Towing with a Liberty

[jzjohnz]

Hello everyone.

I have a 2006 Liberty 3.7L/auto tran/4 whl dr with just over 60k miles on it.

I plan on towing a 5x8 uhaul trailer, in about a week, from central Calif. to west Texas, which will be about 1100 miles. I suspect I'll be adding about 300-400 lbs to the empty weight of the trailer with what I'll be hauling.

The vehicle I'm using does not have the tow package, plus I'm installing (myself) a Uhaul purchased tow bar rated at 5000# even though the owner's manual doesn't recommend towing more than 2000# without a transmission cooler.

Will I be ok towing a trailer that size with my vehicle or will that be pushing to envelope too much?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You will have to weigh the trailer to be sure. Follow the guidelines in the Owner's Manual so as to not generate too much heat in your transmission. Heat kills automatic transmissions.

Also don't pull in overdrive/fourth if the transmission is down-shifting too often.

A decent transmission cooler runs around $30-$40 and is easy to install.

 

[jzjohnz]

Thanks for the information. I believe the static weight of the trailer is just under 1000# & I don't expect the contents to be over 500# so I'll be well within the 2000# limit without the tow package. Also, I will be looking into getting a cooler for the transmission. I was previously thinking that the cooler only came with the tow package, but since it can be obtained separately I will look into that too.

Thanks again....

 

[jzjohnz]

I was checking under the hood & noticed that the transmission line is routed into & out of the bottom of the radiator already. Is that just a simple cooling feature that all vehicles now have? If so, would that be adequate cooling for trailer pulling or is it just the bare minimum for pulling its own weight?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Most all auto transmissions cool the fluid through the stock radiator. You should be okay if you stay under the 2000# and don't pull in overdrive. Check your owner's manual and make sure there's a dash indicator in case the transmission were to get hot.

If you're really concerned you can get a transmission temp gauge.

 

[superj]

It should tow fine. I have towed a 5x8 with 500 pounds from the coast of Texas to the hill country of Texas, roughly 4 hours. Turn over drive off

 

[superj]

And that was in our 02 liberty with v6, auto, and tow package so trans fluid cooler was already on it

 

[jzjohnz]

That's good to know superj. I don't much like the idea of having to leave the transmission in o/d lockout, but if that keeps it from burning up then so be it. Looks like a 500-700 rpm difference between the two. Gas consumption probably goes up too. Did your mileage suffer much by locking yours out?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Fuel consumption won't necessarily go up, as the engine will struggle and burn more fuel if pulling a load at too low of an RPM. Turning off OD will likely negate any increase in fuel consumption over using OD as the engine will be working more efficiently, and your transmission will run cooler and shift less often.

 

[jzjohnz]

Funny thing happened to me this morning. I went into the garage all prepared to install an O'Reilly after-market (Hayden) auto-trans oil cooler & found one already there. It's a factory installed one. When I was at the dealer last week getting my Jeep serviced I gave the parts guy the VIN# to check if it had the towing package & he said it did not.

Well, does Jeep put transmission coolers on all their models without the tow package or did this guy make a mistake?