Flat towing a TJ

[Carl Mc]

I'm looking at using my '97 XJ to flat tow my TJ relatively short distances, 150 - 300 miles, a couple times a year. I'm planning on a tranny cooler (AW4), anything else I should know about?

Thanks

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Heavier duty leafs? Or air bag helpers? Upgrading brakes..

 

[robert2008]

There's very minimal tongue weight (10 to 20 pounds-take out your spare if you're worried about that...) in that type of setup and HD leafs, air shocks, and/or air bags are not needed.

 

[old_man]

Make sure your sway bar is connected.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Did this 3 weeks ago. No sway bars.. 38miles would of rather used my boggers on the xj.. as the bfg's are small.. but it did great!

 

[RCP Phx]

Brakes!

 

[DrMoab]

Brakes!

Yeah, they are actually the law now.

You must have brakes on a flat towed vehicle.

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

Did this 3 weeks ago. No sway bars.. 38miles would of rather used my boggers on the xj.. as the bfg's are small.. but it did great!

I assume the 5.9 was broken? Because towing the other way around would seem to be a lot easier...

Carl, as far as the TJ itself, you should be able to throw the T-case in N and have at it, since the front and rear won't be locked together like the older transfer cases.

But... your TJ weighs at least 3500#, your XJ weighs around 3000#. You really, really should be pulling it with a bigger vehicle. Even a ZJ gets you way closer than your XJ will. Is this for a seasonal wheeling trip or something similar? I'd really recommend getting a friend with a full size and renting a U-haul car hauler (or at least a tow dolly).

Yes, and brakes brakes brakes. Not the ones on your tow vehicle, but remotely operated ones on whatever you're pulling. Don't end up on Trailers Gone Wild.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

I assume the 5.9 was broken? Because towing the other way around would seem to be a lot easier...

Yes. the 5.9 was being towed to the shop to be diagnosed.

While braking is deffenitly a factor, I have Upgraded my complete brake system and it handled the load pretty well, I did a few brake checks to make sure i could stop at speed in a timely fashion, I am not saying this is something i would want to do every day, but in a quick a-to-b hop i had no problems.