Safely Towing a Small SUV Behind a RoadTrek 210: Wrangler vs. Samurai

[JCSRT0nCBF]

Dear All,

I am new to the forum. My wife and I have owned our 2011 RoadTrek 210 Simplicity since 2014. For our longer trips with kids, we have taken to renting a car locally instead of breaking camp when we want to go somewhere. I am now looking to add a tow vehicle.
I am wondering if anyone has recommendation/experience for towing a small SUV behind their RoadTrek 210? I am looking at either a used Suzuki Samurai or a Jeep Wrangler Sport.
The Wrangler is preferred because of larger size and ease of set up for towing, but I don’t know if it would be pushing the limits, curb weight is about 4000lbs on the Wrangler and about 2000lbs on the Samurai.
Thank you,
Jesse

 

[booster]

You probably will be all right at 4K# but you need to be sure that you are not overweight on the van itself, particularly in the rear, and more even on the driver side rear which tends to be 5-300# higher than the passenger side. Stock tire loading is 3042# per side so you need to be under that. 210s are very easy to overload and we we see regularly on the forum. This is only for towing a vehicle 4 wheels down so not much tongue weight/

You have the 6.0L engine and a 6 speed transmission which should be OK but make sure to keep up on oil changes and trans fluid changes, preferably more often than the recommendations would indicate.

You certainly will not ever win a drag race or mountain climb, so it will take some patience when towing that much weight. Again, be sure to get weighed.

 

[TX-Trek]

You may already know to do this, but i would urge you to use the Tow mode, not only to pull a vehicle but for any inclines as well. It makes a huge difference in our 2010 P210, same driveline, much easier on inclines. Our last trip, I used it all the time - the converter clutches are known weak points on the 6L90 transmissions.

As Booster said, these are running at the edge of being overloaded. Here's what i had modified on ours, suspension-wise a few years ago. Very glad I had done it.

Our Tubby Roadtrek 210 – A Long Post on Suspension Upgrades

This is about the suspension changes to our 2010 210P on the Express 3500 chassis. Current mileage 76k. Stock AR wheels and stock LT245/75R16 tires. It’s no secret that this era of vans are overloaded. I decided to improve the suspension on ours based on the excellent information in this forum...

www.classbforum.com

You can check the weight at any CAT scale for a few bucks, this was ours in fully loaded travel mode, full fuel, 2 passengers.

 

[jjrbus]

First need to weight vehicle, fully loaded for a trip, with people cats, dogs full tanks etc. Then find the GCWR and subtract the scale weight from that. Gross Combined Weight Rating. This amount left is what the chassis is designed to tow. Also have to deduct any towing gear, tow bar, trailer ect. If you exceed this weight rating the insurance company can unfriend you.

Also have to abide by auxiliary brake laws in all states you are traveling, not just your home state. Again skip this and insurance can unfriend you if you have an incident.

Setting up a vehicle properly for towing is not cheap!

Towing Laws - Brake Buddy

 

[SteveJ669]

Another vehicle to consider would be Geo/Chevy Tracker/Suzuki Sidekick.. Our '98 2dr soft top with auto trans, A/C, and 4wd weighs in at about 2,700lbs and works a treat for us. Prices on these have gone up quite bit in the last few years as there is quite the demand for decent ones.