One of our new members was talking about the trailer he pulls behind his Commander and it reminded me of a thread I saw someplace else... So I will ask the question here, What do you pull behind your Commander?
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One of our new members was talking about the trailer he pulls behind his Commander and it reminded me of a thread I saw someplace else... So I will ask the question here, What do you pull behind your Commander?
I have pulled several trailers over the 4 years I have had my Commander, I have the 5.7 Hemi so there are a lot of options available.
The first picture is my 12 foot box trailer that I used to haul the Boy Scout Troop equipment around in, now I keep my personal camping equipment there as well as a full set of tires for the Commander for places like Camp Commander.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...SCI00016-1.jpg
The second picture is my 18 foot flat bed car hauler with my 1955 Willy's Pick-up truck that has been in the family since I was in High School. Maybe I will finish it someday.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i.../Trailer-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...DSCI0012-2.jpg
The third picture is a pop-up trailer that I borrowed from a friend for Camp Commander 2010, I think this is the way I will go from now on as sleeping in a tent is not as much fun as it used to be.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...SCI00371-1.jpg
I towed a 76 Bonair pop up tent trailer last year on a cross country road trip. The trailer has no brakes, is about 12' long and is fairly heavy when loaded. There is a bit of trailer sway on the highway as the trailer sags to one side because of a frame failure on a pothole. The Jeep gets horrible mileage while towing but handles the load rather well. The trailer suffered a blow out at about 60 MPH and the Jeep kept dragging it like nothing happened.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...DSCF2098-1.jpg
Here is a partial pic of my trailer............finally.
I guess that would have been me...(the new member) :)
What I tow:
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...IMG_0017-1.jpg
I tow a 2008 FunFinder X-210WBS. It is a 21' box, but, if you add the tongue and a waste pipe mod I did, the whole thing comes out at 25.5 feet. I have a bicycle rack for the back that adds another 3.5 feet, so the whole rig as I tow it is right at ~29 feet. Since we tend to go for several months (ahh, reitrement) we tow on the heavy side, I'm right at ~5900 lbs with a tongue weight of ~715 lbs. Use an Equal-i-zer weight distribution hitch to get the Jeep to squat equally at all four corners and a Prodigy P3 to get the whole shebang to stop.
Great towing, rock solid (can't say enough about the lack of frame flex in the Commander) and the Hemi is more than up to the task of hauling 3 tons all around the country! I've got about 28,000 on this setup now and love the combination. I average 10.7 mpg going cross country and back, no complaints at all. Best I've gotten is 12 mpg through the flats of Kansas, the worst, 8.5 mpg on Rt. 550 from Durango up to Silverton... For what its worth, that kind of mileage, in the RV world, particularly out of a TV weighing almost 3 tons itself and with full time 4x4 drive, is pretty darn good.
Since we live in the boonies, I have an 8x16 utility trailer, but, compared to the FunFinder, I don't even know the utility is hooked up...
I tow a bracket race car on occasion. I use a weight equalizing hitch and a sway bar. Usually just a short trip to the race track and back, but I have towed it several hundred miles to California and back before.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...IMG_1913-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...IMG_1914-1.jpg
I also movede my man cave / workshop by winching it on top of my car hauler.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i.../10/0018-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i.../10/0028-1.jpg
'92 Cherokee trail rig. Weighs in at about 5000# It tows beautifully. I get 9-10 MPG with the Tow tune on my flashpaq.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...78398e74-1.jpg
I kinda feel left out, my (the wife's) commander does not pull anything. I have my truck for that, I could post a pic of it.
I have a Trailmanor 2619 hard sided pop-up trailer. Those of you at Camp Commander in Silverton got to look first hand. It is a very interesting pop-up, 19 feet when traveling (17 when parked in garage) and 26 feet when set up. I like the hard sided trailer much better than a tent trailer for foul weather traveling, quiet inside, larger size, and significantly less set-up at the destination. Trailmanors are special built, extremely lightweight (read extremely expensive for what you get) trailers, made to be towed by mid-range SUVs.
I orginally bought the Trailmanor to go behind my 1995 Chevy S-10 V6, which only had 165hp and max tow rating of 5000lbs. Even though I only have the 4.7L V-8 in the XK, it more than handles the trailer which maxes out at just under 5000lbs fully loaded with 47gal of fresh water, 10 gal propane, and lots of gear. Hill climbing in the S-10 was a nightmare. The XK tows uphill at 65mph like the trailer isn't even there. The only exception was I had to turn off the A/C while hill climbing in almost 100 degree weather coming across the desert.
I also have a weight distributing hitch which helps with the rear end sag on the XK, especially since I am running the 2.5 inch lift. Even with the hitch, I am considering more robust rear springs due to a lot of bouncing when loaded and towing, and a little bit of remaining sag.
With my lift and tire set up, I get about 12-13mpg not towing. I got a little under 10mpg cross country from California to Colorado towing it. The trailer folds down to slightly lower than the rear of the XK, so it adds very little wind resistance. As stated above, not bad for the RV world. My parents have a 34' class A which only gets 7mpg.
Hummers.........