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Originally Posted by TakingTerns
You folks have me concerned again. I'm a prospective TM buyer, with a leased 2006 Jeep Liberty with almost three years left on the lease. It has a factory installed class III trailer package. GCWR is 10,150 (curb weight 4,033), max trailer weight 5,000, tongue load limit 750, but a wheelbase of 104. It has a 3.7L 6-cyl gas engine and an automatic transmission. We expect to use a TM to take our sea kayaks (on the Jeep's roof) mostly to Maryland's eastern shore, which is essentially flat. However, we live in Pennsylvania's Poconos. By Rocky Mountain standards the Poconos are bumps in the road. Out here we call them mountains anyway. Home is at 1,300 feet (see, bumps), but we have to climb to that over a relatively short drive. We may also want to take the TM and the kayaks to New York's Adirondacks or up to Maine.
We looked at a 2720 and a 3124 last week. The queen bed in the 2720 is kind of turning us against that. We're old enough to no longer sleep through the night, and one of us would have to climb over the other to get to the bathroom. The 3124's king bed would allow us to sleep in line with the hall, so we'd be less disruptive of each other. Naturally, the TM dealer told us that "whatever we're driving will pull whatever he's selling" and the Jeep would be fine with a 3124.
Not to impune the dealer's honesty, but you folks seem to bring out facts the dealer didn't. If we stay out of the Rockies will we enjoy towing a 3124 with a Jeep Liberty, or should we not buy a TM now and get a real tow vehicle three years from now and keep sleeping at the Hilton until then?
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There are two concerns: Power and Stability.
Powerwise, the Liberty...without the 'yaks on the roof...would be adequate for even a 3124 on the relatively low altitudes/mostly flat terrain of the eastern seaboard region. With the 'yaks on the roof, all bets are off since you will have a lot of aerodynamic drag & turbulence. My guess is that if you have the 'yaks on the rack and a 3124 in tow, you'll have problems maintaining speeds anywhere close to the speed limit when climbing grades. Even on the eastern hills.
Stability is another issue. I don't recall many, maybe not any, folks who've towed a 3124 with the Liberty. However, I do recall one member (jbeletti) who posted quite a few times about towing a 3023 in the northern (and very flat) midwest...IL, WI, MI...with a Liberty. And then came a post that hinted at a scary tow due to strong crosswinds. And then his posts pretty much stopped. I just checked his user profile which lists
a home page that prominently features a large 5th wheel being towed by a Dodge Ram Quad Cab. Apparently either the 3023 or Liberty, or combination thereof, was not adequate.
My experience in towing a 2720SL with a Cherokee...essentially the same ultra short wheelbase, moderate torque, etc. as a Liberty...is that it was just
barely large enough to control a 2720. There were a couple of incidents involving hard braking where I felt the Cherokee was quite close to its ability to control my 2720. One in particular...on the way home on the last tow I did before I traded the Cherokee for my current TV (Toyota Tundra)...involved hard braking on a sharply crowned, but dry 2 lane highway. Only with a quick tug and firm grasp on the steering wheel was I able to keep the trailer from pushing the Cherokee right off the side of the road.
If I'd been towing the four foot longer 3124 I really don't think I could have prevented the entire rig from going off the road.
Although I did manage to maintain control and stay on the pavement, that incident was the final straw for me...I started looking for a replacement tow vehicle the very next week.