Flat towing an XJ with another XJ

XJ Eric

XJ Eric

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Allegheny National Forest
Feasablity?
My wife and I are going to Southern Texas (about 8 hour drive) and want to bring both the Jeeps since we'll be down there about 2 months.
I've been tossing around the idea of towing mine with hers. We'll hopefully save a few gallons of gas by towing one and we'll be together in the one rig so that would make things a little easier.
I've got 4.5 lift on 33s and her's is bout the same lift on 31s. Stock gearing both are 98s.
Want to flat tow with a tow bar.
Opinions anyone? Still have to buy the bar and install. so a supplier suggestion would be nice.

Thanks!
 
Just an opinion, but my recommendation is don't. Towing it is just half the problem, stopping it is the main problem.
If you want to stay out of trouble and be able to try and avoid even a minor panic brake situation. You'll follow a simple rule. If whatever you are towing is more than half the weight of what you are towing with, get brakes for it.
 
Use a car dolly with brakes or don't do it. That is a long drive and the chances you'll have to make a quick move or stop from someone elses mistake are not good. Also the stress of bigger tires with out propper gearing will make the tranny work hard so you may consider that in your plans.
 
Wow, I'm really thankful for this website. I never towed anything that was close to being the same weight as the tow rig so without you guys I'd be in trouble!

Wait a minute... it was this board that gave me the idea in the first place! :doh:
 
set of cb's and double the fuel. its unlawful up here to flat tow unless the tow vehicle is twice the weight of the vehicle in tow
 
X2 on the brakes.

I have done my fair share of towing with different vehicles, and from the stand point of using a 7000LB Dodge van as the tow rig, anything over 3500 gave my brakes a workout....

I would bite the bullet and double the fuel, just in the interest of safety. I wouldn't want to be the person in front of you in the panic stop.....
 
Last edited:
poorboy_616 said:
X2 on the brakes.

I have done my fair share of towing with different vehicles, and from the stand point of using a 7000LB Dodge van as the tow rig, anything over 3500 gave my brakes a workout....

I would bite the bullet and double the fuel, just in the interest of safety. I wouldn't want to be the person in front of you in the panic stop.....
Click to expand...

That's part of it, the other part is if you get the tow vehicle and the towed vehicle just moderately out of line and hit the brakes, the towed vehicle keeps right on pushing the rear of the towing vehicle at an angle. Brakes help offset this tendency somewhat. Worst case is you jackknife, at the least you loose some ability to steer the towing vehicle. Gets worse in the rain.
If the vehicle you are towing starts to sway, your first instinct is to hit the brakes, If the towed vehicle has no brakes, is too heavy, or loaded (balanced) wrong, it can get worse fast. The only real way out of it, is to hit the gas and look for someplace to clean out your underwear.
 
towing that much load with a lift, bigger tires, and stock gears is pretty sketchy. they do make brake actuators for flat towing, but they're spendy so by the time you factor in the tow bar, brakes, and loss in MPG from towing you'll be spending like 3-4x more than just driving separately....but then again that would mean no road head for you :gag::spin1:
 
The funniest thing I ever saw was an '80 VW Rabbit flat towing a Dodge Caravan to the scrap yard. While your case isn't THAT extreme, I would still not recommend doing that without at least a tow dolly equipped with brakes.

I've heard people say "I don't need trailer brakes, I'll just be careful" or "why would you want to spend all that money for a weight distributing hitch?" There was an article in a magazine not too long ago that explained it all very well. If you get into a wreck, and it's not really even your fault, lawyers will get your towing combo gone over with a fine toothed comb to see if there was any "negligence" on your part. They will exploit the absence of anything that could have *helped* to prevent the accident from being any worse. If they find something that they can convince the general public (which-by the way-usually know zilch about towing and rely on what the dirtbag lawyers tell them), then it's game over for you.

It sounds to me like the extra gas money would be money well spent in this case.
 
Just dolley'ed a 2000 (stock) with my 98 (31's, auto, 3.55). It towed fined, and stopping was acceptable, but if there was a large hill that required good speed control, or emergency stop, I would have had trouble. It was roughly 95 miles one way, quarter in town, quarter 55 mph 2 lane road, half NYS thruway. I was able to maintain the posted limit, but didn't push it on the thruway.

I would say you NEED a dolly with brakes. I would not consider a trailer as it will add too much weight. I would also consider pulling the 'bigger' jeep with the 'smaller' jeep to take advantage of slightly better effective ratio.
 
That is the ultimate in carrying spare parts.:rof:
 
XJ Eric said:
Feasablity?
My wife and I are going to Southern Texas (about 8 hour drive) and want to bring both the Jeeps since we'll be down there about 2 months.
I've been tossing around the idea of towing mine with hers. We'll hopefully save a few gallons of gas by towing one and we'll be together in the one rig so that would make things a little easier.
I've got 4.5 lift on 33s and her's is bout the same lift on 31s. Stock gearing both are 98s.
Want to flat tow with a tow bar.
Opinions anyone? Still have to buy the bar and install. so a supplier suggestion would be nice.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You are going to take I35 South through Dallas and Austin. . . Right? traffic sucks, stop and go (mostly stop. . .), idiots cutting you off, and that's the NAFTA route so full of Semi-trucks. . . It's nerve racking enough in a full sized tow rig with a Jeep on a trailer.

Flat towing is risky when the rigs are near the same weight, braking and turning needs lots of planning and attention. I flat towed my CJ7 with my XJ, had to put it in full-time to keep on the road when I was braking and turning. With oversize tires, a hot day is just asking for tranny trouble.

Get a couple of CB's and drive 'em both - the gas you'll save flat towing isn't worth the wear-and-tear or risk
 
I dont think you'll save much on gas by flat towing. Its not like you'll be getting more than 10MPG while flat towing. Figured on 10MPG (which I believe is optimistic) 600 miles is 60 gallons. If you drive both XJs and average around 17 in both, it'll take around 70 gallons. Whats that, a savings of around $36. It'll cost you more than that just to buy the gear to flat tow or to rent a dolly. Not to mention the wear and tear you'll put on the tow vehicle and the fact that you will be limited, by safety and power, to a low speed.
 
Ray has a good point there.
Some of you may remember Marisha, she was (probably still it) a hard core wheeler down in SoCal for a few years, anyway, she decided to move back to Alaska, and she towed her 'extra' Cherokee behind her regular Cherokee all the way. If I recall correctly she said she didn't have a problem.
She also didn't have the option of having someone else drive the other rig for her...
 
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