Tow Vehicle Dilemma for Popup

[calicamper]

How about just going with an old heavy duty pickup and dragging the jeep behind it to the trail head? Toss a camper on the truck keep to older lower priced pickups probably cheaper than selling the VW and investing in a second truck or dumping money into the Jeep to make it more road trip friendly. Most of the folks I've met towing their jeeps seem to be really happy with that set up vs Jeep towing their camp rig combo.

 

[TwinStick]

Sounds to me like you are squarely in Power Wagon territory with your needs & wants. Many people start out with a 4 door Jeep, but end up with a Power Wagon when they realize it just won't do what they need their vehicle to do. 6-8 mpg, haha lol, you may be the first person to get worse mpg than my G-56 P-Wagon !!! I get 8-10. Towing our camper or empty, i get the same. Think of a PW as a 4 door Jeep Rubicon on steroids. They tow, they haul, they 4-wheel & still can take 6 out to dinner. But you can't get one with the G-56 manual anymore---SHAME ON RAM FOR THAT !!! A 6-SPEED AUTO WITH THE EXACT SAME GEAR RATIOS AS A G-56 WOULD BE FLIPPIN AWESOME !!! ARE YOU LISTENING RAM/FIAT/DAIMLER CHRYSLER ???

Sometimes you just gotta face facts, lots of people out grow their vehicles, jobs, houses, etc. .

Even the new auto equipped P-Wagons won't even know a tent camper is back there. Seriously, it will laugh at it, plus you can fill the bed with stuff & put bikes on top of bed.

Get you one & start making your own Power Wagon memories !!!



This is a cool pic i took of our campfire reflecting off the truck in just the perfect spot, on one of our many camping adventures the Power Wagon has taken us to. :smiley_drive:

 

[SCARDUP]

Secret option #4

If you're considering a supercharger you might also want to consider a 4.1 stroker from 505Performance. It's about the same cost as a supercharger ($5000 +/-) and could be less if you want to buy the kit and put it into your engine. Horsepower is about the same as the 3.6 jeep engines at 285 but torque is significantly higher at 385 lb-ft for the stroker vs 260 lb-ft for the 3.6. They use significantly stronger parts than the original 3.8 and have supposedly solved the oil burning problems etc associated with the 3.8. JP magazine did an article and install. There is a link to the article from the 505 Performance web site. Just something to consider. I'm definitely going this route as soon as I have the $$$. Hoping to buy/install in January/February. Good luck.
-croix

You should do your research on 505. No way in hell they are getting my money until they have a proven track record. Their customer service reviews up to this point have been less then stellar.

 

[SCARDUP]

Sounds to me like you are squarely in Power Wagon territory with your needs & wants. Many people start out with a 4 door Jeep, but end up with a Power Wagon when they realize it just won't do what they need their vehicle to do. 6-8 mpg, haha lol, you may be the first person to get worse mpg than my G-56 P-Wagon !!! I get 8-10. Towing our camper or empty, i get the same. Think of a PW as a 4 door Jeep Rubicon on steroids. They tow, they haul, they 4-wheel & still can take 6 out to dinner. But you can't get one with the G-56 manual anymore---SHAME ON RAM FOR THAT !!! A 6-SPEED AUTO WITH THE EXACT SAME GEAR RATIOS AS A G-56 WOULD BE FLIPPIN AWESOME !!! ARE YOU LISTENING RAM/FIAT/DAIMLER CHRYSLER ???

Sometimes you just gotta face facts, lots of people out grow their vehicles, jobs, houses, etc. .

Even the new auto equipped P-Wagons won't even know a tent camper is back there. Seriously, it will laugh at it, plus you can fill the bed with stuff & put bikes on top of bed.

If you could follow me in your power wagon I'd be impressed. A truck is just not in the cards right now but it is in my 10yr plan. They only reason I bought the cobalt was to have a super light trailer for the jeep. There's no way in hell I would ever get rid of the jeep for a PWagon but I would own both if given the option. When I can afford a proper truck and cabover I will certainly be shopping for them. As for now, if the towing woes continue, we will go back to tent camping.

 

[Littlehouse]

Sell the trailer and get the ursa minor top?....

 

[cdthiker]

It's an auto but I've heard that I could tow it with the wagon. Not sure how I feel about stressing the DSG tranny though...could get really expensive.

more expensive then a new jeep?

 

[cdthiker]

Ahh..yes, I avg around 14ish towing the trailer usually in the 65mph range...

Dang how much does this pop up weigh?


I mean what it comes down to is that you are not going to get awesome towing performance out of a jeep or a tacoma for that matter. My tacoma gets about 14/15 pulling 3500 lbs but im down shifting to third or second on the hills but she will still pull 30/45 not bad for a 4banger.

Also, you already own the jeep, you are talking about a new rig or major $$$$ into mods. How often do you reallly pull this trailer ?

As one person said the easiest thing might just be to get rid of the massive wheels. Figure out if you use the big wheels or the trailer more often and there is your winner.
I am sure that you could get some money back selling some of those parts if you so wanted to.

 

[98roamer]

I don't know how far you travel to camp or how often but you may think about using her VW to tow the camper to the general area and switch over to the Jeep to get it to the back country. Assuming it's not that often and rather close.

I have a 3Gen 4Runner 3.4 V6 with over 200k on it and tow a Coachmen Clipper 2,500lb popup. I average between 13-15 mpg going from Ohio to Canada a couple of times. It really doesn't like going over 65mph though. 55-60mph is my spot.

 

[croix]

You should do your research on 505. No way in hell they are getting my money until they have a proven track record. Their customer service reviews up to this point have been less then stellar.

Fair enough. My google-**** is normally pretty good, but so far I've not found an overwhelming amount of negative feedback. I've found multiple forums with the same bad experience (and it's a REALLY bad experience), and scattered few others, but an overall A- BBB rating and several satisfied reviews. I'm not trying to dispute what you say. I'm genuinely trying to find the bad stuff so I don't get rooked. Got any links I can check?
-croix

 

[SCARDUP]

Fair enough. My google-**** is normally pretty good, but so far I've not found an overwhelming amount of negative feedback. I've found multiple forums with the same bad experience (and it's a REALLY bad experience), and scattered few others, but an overall A- BBB rating and several satisfied reviews. I'm not trying to dispute what you say. I'm genuinely trying to find the bad stuff so I don't get rooked. Got any links I can check?
-croix

You will have to PM some of the guys on JKO who have had negative experiences. They can point you in the right direction. I am just giving my opinion based on what I've read and some word of mouth at various JKO events. They do have a fairly good reputation overall though. The only consistent thing I've heard revolves around customer service or lack there of....

 

[jk_surgeonfish]

Bought a set of 37" wild peaks and some procomp rims on the cheap. Total weight loss for rims and tires came in at around 110lbs. That's a significant loss of rotational mass and the all terrains should have a little less rolling resistance. I'll let you know how they work out.

How did this work out for you?

 

[SCARDUP]

How did this work out for you?

Haven't towed the trailer yet but the jeep is much peppier. I discovered that the jeep was just having trouble with the 39" tires whether I was towing or not. My rpms in 3rd gear with the 37s at 65mph is above 3k so I'm optimistic. My jeep with the snorkel and high mileage just doesn't have any oomph. Bottom line.... it needs a LS....period. If I'm gonna keep it, it needs the power to at least get out of its own way.

 

[jk_surgeonfish]

Haven't towed the trailer yet but the jeep is much peppier. I discovered that the jeep was just having trouble with the 39" tires whether I was towing or not. My rpms in 3rd gear with the 37s at 65mph is above 3k so I'm optimistic. My jeep with the snorkel and high mileage just doesn't have any oomph. Bottom line.... it needs a LS....period. If I'm gonna keep it, it needs the power to at least get out of its own way.

I'm sure the 37s will help. I know your pain. I have 99XJ lifted with 33s and 4.56s. The 4.0 sucks with 3 kids, gear and uphill with AC... just no power. Add anything behind to tow and it is 30mph up the hill and watching engine temps like a hawk.

 

[croix]

You will have to PM some of the guys on JKO who have had negative experiences. They can point you in the right direction. I am just giving my opinion based on what I've read and some word of mouth at various JKO events. They do have a fairly good reputation overall though. The only consistent thing I've heard revolves around customer service or lack there of....

Cool... thanks.

 

[OldGreen]

LS motor or go a different direction for camping. Hemi swaps are a waste of money compared to an LS and forced induction adds a lot of complexity.