Questions for the towing experts

[KJDevildog]

Hey everyone, I am getting ready to tow my 1977 BMW 320i from Southern Oregon to Southern California. I've rented a U-Haul car trailer, which weighs in at about 2300lbs. The car weighs in at about the same, for a total tow weight of about 4600-4800lbs.

I will be taking the I5 down, so it will be a fairly easy drive with only a few steep hills to conquer, so I'm not real worried about the Jeeps capability in towing the combo.

My question is this: When putting the car on the trailer, should I put it with the engine over the front or the rear of the trailer? With just the weight of the trailer, it seems to put a lot of weight on the hitch, so I am worried that the added weight of the car's front end may cause some trouble.

I've got a class III hitch with a 7500lb ball rating, though I'm not sure on the tongue rating.

Any other words of advice or wisdom from those who have done a lot of towing?

Thanks!

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Engine forward. Heaviest first.

I towed a trailer from FL to WI without a problem, KJ's are awesome tow vehicles.

Don't count on using cruise control in the hills, gas mileage should be about 10 MPG. Oh yeah, you won't be able to use the HOV lanes, I forgot about that until I got on the highway. Tolls will be more too, in Chicago they were $4.25...

 

[Marty]

Use the Overdrive lock-out on the hilly parts and approaches to keep the ****** down a gear rather than up and down. Eats the gas but helps prevent overheat on non-tow package KJs.

 

[tjkj2002]

Use the Overdrive lock-out on the hilly parts and approaches to keep the ****** down a gear rather than up and down. Eats the gas but helps prevent overheat on non-tow package KJs.

You should never tow in OD with a KJ,more so approching max load and even more so if you have the 42RLE trans.

 

[KJDevildog]

I always use OD lockout on hills anyway. Why shouldn't I use OD period?

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Yep turn OD off at the first sign of hills, but on flat land I used it. It wasn't "hunting" gears at all.

If the KJ can't use OD, it'll kick out anyways, which is fine on flat land, as it's not frequent. But hills, just lock it out to prevent it from "hunting".

 

[yellocoyote]

Friend of mine towed his built CJ from home to one of the off-road parks about 100 miles away, not knowing to lock out OD. He had some major transmission overheating issues... and we don't exactly live in a hilly part of the nation.

I don't tow often, but have always been advised to leave the OD off for the duration of the trip.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I never had one over heating issue the whole trip, engine nor ******.

 

[tjkj2002]

I never had one over heating issue the whole trip, engine nor ******.

Generally in a KJ the trans over temp light will only turn on after it's to late,same goes for the coolant temp gauge as it reads in the center when the engine is between 178 degrees and something like 239 degrees.

If your trans fluid gets above 220 degrees it's basically no longer able to protect and lube the trans.


Last big tow I did was from Ft Lewis WA to FT Carson CO,1500 miles and some big steep climbs,towing a 6'x10' trailer weighing about 4200lbs.Via a scanner my trans temps never went above 178 degrees,even on the biggest inclines and generally stayed at about 170 degrees.65mph and OD locked out,engine turning about 3100rpm's.Granted I have the 45RFE with the in-radiator trans cooler then looped to a 28,000lbs GVWR AUX trans cooler.No HD cooling and no mechanical fan,was geared with 4.10's and running 265/75R16's on steel rims.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Hm....

No abnormal behaviors at all, nothing is burnt. Only thing that came out hurting was my hernia...

 

[KJDevildog]

Finished the tow today, went very well. Kept the OD locked out, drove an easy 60-65mph the entire way with very little trouble. Averaged about 13.3 MPG over the course of 900 miles, ouch.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Not bad....try 9-10 over 1500 miles, LOL!

 

[Bullett55]

Last big tow I did was from Ft Lewis WA to FT Carson CO,1500 miles and some big steep climbs,towing a 6'x10' trailer weighing about 4200lbs.Via a scanner my trans temps never went above 178 degrees,even on the biggest inclines and generally stayed at about 170 degrees.65mph and OD locked out,engine turning about 3100rpm's.Granted I have the 45RFE with the in-radiator trans cooler then looped to a 28,000lbs GVWR AUX trans cooler.No HD cooling and no mechanical fan,was geared with 4.10's and running 265/75R16's on steel rims.

I have a scangaugeII, '05 Rennie/42RLE. How do you get actual trans temp readout. I only get coolant temp readout (not actual trans temp). What am I missing here. I need one of your tutorials please . Thx

 

[tjkj2002]

I have a scangaugeII, '05 Rennie/42RLE. How do you get actual trans temp readout. I only get coolant temp readout (not actual trans temp). What am I missing here. I need one of your tutorials please . Thx

Used a much higher quality scanner.