Jeep Charokee towing

[Mr Stress]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

I am looking at buying a 1990 Jeep Charokee 4.0L straight 6 4x4. I am really only going to be using in the winter and to tow my 18' bass boat. I have seen that the towing capacity its like 2500-5000 lbs, (cant remember exactly). I know that it CAN pull it, but with how much ease? I have had a few bad experiences with pulling the boat out of the water, or lack of pulling it out, anyone know what it can do? I think the boat, motor and gear/fuel should be under 2000 lbs.

I've used the same Jeep to pull my 1982 Wt-22 Aquasport with no problems! I read on the post someone say that he heard about Jeeps tranys going bad. I've been driving jeeps for 15 yrs 5 different ones and have never had any problems. I guess if your buying a Jeep that has over 200 thousand miles then that's another story.

In fact I really liked my 1990 it was a great truck. I would pull the Aquasport from Islip to Montalk thats about 80 miles every weekend in Oct and Nov thats over an hour of driving half the trip is stop and go. Trouble free!


Lets go fishing....

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

Although this forum is filled with lots of great boat info, I think venturing over to the jeepforum.com is warranted. There is an entire sub section on the Cherokees ( also known as "XJ" in jeep talk )

I use the same name over there and own a '01 Cherokee with a 2" lift and 31" tires. ( I use my 2500 suburban to tow my boats and the jeep for jockeying it around)

Jeff

There is also the NAXJA forum....these guys know cherokees in and out.
Good Luck

 

[fasassvalk]

Re: Jeep Cherokee towing

Re: Jeep Cherokee towing

I am a Jeep freak and love both cherokee and wrangler !
The 4.0 straight six is a low end torque monster and will pull that boat just fine, even the wrangler pulls just fine but not quite as stable under load.
I dont want to rattle any nerves here, but I have owned around 12 jeeps just trading and playing with them, if you go cherokee go with the cherokee limited and not the grand cherokee. The limited has all the creature comforts as the gran but seems to be a little more reliable. Cherokee is a good jeep.

 

[fortyfreak9]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

Well I am getting ready for a big trip on thurday so I hooked the boat to the Jeep to see what it'd be like driving down the road and it did pretty well, I was impressed. Stoping wasn't as difficult as I was it might be and it pulled it pretty will and didn't bog the motor much. I only got up to 50 mph and did notice the boat pushing the truck around some but overall I was statisfied. Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

Are you going to use the AW4's overdrive while towing ?

 

[fortyfreak9]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

No, I wont use OD, from what I've read, OD and towing means the slow death of the tranny. Spees will only be 40 MPH and 3rd gear should be just fine at those speeds. I installed a temp gauge just to make sure I don't overheat, why dummy lights are used is beyond me.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

got a 98 grand ck larado, never thought of towing with it. always used my dakoda, now got a suburban, so the ck is going. yall got me thinking.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

No, I wont use OD, from what I've read, OD and towing means the slow death of the tranny. Spees will only be 40 MPH and 3rd gear should be just fine at those speeds. I installed a temp gauge just to make sure I don't overheat, why dummy lights are used is beyond me.

Yea that instrument cluster is rubbish, my 88 had nice gauges, a real oil psi gauge and everything.
My friend has a 94 and has all idiot lights and a ridiculously huge fuel gauge where my had a tach.

 

[fortyfreak9]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

Yeah I don't have a tach, it's a fuel gauge. No oil pressure, water temp or RPM gauge. And I cant stand it, but what else can I do...

 

[eli_lilly]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

On many years you can change out the gauge cluster to the full version and then replace the oil and temp sensors with the gauge-compatible version. It's really easy to do.

-E

 

[fortyfreak9]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

Well I have returned from my weekend trip with the Jeep and it went pretty well. It was a 2.5 hour trip and it towed pretty well. On flat land it was an easy tow, but where I went there was quiet a few hills and I saw the temp hit 240 once or twice. I used 3rd gear 99% of the time and went into OD only down hill. I would not recommend towing anything larger then what I did, ~2000 lbs. The boat pushed the Jeep around somewhat and had to really concentrate the entire tow and would recommend using a bigger tow rig.

 

[boncrshr]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

I love my Jeep Cherokee!! I have 165K on it with no major problems. I tow my amphibious ATV, and newly acquired Carolina Skiff 1860 with no problems as far as power is concerned.

Overheating has been a big issue for me....I recently upgraded to an all-metal 2 row radiator that has made a big difference. I got it on Ebay for arounf 160 bucks. This radiator has a larger than stock tranny cooler, and one thing I have noticed is that when going down the highway, I no longer feel the radiant heat from the tranny on my right calf...and ALL Cherokee owners know what I am talking about! IMO, Cherokee cooling problems are more transmission related. Therefore; in the near future I will also be adding an auxillary trans cooler.

As far as brakes, I have never really had any complaints...I always use the highest quality ceramic pads and drive defensively, however; I will say that I still have the original rear brake shoes on there and they are OK...which at 165K tells me that they contribute little or nothing to the breaking process. Here is a good link for a budget rear disc conversion that I am gathering parts for now..

http://geocities.com/dcpaschal/mitch.html

EDIT: The one other towing problem that I had was the rear leaf springs on Cherokees are notoriously weak...it is unusual to see one that is not sagging in the butt. My trailer would get squirrelly when I hit a bump due to this.

I had my original springs re-curved and added a leaf in addition. This solved the problem nicely, and also increased fuel mileage due to better aerodynamics...on the down side, the ride is now pretty rough with no trailer. Airbags would be the best and most expensive option.

 

[sportsmanphil]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

A little Chrysler tech help for you Jeep I6 guys.

Those Jeeps/engines had a few common issues. The only real pricy one was the exhaust manifolds cracking. Those can be welded back up or an aftermarket header type can be installed.

But as for your overheating problem. If you ever end up with air in your cooling system its a pain in the ***** to get purged. The only real good method we used to get the air out of the system was to push the T-stat open and stick 3 -4 asprins in the opening (holding it open). Install it, fill it and that will allow the air all to get pushed to the radiator where it can purge easily.

 

[Dustin07]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

I've heard so many complaints about Jeep transmission problems, but I'll tel you I haven't had not one single issue with either of my mine. I realy don't know the comparison between the Grand Cherokee and the Cherokee, also both mine do have factory coolers which are a must if your towing.

I have a 2002 Liberty and an '89 Wrangler YJ. Neither have had any kind of Tranny issues, good rigs.

 

[Jeepster04]

Re: Jeep Charokee towing

I have a 2002 Liberty and an '89 Wrangler YJ. Neither have had any kind of Tranny issues, good rigs.

The 2002 liberty has a 45rfe tranny which is the same tranny used behind the 4.7 V-8 and similar to the 545rfe used behind the hemi. Awesome tranny, should last along time.

2003 and up got the 42rle(what mine has) and while its a decent tranny, Im not expecting it to last much over 100k or so.

If anyone is interested in air bags for an xj:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AIR-59507/