Flat Towing a Jeep
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Interesting...I don't recall seeing a smaller RV like a converted Transit flat towing another vehicle. My biggest concern would be brakes...do you have a way to actuate the brakes on the Jeep? Far too much weight to have rolling behind a Transit without brakes.
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Im not sure what they do for brakes but I see the other campers like the smaller v10 fords towing and Ive seen on other forums that people are towing with the sprinter campers. I am just starting to look around, but it will need to be safe before I attempt to tow. Yes my concern is that also. It looks like there are supplemental brake kits but are $$.- http://rvibrake.com
There are ways to have the Jeep brakes engage when the Transit brakes are on. Some ideas here. http://www.wranglerforum.com/f202/flat-towing-supplemental-brake-systems-616826.html
We used to tow our four Door JK behind a motorhome. We tested it behind the Transit last week and it seemed fine.
Note that you need the right combination of components on the Transit to make this even feasible. JKs weight 4500-5000lbs I think. You need to check out the towing capacities on the Ford site to make sure your Transit will be able to handle the Jeep. Then there is the issue of combined vehicle weight rating.
We used to tow our four Door JK behind a motorhome. We tested it behind the Transit last week and it seemed fine.
Note that you need the right combination of components on the Transit to make this even feasible. JKs weight 4500-5000lbs I think. You need to check out the towing capacities on the Ford site to make sure your Transit will be able to handle the Jeep. Then there is the issue of combined vehicle weight rating.
Good thread, glad to see there are options. "It seemed fine"...that was with brakes on the Jeep, right?
From the '15 Transit owner's guide:
I really don't mean to come off like a jerk about brakes, but they're possibly the most important aspect of any towing situation.Page 165 said:
It's not quite that high for the JK. Looks like GVWR is 4,900 lbs, and curb weight is only around 4,000 lbs. Most Transit configurations would be fine pulling that. With brakes, of course.
When we test towed the Jeep, we did not have the Jeep brakes hooked up. It was just a test to see how the van felt with the Jeep back there. Since it felt fine, we will consider getting it all set up to tow at some point in the future.Good thread, glad to see there are options. "It seemed fine"...that was with brakes on the Jeep, right?
From the '15 Transit owner's guide:
I really don't mean to come off like a jerk about brakes, but they're possibly the most important aspect of any towing situation.
It's not quite that high for the JK. Looks like GVWR is 4,900 lbs, and curb weight is only around 4,000 lbs. Most Transit configurations would be fine pulling that. With brakes, of course.
Without the brakes configured on the Jeep, it still seemed fine. But I wholeheartedly agree that the towed vehicle should have brakes.
One thing that the brakes will do on the towed vehicle is stop it in the event it breaks away.
When we towed the Jeep behind the motorhome, we would feel the difference with the Jeep braking setup.
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driley, what transit do you have what motor. I plan on going to weigh my JK tomorrow and I will report back. My JK is a 2015 Sahara and I plan on using the soft-top if towing and surely use a brake assist if towing. I finally test drove 2 transits today. Both were med length and med height, one eco and one diesel. I must say they both drove nice and the eco was very peppy but Im not sure of the mileage you can get if towing with the gas eco. Im thinking diesel will get better mileage but not sure. Im wanting the long length high roof transit.
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So true, the ability to safely stop a trailer and/or control it in emergency situations is far more important than whether your engine or transmission can pull it.
When smaller trucks and SUVs started beefing up their engines I saw more than one of them wrecked on the side of the road after being owned by a trailer that was too much for them to stop or control.
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