so i pulled my first decent sized load last weekend. i had a quad and dirt bike on the truck and a jeep cherokee and two hunting quads on the trailer. i wieghed in at 17k total gross. 4200 on the front axle 5500 on the rear and 7100 on the trailer axles. i got less than 10 on the way up the hills and 10.5 on the way down. it was 170miles each way this was at 67 mph going up an down there are i belive 4 6% grades on the way up streatching about 5 miles each and then alot of little hills. is this normal? the truck is the 98 in the sig.

also, does the wieght sound ok? what i dont get is the truck is only supposed to weigh 8800gvw and i was 9700gvw but i was still under on my axle recomended weight. i was saging like a son of a gon as well. i miss my air bags on my old truck. the way everything was positiond on the trailer was the only way it was going to fit. i tried to offset the wieght of the jeep with the two hunting quads the heviest being the polaris 800. its never good to ask if i was ok after the trip but if i do it again(might be soon)

almost forgot...my prodigy brake controler took a crap on my on the way home. i now have new front brake pads

 

I pull 17k gross about 5 times a year...Cherokee actually and a slide in camper which cuts through the air like a cold spoon through steel.

I get 14mpg +/- 1mpg all the time.

Truck is similar to your, no 100 plate, but will be soon. No gsk. Automatic.

What are you gears and tire size?

 

I think I would've centered the Jeep over the trailer axles and put a quad on each end. Would've lightened the truck a bit.
Oh well. It worked didn't it?

Bet you had fun.

 

Wow, you hauled a lot. Very impressive.. Must have been fun!

 

I agree, as long as you still have around 10% tongue wt.

 

well if you look at the first pick i had to put the rear of the jeep over the tool box in order to get the two quads on there and i wanted the polaris 800 on the rear so it would even the wieght up a bit. you should have seen how bad it sagged with that quad off lol . the jeep didnt have a rear window so im sure that helped (like a parachute). also raced a powerjoke with a 18foot taravel trailer up the 6% grade smoked him(litterealy) and then i had to pull over because the jeep came undone found the ferd 2 mile up the road over heated

we had alot of fun! fried the computer on the cherokee(thank god we had one that drove up with us to take out of) snaped the front ujoint on the passenger side. (locker eats them up) and filled the inside with water (should have checked the depth of that pond). next to the cummins that jeep inline 6 is the next strongest motor i know if. it has 170k on it and starts everytime (when it has a good computer)

forgot to ad i have 4.10s and 35-13-r17 tires

 

4.10's and 35 shouldn't be too bad for pulling. But racing doesn't help mileage

I bet if you drove it easy on the highway...60mph...and had the same load, you'd probably get about 14.

Gotta agree on the 4 liter. **** fine motor. Coincidence that it the same firing order...I think not. The trail rigs have a 4.0 and a 4.6, I even made my wife get the 4.0 in her Grand (she wanted the V8).

 

I think your GVW was Ok but the tongue weight too heavy. I would have put the two quads forward and hung the jeep's butt or nose off the rear trying to get the tongue to about 10-12% of the trailer weight. Also, with this trailer weight I think you would really benefit from a weight distributing hitch. I tow a travel trailer that is at 10,000# + some, GVW is 18,000#. I put the rig on the scales twice and WD hitch helps load up the FWD axle and trailer axle and take some weight off the RW, effectively leveling the rig some, plus it also helps stabilize the trailer.
I would say that your tongue weight took off about 100-150# from the front axle (mine in a 24v truck is 4,300# w/o trailer). A WD hitch would put your weights at about 4,300, 5,200, 7,300.

 

i have a wd hitch for our TT i would just need to get the part that goes to the A frame on the trailer. i dont know if im going to do this though. it will just make me want to put more weight on it an i belive i only have 3500lb axles as it is. i was already pushing the limits of it. ..........you know i dont know if they are 5k axles or 3.5k. i guess im gonna have to check that out.

Johnx: talked my fiance into buying the 4.0 in here grand cherokee as well. not the best milage for a 2wd but pry better than the v8 and i know it will last a long time

also, i was going quite a bit faster than 60mph but it seems that going up hill to keep it in 5th i have to do at least 70mph or i drop into 4th and the rpms scream doing mabey 60mph (my mph guage is so far off it isnt even funny)

 

pauldaisy- never thought about taking the gate off and hanging the jeep off the end of it! thats a great idea! ill do that next time. Thanks!