MacGregorSailors.com

A Mac on Canadian National News, fleeing the coming storm.

Good eye!

Any idea who it is? I only see one user in that area listed with an (Danpizza).

A friend of mine has one of those Jeeps and was thinking of towing his boat. I believe most Wranglers are only rated to tow 3,500 lbs. I hope this guy wasn't going too far

Jeff

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Catagail used to tow his with a VW bus.

The original owners manual showed an towed with a Ford Taurus.

If that Wrangler has a transmission cooler installed, that could make a significant difference in ability. It certainly is geared low enough.

That model jeep in the 4-door configuration is rated at 3500 pounds. That's pretty close to what my "X" is on the trailer with engine and normal gear. As long as the trailer has brakes I'd not worry about it. Without brakes you are going to feel it back there when you try to stop; not really safe and possibly illegal in some states.

Have trailered the Mac in several configurations: Plymouth town-and-country (stable enough, but the engine was marginal--had to stop at the top of a hill to let the temp go down) Honda Odyssey--pretty good rig, Jeep Cherokee--didn't like it-seemed to be struggling and not as half as stable as the Plymouth and finally ended up with a Nissan Pathfinder (old model). Plenty of power and no complaints about stability either, now that the trailer has two axles. Never felt that my rig was "pushing me" when braking

My first tow beast was a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Edition with the 5.9 engine. I had no problems towing my X.

https://www.motortrend.com/vehicle-genr ... s-details/

March wrote: ↑Sat Sep 16, 2023 3:06 pm Have trailered the Mac in several configurations: Plymouth town-and-country (stable enough, but the engine was marginal--had to stop at the top of a hill to let the temp go down) Honda Odyssey--pretty good rig, Jeep Cherokee--didn't like it-seemed to be struggling and not as half as stable as the Plymouth and finally ended up with a Nissan Pathfinder (old model). Plenty of power and no complaints about stability either, now that the trailer has two axles. Never felt that my rig was "pushing me" when braking

That 4 door jeep weighs a bit over 4000 pounds. In Florida, for it to pull it's maximum capacity (3500 pounds) would require brakes on all axles and to paraphrase, "It's not just the law, it's a good idea". The trick isn't pulling the trailer. The trick is stopping it.

I've pulled my "X" without brakes with a 2WD Xterra (5000 pounds rating) and it was pushing the vehicle while stopping. It did not feel like you were going to lose control but you could definitely tell it was pack there. Since I put brakes on the trailer it's like it's not even there.

I've not always been so careful with my towing. I once pulled over 6000 lbs with a Datsun PL521 20 miles or so (some of it uphill). I have no idea what the rated capacity of that little truck was but I do know that it weighed in about 2500 pounds and and was not terribly good at stopping itself even when it was empty. Even with a 96 hp engine (IIRC) it had no trouble pulling the load; stopping it was a whole different matter.

Be Free wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 1:03 pm That 4 door jeep weighs a bit over 4000 pounds. In Florida, for it to pull it's maximum capacity (3500 pounds) would require brakes on all axles and to paraphrase, "It's not just the law, it's a good idea". The trick isn't pulling the trailer. The trick is stopping it.

I've pulled my "X" without brakes with a 2WD Xterra (5000 pounds rating) and it was pushing the vehicle while stopping. It did not feel like you were going to lose control but you could definitely tell it was pack there. Since I put brakes on the trailer it's like it's not even there.

I've not always been so careful with my towing. I once pulled over 6000 lbs with a Datsun PL521 20 miles or so (some of it uphill). I have no idea what the rated capacity of that little truck was but I do know that it weighed in about 2500 pounds and and was not terribly good at stopping itself even when it was empty. Even with a 96 hp engine (IIRC) it had no trouble pulling the load; stopping it was a whole different matter.

Good point

I think the biggest problem with the Wrangler is that its suspension is designed to flex over ruts and rocks offroad. I don't have any first-hand experience, but I bet they sway like crazy when towing very much. Everything is a compromise. I just read that the newest Wranglers are getting a full floating rear axle option that has a towing capacity of 5000 lbs. They said the reason was to increase their capacity to carry gear. There are a lot of overlanders putting a lot of gear off the back and on top of these rigs.

Jeff

I'm pretty sure that the post may still exist where a Mac X owner in North Carolina towed his with a Corvette. Don't know how far or if the trailer had brakes, but most likely it did. Oh, and he also had a Suzuki DF-140 on the transom, as well! So easily over 4K lbs. His sailing buddy did as well, and they installed an aluminum transom reinforcement plate (Backer) inside the boat. Different strokes for different folks. There is a Vid as well, as I recall of him racing an "M" model. He won, hands down, of course, and did in excess of 40 MPH, also. I often wondered just how it held up, and how many hours under power, in the past decades? If I did not already have a new DF-50 on mine, I'd try it actually. Might just hang an old 2-smoke 140 HP on it to at least try it though! I moved my boat around my property with a Suzuki Samurai, with a hitch on the front, to spot it and now do that chore with a Chevy 4X4 2500HD Duramax Allison, that has a beast of a Texas Bumper, and a receiver built into it.

Note that it is an X that is considered newsworthy. Just sayn'

DaveC426913 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 8:06 pm A Mac on Canadian National News, fleeing the coming storm.