Jeep towed discharged when towing. This is new.

Just wanted to circle back and give an update. The back of the plug on the Jeep was corroded to the point the charging wire had broken off. Changed out the plug the other day, gotta hook it up to the MH and check to make sure its charging and wired correctly. Pretty sure it is, just wanna make sure before we head back north next month.

No fuse I can find though.

Thanks again for all the help.

Bob

RJL,
It's been mentioned at least a time or two in this thread of yours. Your OWNERS MANUAL IS WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeep knows this and, has sent out SOME corrections to SOME owners over the years. They simply cannot keep up with all the private sales of Jeep Wranglers to be able to send out corrections to all who are involved. There is NO NEED FOR YOU TO PUT THAT KEY IN THE ACCESSORY POSITION, PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeep stopped the steering lock half way through the 2008 year of production. Since then, there are NO JEEP WRANGLERS WITH STEERING LOCKS!!!!! And since that's the case, you have no reason to put that ignition key in any other position other than OFF!!! Jeep has made a few model changes over the years and, there are a couple of towing procedures that effect different ones. The "TJ" series DID have a steering lock and, the key was needed to be put ONE CLICK past off. But, that did not energize any of the electrical system.

In 2007, Jeep re-engineered the Wrangler and created the "JK" series. For 2007 and half way through 2008, the steering lock was continued. But, in mid year production run, Jeep eliminated the steering lock and therefore, that eliminated the need for the key to be in the accessory position for towing. Again, Jeep screwed up in MANY of their owners manuals and did, at some time, try to get the correct information out but, it did not reach all who were involved.

If you want to keep your charge wire, that's up to you. You don't need it though since you don't need to keep that key in the accessory position. Good luck.
Scott

Fire up is right on. Ive been there and never want a charge wire or any other function that is not required. Simplest way of doing things works best for my simple mind.

I'm gonna go with the popular opinion of not using the key in the Jeep on our trek back north next month. My brake buddy will be plugged into the power outlet however, not sure exactly how much power that takes up though.

While your Jeep might not require the key in the ignition, it DOES require a charge cable to the battery!

The auxiliary braking system has an onboard compressor that cycles every time the brakes need to be applied on the TOAD. That will drain your battery on a single trip. I learned this first hand, which is why I added the charge wire to mine.

Sounds like you found the issue. I would definitely trace that wire back to the battery, and add a 15A fuse close to the battery. This will prevent any meltdown due to a shorted wire.

I’ve towed 3 different jeeps and a Chevy 1500 truck for a total of 23 years. Have always used the standard old brake buddy and have never run down the towed vehicle engine battery. Always made sure I had. Good battery, unplugged the brake buddy at nite when stopped traveling. And made sure the brake buddy would hold the air pressure unless activated.. totally uncomplicated.