2 door towing, advice pls!

[Big Dave]

So you would be happy put your horses in danger for a short distance regularly?

[kringle]

I have a 09 2dr wrangler with a mopar tow hitch & its rated 1600kg
I even checked with jeep dealer as i bought a camping trailer & fully loaded its rated at 1450kg.

[Hoobz]

Wrangler:
a person in charge of horses or other livestock on a ranch.

They may have tricked you into thinking the name was literal, but not in this case


I'm a self confessed legal boundary pusher...


...but even I wouldn't tow an over weight horse cart with a two door Wrangler

Wait on a sec, you said horse cart

[Big Dave]

Originally Posted by kringle

I have a 09 2dr wrangler with a mopar tow hitch & its rated 1600kg
I even checked with jeep dealer as i bought a camping trailer & fully loaded its rated at 1450kg.

Yep from 2012 all 2 doors are rated at 1000kg. The 2012 unlimited petrol is 2000kg and diesel is 2300kg.

Sent from my SM-T355Y using Tapatalk

[OzRick25]

Your car will tow it, not very well in terms of handling, and jackknife is a very real cocern but it will pull 1500kg.

We use to use a 60 series SWB cruiser as a salt water beach launch vehicle with a 2 ton boat and trailer, it wasn't very good for the job but the price was right and we needed a beater vehicle for the salt water.

I wouldn't do it because I don't have a spare 30 million for public liability payouts.

Measures I would take would be to have the vehicles breaking bias adjusted to a more 60/40 rear/forward orientation, use a weight distribution hitch, ensure the float brakes are functioning and in top condition and checked and adjusted very regularly, and drive extremely conservatively allowing three times the stopping distance you normally do towing and ideally having the trailer breaks set up so that you only barely need to touch the pedal and they are pulling you up. By the time you've done all that you may as well just trade the vehicle for one more suitable and alleviate the stress.

But again I wouldn't do it

[Big Dave]

Also bear in mind that the Gross Combined Mass (GCM) is 3868kg. The Gros Vehicle mass (GVM) is 2268kg and the Tare 1913kg. That leaves 355kg cargo and 100kg to ball weight comes off that.
The trailer 1500kg, occupants of the car (say 150kg for 2 people), riding gear for 2 (say 100kg), & Fuel say 75kg full. All up 425kg, you are skirting very close to the GCM but already over the GVM let alone over the legal towing limit.

[New Jeep Girl]

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. I was surprised at the towing limit as I thought it had a bit more grunt then that. But from the responses it sounds to be more Jeep covering themselves legally then a reflection of the vehicles strength.

I don’t know much about cars, and I don’t claim to so I appreciate the advice.. and no I don’t tow horses, and for the most part it’s on private land, but to those who actually had something constructive to offer- thanks!

Maybe a silly question- it there a way to increase the limit? Such as the tow hitch being rated higher as Kringle said?
It may be a matter of upgrading to the 4 door, the bigger car is not useful to me in any other way which is why I thought I’d ask.