Tow Rating for 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo?

[haulinhp]

I have a 2000 JGC with the 4.7L V8 engine, Quadra Drive 4x4, tow package (Class IV), and 4.10 gears, all factory stock with no modifications. I have misplaced the owners manual and I am hoping that someone here can tell me the tow rating or can direct me where to find it for sure.

At Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ - Trailer towing it states that the rating is 6,500 pounds but it only lists this with 3.73 gears.

As an aside, I have been doing a lot of reading on the web on tow vehicles recently and airforums.com has by far the greatest quanity and quality of information about the topic.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Astroboy]

I once towed my 28'CCD (equipped with Hensley, empty + water + propane = about 6000 lb) for one-trip home from the dealer with my 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, stock (very similar to yours, V8, tow package, 3.73 gear).

1) Jeep have cushy suspension. The tongue weight was depressing the rear so much, that my head light (hi-beam) was illuminating the sky.

In a few days, I had auxiliary air bag suspensions installed ($80 for parts + 1 shop hour for install). Look up "Air Lift".

2) The Cherokee pulled alright, I suppose, for 400 miles of flat Interstate and one mountain pass to climb and come down. It was in evening, and the ambient temperature wasn't too hot. But when pulling, and especially climbing, my right knee pressed against the transmission tunnel could feel a lot of heat generated from what must be the overworking transmission.

I recommend a temperature sensor to monitor your transmission, so you'll know when to push, and when to stop to cool down.

3) A good towing mirrors are in order. Most of the attachment mirror sold on accessories shelf or CIPA mirror (crap) which grabs or attaches to your existing vehicle's mirrors don't extend wide enough to see the back. Towing mirrors should extend farther and wider than the trailer. Jeep is narrower than the other full-size SUVs or trucks to begin with. Ideally, you want to have lines of sight running parallel to the both exterior side walls of the trailer. None of the usual towing mirrors sold at the store weren't able to do so. Perhaps McKesh mirrors might work.

I ended up upgrading my tow vehicle because I was pulling too big and too heavy trailer.

It's good that you have 4.10 gears, but you do have stock size tires right? Because if you happen have bigger rock-crawling tires with it, it negates the benefits of bigger differential gear for towing.

4.10 gear is helpful, but the beefiness of your axle tubings are still the same, so the load that the axles can support won't change.

Finally, what is limiting the towing capacity of JGC comes down to its light weight (3700 lb) and chassis (narrow track, short wheel base @ 106 inches).

So, 6500 lb it is.

Be safe.

[woppa 4]

Can,t find the thread for those stick-on towing mirrors. Have a friend who is interested.woppa4

[Dawgfan]

I owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo early 2000 model. The physical size of the vehicle is too small for all but the smallest lightest travel trailer out there. The documentation may support something different. It just isn't safe.
Do a lot of reading here before considering using that Jeep as a tow vehicle for an Airstream bigger than a 16' or 19'.
I had a 19' Bambi that I towed two times with a 1999 F150 short bed. I traded for a bigger truck then a year later a bigger trailer. I thought I would get something small enough that I wouldn't need to get a bigger tow vehicle. The F150 worked on paper but not in the real world.

[Astroboy]

@ woppa4:

Do you mean Tow-N-See mirrors?
I'm not so sure still, if they reach far enough.

Tow-N-See Towing Mirrors

Here's the link to the thread:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f238...ors-23271.html

[FLYNCLD]

Sold our 2002 Jeep Cherokee to buy a Chev 3/4 ton to pull our 22' FC. Would not recommend pulling anything but the smallest of trailers with a Jeep. It will pull it, but not comfortably.

[Road Ruler]

I recall a road/tow test done by Trailer Life magazine about 5 or 6 years ago.

They connected a 26' SOB Sportsman TT to a V8 "Grand". I remember the trailer was heavy, almost at the max of the Jeeps towing capacity.

They said it towed very well overall and was one of the better towing combinations they had tested.

So much of the towability factor falls back to the connection hardware and adjustments. An optimal connection can be a huge positive factor.

[haulinhp]

Originally Posted by Astroboy

It's good that you have 4.10 gears, but you do have stock size tires right? Because if you happen have bigger rock-crawling tires with it, it negates the benefits of bigger differential gear for towing.

4.10 gear is helpful, but the beefiness of your axle tubings are still the same, so the load that the axles can support won't change.

Finally, what is limiting the towing capacity of JGC comes down to its light weight (3700 lb) and chassis (narrow track, short wheel base @ 106 inches).

So, 6500 lb it is.

Be safe.

Thanks a lot for your input and all of your recommendations! In response to the above:

I am running stock size rims and tires. I think the axles are Dana 44 axles which is a fairly beefy axle. I understand it isn't the equal of a Dana 60 or Ford 9" but it isn't bad. Also, I think the weight of my Jeep stock is closer to 4,400 rather than 3,700 pounds. 3,700 may be accurate for a 2wd six cylinder version.

[haulinhp]

Originally Posted by Road Ruler

I recall a road/tow test done by Trailer Life magazine about 5 or 6 years ago.

They connected a 26' SOB Sportsman TT to a V8 "Grand". I remember the trailer was heavy, almost at the max of the Jeeps towing capacity.

They said it towed very well overall and was one of the better towing combinations they had tested.

So much of the towability factor falls back to the connection hardware and adjustments. An optimal connection can be a huge positive factor.

Does anyone have a link to a copy of that article? I would like to read it.

[Road Ruler]

Originally Posted by haulinhp

Does anyone have a link to a copy of that article? I would like to read it.

I have/had the article and looked for it earlier but didn't find it. I will look again. Stay tuned.

[Road Ruler]

Sorry, can't find. I think it got tossed the last time I cleaned house.

You may want to check out post #20 here.... http://www.airforums.com/forums/f48/...er-2763-2.html

Towing specialist Andy Thomson gives a brief, but positive comment on the Grand from that era.

[bolerama]

Haulinhp

We Haul our 2008 23ft CCD with our 2000 Jeep GC limited. It pulls it no problem at all. I do take it easy and watch the temperatures. We live in the prairies (it's not as flat as some think) so it doesn't get the workout that it would if I were in the mountains. I would not take it to the Rockies but i didn't want to drop 60 grand (CDN) for a diesel. We love our Jeep and it hasn't given us any grief (knock on wood).
We do have an equalizer hitch (a must) and it works great.
I do agree with the above comment about the mirrors. We are still looking for something better than our clip-ons.

Paul

[c177tx]

I have the 08 Jeep Commander Sport 4x2 with the 4.7l, (pulling a 19' bambi SE) it is pretty much the same drive train. I completed a 1 week trip from the hills of central Texas out to Davis Mountains then on north to the Mountains around Durango Colorado and back. The 4.7l was never short of power. The temps all stayed in the green. I averaged 15mpg towing speed limit (except IH10 it is 80mph, i stayed at 70.) Just went to Port A over the weekend and going into the wind i did drop down to 13mpg but back up to 16 coming back north. With the EQ hitch properly adjusted The Jeep sits flat and handles very well. With the life time warranty on the drive train I plan to keep it for some time to come.

[crispyboy]

For those that are using the Jeep with the 4.7, 5 speed transmission - do you tow with the overdrive off or on? We just picked up a used High Output 4.7 one for my wife to drive.

[Astroboy]

Originally Posted by crispyboy

do you tow with the overdrive off or on?

Answer: It depends on the situation. By turning off "overdrive", you can compel the transmission not to upshift beyond 3rd. That's all there's to it.


You can see the "overdrive" button on the shifter at the upper right corner of the image.

Here's the shifter position for WJ Grand Cherokee: [Park - R - N - D - 2- 1]

[D] = (1st ~ upshift all the way to 5th)
[D with "overdrive" turned off] = (1st ~ upshift up to 3rd)
[2] = 1st, and upshift only to 2nd
[1] = 1st only

In some situation when the vehicle is traveling at some speed and the gas pedal is pressed on or let go off, the transmission may often hunt between the 3rd and 4th, or upshift and downshift unnecessarily, because the vehicle is not smart enough to know whether you're accelerating, pulling a trailer, climbing a hill, or about your next intended action.

I would turn off "overdrive" when climbing hills, or pulling a trailer, or pulling a trailer & climbing at the same time. You wouldn't want to the transmission to upshift too soon, just because you let go of the gas pedal momentarily.

However, there's nothing wrong with letting the vehicle to upshift to 4th or even 5th, when you're cruising with at highway speed with trailer on the flat prairie.

Generally, "overdrive" simply meant 4th during the days of 4-speed automatic. Nowadays with prevalence of 5 or 6-speed automatic, "overdrive" designation is not intuitive and is confusing. I think all recent cars and trucks equipped with 5 or 6-speed would allow the driver to sequentially select which gear to be in — i.e. +(plus) & - (minus) for upshift & downshift.

[Astroboy]

BTW, attention to the owners of 1999 & 2000 Jeeps Grand Cherokee with V8.

Its so-called 4-speed, (45RFE transmission) is physically and mechanically identical to 5-speed, (545RFE transmission) which were equipped WJ Grand Cherokee on 2001 onwards.

You can simply ask the dealership to reprogram the chip, to gain 5th. This is done officially at Jeep dealerships, and there's Technical Bulletin flyer on this.

It perplexes me why the manufacture would ship to the public vehicles with one of its gear disabled (better 0-60 mph acceleration figure for marketing reasons at the expense of fuel economy?)

45RFE/545RFE - JeepForum.com Community Jeep Wiki

[bolerama]

Originally Posted by bolerama

Haulinhp

We Haul our 2008 23ft CCD with our 2000 Jeep GC limited. It pulls it no problem at all. I do take it easy and watch the temperatures. We live in the prairies (it's not as flat as some think) so it doesn't get the workout that it would if I were in the mountains. I would not take it to the Rockies but i didn't want to drop 60 grand (CDN) for a diesel. We love our Jeep and it hasn't given us any grief (knock on wood).
We do have an equalizer hitch (a must) and it works great.
I do agree with the above comment about the mirrors. We are still looking for something better than our clip-ons.

Paul

Update to the comment above. After reading lots and readjusting the hitch (thanks to Andy T.'s article in Airstream Life), we took our 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 23 foot Airstream down to Yellowstone (from Saskatchewan). The Jeep handled the mountains just fine. We went through a major rain storm without difficulty. (We still haven't tried the Canadian Rockies.)

We now have McKesh mirrors. We can see around the Airstream well with them. A big improvement over our clip-on mirrors. We lost one clip-on down the highway last summer, so that necessitated the purchase of the McKesh mirrors.