itsarebuild wrote: Perhaps I should rephrase the question so people can quit worrying about their safety. What truck with a roughly 120 inch wheelbase, 250hp/ 300ftlb, 4 wheel drive with either a solid front axel or detachable sway bar IFS, 4500lb or 5000 lb tow rating, 32" tire capability minimum, good aftermarket, capable of parking on a 6'3" tall parking deck, seating for 4 and less than $28k for a GOOD running example is out there?
FJ100 is pretty close to ticking ask boxes.
Sonic wrote: You will not be denied insurance coverage for towing more than capacity, in fact, the thing insurance is for is to pay when you are negligent and bad things happen. We in the business often say that we pay for stupidity.
Really? I assume you're talking about liability coverage. My wife who had over forty years in the insurance claims business explained it to me this way.
She's seen overloaded vehicles, including towing a trailer over the tow vehicle's rated capacity refused collision coverage more than once. However, liability will of course be covered. Liability coverage yes. Collision coverage, no way.
Collision or liability. I've never seen a policy exclusion that would deny collision because of something crashed because it was overloaded. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in the policy for another company in another state, but in the two carriers I've worked for and several states I have handled, I've never seen anything like it.
In all honesty I could see an insurance company not paying to repair/ replace my rig if I did something that was called out in the policy as voiding coverage. Mine doesn't. But if it was written in maybe. However I have a hard time believing it would stick as any at fault accident is also going against the advice of a published guideline in that you broke a law. For my truck the payout would likely be less that $3k on my truck anyway so I'd be hard pressed to find an alternate that didn't cost me more anyway.
But Ha! Collision insurance for a spec e30 race car. (The NASA SE folks are probably falling out of their chairs right now. ) It is registered and tagged with liability coverage. But the fact that it has a roll cage and can be used in competition exempted it from my carriers policy rules for collision. I'd have to get specialty insurance from another carrier to do it and I didnt.
Rupert wrote: In reply to itsarebuild:I'd bet it's the short wheelbase. Under braking the weight shifts to the front of vehicle. This always unweights the rear tires. (Think driving a short bed pickup with an empty bed in the rain.) With a short wheelbase the pendulum effect is much more in play. Between the rise of the rear and the corresponding rise from the trailer at the bumper hitch. You might easily unweight the rear tires enough to spin the whole rig out. Or worse yet unweight the rear enough to have no traction at all. HUGE JACK KNIFE! Side loads affect a short wheelbase tow vehicle much more. Your trailer's wheelbase is the distance from the Jeeps rear axle to the trailer axle. So the shorter the wheelbase is of the tow vehicle is, compared to the towed wheelbase. The more the trailer and its' weight will steer the Jeep than the other way around. Weight, horsepower, and brakes are obviously considerations. But the wheelbase differential tow vehicle to trailer and the mechanical advantage of the trailer can be deadly. And yes I know semis have a huge differential. They are also 5th wheel rigs. With a short wheel base you'd be much better off if the weight and side loading of the trailer happened in front of the rear axle. You can probably safely pull well over 3,500 pounds, provided you have a 5th wheel trailer attached in front of your rear axle.
What's short about it? This thing has a 116" wheelbase. It's enormous.
We're wondering why it has the same tow capacity as an XJ cherokee, which has a 101.4" wheelbase.
My answer: The nanny state. There's no reason whatsoever why this thing shouldn't be able to two twice the weight as an XJ legally can.
Uhaul flat out tells me they'll happily rent me a car hauler to pull my MX6 on if i show up with either of my XJs.
Will i actually DO that in any scenario other than an emergency? No. XJ brakes suck and they're super light trucks.
mazdeuce wrote: FJ Cruiser is rated at 4700 lbs. I haven't towed with my (because it's my wife's and I have a truck) but I really really like it as a vehicle. Might be an option.
FJ Cruiser has a wheelbase 10" SHORTER than OP's truck.
I dunno about that. I had an XJ for many years. I would not tow much with it. Mine was a manual with 3.07 gears. It was a dog in the go department though. even with the 4.0. I towed a BMW motorcycle to Colorado from Virginia on a single axle drop down utility trailer. I had to drop to 3rd a couple of times to stay up with even the slower traffic. Reliable as an anvil though she was. New JKU Rubi tows MUCH better. I still miss my XJ though
Swank Force One wrote:Rupert wrote: In reply to itsarebuild:I'd bet it's the short wheelbase. Under braking the weight shifts to the front of vehicle. This always unweights the rear tires. (Think driving a short bed pickup with an empty bed in the rain.) With a short wheelbase the pendulum effect is much more in play. Between the rise of the rear and the corresponding rise from the trailer at the bumper hitch. You might easily unweight the rear tires enough to spin the whole rig out. Or worse yet unweight the rear enough to have no traction at all. HUGE JACK KNIFE! Side loads affect a short wheelbase tow vehicle much more. Your trailer's wheelbase is the distance from the Jeeps rear axle to the trailer axle. So the shorter the wheelbase is of the tow vehicle is, compared to the towed wheelbase. The more the trailer and its' weight will steer the Jeep than the other way around. Weight, horsepower, and brakes are obviously considerations. But the wheelbase differential tow vehicle to trailer and the mechanical advantage of the trailer can be deadly. And yes I know semis have a huge differential. They are also 5th wheel rigs. With a short wheel base you'd be much better off if the weight and side loading of the trailer happened in front of the rear axle. You can probably safely pull well over 3,500 pounds, provided you have a 5th wheel trailer attached in front of your rear axle.What's short about it? This thing has a 116" wheelbase. It's enormous. We're wondering why it has the same tow capacity as an XJ cherokee, which has a 101.4" wheelbase. My answer: The nanny state. There's no reason whatsoever why this thing shouldn't be able to two twice the weight as an XJ legally can. Uhaul flat out tells me they'll happily rent me a car hauler to pull my MX6 on if i show up with either of my XJs. Will i actually DO that in any scenario other than an emergency? No. XJ brakes suck and they're super light trucks.
OK, I get the hint, this is GRM & anything goes! My response was to what I thought was an honest concern and question. Pull with whatever you wish. Just don't involve me in your wreck. Here in Appalachia anything goes already anyway.
My response was also based on my personal experience. Not with a Jeep, with a Datsun 240SX with a well designed weight equalizing hitch setup. I was silly enough to tow a race PL-510 behind my 240SX. On flat & dry pavement, at about 55mph with over 75# of tongue weight, the jackknife happened. Guy in front swerved lanes & I tried to stop while avoiding him, unweighted the rear wheels and away we went. TBTG no one was hurt but the almost new 240SX was totaled by the phone pole. Though the trailer wasn't too badly hurt and the 510 was fine. And no, my insurance didn't pay me collision on the SX.
The SX is lower & has a lower center of gravity, has probably as much wheelbase, and certainly better tires for towing than his rig. But on dry pavement, it still happened. We survived it. I'd just rather others don't risk it.
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