QuestionI am planning to rent a 4x8 Uhaul trailer for a cross county move that will take me along I-80 through the Wyoming mountians on my way to California. I will be pulling the trailer with a 2002 Jeep Liberty 6 cyl., RWD. I don't understand how to compute the GVR or figure out the 5000 lb towing limit for my vehicle.
Any comments you would care to share would be appreicated included your expert opinion about pulling a trailer through the mountians on an Interstate highway.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration to my question.
AnswerLewis,
Although your vehicle is rated to pull upto 5,000 lbs, I do not reccommend doing so. Chrysler is pretty lax about providing GCWR. But you should be pretty close to this:
GVWR: 5350#
GCWR: 9850#
GAWR F/R: 2750#/3150#
CURB: 3898#
Based on these numbers:
You can put 1150# in or on the truck. This includes the weight of any people or cargo in the vehicle as well as the tongue weight of the trailer.
The weight of the trailer cannot exceed 5000#, or 4500# if the truck is loaded to capacity.
All of this being said, I wouldn't do it. I have a Dodge Dakota for my service truck with a V8, four wheel disc brakes and high performance tires and I've been pushed around by trailers in the 4000# range. It's not a lot of fun. I would try to keep it under 3500# with a light load in the truck. If you have no choice and decide to load up and go for it, take it really easy and go slow. Make sure when you pick up the trailer that you get one with good brakes on it. It's often hard to tell, but if the trailer looks old and beaten, the brakes are probably no good. You are going to need all the help you can get if you need to stop that trailer in a hurry. Also make sure everything is well tied down, no matter how well you think it's packed. I've seen trailers take a sudden change of direction when the load shifted inside it. It's not pretty watching a trailer come apart as it goes into the ditch. Even worse when it's everything you own going with it.
I'm not trying to scare you, I just don't want to see any more of these 'accidents' simply because people were careless or uninformed.
Good luck,
Shayne Peterson
MobileHitch
http://www.mobilehitch.ca
