For towing a Jeep on a tandem axle tag, a good rule of thumb or starting point is to center the Jeep on the trailer axles.......though a Jeep is a well balanced vehicle with nearly 50/50 weight distribution (usually), the front end is still slightly heavier and will allow a bit more bias in front of the trailer axles.....this typically will give you about 10% of the GTW on the tongue. Again, it is a starting point - every Jeep and trailer is a little different but most guys in our 4x4 club (including me) tow our Jeeps on 16' tandems and center the Jeeps on the trailer axles with great weight distribution and perfect tongue loading.

Also, FWIW, if the Jeep has a soft top, DON'T TOW IT DOWN THE HIGHWAY BACKWARDS!!! You WILL damage the soft top. These tops were not designed to go 70 mph backwards - I speak from experience.

 

not for hire. this is a recreational triip with some buddies to an off road park.

thanks CTD NUT, ill have to make my old man read your post before i load the jeep

 

i used to haul tractors for a tractor company with a 97 powerstroke f250 5 spd with a bumper pull trailer a big *** trailer and most of the time id be in a hurry and just put the tractor on there and not even worry about how anything sat and had no problems no swayin of the trailer it just depends on eveything

 

My trailer deck is 16' long and with my Jeep loaded right here I get about 700lbs of tongue weight. Center of the Jeep is slightly ahead of the axles. It rides nice and tracks straight as an arrow. I have since added a winch to the front of the Jeep (about 100lbs) and a tongue mounted box, so I moved the Jeep back a couple inches to compensate.

 

look in your owners manual, it clearly states, even has a diagram, that when pulling a trailer it should be distributed with 60% of the load in front of the axles and 40% behind, check your owners manual and show your dad, that should end the discussion right there

 

That is all fine and dandy and works most of the time, but the general rule of thumb is 10-15% tongue weight for bumper pull trailers. It is really easy to measure with a bathroom scale and a couple 2x4s

 

worked just fine, had it loaded perfect, the ride up was still slow and hairy tho as the last 74 miles were on 100% snow covered roads, but coming home i rolled 75 mph for 180 miles, got roughyl 16-17 mpg pulling a total weight of 6k and i never once had a problem with it.

 

Something else I do is once you get your load dialed in, don't release your back straps. Just release your front ones and back up a couple of inches to take off the back ones. Then do the same for loading (put them on and then creap forward), this way the back ones are fixed length and stop the jeep at the right place, then put on the fronts and tighten them down...

This way you only really have 2 straps to deal with ratcheting on instead of 4...

 

Hmm

i was always taught, that you load the heaviest part of your load, on the center of the axles, that will help keep your load balanced and put less stress on your truck and your driveline...

Tx

 

Asher: I use chains in the back and do just that.... they are preset to length and I just pull the Jeep on the trailer, hook up the chains, pull forward until I stop, attach the front ratchet straps, take off the Jeep's brake, ratchet the front straps tight, then put the Jeep's brake back on and put it in gear, 4LO. The Jeep doesn't move at all.