Towing question

jeepdan · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 11:15 am

Joe is right. Your tongue weight must be around 10% of your gross trailer weight to prevent trailer sway. Going lighter than 8-10% is bad, and placing 500-600lbs. of tongue weight on the liberty without a weight distributing hitch is not good either, especially at interstate speeds.
The bottom line is READ AND FOLLOW YOUR OWNERS MANUAL as this is what the police and the lawyers are going to go by if you loose control and kill someone!

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

Do not forget to do a complete turbo cooldown before shutting engine. A minumum of 5 minutes should do it if you are towing on highway. I usually never shut off the engine when I'm towing and taking a pitt stop for fuel, food, or crew relief.

I strongly recommend Mobil 1 oil 5w-40 instead of others that are not true synthetics but Grp III basestock for towing.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:34 pm

I have EGT, Trans Temp, and Boost Gauges mounted on my CRD. Driving under 25mph into a neighborhood or on an exit ramp to a rest area or Fuel Station, will cool your turbo down better than idling (as long as you are not climbing a mountain grade). Some states like New York are super anal about idling an engine when parked and issue a fine. Five minuets is a good rule of thumb, just remember driving under 25 MPH counts on the cool down time.

boilermaker2 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:32 pm

The men in the family still talk about my old dodge that backed UP our driveway in 4wd just to get the u_haul trailer to the garage so that we could move into the new home. The ruts that that trailer cut was +/- 4inches in the semi-gravel drive as the Dodge shoved the dual axle trailer, fully locked, to the garage. My 6 mos pregnant wife NEVER saw/noticed the ruts otherwise I would have never owned the Libby :dead:

. The fact we didn't have to lug the trailer around because of the Dodge meant we toasted the green beast that evening and gladly filled in the ruts.

Surge breaks are good, but they can be inconvenient too. :banghead:

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:03 pm

boilermaker2 wrote:

The men in the family still talk about my old dodge that backed UP our driveway in 4wd just to get the u_haul trailer to the garage so that we could move into the new home. The ruts that that trailer cut was +/- 4inches in the semi-gravel drive as the Dodge shoved the dual axle trailer, fully locked, to the garage. My 6 mos pregnant wife NEVER saw/noticed the ruts otherwise I would have never owned the Libby :dead:

. The fact we didn't have to lug the trailer around because of the Dodge meant we toasted the green beast that evening and gladly filled in the ruts.

Surge breaks are good, but they can be inconvenient too. :banghead:

My Tractor Hauling Trailer has 12" Electric brakes on both 5K axles, but I only plan to haul 7,000lb max. Only on U Haul trailers do I want surge brakes.

geordi · **Posted:** Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:46 pm

There should have been a pin slot to "lock out" the surge piston for backing up. At least the generator that I hauled around (6840 lbs) had that.

Surge brakes are used a lot on boat trailers, something about electric brakes and water not playing nicely together...?

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:06 am

geordi wrote:

There should have been a pin slot to "lock out" the surge piston for backing up. At least the generator that I hauled around (6840 lbs) had that.

Surge brakes are used a lot on boat trailers, something about electric brakes and water not playing nicely together...?

Surge brakes are also used on those trailers you get concrete in and they have no provisons to back up. I resorted to loosening the brake line then refill the cylinder

gsbrockman · **Posted:** Tue Apr 20, 2010 9:15 pm

CRD Joe wrote:

The car is close to 4000lbs, and a Uhaul trailer would be between 1000 and 1500lbs.

Have you made any phone calls to U-Haul and asked if the Liberty is a "qualified" tow vehicle for use with that size rental trailer yet ?

In today's litigation happy society, I'd almost bet they'd decline you a rental......may be worth looking into first.

Greg

danoid · **Posted:** Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:48 pm

ATXKJ wrote:

I don't think any CRD towing discussion is complete without a link to Danoid's trailer
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=233890#p233890

and KJ Country's wiring install
http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26895&highlight=trailer+hitches

But there's a little explanation behind that picture.
1) I invested in a very wallet lightening hitch, the Hensley Arrow. And despite others comments on the merits of weight distributing hitches, this is a little different. Yes it distributes weight back toward the front axle, but more importantly it becomes a rigid beam with trailer drag. Meaning that you can turn the vehicle relative to the trailer at low speeds, but the greater the drawbar pull, the greater the resistance to trailer sway.
2) They weren't installed when that picture was taken, but I also invested in the AirLift rear spring bags. Having the rear end firmly planted makes me feel much better.
3) and of course, I have electric brakes.

geordi · **Posted:** Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:22 pm

danoid wrote:

But there's a little explanation behind that picture.
1) I invested in a very wallet lightening hitch, the Hensley Arrow. And despite others comments on the merits of weight distributing hitches, this is a little different. Yes it distributes weight back toward the front axle, but more importantly it becomes a rigid beam with trailer drag. Meaning that you can turn the vehicle relative to the trailer at low speeds, but the greater the drawbar pull, the greater the resistance to trailer sway.
2) They weren't installed when that picture was taken, but I also invested in the AirLift rear spring bags. Having the rear end firmly planted makes me feel much better.
3) and of course, I have electric brakes.

Your hitch is a little more advanced than the basic weight distributing hitch. I wouldn't say no to any hitch that had sway-control parts to it, crosswinds don't care if you have your big box trailer loaded perfectly or not.

Towing question

Who is online