Need towing recommendations

I see quite a few posts/threads about towing, but my forum searches turned up blanks when I look for specific info. I'm hoping some of you experienced riggers can help point me in the right direction.

Up until now my towing has been limited to my boat with surge brakes (~3,500 lbs) behind a Silverado. I could barely feel it. I recently traded in the Silverado for an '09 Overland. My wife suddenly decided she wants to buy a camper. She has her eye on a 29', empty weight just under 5,800 and tongue weight of 645. The camper salesman told me he is happy (I bet he is!) to set me up with a weight distribution hitch and brake controller for the low low price of around $1,600.

Seems pretty pricey to me and looks like DIY is pretty easy. I'm thinking I can do this for under $500. The WDH seems pretty basic, and different manufacturers seem to offer up pretty much the same thing. But there are a ton of different brake controllers out there, and I'm wondering how to go abut choosing one. I can add the WDH after I get the camper home, but have to have the brake controller in place when I buy. I've read reviews for installing the controller that range from 10 minutes to 10 hours :eek:

Advice on specific products for either? Also hoping to get an idea how long each will take to install.

I used a tekonsha p3 in my commander. It's a proportional controller vs time delay which is much nicer. If you are ok with electronics it's not a difficult install. There are 4 wires, power, ground, brake switch trigger, and brake signal to trailer. If you have a tow package the signal to trailer is already run from the hitch plug to under the dash by the kick plate or whatever it's called. It's a green wire.. The brake switch trigger I just used one of those self tapping crimp on wire thingies (technical term). Then obviously power and ground from battery. I did however use a relay for the power wire so it would only be powered when the jeep was on..

WDH it pretty straight forward, but does need to be setup correctly, again not difficult but does take some time and measurements to get it right. I bought my trailer used, and negotiated have that in the price so I can't really comment on price anything.

As far as the trailer goes, that pretty big for XK/WK, keep in mind that the empty weight means before accessories also (generally) so no water heater, AC, batteries and whatever else.. let alone fresh water, grey water, black water, then all your crap that you are going to fill it with.

I towed a 21ft (5200lbs dry) trailer from CA to MI to DE.. it wasn't fun, but it had to be done... I had a WDH, the p3, and a friction sway controller, I had to keep speeds around 57 mph, and still only got 7.5 mpg.

hoaxci5, thanks for the feedback.

The camper manufacturer lists shipping weight at 5,785 lbs. I'm assuming that includes all accessories since they were factory installed but excludes whatever we would put in it, LP gas, etc. I definitely need to clarify that with the dealer. I don't plan to travel with any water (40 gallon fresh). I'm thinking once it's loaded with gear it won't be over 6,500. I'd prefer to be under 6k, but I don't want to get over 6500. I'll have a full luggage rack and the 3rd row area will be packed. I'm fully expecting to just put a funnel in my gas tank so I can dump dollars in. For 13 years I've had a vehicle with a 10k towing capacity and now that I switch she wants to load it down :(

Just outta curiosity, what was it that made your towing not so fun? I expect that hilly areas will be a challenge, but for most trips I'm stuck in the painfully flat midwest. I'm just wondering if the trailer weight will pull the Commander all over the road, or is it wind gusts from opposite trucks, etc? I sure don't want a white-knuckle trip every time I head out!

I do have the tow package, and it includes electronic sway control. I'm sure that's no substitute for mechanical sway control, but it should help. I'm going to have to dig a little more into the brake controller install. I didn't expect to have to run through the firewall to the battery. I was really hoping it would be more of a plug and play type of install.

Part of my problem may have been 3" lift with 32" tires, but as I said I had to keep it at 55-57 mph both for gas and not white knuckling. I've towed a fair amount, but that was my biggest load.. 2 cross country moves and 2 north to south moves all pulling a trailer between 3500-5500 lbs and then this last time with the toy hauler around the 7200 mark. Anything after about 60 and it was dancing around too much for my comfort. It managed fine power wise, but I think the short wheelbase was the biggest downfall causing the back end to move more than I wanted with crosswinds or trucks passing. I did have an aux transmission cooler installed, because I did overheat the trans once (idiot light comes on before it gets real bad) so I didn't want that to continue for the rest of the trip. Once it was installed I never had an issue again, and I was monitoring temps with my flashpaq which will read out exact trans oil temp (cooler brought it down 10 degrees all the time and kept towing around the 200 mark)

Electronic sway control only works for dangerous situations, I wasn't loaded correctly for my first leg of the trip and was swaying all over the place and it never did anything because it wasn't enough sway I guess? Not really sure how to better explain that, so basically don't count on it for anything because it doesn't seem to work unless you are pulling a serious evasive maneuver or something.

Brake controller is definitely not plug and play.

Where are you located? I'll let you pull my trailer around so you can see how it is :p

Thanks, but Chicago's a little too far from Delaware :eek: It is funny you say that though. I asked the dealer if I could hook up the camper to take a test run. He said they don't allow that due to liability reasons. Kinda makes things tough for anyone with a vehicle new to them when the weight limit's being pushed. I guess I always have the fallback option of backing out of the sale within the 3-day legal limit if I don't like the way it tows. Don't want to do that, but if he won't let me test it I won't feel bad :p

Personally, I'd go smaller.. Is it just you and your wife? We lived in our toy hauler for 7+ month while waiting to close on a house and it was me, my wife, twin 4 year olds, and a cat. So don't play the 29 ft is already small game with me :)

It's me, my wife, my 8 and soon-to-be 6 year old daughters. There gets to be so much chick drama at times that even a 29 has me thinking about packing a tent :p

I'm told that lighter weights add a premium cost. Apparently the lighter and more-expensive ones are fiberglass while aluminum is heavier and cheaper (the opposite of boats when it comes to weight). I guess I could always go smaller and invest some of the savings into having noise-cancelling headphones surgically attached.

Well best of luck with whatever you decide, if you decide to install the brake controller and have questions just post up or send me a PM.

Thanks. You've helped. I'm gonna dig some more into the brake controller and will probably take you up on your offer after I know a little more.

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I'm a little late to the party, but will add my 2 cents (exactly what it's worth).

I tow a 20' enclosed trailer that, when loaded, comes in at about 7000lbs. With a proper weight distribution setup, it pulls pretty good. The weight distribution can actually help with the sway as well, but it can get a little hairy from time to time.

I also use the P3 controller - works great. I got the mopar brake controller harness which made the install even easier - plug-n-play! Why this wasn't included with the towing prep package I have no idea.

I bought my stuff from etrailer.com for probably about $500 total.

I would not break 7000 lbswith the XK. I am also adding air bags to help compensate for the soft coil sprung rear suspension

Been a while so I thought I'd follow up. Ended up buying the camper, with the first trip last week. About 750 miles round trip. Towing was surprisingly smooth. While I could certainly feel the load there was no sway or bucking at all. I'm convinced that swaying is more a function of unbalanced trailer loading than the size and weight of the load.

Probably a 20mph+ crosswind for about 50 miles and everything tracked very well. Plenty of power to pull, but the roads were midwest-flat. I reserve the right to change my opinion once I hit some mountains!

Commander looks awfully small hooked up. Gas mileage wasn't much worse than I get around town without a trailer. 10.7 MPG one way with a howling tailwind most of the way and 9.7 MPG the other way with calm winds. Not bad for a rolling refrigerator towing a giant 6k lb shoebox @ 65mph.

edit: Had another trip towing through some serious hills near Savanna IL (yes, there are some hills in IL!) Not long grades like mountains, but constantly up and down several hundred feet of steep. Mileage dropped to 8.3. Not good, but still better than most Class A motor homes.