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Towing a car with my cherokee

5

540ismiley

NAXJA Forum User
Location
denver
I just bought a car on ebay. It is a 1987 Alfa Romeo Milano. It weighs about 3700lbs. It is in New York. I was planning on renting a auto transporter or dollie and bring it back with my cherokee has 3 inch OME lift and class 3 hitch setup. What do you all think about this. Am I crazy or can it be done. Reason why I ask is I saw a guy passing me doing about 80mph in his cherokee pulling a fairlane on a auto transport trailer.

i live in Denver. Thanks
Josh
1997 cherokee se
OME lift 3inch
[email protected]
 
It's certainly possible.

Factory ratings for an XJ with an auto are 5,000 lbs. with a load distributing hitch (the dolly should qualify IMHO.)

Ideally, a lightweight transport trailer with brakes would be my choice for such a long haul. Cherokee brakes are marginal enough to start with, I'd take any advantage I could get. I figure trailer brakes are required for anything over a ton behind an XJ (that may just be my rampant paranoia speaking.)

Just remember to not let the tail wag the dog.
 
I used to use my 90 xj to tow my boat (19 foot fiberglass ski boat)
and never gave me trouble except on really hot summer days climbing hills, I'd have to watch my temperature gauge. The i6 4.0 is a great engine for towing, imo. Driving from Denver to NY and back in the winter time won't be any fun with a trailer behind you, but otherwise you should be ok.
 
I did a cross country (Seattle to Philly) trip with a fully loaded Heep and a fully loaded Dodge Stratus on a 2 wheel dolly.

The only problems I had were :

Unequal tire pressure on dolly
(swayed everywhere until figured out)

TOTAL SH-IT mileage (7-8 mpg on a 2800 mile trip $$$$$$$$)
(could have been partly due to a cracked exh manifold)

the rear axle vent tube was clogged, and after the pressure built up, decided to vent all over the car (l pop, and puff of gear oil)

the Jeep did suprisingly well though. Hopefully you have your own dolly, if not, then you're gonna have to lie about what you're towing because U-Haul might not let you tow above a certain weight (IIRC 3500 lbs) (I just told them that I was towing a 78 CJ frame...)

:D

Good Luck

John

EDIT: I did the trip w/ 31's and 3.55's
 
I pull my camper..its about 3000. In fact, I just pulled it up from Florida last weekend. I got about 15mpg on the highway(Normal is about 20) No problem with pulling...braking is the problem.
 
Brakes on the towed entity are a must when you're towing something that weights as much as the tow vehicle. It will be totally unsafe otherwise.
 
For that kind of distance it might be better to fly out, and rent a truck and tow dolly one way from some place like http://www.pensketruckleasing.com/
If it was only a few hr trip I might would try it, but if you are going to drive that far for that many hrs there is too much that could go wrong.
I don't think uhaul dollies have brakes and I really don't know of any other national chain that rents just the dollies one way.
You might find that having a place like http://www.dasautoshippers.com/ haul it for you, once it's all said and done, won't cost much more than doing it yourself.
HTH,
Mike B.
 
1986xj said:

I don't think uhaul dollies have brakes
Click to expand...

They definitely do not. I rented one the other day. I was pulling an old VW camper with a 3/4 ton truck.

It went nicely, but I would have liked more brakes. I'd never have done this with an XJ without trailer brakes.

You should also remember, if you're going any distance, that because the vehicle pivots on the dolly, it is almost impossible to back up a vehicle on a tow dolly. That severely limits parking possibilites if you intend to stop for lunch, etc.!
 
I´m with ChiXJeff. About half the wieght of the towing vehicle without brakes (about 2000 lbs.) (good weather). Keep the trailer wieght down to the GVW of the towing vehicle (about 4000-45000) with trailer brakes.
I´ve found long drives with a car trailer, are really nerve racking. Need more pauses and breaks (pun). About the first time you get comfortable, things turn to sh%&$. Mountains will double, triple the wear and tear on your tranny. To many times, a month or two after a long heavy pull, I´ve had tranny problems. Hopefully just burnt oil. Might want to figure in tranny wear, when making the, is it worth it, determination.
 
I tow a 4000# camper with the biscuit mobile with no probs. I highly suggest trailer brakes though.


Actually, I tow this rig right heer.
T-G0136.jpg
 
I tow boat w/no problem.

I tow my 3800 lb boat and trailer. Power and brakes are not a problem, but I do get overheating/boiling over on hot days. Shouldn't be a problem for the area of the country you're considering. I do have hydraulic trailer brakes, though.
 
i towed a 1968 dodge dart 270 sedan behind my BONE STOCK 87 cherokee (4.0l AW4 auto) on an auto transport. total was roughly 6000lbs. my cherokee did it wonderfully with the exeption of i had 4 ppl in the car at the time so the rear suspention was not happy with me. other than that she pulled 70 down the freeway no problems.
 
I pulled my GFs 2001 corolla with my 98 XJ, 5inch 31'tires with stock gears from Va.- to Mississippi with ease, did between 80-95 mph..
 
I towed a Cherokee on a lightweight (aluminum) trailer behind my MJ from Springfield, MA, to my home in southern CT. It was less than 100 miles, and it was about 85 miles too far. Trailer brakes didn't mate to my trailer wiring plug so I had only the MJ's brakes, and they weren't enough. Even with brakes, though, the MJ with 4.0L was working way too hard going up hills. I made it, but I would not want to do it again. I wouldn't consider doing it cross-country.

A dolly will be lighter, but remember that if you tow with a dolly the vehicle has to be registered and insured. If it isn't, it MUST be towed with all 4 wheels off the ground.
 
Get some shipping quotes before you decide anything. Go to Google and do a search for "auto transportation". I had a 66 Toronado brought from CO to CT for $795. Heck, gas in the Toro would have cost nearly as much! And this doesn't include rental costs, food, hotels, many hours of aggravation, possible breakdowns... :yap: :lecture: :)
 
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