Towing Sport 16 With A Wrangler

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by fdelle

Attachment 266716we finally brought the Sport 16 home yesterday. We have the Fastway weight distribution hitch and a Prodigy wireless brake controller. Easy tow on the two-hour trip home. It handled great!Attachment 266717Attachment 266718

I'm sure you won't even know it is behind you. Just be sure the trailer is level when hitched up.

[Tyvekcat]

Excellent rig setup! We just got a new Rubicon. The seats are so nice ! We have a 1998 TJ with a straight six, and it runs like a champ! No way were getting rid of that bad boy. We had to get a new wrangler cause we love the old one so much.
The frame is rusting on our TJ , but I am looking for a welder on Craigslist and soon will be cutting, fixing and adding steel. Heavy Duty.

This New wrangler is so much larger. ( seems to us)
Keep us posted on pulling the AS with your Jeep. That is an excellent setup.
I kinda doubt we'll be pulling our 28' with our Jeep.
Have a good one,

[fdelle]

Our first trip has been a blast. Four-hour drive to Tallahassee. No problems towing. Jeep gas mileage went from 21 highway to 13.5 towing the Sport 16.

[randbeth]

fdelle, My wife and I are new at this and to AS forum. We have nearly the same situation. 16' Bambi and Jeep Willy's Unlimited. Did lots of reading prior to buying because we really did not want to change our tow vehicle. Looked to be near the limit for the jeep but decided to give it a try. WDH and electronic brakes both installed at AS dealership. Left for home in Huston traffic at 6PM. Crazy, but was amazed at how well the AS towed behind the Jeep. So smooth and had a little power left over at 60 mph. Made the 5 hr drive home without any problems. Towed like a dream. Coolant remained at normal levels.
Also, much like your experience, when I disconnected the Trailer from the Jeep the next day the Jeep Tail lights would not go out. Only way to get them off was to disconnect the battery. Took to Jeep dealership and was easily fixed.
We have gone out once so far and loved it. There is a learning curve, however and my wife and I are still figuring out how everything works. But we pulled there and home just fine.

[Tyvekcat]

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to start looking for a small AS. Those look great behind the wrangler, looks like an excellent combo

Safe travels

[Adventure.AS]

We have had a great time towing our Sort 22FB with iurcWrangker. Can-Am in London ON customized our factory hitch to make it stronger and able to stand up to the torque created by the weight distribution hitch. I have taken my rig over a CT weigh scale and the hitch is doing a great job of moving the weight from the rear axle to the steering axle.

The identical Jeep in Europe has a tow rating of over 7,000 lbs.

[rostam]

Originally Posted by Adventure.AS

...The identical Jeep in Europe has a tow rating of over 7,000 lbs.

Just curious, do you have a link to the specs for this 7000# tow rated Wrangler? Thanks.

[RareStream]

I'm surprised Andy at Can-Am let that hitch setup out like that.

The Jeep is definitely squatting in the rear a goodly amount while the trailer seems a bit high in the front.

Seeing numerous examples of Andy's expertise in the past, this surprises me...especially the spring bars being so un-parallel to the A-frame.

Andy's the MASTER of setups. He could keep a Geo Metro from squatting in the rear while hitched to a 34 footer.

Something just seems off here...that's alot of rear-end sag for a Can-Am setup.

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by RareStream

Something just seems off here...that's alot of rear-end sag for a Can-Am setup.

I believe you are mistaking an illusion created by the wide angle camera lens on the iPhone.

[RareStream]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by Adventure.AS

I believe you are mistaking an illusion created by the wide angle camera lens on the iPhone.

I believe you're mistaking an illusion of someone who cares 😂😂😂

Could NOT resist that, sorry kids! 😀

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by RareStream

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Sorry, I must have missed you with your measuring tape at Can-Am when we picked up the trailer ... or maybe instead you were at the weight scale (before and after) to see the axle weights. Or, you should keep your speculations for something, of which, you have first hand knowledge.

[xrvr]

You could have the perfect setup and there are some on here who would spend hours trying to find fault.

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by RareStream

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

You realize that you're effectively calling Adventure.AS a liar, right? Not cool.

[SpletKay06]

What kind of reinforcements did Can-Am make I've installed the factory hitchs on the new JK's there questionable at best?

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by spletkay06

what kind of reinforcements did can-am make i've installed the factory hitchs on the new jk's there questionable at best?

[SilverHouseDreams]

Glad to see people are using Wranglers for tow rigs, and not just to tow behind their RVs

I have owned 4 Wranglers, the last one was the first year of the Rubicon (with solid axles front and rear and the 4.0 I6), we drove that one from Washington DC to Portland Oregon pulling a very burdened 12' U-Haul trailer. I had a tuning chip, cold air intake, lower temp thermostat and upgraded exhaust (plus many other non-performance upgrades)...but we did the full trip at or above the speed limit, most of the time I didn't even know that the trailer was there other than having to downshift more on the grades.

Sadly my wife isn't as big of a fan of the Wranglers as I am, so we have a luxury cross over instead...though I do appreciate the comfort and *quiet* it offers vs the Wrangler.

[BillingsBB]

Hello all, we are new to the forum and quite new to Airstream. My wife and I just picked up our new 16' last Thursday and yes I was concerned about pulling behind our Jeep. I discussed with several dealers and reviewed many of the posts throughout the forum for some weeks before purchasing. In the end I was convinced, even though we were at the limit...that with the proper weight distribution system and break controller our Jeep could handle. We left the dealership in Northern Vermont for a 3 hour drive back to Central New Hampshire and I have to say I was very impressed on how the Jeep handled and the Airstream pulled. Yes going up some of the mountains in Vermont on I89S I had to drop to 5th and a couple times to 4th but some of those are a long haul (and not uncommon to drop to 5th without a trailer). The dealer set up our WDS and Airstream perfectly so we were well leveled not even a bobble or sway. Once we exited I89S on to Route 4 in NH the pull was no different than that of our trade-in (small and lightweight Clipper Pop-Up). Ample power from the Jeep and the entire way I was able to pull with confidence and no "white knuckles" as I had with our previous 2006 Jeep Wrangler and the pop-up.

I have seen many rather negative comments about pulling with a Wrangler Unlimited on the forums here but it seems they are most always from "non-Jeep people". The true test is to do your research and then once convinced as you can be hitch up and pull. I am sure (other than perhaps our West in the Rockies) you won't be disappointed with the results.

So just my 2 cents on this topic and wishing everyone here the best!!

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[mikesander1]

I have a 2011 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara. Wish I'd sprung for the Rubicon but you live and you learn.

Anyway I'm considering purchasing a 16' Sport from the dealership next week (been thinking and researching for 2 months) and after reading everything I could find on here about Jeep tow ratings and pulling 16 foot Airstreams in particular I still haven't heard anyone specify that a Sahara can or can't do the job as well as a Rubicon.

Basically I want some reassurance that I won't have to do some seriously expensive modifications to pull this trailer. Does anyone feel like giving me some advice on what I actually NEED vs. what just makes for a smoother ride? If it wouldn't do any damage or add any unnecessary risk I'd like to start out with little to no modifications if possible then pay for some later as needed. I'm already stretching my finances buying this thing and I'm not going to be taking it out on the road immediately so I could always buy a better set up later. Any advice for a penny pincher? I don't want to sacrifice safety but I can deal with a little less stability if it means saving thousands of dollars.

--

On a sidenote, if anyone has any general advice for me I'd love to hear it. I am buying this 16' Sport because I live in San Francisco and rent is completely insane. Luckily I have found someone who will let me park my AS in their driveway (at least temporarily) and I basically live at my girlfriend's house anyway so it will function as a home away from home as well as a potential "doghouse" if I ever need another place to stay for a night or two. It's a long story. I don't want to move in with my gf yet but I can't afford to keep paying thousands of dollars for an apartment I barely use. I also can't afford to make the down payment on a house in SF so rather than throw my money away on rent I'm throwing it into an Airstream that I could later sell if need be for a down payment. And in the meantime I'll save my money instead of paying rent. It's the only way I could think to build equity in a city where real estate STARTS around $1 million.

There's also the fact that I love to travel. I plan on using the AS every chance I get. We snowboard/ski in Tahoe and surf in Santa Cruz, plus Jenna (my gf) loves wine country so it will save us hotel costs assuming we are able to boondock.
*Any boondocking advice is welcome. I know it's hard, just not sure HOW hard.

Unfortunately I don't currently have a job where I can work remotely (I'm trying to fix that), so I'll need to stay in SF or in the Bay Area at least. That means storing it which is either very expensive to store it in a covered, secured location or it's slightly less expensive to store it in a weather-and-criminal-exposed driveway. The only place I've found to store it so far is the latter, in a pretty shady area of the Mission district. I've researched different security systems but would love advice on this as well. So far "Pro-Tec PTS-2C" seems to be highly-recommended, I don't know if Viper offers something trailer-specific (I need to look harder). That would be the most convenient for me because my jeep already has a great Viper system (hopefully the two would work in conjunction with one another).

I may need to ask these questions on a different forum. This may not exactly be the place since only the first half is jeep-related. Sorry for the long post, I've obviously got a lot to figure out still. It's either a really bad idea or it's a really good idea I don't know which but I'd love some input. Please be brutally honest with me.

[SilverHouseDreams]

Originally Posted by mikesander1

I have a 2011 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara. Wish I'd sprung for the Rubicon but you live and you learn.

Anyway I'm considering purchasing a 16' Sport from the dealership next week (been thinking and researching for 2 months) and after reading everything I could find on here about Jeep tow ratings and pulling 16 foot Airstreams in particular I still haven't heard anyone specify that a Sahara can or can't do the job as well as a Rubicon.

I can't speak to the rest of your items sine I've never owned an AS, we are still shopping. I can totally understand your story and am sympathetic, the housing market in the Bay Area is beyond bonkers. I just read a story last week talking about how living out of RVs and TTs is the new "middle class" for SF and Marin, and how there are leagues of these residents that just play cat and mouse with the police moving every few days to avoid being busted.

As for the Sahara vs Rubicon, the only real difference that would impact towing is likely the lower final gear ratio in the axles. The Rubicon has lower gearing (though I haven't kept up on them in more recent years, the last I owned was an '03) that would likely make it "easier" for it tow on inclines, but I wouldn't expect the Sport 16 to be that bad for you. When I did the tow I referenced coast-to-coast that wasn't even with an Unlimited, it was before they even released the longer wheel base Jeeps...so just the standard 2-door. The trailer had surge brakes, no sway control...and it towed fine, though it is a smaller trailer and had tandem axles.

Jeeps are still built really well, even if Daimler abandoned the reliable I-6 and the trail proven solid front axle. It is the only SUV that isn't gigantic that is body-on-frame, everything else is unibody until you get to the large end...too large for us living in the city of Portland too.

Be sure to get a good proportional brake controller and have it installed properly, I went with the Prodigy RF that puts all of the "brains" on the trailer and just a dumb remote for inside...partly since we expect to tow on occasion with something other than our primary TV (and may rent it to others) and didn't want to be restricted by brake controllers.

Wranglers have a massive aftermarket of upgrades that are available to help alleviate issues, they are one of the easiest vehicles to work on yourself. You can always upgrade suspension components if needed, etc. I would look on some of the Jeep forums about towing in general and look for those towing something in similar weight, such as "toy hauler" trailers.