Does anyone tow their 24 footer with a Grand Cherokee? (or other vehicle rated near 6200 pounds?)

[Quad]

I thought I was pushing the limits with my Tacoma when I first purchased but after reassurance from my salesman and then seeing what’s pulling what where I launch, I think I was overly concerned. I’m rated at ~6500lbs but I see suvs I know are rated no more then 5000 pulling 232/240 series Yamahas. Wouldn’t want to go long distance in my case but I take it 3 miles to and from the ramp on 25/35 mph roads with 4 of us in the truck no problem.
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Good to see a Taco pulling a 24 footer well; that's been in the running for the family truck as well though it's a bit of a rougher ride than I'd like for nearly 2 hours in the car daily. What's been your longest tow?

 

[Gump1976]

Good to see a Taco pulling a 24 footer well; that's been in the running for the family truck as well though it's a bit of a rougher ride than I'd like for nearly 2 hours in the car daily. What's been your longest tow?

Back and forth to the ramp, 3 miles each way. I make sure I keep it in S4 and ECT on during the ride. Picked it up back in June 95 miles away with my friends F150 as I thought that distance would have been brutal on the Taco. Hoping I can make this work until the new Tundra release . It’s also my work commuter putting almost 100 miles each day on it. Fortunately the commute has ended since March as I’ve been home office based since COVID.

 

[Quad]

Back and forth to the ramp, 3 miles each way. I make sure I keep it in S4 and ECT on during the ride. Picked it up back in June 95 miles away with my friends F150 as I thought that distance would have been brutal on the Taco. Hoping I can make this work until the new Tundra release . It’s also my work commuter putting almost 100 miles each day on it. Fortunately the commute has ended since March as I’ve been home office based since COVID.

I too am waiting on the new Tundra! Curious to see what it brings. Meanwhile, I’ll probably just keep borrowing my neighbor’s Silverado haha.
When you do tow with the Taco, how does it feel with 24’ of boat behind it?

 

[jetivan]

For what its worth, I pull an '08 212X behind a 2017 Volvo XC90. Dry weight on trailer is 4612 lbs + 300lbs of fuel + 200 lbs of gear 1 adult and 1 kid passenger. In the US the XC90 is rated for 5000 lbs, same vehicle in Europe is 6000 lbs. I have an aftermarket hitch rated for more than that, so 6000lbs is the number I go buy.

Zero problems pulling up ramps, running on highway at 65, hills, etc. No overheating, no swaying, etc. I wouldn't want to pull more but it works just fine for this boat.

 

[Don Shifflett]

@Quad
I bought the boat from southern Virginia and towed it to central Maryland. It's about a 6-hour drive. I also tow it to Raystown Lake once a year which is about a 3-hour drive. Otherwise the boat sits on the lift at our house. I came from full-size trucks (Dodge, Chevy K1500, then F-150 Supercrew 4x4) and have a long history of towing with all. We also tow a 25-foot camper and a car on an open car trailer at times. We are heading out on a long road trip with our travel trailer in the fall and am debating on taking the Ridgeline or our GX470.

 

[Quad]

@Quad
I bought the boat from southern Virginia and towed it to central Maryland. It's about a 6-hour drive. I also tow it to Raystown Lake once a year which is about a 3-hour drive. Otherwise the boat sits on the lift at our house. I came from full-size trucks (Dodge, Chevy K1500, then F-150 Supercrew 4x4) and have a long history of towing with all. We also tow a 25-foot camper and a car on an open car trailer at times. We are heading out on a long road trip with our travel trailer in the fall and am debating on taking the Ridgeline or our GX470.

Whoa, this is impressive. I've been eyeballing Ridgelines for years but the 5000lbs tow capacity had me spooked; I have a couple friends who own them, perhaps I should ask to borrow one of theirs for hauling out the boat this fall.

Which year is your GX470/what's its towing capacity? Between the two vehicles, which do you feel most confident towing with?

 

[Don Shifflett]

The GX is a 2007. I believe it is rated for 7200lbs. The GX has been an amazing vehicle and we will probably replace it one day with a GX460. It has more grunt and revs a bit less. With the V6, you need to get used to higher RPM's (especially with our camper). Beyond that, there isn't much difference. I have one of the scan tools and keep an eye on the Ridgeline temperatures for kicks when towing and nothing has been alarming.

Will a F250 or Chevy 2500 tow better? Sure will, but I need to drive something reasonable everyday. Remember, modern V6's have more power, torque, and transmission gears than the full-size trucks of not that long ago. And boat construction is actually becoming lighter.

Remember all of the station wagons of the 70's towing Airstreams??????

 

[sfadchi]

2015 Overland 4x4 Hemi pulling 2010 SX240,:No problems.

Been thinking about ordering those bunk slides. Any issues with scratching?

 

[I_squared_r]

I pull a 19ft with my 2010 Nissan Pathfinder LE 4x4 V6 and its rated for 6000lb. The V8 is rated for 8000lbs and has larger front brakes that could be installed on the V6. So I think the V6 is fine to tow a 24' boat because I upgraded the suspension, the brakes, and it has a transmission cooler. Anyone pulled a 24' with a Pathfinder?

 

[dtcbnd03]

Really appreciate the responses everyone. Please make sure to include model/make of car, engine size (v6 or v8) and towing capacity. We're mostly focused on the v6 vehicles because a v8/hemi can easily tow the 24 footers.

I picked up the 2016 Yamaha 242 SE with my friends 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited v8 tow capacity 7200 and old 5-6 speed transmission. It was my first time towing a boat or trailer ever so I was white knuckling the drive for the first hour as every bump or sway felt like I was going to lose control. But that was simply me overreacting and my friend was laughing at me in shotgun. After an hour I was steering with one hand and the dual trailer with disk brakes felt VERY secure. The v8 Jeep engine handled it VERY well. The transmission worked very well on a car with 100k miles. Gas mileage was bad as you would expect and took almost 3/4 tank to go 250 miles (half towing). Engine would rev up Illinois/Wisc hills a little bit but mostly stayed under 2k RPMs.

Bottom line I think the newer Jeep GC v6 with the 8 speed transmissions will be fine in the Midwest for occasional towing anywhere within 2 hours and the one trip a year out east to the finger lakes. 95% of the time I'll be driving in the city without a boat. I think a v6 with 6200lb towing capacity will be fine for the 5% of the time I would like to tow the boat.

 

[andyE]

We have a 2015 jeep grand cherokee 4x4 with the v6 and it is rated for 6200 pounds with the optional towing package we have installed. We live only three miles from the boat launch on the river that we will most frequently use, and will be towing to and from the river each time we boat (no slip, for now anyway).

The dry weight on the trailer for an AR240 looks to be right at 5k pounds. I am going to assume that there are 100 pounds of oil/coolant, 400 pounds of fuel, and 300 pounds of gear, for a total of 5800 pounds wet (sound about right?). This is within 400 pounds of the vehicles tow rating which concerns me BUT I also feel better knowing 90% of its use will be three miles (six miles round trip) to and from home. The jeep is less than a year old and has a powertrain warranty for quite some time. We typically dont keep cars much beyond their warranty period.

Another concern is that my shop has a fairly steep gravel drive going up to it, so this would definitely require me to keep her in first gear in 4x4 low to navigate her into the shop. I currently drive a mustang gt (I clearly wear the pants, being able to keep the fun car with a family at home! haha) and would consider getting a truck but would rather not force myself to do that, being that I drive 80 miles round trip to work each day, and would have to sell the mustang to do so.

Thoughts?

My wife has a 2015 Grand Cherokee. We tow the boat every once in a while. It tugs on it a but and we don't go over 65 with it, however it did fine.

 

[Cambo]

Dodge Durango v8 rt with tow package. 115k miles I tow it to killington VT lots of hills some are real steep I'm glad I have the V 8 . MPG they are close due to the Hemi having the ability to switch to 4 cylinder mode for daily hwy driving . Its basically a jeep with a longer wheel base or Mercedes with a better motor .

 

[GTBRMC]

That long distance tow to Fingers Lakes would give me a lot of pause about towing with a V6. There is a fair bit of terrain between Chicago and that area, in addition to the 700 mile distance. The engine's ability to pull the boat down the highway would not be my biggest concern. Absolutely recommend a transmission oil cooler for other-than-5-miles-to-the-ramp types of tows. A V6 vehicle with such a cooler is rare. Also, how would the tow vehicle handle emergency (or somewhat urgent) stops? Would the vehicle be in charge or would the boat and trailer take over?

 

[dtcbnd03]

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailer Tow Group IV package comes with a Clas IV receiver hitch, wiring harness, a full-size spare tire, engine cooling system, and 180-amp alternator. It also has rear load-leveling suspension. Jeeps were built to tow when you add the towing package so really the only difference between v6 and v8 is 1,000 lbs of towing capacity from 6200 to 7200. And it seems its not that necessary for the 24 footers and only 1 long towing trip a year.

 

[GTBRMC]

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailer Tow Group IV package comes with a Clas IV receiver hitch, wiring harness, a full-size spare tire, engine cooling system, and 180-amp alternator. It also has rear load-leveling suspension. Jeeps were built to tow when you add the towing package so really the only difference between v6 and v8 is 1,000 lbs of towing capacity from 6200 to 7200. And it seems its not that necessary for the 24 footers and only 1 long towing trip a year.

Yes, if all of that comes with a V6, it should cover the bases. Was not aware Jeep had a comprehensive tow package w V6. Should be quite a bit friendlier for daily driving - those Hemi V8 s are thirsty.

 

[Nous Defions]

Been thinking about ordering those bunk slides. Any issues with scratching?

I see a little blue haze in a few spots on the white bunks, but no damage on the gelcoat. Those plastic bunks are slippery. Don't unhook till your in the water or that boat is going to land on the ramp.

 

[sfadchi]

I see a little blue haze in a few spots on the white bunks, but no damage on the gelcoat. Those plastic bunks are slippery. Don't unhook till your in the water or that boat is going to land on the ramp.

I never do even with the carpet. Good to know I think I’m going to order them.

 

[Srfnfly227]

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailer Tow Group IV package comes with a Clas IV receiver hitch, wiring harness, a full-size spare tire, engine cooling system, and 180-amp alternator. It also has rear load-leveling suspension. Jeeps were built to tow when you add the towing package so really the only difference between v6 and v8 is 1,000 lbs of towing capacity from 6200 to 7200. And it seems its not that necessary for the 24 footers and only 1 long towing trip a year.

I have a 2016 GC Overland and I've had a similar question as the OP in regards to towing a 24". My biggest concern was the length of the boat and trailer, not the weight though. As I was reading the thread, I was going to chime in with the info I quoted. Two things to add:

First, the Overland came (still comes?) standard with the Tow Group, so it won't be listed as an option.

Second, just because the vehicle has a hitch, doesn't mean it has the entire tow package. Plenty of dealers will add a hitch to a vehicle on their lot if requested by a buyer. Those vehicles are limited to something like 3000-3500 pounds because they will not have the cooling system and alternator.

 

[Alexegan88]

I tow 252se which fully loaded is right at 6200 with a 2021 Jeep GC V6. No issue, but I never go faster than 60MPH and I always drive conservative. That said, I feel like 4x4 is a must on a boat ramp. I would love a truck with 9000lb+ capacity, but it’s just not in the cards. I would never recommend going over your limit, but being right at your limit fully loaded is fine. It’s silly when people say “ just because you can doesn’t mean you should” and cite sudden braking, acceleration needs, engine temperature, strain, etc. because this is exactly the test that goes into determining the maximum “safe” towing capacity. All of these test are performed to ensure it meets specific standards that are the same across all major manufacturers. Meaning if they told you you can tow 6200 safely, you can absolutely do that and do it safely. It’s already been proven. To say in another way, it feels great and more secure having thousands of pounds of excess capacity, but that doesn’t mean towing at capacity is unsafe either.

 

[Stanfna]

I towed my 2020 242x from Destin, FL. to Roswell, GA. with a 2017 Audi Q7 3.0 w/ the two package (rated for 7,000 lbs.). It was much smoother than expected!