Unlimited Rubicon with M100 Trailer

littlefc

New member
Made a second run to the deserts of northern Nevada with my Unlimited Rubicon, pulling an M100 trailer with camping gear. Not quite as trilled as last year, it was a long run from Seattle to southern Oregon, the poor engine performance just got too tiresome, down to 40mph and 4th gear (6 speed manual) on some highway grades was not fun. (performance of 4, the mileage of a V8), wind and tire noise.
I had installed a front torsion bar instead of the sway bar, really not to great on the highway, seemed to fight it all the time. Gravel washboard roads was a nightmare, couldn't seem to keep up, at about 35mph, it seemed every bolt was going to come loose.
I was running with three other rigs, Exterra, Toyota LC Wagon, and Porsche Cayenne,
So all in all not to pleased.
Comments would be welcome, thanks Floyd
 

Septu

Explorer
What sort of mods does the JK have? I pulled my m101 weighing ~1300 lbs from Seattle back up the highway to Whitehorse this summer. Mountain passes (and steep hills) sucked. But otherwise it wasn't too bad. But then I didn't try to go faster than 100/60.
 

tommudd

Explorer
More information needed to know whats going on
year
tire size
gear ratio
weight
and on and on

Seen a lot complain about mileage and then find out they're running 35s-37s and stock gearing
or hauling a bunch of weight with the above
 

Kiddmen57

Supporting Sponsor
Have a 13 JKUR with 35's, 3.5" on the stock 4:10 gears. Pulled a double axle trailer between Tucson and El Paso the other weekend to pick up an M416 trailer. Weight of the double axle is 900 lbs and the M416 about 500. Had decent mountain passes, a good head wind heading out, its uphill from Tucson, and kept it at around 75 mph the whole way. Averaged 12.2 MPG on the way out and close to 13 MPG on the way back. Yes the RPMs climbed quite a bit, but never really complained.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

littlefc

New member
Update

Thanks for the comments, I will try and update. The Jeep is a 06 TJ Unlimited Rubicon (2 door) 4.0 liter inline 6, 6 speed manual transmission, rear end ratio of 4:11. I wanted to keep the stock wheels and not increase diameter too much, running Cooper Discoverer STT, LT285/75R16, about 32 inch diameter. I think the stock weight is about 3,438. Mods include a Rubicon Express 3 inch lift plus a 1 inch body lift. Currie antirock front torsion bar, Warn winch (9.5 TI). Swing away tire carrier with two 5 gallon cans. Trailer plus gear maybe 1,300 to 1,500 pounds.
On level ground a good speed was 60-63 MPH, any kind of incline was shift down time. I usually shift down at 1900 – 2000 RPM and shift up around 2900-3000 rpm, the engine seems to like the 23-2400 RPM range.
Sorry XTERRA not Exterra.
If I knew how to list my fleet on my post I would do that, but here it is:
06 Rubicon, Unlimited
71 J4000, Camper Special
56 Studebaker Transtar ¾ ton
86 SVO Mustang (for sale)
Thanks, Floyd
 

Judoka

Learning To Live
4.0L.... Highway DOG and offroad torque MONSTER! It is a JEEP! Get that one offroad and you will have it in its intended environment and you will be happy! If you want more hwy friendly then upgrade to a 13 JK Rubi with 4:10s and you will be quite content! I ran 4:88 gears on mt TJ and she would pull hills like mad...but poor fuel economy and high rpm all the time.
 

tweenerlj

Adventurer
Hmmm, sorry to hear about the poor experience. I went out once with this borrowed trailer:



I have the auto, 4.88 gears and 35s. Seemed to pull fine for me, however, I did have to slow down on the hills a bit on the highway. The O/D on the automatic is really tall, so any kind of a grade, I had to slow down. I would have expected your 6 speed to be better than the auto in that respect.
 

DaJudge

Explorer
Peak HP of the 4.0 isn't until 4200RPM. It will pull much better if you let it rev some. My Cherokee with just my gear and no trailer isn't climbing any kind of hill under 3500 and sometimes 4000. At 3000 you are getting around 130HP. The 4.0 is a 40 year old truck motor with somewhat modern injection screwed to it. The only real solution for towing is something that is designed to tow (best solution)or putting a V8 in the LJ. Otherwise it is just a matter of taking it easy and recognizing that it will get the job done but it will not do it quickly.
 

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