Flat towing my 18 JL 2.0 Rubi 2 door?

[RCH]

I have done a small around town test run hooked behind a 28' MH. Into gas station for MH fuel, into parking lots, left turns, right turns, and traffic. All ok, all lights working etc.

Question 1: On an extended flat tow, do I need to be doing anything else that I have not seen in the manuals. Do I need to start the jeep every 4 hours towed or anything? I have the RVI charger set up to manage the battery drain for the e-brake. What am I missing?

Question 2: I am running stock 33" tires that came with the Rubi. I run them at 34 cold for driving and ride quality. Do I need to bump back up to 37 for flat towing?

Next Thursday will start a 1000 mile tow. I would like it to be uneventful. All advice would be appreciated.

v/r rch

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[JLUSoCal]

Towed several times my 3.6 jlu. Tomorrow I'll return from yosemite and it will be 8 hours on the road. On the way up I did 7 and no problems. I run same tire pressure on my 33s. Batteries were fine and no charging cable from mh to jeep. I run blue ox patriot brake. I have the tow package with bigger battery and 3.6 has the small ess battery. Not sure how the 2.0 48 volt battery plays into it when the key is off?

I'd say you'll be fine with no problems. Enjoy the trip and keep the speeds down and maybe you'll get 8 mpg!

 

[Nutmeg]

Just got my 2019 JL and will be setting it up for flat towing also. Did you run a separate 12 volt power outlet for your brake system and if so where did you mount it? Also what method did you use for the tail lights? Thanks

 

[JLUSoCal]

Just got my 2019 JL and will be setting it up for flat towing also. Did you run a separate 12 volt power outlet for your brake system and if so where did you mount it? Also what method did you use for the tail lights? Thanks

I mounted a 12 volt plug under passenger dash and have it connected to aux 3 as I have tow package with the aux switches. Wires for that setup are bundled under the passenger dash.

Tail lights for me are cool tech where you splice into wires by front passenger door and mount toggle switch on seat frame. Works well but takes a bit to install. Super clean when done and keeps circuit separate which I liked.

 

[lightsout]

The only thing I would say is keep your Rubi unloaded, no extra stuff/weight, if you can even keep the tank low and fuel at destination. The reason I say that is most gas motorhomes below 37' are only rated for 5000lbs towing, If the Rubicon stock is damn close however you are fine , add larger tires, aftermarket bumpers winch and other mods you have easily exceeded max tow ratings for most gas coaches.

Note there are some sub 37' Motorhomes that have a 8000 rating however that is a marketing ploy as that would assume the motorhome was dry with no personal stuff loaded. Some of the lower end brands do that, when reality they are ton the same chasis and the 5000lb rated coaches. As long as you stay stock you should be fine.

Diesel coaches are often slightly higher rated.

Our Sahara Wrangler was purchased as a TOAD only I would have purchased a Rubicon but I planed on modding which wold have put me way over the rated tow capacity of the Motorhome, which creates a liability. Make sure any aftermarket items like bumpers and skids or anything else you can buy in aluminum vs steel, know some do not care but tow safety is important to me as is my life savings since I do not want to ever be sued for negligence if a accident were to occur while towing. Anyone towing should scale their RV and TOAD so they have documents of complience.

For 12 years (sold them 17 years ago)I ownerd 3 Boar dealerships even back then we saw a few instances where people towed their boats with an underrated vehicle had an accident, the victim did their homework and discovered the descrepancy and insurance denied claims due to negligence.

I scaled my Sahara with 35', Aluminum bumper, winch, towplate ,full fuel, Slipstream security Deck, LED lights, Lift kit and I was at 4920lbs.

Note many motorhomes even if they say 5000lb tow capacity when those RV's are wet with gear those limits can easily drop to 4000lbs or below.


36' 2017 Bounder when wet and gear we added 2500lbs so with the weight of our Sahara we are withing 300lbs of Gross rated weight. So for every pound added to the RV a pound is deducted from tow capacity.

Again scale and document the weights of your rigs. Here in the State of Washington before I could license our RV I had to provide proof of weight of the RV, they made me scale it however I also requested the Buldsheet from Fleetwood which also showed their physical dry weight (the RV manufactures weigh every Motohome post production).

 

[RCH]

Lightsout: my MH is built on an E-450 Ford Chassis with a 182" wheelbase. It is furnished with a 7500 pound hitch rating and a 500 pound tongue weight max. The following are the published figures for this Vehicle Build (completed MH) and are supplied by the manufacturer and also door stickered to the vehicle.

GVWR is 14,500 lbs. (Max allowable total Vehicle weight)
GAWRF is 5000 lbs. (Max weight front axle)
GAWRR is 9,600 lbs. (Max weight rear axle)
UVW is 11,721 lbs. (Unloaded Vehicle weight, includes fuel but to fresh water and no cargo)
GCWR is 22,000 lbs. (Max weight loaded to GVWR + TOW)
CCC is 2779 lbs. (Estimated Cargo Weight available)

Each Forest River RV is weighed at the manufacturing facility prior to shipping. A label identifying the unloaded vehicle weight of the actual unit and the cargo carrying capacity is applied to every Forest River RV prior to leaving our facilities. The load capacity of your unit is designated by weight, not by volume, so you cannot necessarily use all available space when loading your unit. Actual towing capacity is dependent upon your particular loading and towing circumstances, which includes the GVWR, GAWR and GCWR as well as adequate trailer brakes.


It would appear that the Published GCWR minus the GVWR allows for a 7500 lbs. tow capacity. I am running the V-10 with the E-450 6 speed transmission. Even when I am at GVWR, I still have 7500 lbs. of Tow capacity that will be covered by my insurance policy (not overloaded per manufacturer). The figures supplied with the coach appear to be in alignment with the figures published by Ford for the 2018 E-450 DW cutaway chassis.

By the numbers, I should have no issues with pulling my Rubi even with fuel and some additional cargo as long as I am not just careless. I will run it across the scales before hooking it up for the tow. As long as I am inside of the 7500 lbs on the scale for the jeep and not violating the GCWR of 22,000 lbs. for the total I should be legal.

All, I am new to my MH (only 5000 miles so far), and I am brand new to Flat Towing a Jeep (20 miles practice). I will be taking off next week for a 1000 mile trip down to see the Grand Kids is Florida. I will report back any lessons learned when I get to my destination.

Thanks to all who have helped me get this far. v/r rch

 

[RCH]

Just got my 2019 JL and will be setting it up for flat towing also. Did you run a separate 12 volt power outlet for your brake system and if so where did you mount it? Also what method did you use for the tail lights? Thanks

Nugmeg: I am using the Patriot Electric Braking system. I just ran an extension from the full time 12 volt socket by the rear tailgate to the front. I purchased the MOPAR Flat Tow Harness for the JL and paid for the dealership to install. I deleted the blue ox 7 pin connector and use the MOPAR supplied 7pin to Mopar connector cable. It appears to function perfectly. I had my local tow shop install the RVI battery charger off the 12volt line from the RV through the MOPAR harness.

Here is what I bought for the 12 volt extention: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P68L9RO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 as an extension.

Disclaimer: I have no relations with the sellers or the manufacturer, it is just the heaviest extension I could find.

I plan to use this extension for my air pump and other 12 volt applications so I figure it is a multipurpose buy.

Just another way to "skin the cat". v/r rch

 

[rs680]

Hello RCH I like your post and look forward to learning how your trip went. I to am getting ready for my first time flat towing. I will be pulling my 32 ft class c motorhome out of storage this coming week and start getting ready to do a 3000 km trip in July. As I have never done this before I to am little nervous and have lots of questions. My motorhome is rated for 7500lbs also. My jeep is a 2018 Rubicon 4dr with lift and 35 inch tiers and steel LOD bumper that I am using to attach my blue ox tow bar and Patriot brake system. So I will be watching to see how you are making out and I will post my set up in a week or so.

 

[billdunnells]

Towed several times my 3.6 jlu. Tomorrow I'll return from yosemite and it will be 8 hours on the road. On the way up I did 7 and no problems. I run same tire pressure on my 33s. Batteries were fine and no charging cable from mh to jeep. I run blue ox patriot brake. I have the tow package with bigger battery and 3.6 has the small ess battery. Not sure how the 2.0 48 volt battery plays into it when the key is off?

I'd say you'll be fine with no problems. Enjoy the trip and keep the speeds down and maybe you'll get 8 mpg!

Did you have to do anything with the FOB ? What position for the ignition ?

 

[lightsout]

Hello RCH I like your post and look forward to learning how your trip went. I to am getting ready for my first time flat towing. I will be pulling my 32 ft class c motorhome out of storage this coming week and start getting ready to do a 3000 km trip in July. As I have never done this before I to am little nervous and have lots of questions. My motorhome is rated for 7500lbs also. My jeep is a 2018 Rubicon 4dr with lift and 35 inch tiers and steel LOD bumper that I am using to attach my blue ox tow bar and Patriot brake system. So I will be watching to see how you are making out and I will post my set up in a week or so.

Do NOT be fooled by that 7500lbs tow rating it is often a marketing game where as very few if any of these can actually legally tow that much weight. That tow rating is established by the chassis manufacture prior to any house being built on it. There are two numbers that matter the Loaded weight of your RV and the GCWR (gross combined weight rating which on your Class C is 22,000lbs). In December after buying my wrangler I sold my 2014 33C Fleetwood Bounder Class A and set out to buy a new or newer Class A (under 37') that could tow more than 5000lb. Keep in mind this was the sole reason I sold the 2014 (other than the desire for the new 6sp trans). Here is what I found:

The tow rating is a marketing Game, for example all Class A M/H under 38' are built on the ford f53 Chassis yet same size and similar weight M/H had different tow ratings most at 5000lb while a couple others like Jayco and Thor for example published tow rating at 8000lb (also note these rigs only had 19" wheels whereas . Let me preface I purchased my Sahara because the Rubicon is too heavy for the 5000lb ratings (once lightly modded).

Also understand that M/H manufactures often extend the chassis depending on the house length so you you are buying a M/H for example Jayco builds a 26' to 32" on the same chassis and even though they have the same chassis rating they are not capable of towing the same weights whereas the 26' can tow more.

So after taking a close look at Every Class A motorhome brand currently on the market, the conclusion was even though some said 8000lb I was still limited to 5000lb or less because of the combined weight limitation includes M/H, Food, gear, gas, water, grey and black tank, and same for TOAD. In your case you cannot exceed the combined weight of 22000lb of which the Rubicon with Fuel is 5500 to 6000lb + (my Sahara with 35's, aluminum bumper and winch is 4900lb) Keep in mind that water and waste alone can be 1600lbs. Even though My wrangler is 4900lb I have to run dry (gas only in the tanks, however I do cheat a little and keep a little water in the tank for emergencies). With fluids even thojgh my RV is rated at 5K it is a balancing act to achieve

Every owner needs to load their RV have it weighed, then whatever the difference is between the actual weight and the 22000lb GCWR is you limitation.

Note: what is not a part of the towing limits is Braking, even though we use a barking system on the wrangler we burned out the rear brakes in the 1st 1000 miles (had to replace the rear brakes with heavier duty brakes). While the wrangler brakes assist they do not completely relieve the M/H brakes. Going over Steven Pass in Washington 3 weeks ago coming down a 7 mile 6% grade we had to pull over as the brakes were smoking and when I looked at them from underneath they were glowing red inside the Caliper. What I learned is that the factory brakes on the ford F53 Chassis are not very good for towing/stopping heavy loads.

Towing a 4dr wrangler is not as simple as looking at a tow limit in a brochure.

For what it is worth we could not find a gas Class A in our size range (32-36') that could more than 5000lb and then we would have to run dry...

Class A or Class C the fundamentals still apply.

I will say having the brake failure incident is a wake up call ( I have also learned Brake failure is the top cause of RV fires).

 

[JLUSoCal]

Did you have to do anything with the FOB ? What position for the ignition ?

Turn off jeep lock doors if you'd like and take fob with you. Make sure not to leave in acc or on.

 

[lightsout]

Turn off jeep lock doors if you'd like and take fob with you. Make sure not to leave in acc or on.

I have a different outlook

I now always leave my FOB in the Wrangler, I had a Brake Meltdown 3 weeks ago where the brakes were glowing red and smoking like crazy (it looked like I was on fire), it was just short of fire or was happening and I could not see it, I had crawl underneath throwing cups of water on the brakes to prevent a major fire (scary situation fortunately the rotors survived no warping). My 1st though was to unhook the wrangler and having the keys inside the wrangler facilitated the speed of unhooking and backing away.

Towing a 5000lb wrangler can be no joke, my 2018 Fleetwood Bounder under 5K miles the brakes had a total meltdown, Note: this was on a 7 mile 6% downhill grade). I learned that the brakes on the Ford f53 chassis are not the best and I ended up replacing them with much heavier duty brakes after we limped off the mountain. Also note that even through I have a a braking system in the wrangler that does not relieve all the stress on the M/H brakes.

The good news was it was only $700 to replace the rear brakes and pads with much better and heavier duty.

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