No real mods per se. I changed out the air intake to a K&N and changed the coolant regularly. I ordered it with the Trailering Package with the Trans Aux Cooler and factory 17" dia rims, and threw on the Prodigy brake controller. That and keeping it out of overdrive made life manageable.
The very first trip up to Shingletown was before they straightened out some of the curves and flattened the grades was interesting. There is a long grade just before shingletown that makes the high HP and low torque vehicles crawl. We would still hold 45 MPH and pass semis. Of course that is pedal to the floor and the intake manifold grabbing most of the ambient low density oxygen for on square mile (3500 ASL).
We did about seven trips with this set up and determined that the towing was harder on us than the Cherokee and the mileage being pretty dreadful on those hauls, and I must confess,we brought in the relief pitcher which was the F250 diesel which has more creature comforts for the long hauls up to Washington and Oregon.
The Trail Lite was one of the first Lightweight TTs on the market several years ago but today there are even lighter ones that are larger. I suspect your Kodiak is probably one of those.
The biggest limitation for any vehicle's tow capacity is the frontal area of the trailer. The number is in each owners manual but for the Cherokee the limit is on the order of about 65 SF. This "Drag" is one of the biggest challenges for the drivetrain to work against (a raked or sloped front helps a lot). The load balance is the other. You will enjoy the tighness and sense of security that the Weight Distributing Hitch provides, but its benefits are really maximized with a well balanced load in the trailer with the tongue weight being kept in the sweet spot.
Welcome to the world of easier setups and moveouts. Coming home and not having to air things out will provide for more Frog time!
arty:
decal). There's plenty of nice stock Cherokee's out here, but only one modified XJ so far.