Shopping for a trailer to pull with a van...
Okay- I am new here & I KNOW that this gets brought up a lot. After reading an old post from 2011, I decided to join this forum to get some advice. We've got 6 kids, one in a car seat. We also h...
Forum Discussion
I don't subscribe to the "frontal area rating" stuff. Yes, the vehicle mfrs often (too often) specify 40 or 50 square feet or some such in their towing guide or owner manual. Big hairy deal. I seem to recall someone posting the same stipulation for a full size Ford (pickup or suv, I forget which) a year or so ago on either this forum or another RV forum I frequent (it all runs together after while). It's a legal thing to cover their butts if something mechanical goes haywire, not a safety thing.
That Pentastar is in the Grand Cherokee and is rated (with a different tranny, of course) to tow 6200 lbs. The transmission heat is a danger, but with common sense you can tow a trailer with a minivan just fine. Drive 55 or 60 mph instead of 65-75. See if an auxiliary tranny cooler should be added. Realize that as you increase speed, wind resistance increases exponentially (not a linear increase). So just drive slower (to be gentle on the drive train) and go have fun.
You will have to be conservative with your loading. Only take what you need, and verify your weight on a scale when loaded. If you don't take a half-ton of junk and if you run with little or no water, you should be able to come in ok on weight. But I'll reiterate that you have to watch out for hitch weight, because it is possible to damage a hitch receiver from too much weight on it... and you do not want your trailer detaching itself and veering into oncoming traffic.
That Pentastar is in the Grand Cherokee and is rated (with a different tranny, of course) to tow 6200 lbs. The transmission heat is a danger, but with common sense you can tow a trailer with a minivan just fine. Drive 55 or 60 mph instead of 65-75. See if an auxiliary tranny cooler should be added. Realize that as you increase speed, wind resistance increases exponentially (not a linear increase). So just drive slower (to be gentle on the drive train) and go have fun.
You will have to be conservative with your loading. Only take what you need, and verify your weight on a scale when loaded. If you don't take a half-ton of junk and if you run with little or no water, you should be able to come in ok on weight. But I'll reiterate that you have to watch out for hitch weight, because it is possible to damage a hitch receiver from too much weight on it... and you do not want your trailer detaching itself and veering into oncoming traffic.
