John61CT wrote:If your total combined weight is near or right at the maximum specified, you are technically "safe" and legal.
Maybe for short trips weekending, keeping everything well maintained.
But if that's the way you're rolling day after day, thousands of miles, even weeks or months at a time, to me you're playing with fire, rolling the dice, not just yours and loved ones but others on the road.
A fat friend, a few extra water jugs and coolers in the back, worn brakes or a tire blows, you're going a bit too fast or are tired, slippy road, heavy winds or a big pothole...
all it takes is 2-3 factors to coincide.
Compared to a nice heavy TV pulling half what it's max rated for, which one would you rather your young only child riding in?
If you ask, what have children got to do with it? my answer is: exactly!
Tom&Shelly wrote:Thank you John,
While not exactly what I wanted to hear, it sounds like good advice, which is really what I'm looking for by posting here.
Towing long distances, we also want to feel comfortable with the rig. Guess there may be a larger tow vehicle in our future.
Tom
John61CT wrote:Or maybe worth going to more trouble reducing weight.
Think like a backpacker, maybe not every ounce, but make every pound count, most carry stuff they don't really need; be ruthless, aluminum, composites rather than steel, foam rather than wood, etc.
Or if nothing else just being aware you're pushing limits, ease off on the lead foot and set a more leisurely travel schedule, be conservative about weather conditions, check brakes and tire conditions more diligently, etc
Sorry but that's one of the most crazy things I have heard for a while. If you want to tell someone that their jeep with 2 people in it is overloaded you need a better reason than 'think of the children'. If something isn't fine to drive 1000 miles it isn't fine to drive 10 miles either. You shouldn't be driving a poorly maintained vehicle regardless of towing or not. A tire blowout when your not ready or failed brakes can result in an accident just as easily with a trailer as with an empty vehicle. Besides all that the 'safety' factor you are trying to create has already been overdone. The lawyers that give it a tow rating took the number the engineers said was safe, divided it 4 times, then rounded down to the nearest 500 pounds, then made it similar to other vehicles in its class.
Tom and Shelly have you looked at what your vehicle is rated to tow in other countries? For example a yaris (cant remember the year) is rated to tow nothing in the USA, 700 pounds in Canada and 2000 pounds in Europe. A Honda crv is rated to tow 1500 pounds in the states, 3500 in Europe iirc. a 2001 Honda civic not rated to tow in north america but 1800 pounds is fine in Australia. Yes, a honda civic can safely and legally tow a heavier trailer over there than you are planning to here with your jeep. A 1500 pound trailer with brakes is nothing really. People used to tow that with 40hp VW beetles with 4 wheel drum brakes and no, all the children didn't die.
Vehicles are not safe period, that's a lie everyone has been sold by the companies making them. Look at collision statistics. In my province anyway less than 1% of accidents resulted from any sort of failure of a vehicle-mechanical, tire or anything else. Most of those were tire failures. 99% of the time accidents are caused by people not paying attention or not driving to the road, weather or vehicle conditions because they are overconfident in how safe they are in their big oversized extra safe vehicle. There is no such thing as an collision caused by road conditions or weather. You shouldn't be driving more carefully with a trailer, just differently. Should pay just as much attention with no trailer as with. Vehicles are designed to keep you safeish in a 40mph crash with only a driver and passenger. They don't at 60mph and they for sure don't when you have extra weight like when your towing.
I could keep ranting for quite a while but i'm sure everyone else is annoyed at me by now.
Tom and Shelly-your jeep should have absolutely no issue towing what it is rated for all around the country if its maintained, has proper sized and good tires and your trailer has brakes and is properly loaded as you plan on doing. Your capabilities driving it would be the only thing you would have to question (i am not. once you get your trailer made and try towing it you just have to see how you think you would be able to handle emergency situations with the jeep. If your not sure I would suggest finding a road that is actually deserted and try swerving around starting at low speeds too see how you handle it and see how fast you can stop from 60mph or whatever your cruising speed is. How fast you can stop and how fast you can maneuver while maintaining complete control are things you need to know for any vehicle, towing or not.)
A short wheelbase tall vehicle like a jeep just takes more skill to control than a shorter but longer vehicle.
And yes, any weight you can remove (or not add) will make it easier to tow as long as its still balanced correctly
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