If I was going to tow with my xj, I would put bigger rear springs, then helper springs in to help with the weight, also a severe duty shoes, you can install the trailer brakes, in my opinion I wouldn't tow with it due to the fact these jeeps weren't built for towing, unless you actually build it for that reason, I have a '86 Chevy K20 I'll sell you for cheap haha

 

I towed a 8'x12'prefabed pieces of a shed on a 6'x10' trailer with my xj. All I can say is...never again.

 

I regularly tow an 8x4 single axle trailer with a 1000L tank on it for delivering my trout.
I used to use a LR Defender and you would not have known it was there but the Cherokee you do!. Its just the small size and weight of the tow vehicle, the trailer and tank combined weighs 3000lbs so its similar to the XJ.

My trailer has very good cable operated surge brakes as its over 750kg. I think in the US its 1500kg! which is too much in my mind.

By the way mine has a factory tow package and is rated to 3200kg (7000lbs)
Not something I would want to do.

 

Just put a towbar on the front of the trail rig and flat tow it or get a tow dolly(if its NOT full time 4WD). Then there is no need to worry about tounge weight or max towing capacity as the XJ does not hit the 5K lb. mark. I would think a trailer would add too much weight. Just my 2 cents.

 

Huh?

 

Hell yeah! And wear the **** out of those awesome rear tires that don't cost a lot of money... Oh, wait..

 

Go buy a 2000 dollar 1985 F-150.

 

Yeah thinking about it now it would be a lot easier to tow a heavy load with a vehicle that was made to handle heavy loads easily

 

Just my .02 but I towed ~1000 lbs on a utility trailer across the country, jeep did just fine!

 

Right, they can handle that. I pull 1000 lbs all the time on my utility trailer. Even then braking is seriously compromised.

 

Yeeaaah the ONLY way I'd tow anything over 1500 lbs again would be with brakes on the trailer. XJ brakes are just too light.

How much does your built XJ weigh? If you take the stock 3300ish and add 200 lbs of armor then put it on a 1500 lb trailer you've hit the magic number. Add tires and fuel and you're probably over the hitch rating lol.

I'm sure it can be done in a pinch but it'd make me really nervous to use just a stock XJ. For this kind of weight you should probably build it as a tow rig: So drop in a diesel or a V8, get those rear HD springs, rear sway bar, frame stiffeners, 4 wheel disc brakes, and an NP242 for good measure.

 

and then wrap a full size Ford/Chevy/Dodge around all that stuff.


How I usually roll.



How I roll around the yard.





It just wouldn't do going down the road.

Both pictures of my XJ's with trailer's on the hitch with the weight of a vehicle on the trail have virtually no weight on the front tires.

Now, Imagine trying to stop that load with that little bitty Jeep, with crappy brakes and no weight on the front.