How to tow our Wrangler?
Hi, We are driving a Dodge RAM 3500 and carry a truck camper (with no overhang). The truck camper is light for the truck as it is built for a 1/2 ton truck. So, going forward, we would like to to...
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You can go to Walmart and buy a perfectly adequate Reese fixed-arm 5000 lb. capacity towbar for about $165. You can also get a trailer wire harness for about $20. Then go to Harbor Freight and get magnetic lights for about $20 (or less, depending on the sales at the time). Go to Tractor Supply or Ace hardware or similar store for a 12 inch piece of 3/16 or 1/4 by 2 inch steel flat bar to make back-up plates for your stock bumper, bolt the towbar brackets to the bumper with the back-up plates behind the bumper, run the wire inside the Jeep, put the magnetic lights on the rear corners of the Jeep, and hook everything up.
I towed several different Jeeps with the set-up described, no problems at all.
I did do one extra thing, though. To avoid having 4 to 6 feet of wire to coil up on the front of the Jeep when the towbar wasn't installed, I put a 4 pin trailer connector at the grill, then made an extension to reach the connector on the towing vehicle. The extension I kept in the console when the towbar wasn't in use.
Some will say a fixed-arm towbar is just terribly inconvenient, and too much work. For them, it obviously IS. However, I did not find it so. It worked just fine for me.
Oh, yeah, one other thing; get some good strong 5/16 chain to make safety chains out of. I use high-strength quick links to attach the chains instead of hooks. They will NOT come off!
I towed several different Jeeps with the set-up described, no problems at all.
I did do one extra thing, though. To avoid having 4 to 6 feet of wire to coil up on the front of the Jeep when the towbar wasn't installed, I put a 4 pin trailer connector at the grill, then made an extension to reach the connector on the towing vehicle. The extension I kept in the console when the towbar wasn't in use.
Some will say a fixed-arm towbar is just terribly inconvenient, and too much work. For them, it obviously IS. However, I did not find it so. It worked just fine for me.
Oh, yeah, one other thing; get some good strong 5/16 chain to make safety chains out of. I use high-strength quick links to attach the chains instead of hooks. They will NOT come off!
