Can I tow something over the vehicle max rating (short trip)

Hey! Without getting too long winded wanted to explain my situation.

I currently own a jeep grand cherokee and a lund 1800 explorer with a 90 tiller. I estimate the towing weight to be about 2500 lbs between my boat, motor, and trailer.

The MPG on my jeep grand cherokee is killing me. I have a long commute, make long road trips, and also drive for lyft. I’m about ready to put in a special order a new jeep compass 4×4 (31 mpg) that has a manual transmission. The max towing capacity on this jeep is 2000lbs. I only tow my boat 1-4 miles, and I figure I can go slow, and use the manual transmission to keep it in lower gears.

Am I making a mistake? Anybody highly recommend against this?

Just one time, maybe. Repeatedly by choice, I wouldn’t even consider it.

I don’t know but I saw a truck comercial pulling a train.
It would not be in my place to tell you what is ok but I have tested the limits of my vehicles on more than one occasion with no side effects, nock on wood. Then again I’m not pulling a train and there was this one time at band camp.

If anything at all happens in the 1-4 miles you are towing, the risk is all on you, insurance would be voided due not being within manufacturer’s guidelines. Also, any warranty on the vehicle would be voided if they catch wind of it. If someone pulls out in front of you, even if they run a stop sign or light, and you hit them. Likely because you are going slow, it wont kill the person, but you would now be responsible for all damages and medical bills and anything else they sue you for because you were not withing the MFG guidelines. It just got worse because you posted this and if you decide to go ahead with the plan, you are now negligent as well. Don’t do it. Buy the fuel economy rig and then buy an old beater truck to pull the boat. Or sell the boat and buy one that fits within the limitations of the tow vehicle.

My concern would be more with possible clutch damage trying to pull the rig out of the water. FYI, my 1700 Explorer 75hp tiller was right at 3K pounds,,,,,

HRG

I’ve done it, not a fantastic idea and wouldn’t recommend it. I also have a long commute and make long road trips so I bought a cheap beater. Usually it’s the suspension in the vehicle, not the engine power that limits its towing capacity. You do NOT want to over work suspension, especially IRS…

Do not do it.

Jack knife if you slam on brakes.

And all other reasons listed

Bad idea….don’t end up as the guy on the news that caused a crash or injured someone because you were towing with an improper vehicle.

This would be prime for suspension failure which could lead to innumerable bad outcomes.

My old boss made me pull a trailer once that was too heavy for the truck. It was too much for the suspension and almost made me bounce off the road. I was going slowly and it was not for a long way but I wouldn’t pull it back or go over the MFG guidelines again.

Pulled a heavy 14′ with a PT cruiser for years. Not ideal but it worked.

Give er room to brake. Drive slow, etc. Be all good.

Maybe consider getting a used truck to be your boat hauler/trash hauler/making a trip to Menards/picking up sod/hauling away leaves kind of vehicle. There are more jobs than boat hauling where the Compass might come up short.

S.R.

Fair comments regarding liability.

As for functional what do these 1-4 miles consist of? Meaning are we talking everything is less than 40mph or is there highway speeds?

I used to tow things with less than appropriate vehicles. Never again when the speeds are over 25 or so. Tail wagging the dog was way to scary for me on I94 one day Almost blew through a light with not enough breaking another day Could have hurt people that day.

will I still do it the couple blocks to our neighborhood boat landing once or twice a year, sure. Less than 1 mile and never above 20mph.

First off, are you absolutely sure the towing capacity of your Grand Cherokee is only 2000 pounds? That seems very, very low to me. I could tow 3500 with the older, small-style Chevy Blazer. 2k just doesn’t sound right to me.

Are you sure that’s not the rating for the vehicle if equipped with bumper hitch? And then a different heavier rating for a full receiver hitch?

jbg1219 wrote:

If anything at all happens in the 1-4 miles you are towing, the risk is all on you, insurance would be voided due not being within manufacturer’s guidelines.

Source? I’d think if insurance companies could void coverage that easily, they would do it all the time. Think of the number of accidents that are caused by people doing a whole list of things manufacturers guidelines recommend against. Everybody who falls off of a ladder is violation some ladder manufacturer’s guideline, the whole ladder is covered with stickers saying basically, don’t fall off. So my health insurance could be voided?

Grouse

I think the tongue weight is likely going to cause you problems with that compass, in addition to everything else that’s already been said.

I keep an old pickup as a second vehicle to tow and haul. If that’s not an option, I’d consider something better suited than the compass. I’m able to get mileage in the high 20s with my wife’s newer 6 cyl Cherokee.

Somehow she never gets better than 23 mpg

Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, my current car (Jeep grand Cherokee) has a 5000lb rating and does great. I’m just looking for better mpg that the compass has.

To answer another question, my boat is stored at a buddies place in Lakeland (1/2 mi south of beanies). Maybe the solution is to just take the backroads 1/2 mi and always launch at beanies and fork over the $20 each time I want to fish. Or another option might be to just keep my grand Cherokee as a 2nd vehicle for towing.

Or just look at a different new vehicle that has a 4000lb towing range that also gets good MPG when not pulling.

phoyem wrote:

Maybe the solution is to just take the backroads 1/2 mi and always launch at beanies and fork over the $20 each time I want to fish. Or another option might be to just keep my grand Cherokee as a 2nd vehicle for towing.

I think your best option is to own two cars. I own a haul vehicle and a commuter vehicle. Only problem with my situation is neither of them are nice

Gotcha. I didn’t read that right.

I have to think going from 5k to 2k towing capacity would be really, really limiting in all kinds of ways.

Grouse

I pull a relatively narrow 17′ fiberglass boat with a 115hp Mercury behind an 06 trailblazer on occassion for short distances as I live 2 miles from P4. The trailblazer has a 5100lb capacity and that rig is still nearing the top of what I’d want to pull. With the trailer, a full tank of gas, and just enough fishing gear for me…the complete package comes in right at 3,000lbs almost on the money. I’d wager that the vast majority of people are vastly underestimating the weight of their packed boats. At 3,000lbs, you should technically be running trailer plates that are registered annually to be legal. Anything 18′ or longer that’s a full windshield rig has to be hitting 3,000lbs with a full load. This is almost never enforced correctly until you see the dual axle, 20′ glass boats.

Back to the original posters question. I wouldn’t go the route of a compass to pull a boat that size. I’d have concerns about pulling the boat out of steep landings with a full load, livewell, etc. Stopping distance and handling would be an issue at highway speeds. The wheelbase is the biggest issue that’s overlooked when towing. With a small wheelbase like that, the tail is going to wag the dog – so to speak.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jbg1219 wrote:</div>
If anything at all happens in the 1-4 miles you are towing, the risk is all on you, insurance would be voided due not being within manufacturer’s guidelines.

Source? I’d think if insurance companies could void coverage that easily, they would do it all the time. Think of the number of accidents that are caused by people doing a whole list of things manufacturers guidelines recommend against. Everybody who falls off of a ladder is violation some ladder manufacturer’s guideline, the whole ladder is covered with stickers saying basically, don’t fall off. So my health insurance could be voided?

Grouse

I certainly don’t know the insurance laws or regulations, but in my opinion a better analogy than the ladder would be exceeding the maximum HP rating on your boat. Again I don’t know the truth to this but I’ve read repeatedly on forums that hanging a 90 on a bot that’s rated for 70 would expose the owner to full liability in the event of an accident.

phoyem wrote:

Maybe the solution is to just take the backroads 1/2 mi

They are all back roads in lakeland except for the 40mph highway that goes through and it and the 50mph service road with that big hill.
Ive learned a second vehicle is nice to have. Personaly I would trade the second vehicle to a same value truck with a FULL size bed.

With big fat tires

pool2fool wrote:

hanging a 90 on a bot that’s rated for 70 would expose the owner to full liability in the event of an accident.

I would not think it be advisable to hang a 90 in any boat at its top speed rating unles it was a padle boat .

Bunch of nannies. What Nany state of mind we live in just poking a rib there.

I’d leave grandma to buy the compass and let her think she has a sweet off road vehicle.

Your gonna tire the compass out to bad with a heavier weight then recommended. They already come with a tranny and gearing not rated for much

Can’t believe no one mentioned it yet, but you need a new Duramax dually for hauling the boat, and a Tesla for the commute. And make sure you pay in cash up front for both, or you just not doing it right!

I used to be a Chrysler mechanic. I would not tow a radio flyer wagon with anything smaller than a Mopar truck. All I did was rebuild tranny’s, did I say that’s all I did?

phoyem wrote:

launch at beanies and fork over the $20 each time

Beanies is super steep. I bet you’ll destroy the transmission tugging the boat out.

I second the idea of getting a different new vehicle that gets good mileage and can tow 3-5 thousand pounds.

If it was a ford i would say go for it. But with a new little jeep thingy i wouldn’t even trust it to tow an empty jet ski trailer.

If that 2.4l i-4 engine is the same I had in my PT GT but upgraded that’s an awesome motor. Thing pulled my boat great to be honest. Everything else in the car was a POS and I mean that deeply.

Areas to be concerned would as said the clutch gears. Steep ramps and heavy boat ain’t good for lil cars I do know that!

Do you feel your total rig weight may be a bit underestimated? 2500# is pushing it, but anything over 3000# would be foolish. Pulled the ol rig with my mom’s lil Jeep, 3.2 or 3.4ish one trip up north I forget the reason, but that thing was awful. And that was 1750# about.

I get the spot your in, personally I hate the idea of maintenance on 2 vehicles, been there done that and hated it. It works out for some, it didn’t with me. Gas ain’t getting cheaper and imo will get high again and all these big trucks nowadays are gonna hit the market as fast as they ran off the lot.

Good luck with your decision.

I ended up not ordering the compass tonight. Not saying I never will, but nothing wrong with giving it some time to look into other options.

Any suggestions for a 4×4 that is rated to tow 3-5k lbs and gets decent mileage?