Can a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee tow a 2008 SAN 210?

[shelby]

We live in Chicago and need to use street parking. Though I would love a Yukon or Tahoe, they would not be fun for me to street park daily... And it is not legal to street park a pickup truck overnight.
I looked up the towing capacity for a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4. It says the Jeep has a "Standard towing capacity" of 5,000 lbs and a "Maximum towing capacity" of 7,200 lbs.
I looked up the 2008 SAN 210. It says it weighs 3,800lbs, not including the trailer.
Could this work?

[cguse13]

Ill chime in and say yes... But it won't like it... I used to tow my 96 Malibu with a 92 Cherokee with the 4.0 6 cyl. 8 in lift. It would do it. But it wasn't happy with big hills and and expect a lot of down shifting on hwy if its an auto.

I'd go with a Tahoe if I had the choice. Street parking one vehicle vs another is the same ticket.. You will get use to the bigger vehicle

[s_kelley2000]

I towed a 99 210 (3300 lbs without trailer) with an 05 jeep GC(same style as an 09) with 4.7 V8 all last summer without much trouble. I towed it a thousand miles from SC to MA when I bought it and it only heated up a little bit in the NC/VA mountains but nothing close to dangerous and those were some steep inclines. I have since upgraded to an Escalade and I look forward to towing with that but the Jeep should do ok as long as you are not in a hurry and have good trailer brakes.

[jsta281]

I think yes with little question. Long steep hill could pose a problem if it was regular, but otherwise no. Just make sure to keep the trans serviced.

[TRO]

It will probably tow it - with a little struggle on some terrain. The bigger issue is not pulling it - it is stopping it. I would imagine that thing would have a difficult time stopping a 210 in an emergency situation at a decent speed.

[Zach@n3]

My aunt owned a new 08 GC Hemi AWD. They towed a Sea Ray 200 Select (don't know the exact specs but that thing was heavy). To my knowledge they never had any sway problems on the highway(tandem trailer). The Hemi would just eat up the road(and fuel). So towing was no problem. They pulled the same boat with an 06 4.7 Durango and the 4.7 coupled with the larger vehicle was not good. It would get the job done but not without some protest. Usually had to run it out of overdrive on the highway. My 4.7 5 speed Dakota also didn't like highways much. It required me to downshift up any type of grade pulling my 86 Ski Nautique.

[Nautiquehunter]

I towed my 89 Supra Sunsport [2950 lbs] with a GMC Safari van 4.3L 373 rear gear it did a fine job for years. I now have a 2008 210 3800 lbs . The Safari pulled it ok on flat windless days but it realy struggled in the hills and wind. It stayed in passing gear on the long uphill grades on the expressways. I always felt unconfortable towing high speed with such a short wheel base vehicle if anything happended to the boat it would surely take the van with it.
I now have a 2005 GMC Savana 3500 6L 373 rear gear and I dont even know the boat is back there and it accually gets better gas milage towing. The one thing I would recommend with any tow vehicle is to put the biggest trans cooler you can find on it.

[Nordicron]

I wouldnt recommend it. That jeep has the HP for it yes but everything else isnt up to that kinda tow in my opinion. I tow my 08 SAN with a 2004 suburban and can definite tell the boat is back there. You tow with that Jeep on the HWY and it'll be alittle white knuckle for you with the sway and ability to stop and control that load.

But funny thing is I was just out on a 2011 x-star this weekend and the guy towed that beast all over the place with a 2010 chevy traverse with the v 6 and said it towed great. Although rated to only tow 5200 it is longer wheelbase and couple hundred lbs heavier than the jeep.

[nyryan2001]

if you are going to press forward with using that to tow... install a tranny cooler on there, put a bigger one, will zip tie or radiator fin grab to the front of your radiator so it'd get fresh air flow as you drive. not too diffulcult and realatively easy to install yourself... or about an hour of work for a mechanic to install for you.

[jsta281]

I concur on the trans cooler, I just added one to my Excursion 7.3 liter diesel now that I will be pulling a boat all summer, took less then an hour start to finish to install.

As has been suggested, whether or not it is a good tow rig for that boat is dependant on many factors. My opinion is that many people think they need a bigger rig then they do to pull a trailer. Obviously I am one to talk with my 8,000 pound diesel truck to pull my 206 but I still think people think they need more then they do most of the time.

Obviously it your trailer does not have a good trailer braking system, then any "smaller" tow rig is going to have braking issues, but even my Excursion would likely struggle to brake properly with any sudden stop or significant down hill grade. My previous post assumed a good trailer brakeing system.

Wheel base can be factor at higher speeds, but that certainly would not be the reason I bought a new tow rig. I would almost consider this a non factor. Towing capacity I don't believe is much an issue if the trans is properly serviced.

Basically, if you are towing this thing 10-20 miles to the local lake, unless it is a steep canyon pull (do they even have that in Michigan) I can't imagine it being a problem. If you are towing it to Bear Lake in Utah, (long haul and steep grade to get to the lake) it is probably not the best tow rig.

[swc5150]

There'll be lots of opinions on this, as these threads come up fairly often. You'll find some who feel you need an 1 ton dually turbo diesel for everything, to those who think a Subaru wagon will do the trick. I think I'm somewhere in the middle

The GC V8 is plenty powerful to pull a 210. Do you know if they have auto-leveling rear suspensions? I had that in my old Saab 9-7x 5.2, and it made the entire rig feel nice and rigid, with no sway or slouch. Now I tow with a Tahoe, and actually prefered the smaller Saab. I'm sure the trailer will have brakes, which takes much of the hair raising out of quicker stops. I had a trailer where the brakes locked on me, and it practically stopped my truck along with it.

IL is pretty flat, so I don't see hills being an issue for you. Go test drive a GC with your boat in tow and see how comfortable you feel with it. I think it'll be plenty of SUV for drives to the lake.

[jsta281]

I concur on the trans cooler, I just added one to my Excursion 7.3 liter diesel now that I will be pulling a boat all summer, took less then an hour start to finish to install.

As has been suggested, whether or not it is a good tow rig for that boat is dependant on many factors. My opinion is that many people think they need a bigger rig then they do to pull a trailer. Obviously I am one to talk with my 8,000 pound diesel truck to pull my 206 but I still think people think they need more then they do most of the time.

Obviously it your trailer does not have a good trailer braking system, then any "smaller" tow rig is going to have braking issues, but even my Excursion would likely struggle to brake properly with any sudden stop or significant down hill grade. My previous post assumed a good trailer brakeing system.

Wheel base can be factor at higher speeds, but that certainly would not be the reason I bought a new tow rig. I would almost consider this a non factor. Towing capacity I don't believe is much an issue if the trans is properly serviced.

Basically, if you are towing this thing 10-20 miles to the local lake, unless it is a steep canyon pull (do they even have that in Michigan) I can't imagine it being a problem. If you are towing it to Bear Lake in Utah, (long haul and steep grade to get to the lake) it is probably not the best tow rig.

Oops. I ment Illinois not Michigan, bad memory.

[gride]

just add the biggest external trans. cooler that you can.

[axeman]

You should be fine. I've got a Mercedes ML 550 (which is a very similar vehicle) and it tows my 230 just fine. Do I feel the boat back there? Yes. Could I buy a larger towing rig? Yes. Do I need to? No. I've considered a Ford Raptor (if I'm going to have a truck as a daily driver it might as well be a nice one!) but haven't pulled the trigger on it because I really don't need it.

[Zach@n3]

Raptors are freaking cool trucks. Only downfall is they are a performance vehicle so fuel economy went out the window. I watched a show the other day that one company is making Eco Boost Raptor conversions. They lack the lockers but run pretty well when turned up. I wish the Ram Runner was something you could check off on the order sheet.