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Thanks for responses.
Yes the Gold Coast motorway is particularly bad, but this only happens when towing and now happens on other concrete roads as well.
Given I plan to drag the van along the Gibb River Road later this year I need to be sure the suspension is up to it.

Has anyone tried 'airbag helpers' for the rear suspension?

Cheers
Phil
 
Phil, you don't say if you have a WDH. I would have said straight out that that's the problem but then mjt57 has a WDH and still has the problem sometimes. Are these things tuneable?
 
It's a crappy section of road that has undulations all through it.
With my WDH and quadralift its bareable but the concrete road section you refer to is simply poorly laid.


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The concrete section of the highway south of Coffs is the same. Have towed the van with and without WDH on that section. Without WDH I stopped to check what was wrong and realised I had not refitted the WDH bars.
 
With the old van we had WDH bars.
Not with the new one.
Not much difference on the Gold Coast road.

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned the Gold Coast road - it is particularly bad but the problem happens elsewhere as well. Hence my queries:
* is it likely the shockers are one the way out
* has anyone tried airbag helpers for the rear suspension (can you even fit them?)

Thanks
Phil
 
You need to check the tow ball weight of the van, don't take what the van manufacturer states, take it to a weight bridge and get the real weights
Best to do this loaded the way you travel, include water and beer ?
I'd be guessing your van is not balanced correctly


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We have a dual axle Millard and do get that vibration type of effect on that piece of road as well as the concrete section just south of Coffs Harbour between the two Sawtell turnoffs.
Our friends with dual axle vans have the same problem along these sections of road, however the single axle vans don't.
Often see people with dual axle vans pulled up south of Coffs Harbour checking their vans tyres & axles.
Without the van on we don't notice anything.
We have drawn the conclusion that it must be the final finish on the concrete roadway.
Regards, John
 
You need to check the tow ball weight of the van, don't take what the van manufacturer states, take it to a weight bridge and get the real weights
Best to do this loaded the way you travel, include water and beer ?
I'd be guessing your van is not balanced correctly


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Good idea. Also, it may be worthwhile investing in ball weight scales to make sure the Jeep's rated ball weight is not exceeded. Here's one I made up myself. It's not that accurate but good enough. It uses bathroom scales http://www.jeepgarage.org/f190/the-towing-thread-62189-9.html#post862038
 
Apologies if this has been covered but couldn't find it from searching....

How do you tell if the GC ECU's (in particular braking and body control) are aware of a trailer/van being connected and towed ? I am adding a TowPro Brake Controller for a camper trailer etc but have seen comments that for trailers with LED lights that the car's ECU's may not detect the extra current and therefore go into towing modes for stability control etc....
 
That's an interesting one. I didn't know that there were different modes for towing or non-towing.

I have a Tow Pro Elite on mine. I don't know if the van lights are LED or normal. Hard to tell, but then I haven't looked closely enough.

But the Canbus system did notice something one day when I plugged the trailer plug in. The left rear cluster stopped working (for brake, tail and indicators). I unplugged and plugged it back in and all was good. Might've been a dodgy connection which caused something in the Canbus to stop power going to the cluster. Dunno...

SO, maybe there is something there to detect a connected trailer.
 
I suspect the system is looking for a current draw as it does with a failed indicator. It would have trouble detecting the small current draw of an LED trailer. This may cause the module to think there is no trailer connected. The trailer may need a load resistor on the relevant pin(s) to prevent this. I have no idea what pins are sensed by the Jeep system.
 
I have a 2014 with the 3.6 that I would like to tow a 2008 BMW 335xi that weighs around 3800#. I'm assuming the trailer weighs around 2000#. Bringing the total towing weight to approximately 5800#. This is getting to the upper end of the towing capacity. Will I be OK?
 
I have a 2014 with the 3.6 that I would like to tow a 2008 BMW 335xi that weighs around 3800#. I'm assuming the trailer weighs around 2000#. Bringing the total towing weight to approximately 5800#. This is getting to the upper end of the towing capacity. Will I be OK?
By "#" I presume you mean "lbs". This is the "Export Grand Cherokee 2011+" site. We are totally metric. You would be better off asking another site unless someone here is willing to do the weight conversion. In any case, I would have thought your manual will tell you all you need to know.
 
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Our Australian 3.6 is exported with HD brakes and cooling. It is rated to tow 2800kg (6000 lbs). You need to confirm the tow rating of your own vehicle as it may not have the additional items.
 
Could someone who has a Mopar bar and the cast (not welded) Hayman Reese WDH shank help me with a measurement please? What I'd like to know is... when the shank is installed as deep as possible, what is the inset/outset at the "rear" of of the receiver? That's the end at the front of the car.

ie: does the shank remain inset by an amount, or does it protrude from the towing system by an amount?

Rough enough will do.

Cheers, Steve
 
Discussion starter · #1,816 ·
Unfortunately my hitch is offsite with my van, so can't get a measurement for you. However I can say that the WDH shank and the mopar bar are not a good fit. My wdh sits out a long way. I initially tried to grind away at the wdh to slightly decrease the shaft size, but only managed to increase the insertion by 1 hole.
 
Could someone who has a Mopar bar and the cast (not welded) Hayman Reese WDH shank help me with a measurement please? What I'd like to know is... when the shank is installed as deep as possible, what is the inset/outset at the "rear" of of the receiver? That's the end at the front of the car.

ie: does the shank remain inset by an amount, or does it protrude from the towing system by an amount?

Rough enough will do.

Cheers, Steve
Hi Barboots I have the best bar which I think is the Mopar bar with the cast shank in to the last hole the shank end is 45mm inside the receiver. The end at the front of the car. Hope this makes sense . Denis
 
Could someone who has a Mopar bar and the cast (not welded) Hayman Reese WDH shank help me with a measurement please? What I'd like to know is... when the shank is installed as deep as possible, what is the inset/outset at the "rear" of of the receiver? That's the end at the front of the car.

ie: does the shank remain inset by an amount, or does it protrude from the towing system by an amount?

Rough enough will do.

Cheers, Steve
G'day Steve,
My bar is an HR welded steel, hitch is factory Mopar, so this doesn't really help you, however this may help someone : it wasn't a good fit as I initially had to grind the corners off the square steel shank on the HR weight distribution hitch, I used a coarse grade disc on my large sander, took my time till it was a good snug fit with no rattles.
I then got a friend with a drill press in his engineering shop to drill a new hole so I could insert the bar further, as the longer it sticks out, the more leverage and therefore greater distance from the car's rear axle, which is bad for stability, not to mention rear axle load. (An ideal world for towing is of course a fifth wheeler, with the hitch over the axle.)
The net result is the shortest possible hitch, great fit with no rattles, and perfect for towing my 3T van.
Cheers David
 
Hi Barboots I have the best bar which I think is the Mopar bar with the cast shank in to the last hole the shank end is 45mm inside the receiver. The end at the front of the car. Hope this makes sense . Denis
Thanks Denis. That's exactly what I wanted to know. You're right to correct me on the brand too [emoji106] [emoji106]

Here is an old photo of my setup.
Cheers Ally. Out of curiosity, was there a reason for not using the most inset position?

I then got a friend with a drill press in his engineering shop to drill a new hole so I could insert the bar further
That's what I did David... I'm not sure who put me onto it, it could have been you. The thing is, the more dirt road I'm doing, the more I'm dicing with a busted back window. The van is already peppered with damage and the car tailgate has quite a few stone chips. I tried various "soft" coverings on the lower front of the van to prevent rebound and they all work to an extent... but none have really appealed to me as a long-term solution. Rock Tamers introduce issues including heat, flicking stones and looking like a fully paid up member of the knob-jockey crew... so I was going to buy a Stone Stomper "trampoline". The root-around measuring to get it matched to my set-up remotely seemed like as much work as making my own, and more expensive.

To attach to the vehicle end I bought a used Rock Tamer cheap. I just wanted the yoke and adjustable/removable arms.

I then had to decide whether to enlarge the yoke to fit over the Best Bar or to rework the hitch shank. The thought of the yoke failing because it had too much meat machined out of it, and the ensuing damage, put me off that idea... even though it would be neat. I then looked for a new welded shank and found one complete with head and bars for $100. I went to pick it up up and got sidetracked sympathising with the old boy's story of the car/van accident which converted him to motorhoming. I missed... and he neglected to tell me... he'd had the shank cut down in length.

So long story... I'm going through the steps of mentally satisfying myself of the engineering if I proceed with the current parts. At 100% engagement, my original re-drilled welded shank is optimal, even compared to the cast version fully inserted. The shortened shank, once re-drilled to accommodate the yoke, will have about the same engagement as a fully inserted cast shank or unmodified welded shank... and way more than the 3.5T rated Best Bars shank/tongue unit.

So I'm all good... right guys???
 
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