The tow ratings for Wranglers are based, at least partially, on "stability", not overall weight. For instance, the 4 door Wrangler has a tow rating of 3,500 lbs and the 2 door, with identical engine, trans and equipment is rated for 2,000 lbs. Trailer weight is only one factor, but is used as a general rule.
You could move a trailer of much higher weight around a parking lot, with complete safety, or pull a heavy stump at near zero speeds, but you could easily crash a trailer much lighter than the rated weight while speeding along in a cross wind.
The reduced tow rating for the 2 door is the factory limit at which the stability control system is still likely to get you out of trouble in an emergency, or help you significantly while cornering or braking. Wranglers have a number of design features working against stability.
A tow rating of "2000 lbs" is not a good way to tell you much more than how it will cross a mountain range with steep grades, or stop in an emergency. What should be considered is some kind of "stability" factor.
Someone earlier mentioned towing a boat trailer and used that for evidence that a
Scamp would be fine, but they are not the same thing at all. A ski boat trailer, for instance, is very stable because it is very low, has a long distance between the ball and the
axle, has stiff suspension, low cross wind resistance and is wide. Boat trailers tow very well in general, at any speed.
Short and high trailers with soft suspensions are much less stable, even if they weigh less. Also, travel trailers can have a large difference in their weight distribution at different times, which changes their stability.
Just the fact that someone is concerned if they are too close to the factory limit and asking all kinds of advice, and getting all kinds of answers, means that there is a valid concern.
The person that has limited experience and wants to tow with a vehicle that is less stable than most and at the upper weight limits recommended, and then says they tow up to 70 mph with that setup and think it's fine just because they didn't crash it on one trip home, is getting set up for a disaster.
We need a stability factor of some kind, in addition to a simple weight factor. And we need more common sense than to compare apples to oranges or to use unrelated evidence to justify what we want to do.
Advice from a salesman that it's fine to tow an empty trailer, that is barely below the rating of the vehicle, is not good advice. Just because a Wrangler once towed a boat trailer, doesn't meant a travel trailer will be stable. Speeding along with limited towing experience, and not crashing it, doesn't mean it's safe. Using an empty trailer weight to argue the safety of the towing limit, ignores the reality of real world weights and weight distribution.
Being concerned that one is getting too close to the towing limit, means they are getting too close to the towing limit. We never know how much margin we are going to need during the emergency stop or emergency avoidance that catches us off guard. More margin is better. Less is worse. And speed is probably the biggest factor of all. Slower is better. Faster is worse.
For example, my friend just crashed his rig on Christmas eve. A 3/4 ton Ram/ Cummins towing a small travel trailer. A single car accident, during the day, on a dry level road, with no other cars in sight. He rolled it four times, totaled the truck and trailer and was trapped inside, upside down, until a passerby came along about 20 minutes later and cut his seat belt to get him out. His margin of safety was very high, in theory. Never a thought to wether his truck could handle the trailer weight. Weight was not the issue. Stability and speed were.
Scampy
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