolling wheels. :)

I picked up an el-cheapo towbar (~$200) and the Warrior Products D-Ring adapters. The tow bar clips into the recovery points on my front bumper. Due to my lift I did have to get a new hitch for the RV tho. Here's what it looked like with the stock flat hitch:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...83169511_n.jpg

I picked up a 5" raised hitch and the cooltechLLC wiring. No Brakes!

I've seen numerous RV's flat towing Jeeps behind them. I certainly like the idea of not having to purchase a traile and pulling the exdtra weight. Thanks for the picture, it was helpful.

Beauty of a jeep, can totally disengage the drivetrain and tow it flat, not many like this anymore.

ive towed ours over 15k miles since May -

you can get a cheap (craigslist) fixed towbar or spend some big bugs for a blue ox or road master....
i got our blue ox aventa (aluminum) tow bar & base plates (mount to the jeep frame) for less than 400 bucks
off of craigslist (normally 1200 bucks).

RV'er sell their coaches and keep the tow bars and sell 'em later.

you can go w/ some magnetic lights (connected to the primary mover's 4 or 7 pin trailer outlet)
or you can use the factory lights (mopar makes a harness that used the factory lights).

at 1st i used magnetic tail lights on the jeep (until i could get the mopar harness)....the mag lights
work fine but are a pain to string & place each time.

w/ the factory harness & blue ox, i can connect or drop/disconnect the jeep in less than about 2 minutes

heres a few pictures of our set up...

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...onnections.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...sRoadTrain.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...nghyOutlet.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n.../ToadReady.jpg

let me also add -

FLAT towing the jeep is easy - connect the jeep to the tow bar, drop the xfer case into neutral and
place the manual trans in a gear (to prevent parasitic drag on the tranny gears).
and CONFIRM the parking brake is not set (lots of stories of people dragging tires, cause they left the brake on).

no need for a key in our '12 - since there is no steering wheel lock.

if you have a pre '10 jeep youll need to pull the put a key in the ignition & turn it to unlock the steering wheel.

you DO NOT (flat) tow w/ the steering wheel locked.

our jeep FLAT TOWs lighter than our 16 foot car trailer.

once we get to the camp ground or my in-laws curb, we disconnect the jeep and enjoy....
FLAT towing is easy - sure it wears your tires, BUT when you flat tow you do NOT need to worry about
where youre gonna store a trailer....trailer tires also BLOW OUT (a lot).

on our coach i use a tire pressure & tire temperature monitoring system (coach's dont have spare tires), i also added additional sensors to the jeep - so when im driving the coach i know the tires on the jeep are not flat, or if a tire on the jeep did go flat or blow out / over heat i would know it by the alarm and monitor display.

All really good info above. I'm in the military and flat tow (toad) each time we move behind my truck. I actually use the jeep like an enclosed trailer with alarm since we put the hard top on as well and store some stuff in it while we move. Keep in mind some states have a requirement for brakes on the tow. There are brake booster kits you place in the towed vehicle and connect to your trailer plug if you have the right plug with brake actuator inside. It pushes on the brake pedal when you apply brakes in your tow vehicle. Not all states. Just wanted to mention it so you were aware. I use a simple tow bar hooked into the d ring mounts with bracket and ran a wiring harness that connects straight into the jeep wiring for using the rear lights of the jeep. I pull one fuse to prevent electrical feedback. Even lights up the marker lights for the jeep. Tows like nothing is back there behind my Tundra. Absolutely the best things we did. Quick and painless connect and disconnect.

I flat tow my 2011JKU and use a "Ready Brake". It's a surge brake that applies the brakes on the Jeep through a simple cable assembly. I've towed the Jeep several thousand miles without any problems and the system only costs a few hundred dollars. The cable only took about an hour to install an is virtually invisible when not being used. If you don't have brakes now, you won't believe the difference.

Thanks for the info, I guess I'll flat tow the Jeep since this is the easiest (and cheapest) way. Now to buy a used 3/4 ton truck.

Most states require a supplemental braking system for something the size of a Jeep. There are several types, they range from the low hundreds to under $2000. Here's a list of state laws: State Towing Laws for RVs.

Companies that make supplemental brake systems include: US Gear U.S. Gear RV Performance Products, Readybrake Readybrake RV Tow Bars and RV Surge Braking Systems for Car Towing - NSA RV Products, Blue Ox Blue Ox Towing Products, Brake Buddy BrakeBuddy - Braking systems for motorhomes towing a vehicle.

Some of these systems put an electrically operated foot on the brake on your jeep, others get into the hydraulics or vacuum system. Some are progressive, i.e., they have a sensor that detects how hard you're braking the towing vehicle and adjusts the braking on the Jeep to match.

I'm going to tow my jeep with a Pleasureway RV. On my 2012 Wrangle Sport I'm having installed this week the US Gear Unified tow system, which taps into the vacuum assist in the power brakes of the Jeep with a separate vacuum pump operated by the jeep battery. The installation includes wiring to keep the jeep battery charged by the towing RV. Installation of the whole braking system on both vehicles including parts will run a little over $2000. The tow bar with accessories like safety chains and the adapter et al would have probably been in excess of $300, although I got a little break from the supplier for reasons he'd rather I wouldn't disclose.

Tow bars can be attached to brackets attached to the frame or to the recovery points on some bumpers. I have a Smittybuilt modular bumper and ordered a matching tow bar from Smittybuilt. The towbar is literally on a slow boat from China being held up by a strike in Los Angeles and may not get here in time so I'm substituting a Curt adjustable tow bar with adapter from Warrior products. Problem there was the adapter pin (3/4" or 7/8" only ones available) didn't match the .997" ID hole on the bumper so I had to file it out to 1.000+" and use a spacer I found at Lowes (took three hours and wore out a new $18 file). The tow bar with accessories like safety chains and the adapter et al would have probably been in excess of $300, although I got a little break from the supplier for reasons he'd rather I wouldn't disclose.