Towing Advise

[Thomas Wille]

I recently purchased a 98, 25' Safari. Looking for advise as to towing this unit.
I have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherekee V8. with a factory tow package.
Thoughts on additional towing devises, braking etc would be appreciated.\

Regards,

Tom Willey

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Thomas Wille

I recently purchased a 98, 25' Safari. Looking for advise as to towing this unit.
I have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherekee V8. with a factory tow package.
Thoughts on additional towing devises, braking etc would be appreciated.\

Regards,

Tom Willey

Tom, first of all, welcome to the forums!
Do you have a brake controller? Can you see around the trailer effectively? Does your towing package include a transmission cooler? Do you know if you have a charge line from the tow vehicle to the trailer? This uses the tow vehicle's alternator to help charge the trailer's battery while you are towing. Also, is you Cherokee 2WD or 4WD? A very quick recomendation I can sefely make, is if you have organic gear lube in the differential, to get it changed and replaced with synthetic gear lube. This can better handle the heat generated by towing a heavy load at high speeds. Many are the Chrysler truck owners that found out about this inexpensive upgrade too late.

[vajeep]

Tom,
I asked this question about a year ago. Many towing "opinions" are offered on our forum. I like the forum because I feel that you always get honest real life answers. Often the answers are not what I want to hear, but that is what I like about the fourm.
http://www.airforums.com/forum...ead.php?t=5607
As for us we found that our Jeep Grand was not really a great tow vehicle for the trailer that we wanted. We sold the Jeep and got the 2500 Suburban.
Much has been discussed about using a Jeep as a tow vehicle, just search under Jeep.

Good luck in your information gathering!
Abe

[rudderdancer]

Help. I'm currently on vacation with our 31 ft and Chevy Avalanche. At times when hitched, the truck wants to drift left or right. It seems unrelated to any wind. Could there be something wrong with the tandem wheels of the Airstream? The truck was aligned right before we left. It only happens when we're towing not when unhitched. It this just something common?
Thanks,

[john hd]

rudderdancer,

welcome to the forum!

do you have a friction sway control? is it set too tight?

john

[j54mark]

Originally Posted by rudderdancer

Help. I'm currently on vacation with our 31 ft and Chevy Avalanche. At times when hitched, the truck wants to drift left or right. It seems unrelated to any wind. Could there be something wrong with the tandem wheels of the Airstream? The truck was aligned right before we left. It only happens when we're towing not when unhitched. It this just something common?
Thanks,

No, this is not "something common". It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed before you have an accident.

Is this something new, or is this your first experience with this coach and tow vehicle combination?

What kind of hitch? Does it have load distributing bars? Does it have sway control of any kind? Is the coach/hitch set up to ride level? Have you checked the air pressure in all four coach tires? How about the truck tires' pressure?

Do you have a 1/2 ton Avalanche or 3/4? Isn't the wheelbase on an Avalanche pretty short for a 31' coach?

There are other questions which come to mind, but we need all but the last answered first.

Mark