How much does a Boat trailer weigh?

Im asking because I am trying to save money on buying a new to me tow vehicle. Im looking at a Grand Jeep Cherokee that pulls a max weight of 6500 lbs. My boat weighs in at 4100 lbs. I can't see the trailer weighing more then a thousand lbs?

Yours weighs close to 1500. Add in gas, and boards and all that... You will be cutting it close, but should be ok. ... I was way over with my last truck. 2nd gear, gas to the floor, 20 mph going up hills.

I would steer away from the Grand Cherokee, they do not tow well, especially with the "6500 IB" tow rating.

I purchased a 2004 Grand Cherokee Overland with the HO 4.7 motor. It struggled pulling an X9, and the rear end sagged dramatically....

This is just my personal experience and it all depends on how far you plan on towing the boat.

I'll let you know how my 2000 Grand Cherokee Limited tows in a couple days...going to pic up my 2000 xstar (single axle trailer) on saturday morning. i do know that it did a great job of pulling my buddies lund last summer. can't see this boat being any to different. daniel, how many axles does your trailer have?

oh yeah, i had very minimal drop in the rear end with the boat hooked up.

the jeep drops two inches with the boat on it and it towes just fine. you can tell it's back there but no problem with power or anything.

I know what you are talking about with the G Cherokee, they sell for much cheaper than Tahoe's or similar. Plus probably a little nicer look and drive. Not as great for towing though.

Tahnks guys, I actually bought a 2002 Chevy Tahoe got a killer deal only had 69000 miles leather and loaded picked it up for 10 grand.

That is Killer...in good condition? 4X4? From a Dealer? I'm in the same market so I'm curious.

Did you run a CarFax first? $10K is a great deal. Congrats!

Yeah here is what happened. I ran into a lady at the store and we were talking standing in line she was telling me about how her husband was out of work from an injury and she had carpal tunnel etc...money was really tight. Well we were walking to our cars and she had this nice white Tahoe. I said Ive been looking for a tow vehicle for my boat and she said well my husband and I were talking about selling this Tahoe so we could pay our bills for a few months. So me being the humanitarian that I am said well how much did you think? She said I dont know we were talking about letting it go for about 14,000 of so. So I looked at it she even let me drive it for a while and I couldnt believe how nice it was. They even had the title and it was clean and yes since I have done a carfax and it's good. Anyway I told her I could give her only 10 grand and gave her my number never thinking she would call me back. They called back 2 hours later and said could you write a chieck today. bingo baby.

Yeah, real humanitarian!
Happy 4 u though!

That's unbelievable. I understand when money is tight, but if it is a 4x4 they could have easily gotten $14K within a week. I would consider myself lucky and repay them by treating them to a day on the water.

Read the fine print on your Grand Cherokee. The tow rating is 2000lbs without a weight distributing hitch and 6500lbs with one. For what it's worth, I tow about 4000lbs with my 4.7L Commander without the weight distributing hitch but if I were getting that close to the tow capacity, I'd seriously consider picking one up. It should help the sag issue and make the trailer a little less prone to sway. I can say that at 4000lbs, there is NO sag on the Commander.

I've got a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.7L Hemi (full time 4wd). Rated at towing 7500lbs. I tow a 2004 Mobius LSV, filled with 40 gallons of gas and I hardly know the boat is back there. It does take 2-3 mpg off gasoline mileage, but other than that not even close to a problem.

Stepintoliquid, if you had that much rear end sag, it sure sounds like you have way too much tongue weight.

Yes it's a 4by4. I will post pics

only 2-3 MPG less when towing? That thing must only get 14 to begin with.

Erik,
On the highway, doing 80mph, I get around 18mpg. Combination highway/city I typically get 15-16mpg. When towing the boat, I get 12-14mpg in highway/city driving. BTW, if I were to hold the speed on the highway to 70mph, mpg went up to about 20mpg, but its just too hard to stay that slow. Towing on highway I get around 16-17mpg, but when I'm towing I usually try to hold the speed to 70+mph.

I will tell you that with the hemi and the 4wd full time, it makes it really tough not to drive fast, especially taking off at stoplights - it is a really quick, fast car that is fun to drive. I've had a lot of cars from Audi's to Acura's but this is the most fun car yet.

That is outstanding mileage while towing. When I had a 5.0L Mountaineer and an 18' I/O, I got 10 MPG at 70-75 mph. Normally, it was 18 hwy and 16 city/highway mix. I just bought a 97 Silverado with the 5.7 so I'm hoping to get 12+ now.

I think the Hemi has active fuel management, allowing it to cut off a few cylinders when then are not needed. Should help at least for a couple of MPG's.

Todd,
You are correct, the Hemi shuts down four of the eight cylinders when you are at a stable highway spead. That's primarily why I went with the 5.7L Hemi instead of the 4.7L V-8. In looking at the website it showed the 5.7L Hemi actually got better highway gas mileage than the 4.7L. In speaking to the dealer, it is because of the active fuel management. Sounded great so I went with it. What they don't tell you is the Hemi is so much fun you tend to jackrabbit starts which kills gas mileage. The other downside is oil changes are really expensive - special oil required, 8 quarts of oil, special filter. Also, standard 25,000 maintenance includes changing spark plugs - maybe not a big deal except that with the Hemi you have two spark plugs per cylinder meaning 16 spark plugs. I was surprised you would change spark plugs at only 25K miles given my other cars it was something like 60K or 70K before you changed spark plugs.

What website shows better highway mileage? The EPA estimates show that the HEMI gets 1 MPG less in highway miles. I haven't seen any other comparisons specifically looking at highway mileage.

5W20 is the "special oil" required for the HEMI. You can get some really nice Motorcraft 5W20 for about $12 per 5 quarts. I also have to have this "special oil" in my 2.3L Mazda 6 and my mom requires this "special oil" in her Explorer. It's not that expensive and hasn't been for a few years now. It's the OEM oil for just about every engine Ford makes these days. If you don't want any Ford OEM stuff swishing around in your engine, Castrol makes a 5W20 for not much more.

And I don't know what special filter you're talking about but according to Mopar's chart the 4.7L and HEMI both use the same oil filter. Maybe it's a different air filter?

That's true about the spark plugs though. I guess it's the price of performance.

Dante,
5W20 is the oil, and while it is recommended for my Ford Explorer, it is not mandatory. I get my oil changed at either the dealer or Jiffy Lube. Both only carry a synthetic blend for 5W20 oil, so that's why I assumed it was special. Also, there is a very prominent sticker on the engine that indicates 5W20 is mandatory - use of other than 5W20 will void the engine warranty. Likewise, I wanted to get the oil changed one time at Sears because I had them rotate the tires. Unfortunately, they did not even carry the special oil filter. This was within the last 6 months. For that reason, I assumed it must be some special filter. Sorry.

I can tell you that I needed to replace the battery and neither Sears, nor NTB carried a battery that fit. According to NTB, the battery is an abnormal size and shape. Only the dealer had a replacement battery for the Hemi. It seemed like it had to do more with fitting everything into the engine compartment versus some kind of special electrical issue. Yes, the price of performance.