Towing a jetski 7 hours in xj, am i ok?

S

Sleeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Pittsburgh
Well my GF decided she wants to take her jetski to Ocean City maryland in july when we go down. My XJ is sitting at 5.5'' and has 32's with 3:55 gears and 116k on it. I take pretty good care of it in all but was wondering if i would be ok hauling a #1000 pound jetski and our luggage,tools and full spare on a 7 hour trip through PA to get there. I went to my local JY and found a tranny cooler from a ZJ grand cherokee and plan on installing it, will that be sufficiant enough? Please help i would like to make her happy and cover all my basis before hand. The longest i towed it was 2 hours to WV before with no probs.
 
Thanks BA, but no way i can regear in time for this, esp with all the other crap i have to get ready to put on the front end of this thing...
 
yes, with a stock rig i would have no problems and would not be here. But i
like mentioned i am on 32's with an ok lift and 7 hours ahead in PAa of all places. I am now looking for a explorer tranny cooler as well since i see most run those from the jy. I was just seeing if anybody on here has had a similar experience hauling a ski that long.
 
I towed 2 siddowns with my old XJ with 31's on stock gears over snoquamlie pass multiple times and never had an issue. Mine must have been around 1500 lbs total +/-
 
I would be a little leary with those gears. I drove my jeep with 32's and 3.55's without anything behind it and any real hill was making both the tranny and the engine work pretty hard.
 
I haven't hauled a ski that long, but my old XJ was the exact same setup for quite awhile and I used it to tow 2 quads quite regularly, and that's pretty darn close to the same weight.. The tranny cooler will help with not overheating the trans, since the trans will probably be shifting up and down semi-often.. It's not the ideal situation, but you should be fine.
 
squidd said:
I would be a little leary with those gears. I drove my jeep with 32's and 3.55's without anything behind it and any real hill was making both the tranny and the engine work pretty hard.
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Hm, i havent really had any of those probs on the highway or going to WV with it. I had it pretty loaded coming back from reading pa (5 hours) and not really any probs but an axle seal went out. But i just bought it that day and i have no clue what the previous so called jeep knowledgeable person did to it before hand.
 
LouisianaZJ said:
no problem, if you are concerned about gearing, keep the trans in "3"
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Been doing this in my XJ since Jan on 33s and 3.55s But the other thing you can do is ask a NAXJA member in your area if they have set of stock tires you can borrow, or find a set on craigslist for like $50 if you're that worried about it.
 
i'd say run it in 3. It will avoid any unnecessary shift and will be running the motor in its efficiency range. At 55 (legal trailer limit here) the rpms should be more than manageable. Heck, I run in 3 up and over the socal mountains with no load lol.
 
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