Re: Towing 17 ft w/ a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Yes his jeep will not have a problem towing the boat but stopping is another story, while he will be able to stop under normal conditions, but if he has an emergency, he will have trouble, also he will burn his brake pads up in a heart beat.<br /><br />Just to give you a little story, I hauled a car back from Chicago on a 20' flatbed tandem axle trailer with surge brakes, using my dodge ram 1500 . I was traveling down the highway coming into a traffic jam, and I had 2-3 car lengths ahead of me and was starting to slow down, when a little #$%* compact car flew arround me on the right and cut right in front of me. I had to slam on my brakes, and the trailer was hopping up and down on the pavement, I stopped within a couple of centimeters of the other car. While the load wasn't over the limit for my truck, I still had a awfull time stopping the trailer even with trailer brakes, I wished I had a bigger truck to haul that load with. Moral of the story, manufacturers rate their tow capacity at what the engine and transmission can handle pulling, not what the vehicle can stop with out trailer brakes. Ford as a matter of fact started putting trailer brake controllers in tehir new F250, and F350's they advertised it with the slogan, what good is a 20,000 lobs towing capicity if you can't stop it.Originally posted by Andiamo:<br /><br /><br />2000 Jeep Grand Cheorkee rated to tow 6500<br /><br />Boat on trailer (via scale) 3465<br /><br />I currently do not have breaks on my trailer. I do however feel that they are needed. The jeep will stop with the load, it just takes a bit more. When I drive with this setup, or anyother day for that matter, I dont ride the person in front of me. I like "clear and assured distance" inbetween me and the person in front. If i really need to step on the breaks, you can feel the trailer want to push the Jeep. <br /><br />As far as the origional question of "Will this vehicle have any trouble towing my boat", no it will not. I towed my first boat with a 1997 Grand Cherokee Ltd with that same 4.0l. That boat was a 16' arrow glass that weighed just north of 2300 on the trailer. I knew the boat was there, but had no issues what so ever.
