comanche towin a comanche?

[88swampedmj]

well i have 2 manches... iam thinkin of sellin my little red one so i can get somethin with a little more power to tow the black truck around since it will be done soon and i wanna go to big places to wheel.. my little red truck just wouldnt cut it for very long.. has anyone towed heavy stuff or a car with their manche? how did it do?

[87manche]

a 4.0 will pull all day long, it's braking and control that's the problem.

 

MJ's are relatively light, so tend to get pushed around by the trailer.

 

trailer brakes mandatory for anything over a 1K pounds if you ask me.

 

if flat towing, I'd look into one of those master cylinder jobbies that actuates the towed vehicles brakes.

They're not cheap though, so you might just want to find a proper 3/4 ton tow rig.

I just saw a used diesel F250 sell for $500. I missed out on that, even had a 6.9.

needed the brakes fixed.

[88swampedmj]

yea ive pulled my black manche down the street from my dads and my friends car home once when it broke down ....but never anything on a trailer for long distances... i was thinking of getting a dodge dakota v8 prolly

[feerocknok]

My buddy's dad tows a little with his v-8 Dak. In the winter he'll tow 3 snowmobiles on a huge trailer, and in the summer he'll tow 2 huge ATVs on a that same trailer. It's not a very powerful motor (318) though, compared to other vehicles.

[87manche]

a dak isn't much bigger than an MJ. You need something bigger.

 

Let's do some matchbook math.

Your average car hauler weighs about 2K pounds, unless you splurge for one of those fancy AL jobs.

 

Your MJ, trail ready probably weighs about 4, I know that mine weighed 4200 when I rolled it over the scales loaded for a weekend of wheeling.

 

so you're talking about towing 6K pounds with a 4K pound vehicle.

You need at least a 1/2 ton truck to be safe with that kind of weight back there, and even then good working trailer brakes are a must.

 

Don't forget that you're going to have gear in the tow rig as well, so figure up how much your camping stuff weighs and factor that in as well. It all adds up pretty quick.

 

dodge says the new body style dakotas will pull 7K pounds. I just can't see a dak being a good tow rig, at the very least you're going to be beating it up pretty bad towing it's rated capacity all the time.

[48wilys]

I towed my 48 willys with a 97 dax 4x4. The trailer wiggled at anything over 55mph, and tried to push the truck through a red light. I did not have trailer brakes, and I will NEVER make that mistake again. Bigger is better. You need a vehicle that will handle the weight. I would not go less than a 3/4 ton IMHO.

[JeepcoMJ]

just towed home a friend's new cherokee (1994 half a motor, no engine bay wiring, junk tranny, excellent body and rockers for $160) last night with a flat tow bar that can be seen on the front of Project tatersalad. 48.5 miles and it handled like a dream...but I didn't go over 45 and i wasn't hammering on the brakes.

[pingpong]

Around where I live police love to pull over vehicles towing other vehicle and do safety checks, not worth it to me to get the ticket for flat towing, cause "technically" the vehicle you are towing is suppose to have working brakes cause of the weight. I haven't heard of ppl getting a ticket for that offense while flat towing, but have for inop signals