I was wondering what the consensus was on installing a heavier clutch to be able to tow 5000 lbs? Can the tranny handle it?

stephen

_________________
04 5sp. with mods

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/798121

Are the manuals not rated at 5,000 pounds?

Mine's an automatic and I had no problems pulling a full size Chevy van on a 16' trailer over a mountain. The only thing I was worried about were my brakes being able to handle the load, and they did just fine.

If the 5-speed's aren't rated at 5,000 pounds, is the clutch the only thing preventing it? If so, and you need to tow 5,000 pounds every once in a while, I say go for it. If you don't tow that often, see if you can con a buddy into towing it for you.

If you lived back East I could put you in touch with a buddy of mine that own's Camel Tow Service, no joke.

_________________
2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

I'm looking into a similar thing with my 2007 6-speed... Jason Thomson had some things to say about it a few months back, and from what I remember he thought that the clutch would be fine, but the reason the manual trannies are only rated to 3700# is because people don't ise the gears to slow themselves down, and it had to do with the braking power of the libbies.

I'm interested to know if anyone can expand further on this topic as I'm looking to get a horse trailer to be towed by my libby.
-Mark

_________________
2008 VW Rabbit- 5-speed 5-cylinders
2000 TJ 4-cylinders 5-speed I'll let you know when I figure it out.
2006 Liberty SOLD.

I've looked into the same thing, so far all that i've read is hearsay on forums, but the towing limitation for manuals is mostly because of the clutch, but also because of a lightweight aluminum transmission.

So if you do want to increase towing capacity to 5000, you need a better clutch, but you'll also risk damaging the transmission. I'm sure if you take it easy, not any major hills, the transmission would probably do fine.

Breaking power is the same in the autos and manuals. And the manuals can at least use the engine to help the brakes where as the autos won't. Either way Towing 5000 pounds for more than just a short trip I would suggest a brake controller.

Also the power steering overheating is an issue on both the manual and autos. The towing package for the autos fixes this, but i'm not sure if a cooler for the power steering is provided for the manuals with the towing package.

Even though my clutch is being a bit of a pain in the stupid, I am going to wait to it is all but dead and then I am getting a "custom" kevlar belted clutch that will get me to 5K towable with a 300 psi increase or that's what a clutch shop in San Jose, Ca. said.

Stephen

_________________
04 5sp. with mods

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/798121