Anybody flat towing their JL with 37" tires

[zjaw]

I pull my rubicon behind my motorhome. I am thinking of going to 37" tires and wanted to know if anybody had any problems with the larger tires being flat towed.

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[zjaw]

Is anybody pull a Jeep wrangler with 37" tires?

 

[tobyw]

No problems here. We flat tow ours on 37's behind our Class A coach without any issues.

 

[zjaw]

No problems here. We flat tow ours on 37's behind our Class A coach without any issues.

Thank you. "How do you like it on 37". Did you have to change the gearing for power On your jeep with the 37"

 

[jzerk]

Thank you. "How do you like it on 37". Did you have to change the gearing for power On your jeep with the 37"

 

[jzerk]

I run 35” on my JL and flattow. No problem. Mine is the Sport with standard gearing and 3.6 engine with 8speed auto. On the highway in hilly country the tranny is always shifting down. Even on flat roads with small upgrade it does struggle. Engine RPM is only around 1200 at 65 mph. Most of the time the auto will run in 7th gear and brings the rpm up around 1500 and it runs better. But really no problems off-road, but I am no hardcore rock climber!! If I needed the power I would have wanted the 4:10 gearing.

 

[zjaw]

Thanks for the information.

 

[Midwest22]

Not sure if I understand this thread. The original question was about flat towing a Jeep with 37" tires behind a motorhome. Some how, unless Im not reading this correctly (blame it on the beer), it looks like it turned into a discussion about gearing with larger tires. Again, maybe Im not reading this correctly.

Nevertheless, following suit with the OP, I am about to start towing my JLUR with 37's behind my 40' Newmar. I have a Roadmaster set up but have yet to get the bracket installed on the Jeep. For those of you that have done this, given the extra height over stock (mine has a 2" lift as well), I have 2 questions:

1. How did you set up your tow bracket on the Jeep and
2. Did you have to use a tow hitch riser to bring the system up higher to compensate for the lift and larger tires?

Thanks much!

 

[lightsout]

Not sure if I understand this thread. The original question was about flat towing a Jeep with 37" tires behind a motorhome. Some how, unless Im not reading this correctly (blame it on the beer), it looks like it turned into a discussion about gearing with larger tires. Again, maybe Im not reading this correctly.

Nevertheless, following suit with the OP, I am about to start towing my JLUR with 37's behind my 40' Newmar. I have a Roadmaster set up but have yet to get the bracket installed on the Jeep. For those of you that have done this, given the extra height over stock (mine has a 2" lift as well), I have 2 questions:

1. How did you set up your tow bracket on the Jeep and
2. Did you have to use a tow hitch riser to bring the system up higher to compensate for the lift and larger tires?

Thanks much!

I am towing my JLU Sahara 2" lift 35 KO2. One of the things to keep in mind is weight, your RV is rated for 5000lbs towing assuming you do not have any extras like skids, steel bumpers, racks ect, you are right at the 5K limit when wet. There are two aproaches for towing set up buy and install a bumper that allows for tow connections (either LOD or Rock Hard) or install a tow plate which is the recommended method by the tow bar manufacture for flat towing. I has going to go the bumper route until I talked to the To bar manufacture, a couple RV shops that install tow systems and several bumper manufactures as well as JEEP recommending to NOT use bumper connections.

Read this thread about flat towing https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/flat-tow-set-up.17364/#post-425875

Here is my set up I went with an approved tow plate. Note the Tow plate is 4" below the bottom bumper bolt so you do lose a couple inches on approach compared to just the stock bumper, however the bumpers that have the tow connection attached are deep bumpers so the approach is the same either way. I did install a Aluminum aftermarket bumper to keep weight down, notice under the left D-ring is the electrical hookup. the red eye to the right is the break away brake, and under behind the flip up license plate is the Brake connection. SO I have the best of both worlds, the safety of the Tow plate and the function of the aftermarket bumper

Also I have a 2017 Fleetwood 36' Bounder and I had to by a 6" drop receiver to get the tow level. Fleetwoods have a higher stance than most MH. You should be close to level if not just buy a offset receiver (they are cheap).

 

[zjaw]

HI,

I have towed three different jeeps behind my rv. 45ft diesel. Over 20 thousand miles on the bumpers and have had no problems. Two JK's and a JL.

 

[zjaw]

I have pulled my JL Rubicon over 10,000 miles on a Hard Rock bumper without any trouble. I use mine off road and do not want to lose the 4" ground clearance.

 

[Kpunk'n]

I tow my JLU Rubicon with a two inch lift and 35's with my 40' Newmar without issue.

Weight is not an issue with a 15K towing capacity.

My approach is to tow off an aftermarket bumper that is mounted on the frame of the Jeep. The bumper costs roughly what a base plate would cost for toading and I wanted a more off-road capable bumper anyway. I use a Blue Ox tow bar with after market brackets that match up to my bumper.

The bumper is much higher than a base plate would be so you need to get a hitch riser, I believe mine came from Roadmaster.

 

[lightsout]

HI,

I have towed three different jeeps behind my rv. 45ft diesel. Over 20 thousand miles on the bumpers and have had no problems. Two JK's and a JL.

When you remove the JL bumper it should provide some clarity why it may potentially be compromising, The JL Bumper is not connected to the frame itself but the thin gauge faceplate welded to the end of the frame, that is not designed for the pulling and pushing of 5000 lb TOAD (this is per Chrysler). There are two Bumper options the Rock Hard which only has the tow connection via the two lower frame plate holes only which creates an in-balance to the frame and frame/bumper plate. The LOD Bumper has a welded tow bar attachment that is not even located at the Jeeps frame connection. I get it many tow using a bumper connection with no issue, however considering the bulk of the bumper manufactures, Toad install shops and Jeep them selves recommend not using bumper connections (which is what I discovered) that should be a red flag. I also talked with Blue OX and Demco they both recommended using Tow plates over bumpers

I originally ordered the Rock Hard bumper and while waiting for it I discovered all the negative feedback mentioned above, so I canceled my order to Rock Hard.

As for the suggestion you loose ground clearance with a Tow Plate that is flat out wrong as the only bumpers that are sold for flat towing are so tall that they set as low or lower than the tow plate.

I was originally not happy about not using the bumper connection but after considering the the potential down side and safety issues, for me it was the right choice to switch to the tow bar manufactures recommended tow plate.

This is what I found, many will praise the use of Bumper connections and have put on 10's of thousands of miles without incident, then there are also those that have the opposite experience. For my own peace of mind I simply prefer to follow and be in compliance with the industry standards established by the tow equipment suppliers.

Note: Tow plates attached to the rigid frame of the Jeep (Bumpers attached to the light gauge welded on face plate of the Jeep frame), in fact I installed the Blu Ox tow plate it also has a heavy cable back up connection for safety and redundancy.

 

[lightsout]

I tow my JLU Rubicon with a two inch lift and 35's with my 40' Newmar without issue.

Weight is not an issue with a 15K towing capacity.

My approach is to tow off an aftermarket bumper that is mounted on the frame of the Jeep. The bumper costs roughly what a base plate would cost for toading and I wanted a more off-road capable bumper anyway. I use a Blue Ox tow bar with after market brackets that match up to my bumper.

The bumper is much higher than a base plate would be so you need to get a hitch riser, I believe mine came from Roadmaster.

Most Class A RV are rated at 5k towing to get to the 15K requires 400+ Diesel horse power, it also requires the TAG Axles which are only available on the over 40' + high end diesel pushers. Also note that tow capacity and hitch ratings are usually no the same, most stock RV receivers are rated at 5K, then there is the tow bar whereas as most are 6K lbs, some like the Ready Brute Elite are 8K lbs, so that should be a consideration when towing a JLU that is close to or at the 5k lbs range wet and loaded with 37's and aftermarket adders.

For a Toad capable bumper assuming you use the Rock Hard Aluminum bumper to keep the weight down (LOD towable bumpers are all Steel and much heavier) it is $1200+ whereas you can buy the Tow Plate $400 and a non tow Aluminum bumper like the Barricade for $600 so the tow plate options is about the same maybe a little less.

 

[Kpunk'n]

The OP did not designate what motor home he wished to toad with only that he wished to see what others are doing. I guess we should assume his is the same as yours?

Capacities for Toading vs Towing are different. I have toaded Jeeps and other vehicles for 10's of thousands of miles behind various motor homes I have owned without incident.

Yes my motor home is rated at a towing capacity of 15.000 even though I have no desire to approach that number when towing and certainly not when toading.

Probably not the right topic to discuss the off road merits of stock bumpers with a base plate vs aftermarket bumpers and no my bumper is not one listed in your post.

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