Questions about Flat Towing a Lifted 2007 JKU

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
kenb1023

kenb1023

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2012
Posts
785
Location
Edgewood NM
I am setting up my lifted (Teraflex 2.5" coil lift) 2007 JKU to be towed behind the MH. I have a Danko Commander Tow bar and an RVi Aux Brake. What I do know is I need to disconnect the battery, run a dedicated line from the battery to the Aux brake, the key has to be in the unlock position, Auto Trans in park and the transfer case in Neutral.
What I am trying to figure out is:

With an aftermarket bumper (Smittybilt XRC MOD) what would be a good connation point for the safety cable. The tow bar is pulling from the D rings.

Is there a way to tie the Jeep brake lights into the MH's

Any other areas of advice

Thanks for your help in advance
 
Lots of questions Ken, here are a few tips.  First, you don't have to pull the negative battery cable off. Here is a link to a post I made here on the forum explaining how not to have to do that. 

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=30330.msg288096#msg288096  Second, make sure that your tow bar is as close to level as possible when the Jeep is hooked up to the MH.  Use a drop/raise hitch if necessary. They come in 2" drops from 2" to 12". 

I am not quite sure how your tow bar is pulling from your D rings. Can you post a pic of that?  I use the D rings on my winch mounting plate to attach the safety cables on my rig.  A tow plate is mounted to the front of my Jeep to attach the tow bar to. 

To hook up my lights to the MH, the easiest and most economical way I found is to add an extra bulb socket into the Jeeps rear light housings.  Then just wire the sockets appropriately and run the wire to the front of the Jeep. I used a round 4 pin connector at the front of the Jeep and a round seven pin connector to hook into the plug on the back of the MH. Just hook up the wires that you need to make the lights that you added light up.  You can purchase a coiled umbilical cable to run between the RV and Jeep at most stores that will stock trailer tow items.

Let me know if I confused you about anything! 
 
I bolted Blue Ox BX88230 Tow Brackets like these to my ARB Front Bumper for the tow bar and use the D-Ring mounts for the safety cables.
 

Attachments

  • Tow Bracket.jpg
    Tow Bracket.jpg
    49.1 KB · Views: 42
SargeW said:
Lots of questions Ken, here are a few tips.  First, you don't have to pull the negative battery cable off. Here is a link to a post I made here on the forum explaining how not to have to do that. 

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=30330.msg288096#msg288096  Second, make sure that your tow bar is as close to level as possible when the Jeep is hooked up to the MH.  Use a drop/raise hitch if necessary. They come in 2" drops from 2" to 12". 

I am not quite sure how your tow bar is pulling from your D rings. Can you post a pic of that?  I use the D rings on my winch mounting plate to attach the safety cables on my rig.  A tow plate is mounted to the front of my Jeep to attach the tow bar to. 

To hook up my lights to the MH, the easiest and most economical way I found is to add an extra bulb socket into the Jeeps rear light housings.  Then just wire the sockets appropriately and run the wire to the front of the Jeep. I used a round 4 pin connector at the front of the Jeep and a round seven pin connector to hook into the plug on the back of the MH. Just hook up the wires that you need to make the lights that you added light up.  You can purchase a coiled umbilical cable to run between the RV and Jeep at most stores that will stock trailer tow items.

Let me know if I confused you about anything!
Click to expand...

The D ring adapter I am getting from 4Wheelparts made by Warrior Products, it has not come in yet.  The bumper was designed to have a tow bar attached to the D rings and Smittybilt even makes a tow bar for it but they are back ordered to September.  I ordered it in Feb.  So I went a bought a Demco Commander tow bar. 

Do you have a picture on how to put the other socket in there for the tail lights?
 
Water Dog said:
I bolted Blue Ox BX88230 Tow Brackets like these to my ARB Front Bumper for the tow bar and use the D-Ring mounts for the safety cables.
Click to expand...

The D ring on this bumper is 1 1/4" thick.  They made it for attaching a tow bar to it.
Edit: Fixed quote.
 
Ken,
As I responded elsewhere I used the Blue Ox BX88230 Tow Brackets. I also used the standard wire harness from Chrysler to connect to the Jeep (it has five wires and the extra one must be 5VDC - I just connected it to the battery through a fuse) for lights. I adapted it to the standard 4 wire trailer connector.
Ernie
 
Ken, here are the pics of my added light bulb socket to the tail light enclousure on the Jeep.  I purchased all of the necessary parts at PeP Boys for less than $30.  The added sockets I used had a ground lug on the side to allow me to ground the socket in the plastic housing.  The package that the sockets came in will tell you what size hole you need to drill. Maybe it was a 3/4" ?? I think I used a spade bit to cut the hole. 

Drill the hole, push in the socket with a bulb, and use a flat trailer four wire connector to hook them up. Run the four wire lead to the front of the Jeep, and wire it to a connector of your choice. I picked a round four wire trailer connector for simplicity. 

I specifically did the install this way to avoid any cross over between the Jeeps lighting system and the MH lights. If something fails somewhere in the system, not having them hooked together makes it simple to fix. 
 

Attachments

  • Added bulb to tail light housing.jpg
    Added bulb to tail light housing.jpg
    97.4 KB · Views: 34
  • Finished added socket to tail light.jpg
    Finished added socket to tail light.jpg
    80.4 KB · Views: 32
  • Flat four wire connector.jpg
    Flat four wire connector.jpg
    58 KB · Views: 28
  • 4 pin connection at front of Jeep.jpg
    4 pin connection at front of Jeep.jpg
    69.6 KB · Views: 31
I have a 2007 JKU (Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited). I am able to remove the ignition key when towing the Jeep. I understand that from 2008 and beyond that ability (removing the ignition key) is standard. I am guessing that some of the 2007's will have the removable key feature as mine does. If you have not determined that yours has that ability I would suggest giving it a try.
 
I have an 08' JKU Rubicon and I have to unlock the ignition to flat tow.  I use an unchipped key to leave in the ignition, then lock and secure the doors with the key fob. 
 
SargeW said:
Ken, here are the pics of my added light bulb socket to the tail light enclosure on the Jeep.  I purchased all of the necessary parts at PeP Boys for less than $30.  The added sockets I used had a ground lug on the side to allow me to ground the socket in the plastic housing.  The package that the sockets came in will tell you what size hole you need to drill. Maybe it was a 3/4" ?? I think I used a spade bit to cut the hole. 

Drill the hole, push in the socket with a bulb, and use a flat trailer four wire connector to hook them up. Run the four wire lead to the front of the Jeep, and wire it to a connector of your choice. I picked a round four wire trailer connector for simplicity. 

I specifically did the install this way to avoid any cross over between the Jeeps lighting system and the MH lights. If something fails somewhere in the system, not having them hooked together makes it simple to fix.
Click to expand...

Do you have any problem with moisture getting inside the housing?
 
No, none at all. And I did one trail that had us in about 8 water crossings half way up the front grill. The system has worked flawlessly for the last 4 years.
 
Sarge,

My 2007 JK does not need the key in it. I have heard that the models from 2008 on did not need the key in to unlock the ignition. I also have the light kit that Blue Ox sells. I drilled a hole in the tail light housing and installed the separate bulb. I have had no problems concerning moisture. The cable bundle was zip tied to the undercarriage of the Jeep and I have a look at it at leas once a year to check on it.
 
Yeah Bill, my 08' needs the key to unlock the steering wheel to flat tow. I use a blank with no chip. Easy stuff. I hooked a switch to the fuse panel to easily cut power to the dash gauges when I turn the key to the first click. It takes seconds to prepare to tow.
 
ken, Glad to hear you found those Warrior D-Ring brackets, that is what I found for my Jeep.

Good to see you went with a quality lift, Teraflex is great stuff.  I run the Teraflex 6" long arm kit on mine.

Sarge, I had never seen that tail light mod before, that looks very simple and easy to do.  I went with the http://www.cooltechllc.com/jeep/jk_tow_harness_kit.shtml, have not hooked it up as of yet, so cant offern any feed back, but I am told it is very simple to use.
 
I had originally bought the Cool Tech harness when I first bought my Jeep in 08'. When I hooked it up it didn't work with the Jeep electronic system though. It may have been modified by now though.  As I recall, the issue that I had with it was that Jeep had amped up the voltage in the brake circuit with the newer Jeeps. 

When the motorhome lights were activated like the turn signals, if the Jeep brakes were applied, the voltage from the Jeep lights coming on would wash out the signal from the motorhome, thus no turn signal could be seen from the Jeep.  I contacted Cool Tech and talked to the owner about the issue and sent it back. He was very understanding about it, and said that he would work on a solution.  That was when I decided to wire the Jeep lights straight from the MH circuit. 

If you install the Cool Tech harness, just be sure that when you hook it up and tun on the turn signals on the MH, that the Jeep brake lights don't wash out the blinking turn signals when they activate. 
 
I went with a car hauler trailer at end of day, much simpler in the long run for me.

Going to send back the CoolTech set up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,159 (members: 24, guests: 1,135)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,986
Posts
1,388,679
Members
137,735
Latest member
MoeHoward
Back
Top Bottom