[DuAnne]

I just purchased a 96' Shabah 180 this past July, which my son had been pulling with his truck. I am looking to sell my car for a Jeep Wrangler in the spring, but not sure if it will pull the boat. I was told that the 2-4 door Wrangler has a tow pkg of 2000 lbs. I don't know what the weight of the boat and trailer is. The boat is put away for the Ohio winter. REALLY want a jeep but may not be a possibility! Anyone know weight of boat and trailer? Anyone pulling with a Jeep Wrangler?

Good news please!

[ColoradoDiablo]

I wouldn't pull anything with a Wrangler , much less a 2800lb+ boat and trailer!
The boat will run right over the little Jeep. Not to mention trying to stop all of that weight.
Your asking for big , big trouble.
JMO
Larry

[klattu]

Pull yes
Stop no
It can and has been done, but the first time you need to act quickly, you will be in more trouble than you want.

Good news... you have not bought the Jeep yet.

[Slash9point5]

I have known a couple of people who have had a Wrangler as a tow vehicle. Hard to beat driving to the lake with the top down.

So, in an effort to not completly destroy your dreams, I should mention that I believe some Wranglers have a 3500 lb towing capacity, while lower trims have the 2000 lb towing capacity.

Therefore, if you were to find a Wrangler with the larger towing capacity and if the trailer was equipt with working brakes, I would not hesitate to pull your Shabah with said Wrangler.

Do you research and see if you can make it work.

Have a good one,

Kris

[rooperdan]

Jeep Wrangler is not built or designed for towing, Jeep wrangler is built for off-roading hence the short wheel base. You want a long wheel base with an engine and drive traine designed fortowing.
Look at the jeep grand cherokee if you want to stay with jeep.

[Hudson River Steve]

A good place to check tow vehicle ratings is at the following TrailerBoats.com - Tow Ratings Database

Jeeps have notoriously short wheelbases and can be quite squirrelly, especially durring panic situations. I prefer to have way more tow vehicle than I need. Good luck.

[m&mmariah]

I agree with the above posts. We own a '98 Wrangler, with a 181 hp six engine. Although it certainly has enough power to easily pull the boat, the problem is stopping. With 3000 lbs pushing on the hitch during a stop, the Wrangler could easily jack knife due to the short wheel base. The short wheel base causes things to happen very quickly when things start going sideways. So, our tow vehilce for our Shabah 180 is a long wheelbase 1993 GMC K3500 pickup truck.....Long wheel base, heavy vehicle. It's as if you don't even know you're towing something. I think you should buy the Jeep, but maybe consider looking for an older (inexpensive) truck in good condition and use is as a tow vehicle. Don't know about the tow ratings of the new style Jeep 4-doors, but their wheel base is pretty long. You could find out the rating at the Jeep website. ollllllo

[ShabahZ280]

Don't pull your boat with a wrangler. 'Nuff Said.

Make a compromise, if you're sold on the Jeep brand, look into something like a Grand Cherokee instead. They have the wheelbase, tow rating, brakes, suspension, and heavy duty components to be up to the towing challenge. Plus they're just as capable offroad as the wrangler, and much more comfy... I used to tow my Z250 with a 99 GC with the V8. I also used to have a heavily modified wrangler too, and even with extreme duty ford axles, 35 inch tires, locking differentials, huge disc brakes and a supercharger, I never even considered getting it near my boat trailer, even with my old Sea Ray 180.

If you still want the wrangler, buy one, but then make sure and buy something else to tow. Your safety, and the safety of others should always come first.

[m&mmariah]

The Jeep website says the max. towing capacity for a new Wrangler Unlimited (the 4-door one) is 3500 lbs. I'm guessing our 180 Sahbah with a full tank of gas and trailer are right about that weight, so there's not much of a safety margin. The Grand Cherokee is rated at 7,500 lbs. max towing.

[darkcalling]

Yeah for sure it is a NO! NO! If you value life limb and your boat and Jeep. The longer 4 door unlimiteds have alot more grunt and slightly longer wheel base. But serious I learned this leson alomost the hard way I was told by a trailer salesman, that my full size Blazer could pull my new 26' trailer with slide out. But the first steep down grade I had to wrestle both units uner control, it was close.