I sold my big diesel crew cab chevy. Bought my little 4 door wrangler. My wife laughs while comparing it to being about the same size as the cab of my other truck. This Am I put it to the test. I brought my 23' pontoon boat home today. Real glad I bought the optional tandem trailer with brakes.... lol. I must say I am impressed. Figure the whole package weighs in around 4000lbs. And has the aerodynamics of say... hmmm... kinda simular to my Jeep come to think of it.

Anywho, ran it with the overdrive off. If I wanted to maintain 65-70 on the hills the tranny would shift to 2cd. A little scarry watching the tach at 4500rpm... but hey, run the boat motor at 6400 all day. when I backed off the gas a little. It maintained 3rd slowing to between 45-55. Do wish there was a gear inbetween. Guess I can fix that with a gear change. All and all I am very pleased with handeling. The big boat didn't push me around much and it stopped very well. I was most concerned about being passed by tractor trailer trucks. Even that wasn't a problem.

 

I have a 21 foot speed boat that weighs about 4K and I tow it with no problem. Not a lot of power, but it's worth having the jeep.
07 JK 33s

 

I would not worry about the 4500 RPM. That's life when towing with a gasser. My 3/4 HD Hemi w/4.10's would hit 4500 RPM on big hills with my travel trailer. It's perfectly normal
Now on the other hand, I've been struggling with why the JK has such a low tow rating. I think Jeep has underrated the JK tow spec to keep from law suites. The JK is every bit as large as my old 02 WJ. The JK has stronger axles and a real frame, (stronger too). My WJ had the V8 with the tow pkg and was rated at 6500 LBS.
Maybe I should just install a better frame supported hitch and drop in a 4.7 V8

 

I think the biggest reason for the low tow rating is the hitch. It's no more than a bumper hitch. It's not a big frame mounted one. I will be towing heavier things in the near future. IE: bigger boats. Boat show season starts in just a few weeks. And if the weight does bend that back bumper... I guess I'll just have to get a new back bumper sooner rather than later.

 

ok... how do you guys get pics in the thread without links??? Bumper looks nice. got any pics of the whole thing. I need my hitch height at 18" from the ground for the pontoon boat. Have to use a fancy ajustable truck hitch with a 3/4" rise. (Good thing I didn't give it away with the full size) My regular hitch bar at that height almost hits the spare. NO way to fit the trailer coupler on.

Is that bumper rated for the 10,000lbs. winch????