[Ratman138]

After doing a huge tent camping trip my wife annd I are going to be picking up a Little Guy trailer for Bonnaroo in June. Had a few questions as I have never towed and hoping for some help.

Please excuse any stupid questions or incorrect terms.

I have a JK with an Ace Engineering rear bumper. It has the receiver slot in the bumper. I assume I need to hit uhaul to get the ball hitch, but do all jks have the wiring for the trailer lights or do I need to have something installed?

I'm running on a 4 inch lift and 35 in General red letters. Do I need to do anything special to level it out while towing?

Finally, do these suckers lock onto your rig? I don't plan on even unhitching since we're at a festival, but still want it locked for inevitable stops at Walmart and food on the trip up to Manchester.

Any other tips or tricks I'm unaware , I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

 

[Mike-D]

You can get the hitch and wiring kit from Quadratec for under $100. It's quite simple to install.

In terms of level, you'll need to do some measurements and get the proper height drop hitch. An adjustable one may be your best bet for fine tuning it and you absolutely want it to be level for optimal stability/handling.

Just do a search for trailer or hitch lock, there are tons of options. I'd probably use a lock on the hitch pin as well as the release on the trailer itself.

I've only towed a handful of times (my 3rd time towing was a 900 mile move to Michigan from New Hampshire so trial by fire I guess haha) but the biggest thing to be careful of is tongue weight. The Little Guy should tow behind a Wrangler nicely but just watch how you load it and make sure tires/bearings/wiring is all in good shape. I'm guessing this will be new so those should be non-issues but it's shocking how many POS trailers I see being dragged down the interstate.

 

[Tweak]

You dont need to go to uhaul for a hitch, you already have the receiver. Any walmart sells what you need.

If the trailer has brakes, get a brake controller. The single best thing you can do to improve towing is brakes.

If it has a bulldog type hitch on the trailer (jaws that clamp around the ball), there isnt really much you can do to lock it. Dont waste your time with these, any 10 year old can break one with a kick or two. If you have stamped steel type that goes over the ball, you can usually use a padlock. That doesnt assure that it wont get stolen, so just make it inconvenient!

Get a cable, they sell them at walmart, right next to where you are picking up a hitch. padlock it to the safety chain holes in the bumper.

And remember, safety chains run crossed, not parallel. You can kinda see it here.

 

[moto_italia]

Ratman, you're asking the wrong question.

What you should be asking is: "Do I need to get a trailer for Bonnaroo, because I know we'll just be passed out next to 'Which Stage' the whole time until we wake up to realize that we need to crawl over to 'What Stage' to see Pearl Jam?"

 

[REYbicon]

We're in a very similar situation. We take delivery of our Teardrop trailer this spring out in Minnesota. In the meatime, we're just about to get our Rubi transformed into a 'rig' *yippee!* We're putting in the AEV 3.5 Dualsport lift and 35 KO2's -along with a 7-pin harness and prodigy brake controller becaue we opted for the trailer to have electric brakes.

We expect to figure out the drop hitch height and the method we'll attach soon after all the work is done on the Rubi, and get the final specs on our (semi- custom) trailer.

The Lock n Roll articulating coupler looks interesting.

 

[Orangejeep1]

do all jks have the wiring for the trailer lights or do I need to have something installed?

Adding the wiring, especially if your trailer requires a flat 4 pole connector is simple. You will remove the driver side brake light cover to plug in the harness. Make sure you get one designed for a JK, not just a generic one (this way you won't have to splice anything). My hitch came with one and I added a 7 pole (so I have the best of both worlds) so I can charge the battery on my trailer while towing and add brakes later. Look at Quadratec, etrailer, Amazon, etc.

 

[adamsesq]

Etrailer.com is your best friend if you are in to towing at all. I could spend a year's salary there!

Brakes has been mentioned and requires a lot more rewiring and adding the Prodigy brake controller (there are others, but I don't know why - just get a Prodigy if you are doing brakes.) Wiring for brakes is not totally plug and play like wiring for a flat 4 pin lights only connector.

I will disagree with those who say don't bother with a this or that tongue lock. The biggest concern I have (based on experience) is someone screwing with it while you are parked and inside somewhere. More than once I have come out and found my trailer latch undone or my chains undone (or tightened). Make sure you check all your connections each and every time you leave and come back to the trailer. Make it a part of your routine.

When driving don't do anything fast. Slow a lot earlier than you would normally expect to. If you miss a turn don't turn sharp to try and make it - just go around. Change lanes early. It's not like you are towing a lot of weight or a lot of length but these are generally good ideas for towing.

Don't worry - you'll do fine.

 

[Tweak]

I will disagree with those who say don't bother with a this or that tongue lock.

I broke one taking it out of the packaging.

It's just a 1/4" piece of chinese metal with notches cut into it. The inside of the notches are 1/8". That's not stopping anybody.

The actual tongue locks that fit inside the tongue when the trailer is disconnected are a good idea.

 

[adamsesq]

I broke one taking it out of the packaging.

It's just a 1/4" piece of chinese metal with notches cut into it. The inside of the notches are 1/8". That's not stopping anybody.

The actual tongue locks that fit inside the tongue when the trailer is disconnected are a good idea.

I guess, Tweak, that I was building on what you said more than addressing your specific item. I should have been more clear. I have heard others say "Don't bother locking the tongue because all tongue locks can easily be broken or defeated."

What I so inartfully tried to say is that you should use a lock for protection against general misfits who want to screw with your stuff. But obviously pick the one that is going to be the hardest to screw with. The one you pictures is probably not going to be the hardest to screw with

Heck, I had a really good master lock on one of my trailers that I lost the keys for last week and was in a rush to get out the door with the trailer. 10 minutes with the die grinder and it was shredded. Anything can be defeated!

 

[Tweak]

I guess, Tweak, that I was building on what you said more than addressing your specific item. I should have been more clear. I have heard others say "Don't bother locking the tongue because all tongue locks can easily be broken or defeated."

What I so inartfully tried to say is that you should use a lock for protection against general misfits who want to screw with your stuff. But obviously pick the one that is going to be the hardest to screw with. The one you pictures is probably not going to be the hardest to screw with

Heck, I had a really good master lock on one of my trailers that I lost the keys for last week and was in a rush to get out the door with the trailer. 10 minutes with the die grinder and it was shredded. Anything can be defeated!

Ah yea I gotcha. Especially a light trailer, locks are just a deterrent. they can be towed away by just safety chains lol

 

[jeepers29]

We tow a little guy tag with our JKU with the Ace bumper. Tows great. Ours has the 7 round trailer wiring, so make sure you check what type of plug you need before you get supplies. I had ours installed as I did not want to mess with the electrical. I had the electric receiver installed on the face of the Ace bumper just the the left of the hitch to keep it out of harms way on the trails. You will enjoy the little guy, very well built.

 

[OldDogNewJeep]

Etrailer.com is your best friend if you are in to towing at all. I could spend a year's salary there!

Brakes has been mentioned and requires a lot more rewiring and adding the Prodigy brake controller (there are others, but I don't know why - just get a Prodigy if you are doing brakes.) Wiring for brakes is not totally plug and play like wiring for a flat 4 pin lights only connector.

I will disagree with those who say don't bother with a this or that tongue lock. The biggest concern I have (based on experience) is someone screwing with it while you are parked and inside somewhere. More than once I have come out and found my trailer latch undone or my chains undone (or tightened). Make sure you check all your connections each and every time you leave and come back to the trailer. Make it a part of your routine.

When driving don't do anything fast. Slow a lot earlier than you would normally expect to. If you miss a turn don't turn sharp to try and make it - just go around. Change lanes early. It's not like you are towing a lot of weight or a lot of length but these are generally good ideas for towing.

Don't worry - you'll do fine.

Good post.

 

[billiebob]

You can lock it with any padlock.
Pick one that fits snug so it won't rattle.
Keep a can of WD40 handy to keep it lubed.

 

[billiebob]

i tow about 6K miles a year with my TJ. Next trailer I will buy with brakes but honestly, towing all the time in the mountains, I have never felt like I needed them. My trailer weighs 1700# loaded. The TJ has no trouble stopping it without brakes. But next trailer will have brakes.

 

[Adventure.AS]

After doing a huge tent camping trip my wife annd I are going to be picking up a Little Guy trailer for Bonnaroo in June. Had a few questions as I have never towed and hoping for some help.

Thanks

Try joining the Little Guy forum. There are a lot of us on that forum with Jeep tow vehicles.

 

[Ratman138]

lots of great replies, thanks everyone for the help. I am going to head over to that littleguy forum now and start poking about.