Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

[MajBach]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

yes- 2000lbs recommneded maximum<br />trailer hitch 2500 lbs

 

[rjherrman_1]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Originally posted by Lou C:<br /> <br />To give you an idea, if you want to put bigger tires on your 4x4 and go over to Sears, or Discount tire, or whoever, they will NOT do it, because of the Ford/Firestone/Explorer lawsuits, they will not put a tire on that was not listed by the manufacturer as OE, period. U-Haul will still not rent trailers to people driving Explorers, even the new gen ones, that are totally differnt than the older models. <br />

What are you talking about?? People (including me) do this ALL the time!!! At Discount Tire even! You do not have to replace your OEM tires with OEM approved models!! There is NO way a car manfacturer can state you are only allowed to use this brand and size of tire! For the most part, OEM tired are garbage anyway! There are VERY few vehicles out there have use specific tires that were tested and used for a REAL purpose other than saving the car/truck manufacturer some money on a huge order. One was the (now defunct) Acura NSX who used a special tire just for them that aided significantly on road grip, the side effect was having to replace them every 5000 miles.<br /><br />Thank you for the good laugh.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

No laugh here in NY, that is how they operate, if you want bigger tires you have to bring in seperate rims, and mount them yourself. I think we have a few more lawyers here in NY than you have in Minneapolis. Plenty of things are done or not done for legal protection reasons, if you don't believe it call up BFG or Goodyear and ask em if they recommend that you put a 30"x9.5-15 on a stock Grand Cherokee (OE 225-75-15) they will say it is not recommended, and many dealers will not do it to protect themselves.<br /><br />An BTW, back the the issue, I bet Honda says brakes on any trailer over 1000 lbs, which only makes sense.

 

[rjherrman_1]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

OMG.. that is simply unreal. Guess you'll just have to hope over to PA or NJ to buy a set of rubber!

 

[Johnshan1]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Here in Maine you wont get an inspection sticker if you have a different size tire.

 

[artburr]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

I find it hard to believe that this car is rated for towing 2000#. We had one an Accord a few years ago and the owner's manual said that this car is not intended for towing!

 

[MajBach]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

My Accord actually came from the factory WITH the 3' wiring harness for trailer lights installed standard.

 

[Johnshan1]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Thought you said you only had it for 6 years? Meaning that someone had it for 4 years before you, they problably put that harness in.<br /><br />Just wondering, why would you think that you can tow over the rate of the car?<br /><br />My truck is rated at 7000 lbs, would you feel okay with me towing 10,000 lbs just because I feel like its ok? I bet if I hit you with such an overload you would sue me.

 

[BillP]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Mariah350, brand name has nothing to do with it. It's all about tire size and specifications. Many tire companies refuse to put tires on a car that don't meet OEM specs. It's a liabilty deal.<br /><br />It IS legal for mfgs to spec tire brands but they can't refuse warranty if tires with the same specs are used. This is under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

 

[artburr]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

To heck with the wiring harness, what does the owner's manual say?

 

[MajBach]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

John: How do I know the previous owenr didn't install the harness? Because he didn't have a trailer hitch!<br />I've had 3 Accords. First one you had to splice into the wires to get trailer lights. Second one: you could buy a harness. Third one came with a factory harness.<br /><br /><br />Owner's manual (to the best of my recallection - I don't have the manual here)says not recommended over 2000 lbs. My Prelude said 1000.<br /><br /><br />I've had enough of this - it's no longer constructive. I am heeding the advice that some have given me on this topic. Since I now live in a town where the boat launch is a mere 2 kms away with access to a federal canal that spans 200 kms in either direction, I'm going with passenger tires and not bothering with trailer brakes. Next summer, I'll likely set it up differently, i.e. trailer tires and trailer brakes.<br /><br />It might interest many of you to know that I just received a package in the mail from Shorelander in the U.S.A. (I didn't request it, I guess it was based on my call - I never even gave anyone my adress!) on "Tire Fundamentals" with a section at the back on "Insatlling Passenger Vehicle Tires"!<br /><br />Thanks to all that took the time to show their concern.

 

[Johnshan1]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

but they didnt say anything about "installing" them did they

 

[MajBach]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Yes, they do. That's what the entire section is about - stating how to read the info on the sidewall to ensure you install a passenger tire that is rated for the trailer.<br /><br />This is yet another example of some of the useless posts people place that add nothing to the heart of the discussion and that makes it hard for people like me to take anything that's written in forums seriously. This is unfortunate because I acknowledge that there are some real experts here offering great advice. The hard part is seperating those that really know their stuff from those that just blow a lot of hot air for the sake of being arguementative!

 

[artburr]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

"I've had enough of this - it's no longer constructive. I am heeding the advice that some have given me on this topic. Since I now live in a town where the boat launch is a mere 2 kms away with access to a federal canal that spans 200 kms in either direction, I'm going with passenger tires and not bothering with trailer brakes. Next summer, I'll likely set it up differently, i.e. trailer tires and trailer brakes."<br /><br />I'll pray for you.

 

[BillP]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

The reason the trailer company gave specs on tires is because most people who use car tires on trailers don't do it right. Nobody in the industry recommends car tires for trailers except for rare oddball dealers. If you go by NHTSA (Fed law) a 1250 lb car tire used in place of a 1250 lb trailer tire is...WRONG. P-metric and LT auto tires are not a straight swap on trailers. Each is required to have a higher load capacity to meet a higher safety factor for trailer use. Lawyers love this stuff.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

So do what you want. Ignore what Honda says about trailer brakes, and ignore what most trailer manufacturers say about tires. ST trailer tires.<br />When I got my trailer it had under rated load range B tires, that got hot as blazes even when properly inflated. Put on a set of properly rated Load range C tires (ST 215/75-15) and all is good.<br />I have never heard of any trailer manufacturer recommending passanger tires, unless you were to use LT truck tires, which can be bought in the same load ranges, but they are just as expensive as trailer tires, if not more so.

 

[OFD56]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

I will just add to what everyone is saying get brakes on the trailer, I haul a 18' fish ski boat that weighs about 2100-2200 lbs plus a 400 lbs trailer with my 1999 F350, the trailer doesn't have brakes on it yet but as soon as I get $200 the trailer will, you have to think that the brakes on your truck are made to stop the truck and a small payload only, when you add a decent weighing trailer to the package you will burn through your brake pads in no time. I had the same assumptions with my first boat, at that time I had an S10 and it was rated for a 2000# trailer which is what my Boat and trailer weighed, three months later I had to put new pads, and rotors on my truck that is how fast it burned through my brake pads. So deffinitly add brakes to the trailer, other than that you should be fine.

 

[cm5408]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

<br /><br />2000 Jeep Grand Cheorkee rated to tow 6500<br /><br />Boat on trailer (via scale) 3465<br /><br />I currently do not have breaks on my trailer. I do however feel that they are needed. The jeep will stop with the load, it just takes a bit more. When I drive with this setup, or anyother day for that matter, I dont ride the person in front of me. I like "clear and assured distance" inbetween me and the person in front. If i really need to step on the breaks, you can feel the trailer want to push the Jeep. <br /><br />As far as the origional question of "Will this vehicle have any trouble towing my boat", no it will not. I towed my first boat with a 1997 Grand Cherokee Ltd with that same 4.0l. That boat was a 16' arrow glass that weighed just north of 2300 on the trailer. I knew the boat was there, but had no issues what so ever.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

Andiamo, FYI...your rig is illegal to drive in your state. You're about 1,500 lbs overweight for not having trailer brakes according to Ohio's law:<br /><br /> http://www.boatus.com/towing/ohtow.htm

 

[cm5408]

Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?

this is the origional trailer for this boat. when it was made, brakes were not required for that weight. Kinda like if the year in which a car was manufactured seat belts were not installed by law, they are not needed today. As we evolved with laws, they were not back dated.<br /><br />What i was told by State Hiway patrol durring an inspection of the trailer last year.<br /><br />like i said i do want to put brakes on for safy though...