Flat Towing a Crawler

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P

punda

Loves Light Bars
Joined
Dec 5, 2024
Messages
3
Location
New Mexico
I have moved from off roading a jeep to a dedicated rock crawler (modified CJ7) and I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of getting a car hauler and a truck to pull it. Anyone have any experience flat towing a crawler. I know tire wear will be a factor. How about brake setup? Any downside to TCs of diff? This has a spool rear and locking front hubs. My tow veh is a gladiator.
Thanks
Mike
 
IMO, a small single axle trailer is a 100x better idea. "crawlers" aren't designed for any speed, especially extended.
 
I flat towed my cj5 for a bit. Made a towbar and it had locking hubs on the rear axle. It did get me places.

My suggestion though is to get a trailer. Depending on breakage you might not even be able to roll it home. I always worried about water crossings and getting water in the bearings then not knowing if the bearings are eating themselves on the drive home. Also not being able to back up because your flat towing kinda sucks too. Either drive it to the trails or get a trailer.
 
Seems like the 2 guidelines I’ve heard over the years…

“If it’s not good at driving on the road, it’ll flat tow even worse.”
and
“Flat towing will push around a borderline tow vehicle more than a trailer despite the added weight of towing on a trailer.”
 
Sounds like you should have kept your other Jeep. A truck and trailer are pretty much prerequisites for anything "dedicated". Its a Jeep, plenty of ways to make it capable and also driveable.....
 
^^^^^ yup, yup, yup. Get a trailer. You don't need a 3500 dually and 20' trailer. Today's smaller mid size tow vehicles have great tow ratings. I've been trailering for years.
Last summer we decided to flat tow our slightly modified Jeep behind the RV because we weren't doing any hard wheeling and not taking the buggy. Yeah, well, I blew the front R&P doing some stupid wheel hopping and had to drive 8 hours round trip to go get my trailer.

If you're gonna wheel a dedicated crawler, at some point you WILL wish you had a trailer.
 
Too bad you live so far away. This trailer is going up for sale soon. 14' aluminum with drive over fenders. Tows awesome.

14ft trailer.webp
 
That's just what we are looking for...Oh well
What does your jeep weigh? What part of Michigan are you located in?
 
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