Mike-5

Happy News. Yesterday my wife said we can afford a new jeep, after giving up my 1976 DJ-5D to my daughter. Long story there, the 1-ton Ford van is needed for transporting show dogs (Von Bonehenge Great Danes) and the Toyota is the high-MPG daily driver. The DJ was a 12-year project that stalled about 5 years ago when I changed jobs. It was the least used vehicle in the house, although it did run fine. It just needed some body work and paint.

Anyway, she says I need to buy a NEW jeep, something that will not be a project. Buy it, fill the tank, and drive it. I take care of my vehicles, who do you know that got 333k miles on a dodge mini-van with the Mitsubishi 3.0? I did.

So it looks like a JK-Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock may be in my future. If we find the right deal, we can probably swing it with straight cash, no bank financing.

I am very much leaning toward the automatic transmission, with 4:10 axles. Once the 32” OEM tires are worn, I can see 33” or MAYBE 35” replacements, so I believe the 4.10 is the right choice.

In addition, from time to time I will need to tow an off-road pop-up camper that when fully loaded with water and gear will approach the maximum 3500 pounds towing capacity of the JK-U. It may need to go as much as 1500 miles on highways before going a lesser number of miles off-road. I will be using a weight distribution trailer hitch. A friend who runs a competition transmission shop says the 3.6L motor, Automatic-trans and 4:10 gears can handle the 3500 pound trailer, it is the chassis length that is the limiting factor of the JK Wrangler. TRUE?

Another friend is trying to push me into a Ford Raptor, telling me it is much better suited for towing my trailer. True, but I don’t think it is as off-road capable. I think it is too wide to go the places I want to go.

My question is, does anyone see any glaring flaw in my thought process here? Some detail I am missing? I do not want to rush into this without a lot of careful consideration. And I very much appreciate the combined knowledge, wisdom and experience within the forum.

Thanks much. Happy New Year.

Mike-5, El Paso, Texas.

JK505

Welcome to the forum, Mike!

That's some serious good news. If you're looking to tow and go with bigger tires later on, you'll definitely want the 4.10 gears. After reading about your plans to off-road and refrain from a project type car, the rubicon will get you the furthest out of the wranglers. (Although, owning a jeep and not making it a project is like trying to mix oil and water)

Unfortunately, I can't really help with the towing questions, but I can point you here. (It was a little dry for me but very informative)

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/camp...uide-185948/#b

There's a lot of threads around here about towing and anything else you can imagine.
The raptor is an incredible machine. It's great at going fast over open space. Not so good at low speed and technical wheeling, which the jeep wrangler thrives at. They're polar opposites. Trail riding through narrow and windy stuff is the Jeep's home field.It beats the raptor in approach, departure and break over angle, also in turning radius. (The JKU is almost twice as good in all three angles) In my incredibly biased opinion, you're on the right track with the jeep

Edit: a nice article about of roading with the Raptor, in Jeep country.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/29/2...-drive-review/

Also, the exact same question just on a different forum.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f165/...aptor-1365707/

Mark Doiron

I have a feeling that your wife is in for a rude awakening. LOL. Anyway, welcome to the forum. I like your plan for the Jeep. But you may find that you need an off-road trailer if you really get into this. Check out the "Expedition Modded Jeeps--Let's See 'Em" thread for tons of useful info and images. Also, some of my friends tow trailers on some of our off-road adventures. Check out the "Colorado Campaign" series on YouTube channel DigitalByDoiron. First time trailers have ever been towed up Blanca Peak.

Colorado Campaign, Jul 13: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...LEol3tFpL8sZqt

JK505

I'm always glad to see you pop in and add 10x the info I could, Mark lol.

holy_crap

Happy new year, and welcome. I can chime in regarding the towing capabilities of the JKU you are looking at since I have the same setup on mine. I can tell you for a fact that the chassis length of the JKU is NOT what limits the JKU to a max tow rating of 3500 lbs. as there are other vehicles out there starting with the Jeep Liberty which has a shorter wheelbase and a 5000 lb rating. There is much speculation as to the low rating like the JKU is a convertible, but the most credible I know so far is that it was the cooling capabilities of older JKUs, especially the automatic transmission oil. Newer JKs, 2012 and up, come with automatic transmission oil coolers from factory so it is no longer an issue.

Now from personal experience. I personally tow a boat that weighs close to 4000 pound loaded. The boat, trailer and motor weigh right at 3500 lbs dry, I towed it with my with old 2010 JKU with auto, 3.73 gears and 35 inch tires and it did okay, I now tow it with my 2014 JKU Rubicon 4.10 gears and still stock tires and it is night and day better. Make sure that you order it from factory with the max tow package, as it includes the trailer anti sway feature programmed into the computer and it's the only piece that cannot be added later. As far as the transmission oil, my jeep came with a nifty little trans oil temperature gauge, and so far I have not seen any temperatures higher than normal while towing my boat.

If you search this and other forums you will find numerous threads that talk about towing over capacity with the JKU, you will find that others have towed as much as 5000 lbs with no problems at all. Of course, the Jeep is officially rated at 3500, so plenty of warnings about the legal consequences if something should go wrong.

I,would not hesitate one bit to tow the camper you mentioned with the JKU you are planing on getting. Now for the no project allowed, all I can say is good luck with that, lol.

Mark Doiron

I have read in the past that the JK in Europe has a higher tow rating. Anyone have insight into that? It might help explain our lower tow rating if they have something different (such as the larger brakes they do have).

Fiveofun

The Jeep UK page shows the 4 dr 3.6 tow capacity as 4400 lbs, and the 2.8 CRD as 4850 lbs. I think the towing limit is due to a non fixes roof. UHaul will not tent you a trailer if you have a soft top on the Jeep. Also, the anti sway feature is standard equipment now even if it doesn't come with a tow package. Look at the standard features on the window sticker

Fiveofun

Darn auto correct on the iPhone, but you get what I meant

Mark Doiron

Darned. And I have a good friend who is a U-Haul mechanic and I was going to ask him about renting one of their tent-top trailers, LOL.

rob_engineer

I have posted many times on this. I tow a toy hauler trailer that maxes out at about 5000 pounds. I have a 2012 JKU with 3.73 rear and manual trans. I have no problems towing in NJ, PA, and VA. Higher mountains like Colorado would be a problem. I use weight dist hitch. The weakest point in the towing setup is the way the receiver is attached to the cross member. It can flex which makes the tension bars of the weight dist hitch less effective. The solution is putting on a Smittybilt XRC rear bumper. This firmly ties the receiver into the frame rails and increases the receiver capacity to 5000 pounds. I have that bumper and highly recommend it with the weight dist hitch. I've towed about 5000 miles before getting this bumper and 1000 miles with the bumper.