jakay11

Ok, so my wife turned to me and asked when we are getting a trailer for our GT4.
(this is the same woman who told me to buy the GT4. yes I love her, and she wants a new helmet for her birthday

Anyway, that now leads me down a road on looking for a trailer to put behind our Jeep (Wrangler Unlimited w/ max tow package). I was thinking an open trailer as we only are doing DEs, and well, cost.

So first question - is there a sticky about trailers? (I've done a search and haven't turned up much). What do you need and what to look out for, especially with a car that doesn't have a ton of ground clearance?
Favorite brands, must-haves, nice-to-haves?...

If possible, I'd love to have a place to put a space set of wheels, fuel jugs, ez-up, ect.

Thanks in Advance!

mooty

google 24chromium as user name.
read through it.

linzman

search for trailex. you'll find lots of stuff to read, they make open and enclosed trailers. hold their value very well, have tire rack options

Drew_K

Towing with a Jeep (you don't mention which model), I would go with an open trailer rather than enclosed. So the first thing you need to decide is steel vs aluminum. Steel is cheaper but rust can be an issue. Aluminum holds its value a lot better, especially if you buy new.

You also need to consider where you're going to store the trailer.

Whatever trailer you buy, unless you get it new, I *strongly* recommend replacing all the tires unless the prior owner did so within the last year or two. Trailers typically sit in the sun all year long with little movement, which is bad for the tires. Plus, trailer tires (ST) are typically not rated to more than 65 mph. I see people towing 80+ mph all the time. Old tires + fast speed is asking for a blowout.

As for dealing with a low clearance car, it's manageable but you may have to do a few work arounds. One of the easiest is to buy a pair of Rhino Ramps. Back the rear tires up the ramps, which in turn lowers the back of trailer, making the approach angle better for loading. And/or you can use Race Ramps to make the trailer ramps extra long, which also helps make the approach angle less steep.

jakay11

mooty, Thank you!
This looks like an epic rabbit hole to fall into and get educated!

Drew_K, The Jeep is a 2014 Wrangler Unlimited w/ max tow package - I think the max towing weight is 5000lb. GT4 weighs in just under 3000lbs, so that leaves 2000 for the trailer and stuff... hmmm when is that diesel Jeep coming out?
Also thanks for the heads up about trailer tires!

jlanka

2000 lbs, will be open trailer only

Bill Verburg

w/ that tow w/ you are looking at an open aluminum

another concern is the trailer width. I helped a girl load her GT3 on to a Featherlight open trailer, don't recall the model, at WGI a week or two ago, the car barely fit because of the rear tire width, an RS wouldn't have made it.
a Trailex 7541 w/ 75" deck width barely accommodates my 993
a Trailex 80165 is has an 80" wide deck probably want to look at something like that

also don't forget that you will want to be carrying lots of stuff beside the car, you for one thing, a passenger, tools, spares?? All this subtracts from what's left to tow.

Also what ok in the flatlands becomes less so in the big hills.

Drew_K

In your case, I would definitely go aluminum for the lighter weight. Unfortunately, advertised towing capacities are marketing BS and represent a theoretical maximum. Sticking with 2/3 to 3/4 of the advertised tow rating is a safer bet. How close you choose to get to the theoretical max tow rating is up to you. The shorter and flatter your towing destination, you can get away with more.

If you want to figure out the true towing capacity for your specific vehicle, check the payload capacity, which is on the sticker inside the driver's door. It'll say something like weight of occupants and cargo not to exceed ___ pounds. Every pound of cargo and passengers in your Jeep counts against the payload capacity. Estimate that and subtract it from the remaining payload. Then divide that number by 0.13 (rough estimate for tongue trailer tongue weight). That's your true remaining tow capacity. You might be surprised by how low this number is.

Example: sticker on car says payload capacity is 750 pounds. Weight of passengers plus extra set of tires, etc. in the tow vehicle is 250 pounds. That leaves 500 pounds of payload. Divide by tongue weight percent (typically .13) yields ~3,850 pounds of remaining towing capacity. And keep in mind that's the maximum you have left.

linzman

Open Trailexes are great. I had one until I started racing and went to enclosed. Just remember, car plus trailer plus tires/rims, gas jugs, tools, pop-up, chairs, spares like brake pads, etc all starts to add up quickly to the weight, whether on trailer or as payload in car. You don't need an F450 to tow an open trailer, many tow with Cayennes and Touregs, I used an LR3 for a while and it was fine. For some reason, maybe unjust, the idea of towing with a Wrangler scares me a bit.

Spyerx

Get a trailex, have fun. Good thing is they hold their value.
So when you slip and slide down the slippery slope, you'll be able to recover some costs when you get a 1 ton dually and 38' trailer to tow your gear :-)

Seriously ,the trailex is good and can come in under your weight limits. I think the wrangler will be stressed a big so drive carefully and ensure you have working trailer brakes.

i've used an open featherlite for the last 2 years and like the simplicity vs. a big enclosed trailer.

And don't listen to mooty! :-)

But man a big truck is enticing.

jlanka

^this

LuigiVampa

All the above is great information.

One thing to keep in mind - if you tow at the maximum towing capacity of your vehicle you tend to break things.

I was towing an enclosed 27 foot trailer with an Infiniti QX56. Wound up buying two transmissions (two separate vehicles).

I tow with a diesel now.

RickBetterley

I don't know much about Wranglers but is the wheelbase sufficient to provide a stable tow?

DTMiller

So much this.

I know this forum is super conservative on towing but a Wrangler sounds like a disaster.

dan212

IMHO a 3,000 car plus even the lightest trailer plus tires is getting to max weight on that jeep. Sure it will tow. But safety dictates that you stay below 70%

All of that aside, let me suggest another route. Get a tire trailer and rally enjoy your car. I towed a Trailex utility trailer behind my GT3 for many years. Carried two sets of tires and a giant tool box. Still drive as if it wasn't there. Easy peasy.
I got to drive my car in the track. Had two tire. And I got to drive my car home.

How much fun is that? Had to change the wheels on the trailer to a slightly larger diameter because the stock wheels were too small for sustained towing at 90. ( what does that tell you? Was I having fun with my car???)

http://danieldoman.com/hitch/gt3_and...er_trailer.jpg