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question about towing a 2016 jeep wrangler

jgkeeto
Explorer
Explorer
we bought a 2016 jeep wrangler 2 door and today we got it back from the shop that put on the base plate. we got all the wires done plus the supplimental braking system.

here's my question, i am reading the jeep manual and looking on line and youtube and it looks like the jeep doesn't have the locking stearing wheel. so when i put everything together and am ready to tow, will the front tires turn when making a turn or do they just stay straight and wear out the tires. and if they do turn, then what keeps the tires from turning when you are going straight down the road?

one other question, here in PA we are very well known for having horrible roads, so if i am pulling my jeep along and there are dips in the road, that shows up unexpectidly, will the tow bars hold ok.
it is that alot of the roads are very bumpy and going at 60mph there isn't time to slow down, so just curious if anyone experienced this and how they felt about it.

thanks again for all the comments, they are greatly appreciated.
13 REPLIES 13

RADROG
Explorer
Explorer
Late model Jeep JK's make great toads.
Transmission: Park.
Transfer Case: Neutral.
Ignition / Key: Keep it with you. No steering wheel lock.

I tow a 2015 Wrangler Unlimited with 2011 Duramax to the
dealer for service. Works well!
2005 American Tradition 370 Cummins ISL

FIRE_UP
Explorer
Explorer
klutchdust wrote:
FIRE UP wrote:
jgkeeto wrote:
we bought a 2016 jeep wrangler 2 door and today we got it back from the shop that put on the base plate. we got all the wires done plus the supplimental braking system.

here's my question, i am reading the jeep manual and looking on line and youtube and it looks like the jeep doesn't have the locking stearing wheel. so when i put everything together and am ready to tow, will the front tires turn when making a turn or do they just stay straight and wear out the tires. and if they do turn, then what keeps the tires from turning when you are going straight down the road?

one other question, here in PA we are very well known for having horrible roads, so if i am pulling my jeep along and there are dips in the road, that shows up unexpectidly, will the tow bars hold ok.
it is that a lot of the roads are very bumpy and going at 60mph there isn't time to slow down, so just curious if anyone experienced this and how they felt about it.



thanks again for all the comments, they are greatly appreciated.


jgkeeto,
First off, Jeep disconntinued the locking steering wheel in around '08-'09. There were a few stragglers in the assembly line but, after those left, there have been no locking steering wheels in any Wrangler up to and including the '17 model. With that being said, when you hook up your Jeep, it will follow you where ever you go, turn, stop, go straight etc. And, as far as your PA roads are concerned, we just finished a 6,400 mile trip yesterday here in Lake Havasu City AZ.

It included 20 states, and PA. By far Pal, your roads don't hold a candle to Michigan's. It didn't matter what turn pike, freeway, back country road, county road etc., they ALL are in terrible shape. I'm surprised that we still have cabinets mounted on the walls in our coach. I was never so glad to leave a state as we were when we crossed the border of MI and OH on I-75 south. It was like we went from 65 mph off road rock crawling to, water skiing on a glass lake. And, as far as if your tow bar will handle those "killer roads", yeah, no issues there. It's not good on them for sure but, they're built good enough to handle what's thrown at them. We can attest to that via 6,400 miles of the junk roads we encountered and, all the mileage on all the trips preceding this one. We've had this Blue Ox Aventa II for quite a few years and, it's towed our previous Jeep, our present Jeep, and our truck for mile after mile. Its still in great shape.

Anyway, after owning and towing 9 Jeeps in a 35 year period, we've got plenty of Jeep experience, both towing and off road. Any questions, PM me if you'd like.
Scott



Scott, my 08 was delivered on 01/01/08 and it has the locking steering wheel. A non chipped key is the ticket. There is a clock spring issue with the jeep, i already replaced it but they want to do it again, think Ill leave the locking mechanism out.


Yep, even in todays world, in the '17 Jeeps, there's issues. I appreciate the kind comments. I do what I can to help here. There's been quite a few that have disabled the locking mechanism. Normally, it's notched ring and a pin that enters any one of those notches, when the key is placed in a certain position, namely OFF.

I personally have not done the disablement 'cause I've not needed it. But, if I had a vehicle that needed the key ON, which, included activating some electrical components but, unlocked the steering wheel, I'd do the disable lock thing, in a heartbeat.
Scott
Scott and Karla
SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 GMC Sierra 1500 Ext Cab 4x4 Toad
2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing
KI60ND

klutchdust
Explorer II
Explorer II
bob_nestor wrote:
klutchdust wrote:
bob_nestor wrote:
klutchdust wrote:
After hooking up and being sure it is in neutral just go. I always check everything each time i stop and just before i get into the coach. Of course plan ahead as you cannot back up. Did you ever ride your bicycle with no hands on the bars, same principle.


Put the transfer case into neutral, NOT the transmission - leave the transmission in Park (for automatic).


Well of course, my comment was made assuming the poster knew the sequence of events that need to occur before towing to reach the neutral status. As I said, put it in neutral.


Didn't intend to make you feel like an idiot, but if the poster knew the sequence of events that need to occur before towing (from reading the owner's manual), why would he need to come here asking for advice? All the information I needed to know about towing my 2011 Wrangler I found in the Owner's Manual and I doubt that's changed for 2016.


The advice they were seeking was about the tow bar and the steering, they didn't mention anything about the neutral position. So when they read this let me be clear, you need to follow the sequence of events stated in your owners manual to achieve neutral. Being corrected or asked for clarification doesn't make me feel like an idiot. we are all here to help one another, no offense taken.
Like scott said, if you need advice about towing a jeep he is the one, he personally helped me a few times posting photos and tech advice, one smart dude.

bob_nestor
Explorer III
Explorer III
klutchdust wrote:
bob_nestor wrote:
klutchdust wrote:
After hooking up and being sure it is in neutral just go. I always check everything each time i stop and just before i get into the coach. Of course plan ahead as you cannot back up. Did you ever ride your bicycle with no hands on the bars, same principle.


Put the transfer case into neutral, NOT the transmission - leave the transmission in Park (for automatic).


Well of course, my comment was made assuming the poster knew the sequence of events that need to occur before towing to reach the neutral status. As I said, put it in neutral.


Didn't intend to make you feel like an idiot, but if the poster knew the sequence of events that need to occur before towing (from reading the owner's manual), why would he need to come here asking for advice? All the information I needed to know about towing my 2011 Wrangler I found in the Owner's Manual and I doubt that's changed for 2016.

klutchdust
Explorer II
Explorer II
FIRE UP wrote:
jgkeeto wrote:
we bought a 2016 jeep wrangler 2 door and today we got it back from the shop that put on the base plate. we got all the wires done plus the supplimental braking system.

here's my question, i am reading the jeep manual and looking on line and youtube and it looks like the jeep doesn't have the locking stearing wheel. so when i put everything together and am ready to tow, will the front tires turn when making a turn or do they just stay straight and wear out the tires. and if they do turn, then what keeps the tires from turning when you are going straight down the road?

one other question, here in PA we are very well known for having horrible roads, so if i am pulling my jeep along and there are dips in the road, that shows up unexpectidly, will the tow bars hold ok.
it is that a lot of the roads are very bumpy and going at 60mph there isn't time to slow down, so just curious if anyone experienced this and how they felt about it.



thanks again for all the comments, they are greatly appreciated.


jgkeeto,
First off, Jeep disconntinued the locking steering wheel in around '08-'09. There were a few stragglers in the assembly line but, after those left, there have been no locking steering wheels in any Wrangler up to and including the '17 model. With that being said, when you hook up your Jeep, it will follow you where ever you go, turn, stop, go straight etc. And, as far as your PA roads are concerned, we just finished a 6,400 mile trip yesterday here in Lake Havasu City AZ.

It included 20 states, and PA. By far Pal, your roads don't hold a candle to Michigan's. It didn't matter what turn pike, freeway, back country road, county road etc., they ALL are in terrible shape. I'm surprised that we still have cabinets mounted on the walls in our coach. I was never so glad to leave a state as we were when we crossed the border of MI and OH on I-75 south. It was like we went from 65 mph off road rock crawling to, water skiing on a glass lake. And, as far as if your tow bar will handle those "killer roads", yeah, no issues there. It's not good on them for sure but, they're built good enough to handle what's thrown at them. We can attest to that via 6,400 miles of the junk roads we encountered and, all the mileage on all the trips preceding this one. We've had this Blue Ox Aventa II for quite a few years and, it's towed our previous Jeep, our present Jeep, and our truck for mile after mile. Its still in great shape.

Anyway, after owning and towing 9 Jeeps in a 35 year period, we've got plenty of Jeep experience, both towing and off road. Any questions, PM me if you'd like.
Scott



Scott, my 08 was delivered on 01/01/08 and it has the locking steering wheel. A non chipped key is the ticket. There is a clock spring issue with the jeep, i already replaced it but they want to do it again, think Ill leave the locking mechanism out.

klutchdust
Explorer II
Explorer II
bob_nestor wrote:
klutchdust wrote:
After hooking up and being sure it is in neutral just go. I always check everything each time i stop and just before i get into the coach. Of course plan ahead as you cannot back up. Did you ever ride your bicycle with no hands on the bars, same principle.


Put the transfer case into neutral, NOT the transmission - leave the transmission in Park (for automatic).


Well of course, my comment was made assuming the poster knew the sequence of events that need to occur before towing to reach the neutral status. As I said, put it in neutral.

bob_nestor
Explorer III
Explorer III
klutchdust wrote:
After hooking up and being sure it is in neutral just go. I always check everything each time i stop and just before i get into the coach. Of course plan ahead as you cannot back up. Did you ever ride your bicycle with no hands on the bars, same principle.


Put the transfer case into neutral, NOT the transmission - leave the transmission in Park (for automatic).

FIRE_UP
Explorer
Explorer
jgkeeto wrote:
we bought a 2016 jeep wrangler 2 door and today we got it back from the shop that put on the base plate. we got all the wires done plus the supplimental braking system.

here's my question, i am reading the jeep manual and looking on line and youtube and it looks like the jeep doesn't have the locking stearing wheel. so when i put everything together and am ready to tow, will the front tires turn when making a turn or do they just stay straight and wear out the tires. and if they do turn, then what keeps the tires from turning when you are going straight down the road?

one other question, here in PA we are very well known for having horrible roads, so if i am pulling my jeep along and there are dips in the road, that shows up unexpectidly, will the tow bars hold ok.
it is that alot of the roads are very bumpy and going at 60mph there isn't time to slow down, so just curious if anyone experienced this and how they felt about it.

thanks again for all the comments, they are greatly appreciated.


jgkeeto,
First off, Jeep disconntinued the locking steering wheel in around '08-'09. There were a few stragglers in the assembly line but, after those left, there have been no locking steering wheels in any Wrangler up to and including the '17 model. With that being said, when you hook up your Jeep, it will follow you where ever you go, turn, stop, go straight etc. And, as far as your PA roads are concerned, we just finished a 6,400 mile trip yesterday here in Lake Havasu City AZ.

It included 20 states, and PA. By far Pal, your roads don't hold a candle to Michigan's. It didn't matter what turn pike, freeway, back country road, county road etc., they ALL are in terrible shape. I'm surprised that we still have cabinets mounted on the walls in our coach. I was never so glad to leave a state as we were when we crossed the border of MI and OH on I-75 south. It was like we went from 65 mph off road rock crawling to, water skiing on a glass lake. And, as far as if your tow bar will handle those "killer roads", yeah, no issues there. It's not good on them for sure but, they're built good enough to handle what's thrown at them. We can attest to that via 6,400 miles of the junk roads we encountered and, all the mileage on all the trips preceding this one. We've had this Blue Ox Aventa II for quite a few years and, it's towed our previous Jeep, our present Jeep, and our truck for mile after mile. Its still in great shape.

Anyway, after owning and towing 9 Jeeps in a 35 year period, we've got plenty of Jeep experience, both towing and off road. Any questions, PM me if you'd like.
Scott
Scott and Karla
SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 GMC Sierra 1500 Ext Cab 4x4 Toad
2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing
KI60ND

klutchdust
Explorer II
Explorer II
After hooking up and being sure it is in neutral just go. I always check everything each time i stop and just before i get into the coach. Of course plan ahead as you cannot back up. Did you ever ride your bicycle with no hands on the bars, same principle.

talotto
Explorer
Explorer
I tow a 2016 Wrangler, no problems. Good tow bar, good aux brake (mine are all Blue Ox, but there are others just as good), you should have no problems, turns, curves, potted roads, etc. I also sometimes double tow with a trailer behind the Jeep, or with a kayak on the roof rack. Drive for the setup you have and roads you're on. All in a day's drive.
KG5PDS
2004 Itasca Meridian 36G
2004 HD Heritage Softail
2016 Jeep Wrangler
College Station, TX

K_Charles
Explorer
Explorer
If the steering wheel isn't locked, the front wheels follow just like the front wheels on a shopping cart. (If is in good shape)

Heisenberg
Explorer
Explorer
The 2014 does not lock. I put the key in my pocket. My towbar handles everything in normal driving including the frost heaves in Wyoming.
2013 Winnebago Sightseer
2017 Colorado

sch911
Explorer
Explorer
You can test the steering column yourself by turning it 360 degrees and back with no key in the ignition. It will be hard to turn but is doable. The wheels will always track straight behind the MH. You have to have no steering lock because they need to be free to turn when the MH turns.
If you've invested in a good towbar and baseplate setup there will be no issues with bumpy roads. I've been over some serious bumps without any issues.
OEM Auto Engineer- Embedded Software Team
09 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 41SKQ Cummins ISL
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Toad