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RVingGuy · 09-20-2020, 05:31 PM

I have recently acquired a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I want to flat tow it behind my Class A motor home. It can be flat towed and so I plan on having the towing gear installed. One of the instructions say that the negative battery cable should be disconnected to flat tow. The vehicle does not have keys and things like opening ad locking the doors, starting the engine, and many other functions require a fob that the vehicle senses electronically. So my question is, does this mean that when towing, the doors can’t be locked or unlocked. Anyone have any experience with this?

EZRider800 · 09-20-2020, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVingGuy

I have recently acquired a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I want to flat tow it behind my Class A motor home. It can be flat towed and so I plan on having the towing gear installed. One of the instructions say that the negative battery cable should be disconnected to flat tow. The vehicle does not have keys and things like opening ad locking the doors, starting the engine, and many other functions require a fob that the vehicle senses electronically. So my question is, does this mean that when towing, the doors can’t be locked or unlocked. Anyone have any experience with this?

We just bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee to tow with our 40' diesel pusher. We have Blue Ox flat towing equipment and the Air Force One auxillary braking system. We tow it all the time just like we used to tow our Ram 1500 before it. We have NEVER taken the battery cable off. It's not necessary. As a matter of a fact, if the battery cable was off I'm not sure your key fob would unlock the doors and I'm not sure the electronics would keep the transfer case in neutral while you tow. Take it from me, you don't have to remove the battery cable.

Tha_Rooster · 09-20-2020, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVingGuy

I have recently acquired a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I want to flat tow it behind my Class A motor home. It can be flat towed and so I plan on having the towing gear installed. One of the instructions say that the negative battery cable should be disconnected to flat tow. The vehicle does not have keys and things like opening ad locking the doors, starting the engine, and many other functions require a fob that the vehicle senses electronically. So my question is, does this mean that when towing, the doors can’t be locked or unlocked. Anyone have any experience with this?

Don’t know about your car but certain ones it’s not good for the computer.

PJStough · 09-20-2020, 06:39 PM

We have flat towed a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee for two years and never disconnected the battery. What year is your Grand Cherokee?

Chevyguy1973 · 09-20-2020, 08:27 PM

We also flat tow our Grand Cherokee, and have for several years. Never disconnected the battery cable, but ours is an older Jeep, so maybe different? I'd go with whatever the owner's manual for your year indicates.

On a side note: We're really happy with our installed tow bar parts on the Jeep, the Blue Ox tow bar, and our RVi Braking system.

PeteandDeb · 09-20-2020, 11:18 PM

we flat tow a '17 GC Overland. In 40k miles we have never disconnected the battery and never had a problem.
Note ... not all Jeeps are flat towable ... make sure the transmission allows for flat tow. I know we had to pass up a couple of Grand Cherokees as they had the wrong tranny.

Gormleys · 09-21-2020, 07:58 AM

A lot of times, removing the battery cable is to keep the battery from discharging. You might consider installing Battery Charging Diode like the Roadmaster RM-156-25 kit. That will keep the battery topped off while towing.

RVingGuy · 09-21-2020, 11:26 AM

I contacted Jeep and asked a series of questions about this. The main question was “Why?” Detailed questions were what would disconnecting do to locking and unlocking the doors and all of the settings in the computer. I was told it might 2 days to get back to me with the answers.

Within 2 hours I got a call back with the answer. The answer is, “The Users Manual is being updated and the requirement to disconnect the battery is wrong!” I don’t know about older Grand Cherokees but mine is a 2020. If you have an older Jeep you might want to call Jeep and ask the same question.

harleyjt · 09-21-2020, 11:48 AM

That’s good. I don’t recall seeing that requirement in the instructions for my 2017 GC
jt

EZRider800 · 09-21-2020, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeteandDeb

we flat tow a '17 GC Overland. In 40k miles we have never disconnected the battery and never had a problem.
Note ... not all Jeeps are flat towable ... make sure the transmission allows for flat tow. I know we had to pass up a couple of Grand Cherokees as they had the wrong tranny.

Got to be a 4wd so you can put the transfer case in neutral to flat tow. A 2wd transmission will not do this. You can't just put the transmission in neutral. It's not the same. This also goes for Ram 1500 pickup trucks.

RichnSue · 09-21-2020, 12:08 PM

As our signature states, we have 2012 JGC hemi, never in our 3 years have we ever disconnected the battery cable. Our manual doesn't even mention that

R E Z · 09-21-2020, 01:52 PM

We're flat towing a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee behind our Class A. As others have said, you have to have the right transmission for it -- on ours there's a little Neutral button you depress right behind the center Terrain Selector wheel -- typically only available if your Jeep can do 4LO, I believe. If yours doesn't have it, it's unlikely it can be towed 4 down.

Super, super simple process -- definitely no need to disconnect the battery. Here's the steps for ours (partially because I want to have them in a place I can easily get back to instead of having to re-read the manual every time):

1. On level ground, with car on & foot on brake, shift into N.
1a. If you have Quadra-Lift (we don't), you need to make sure it's set to "Normal Ride Height" (buttons to the right of the Terrain Selector knob).
2. Using something really pointy, depress Neutral button (behind Terrain Selector knob in center console) for 4 seconds. The light by the button will blink while the shift into Neutral is happening, and then will stay solid once it's done.
2a. A message comes up on the instrument panel about 4WD being shifted into Neutral.
3. Shift into R with foot off brake for 5 seconds to check that you're truly in Neutral.
4. Shift back into N.
5. Firmly apply parking brake.
6. Turn off car once, shift into P, turn off car again. <-- this part sounds weird, but the first turn off puts it in ACC mode, then shift to P and press the ignition twice more to turn it all the way off.
7. Release parking brake.
8. Turn on the supplemental braking system.

---

That's it, really. I've typically hooked up to the tow bar prior to doing the above steps, so that I can use the engine to reverse really slowly to 'lock out / engage' the Blue Ox tow bars -- that way there's not a huge kathunk when they do lock out the first time.

Hope that helps.

EZRider800 · 09-21-2020, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R E Z

8. Turn on the supplemental braking system.

Hope that helps.

What kind of supplemental braking system do you have? Where do you turn it on? We have the Air Force 1 unit and as far as I know there is nowhere to turn it on??? I just connect the air hose to the RV and plug in the 7 way plug and I believe it's on.

R E Z · 09-21-2020, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EZRider800

What kind of supplemental braking system do you have? Where do you turn it on? We have the Air Force 1 unit and as far as I know there is nowhere to turn it on??? I just connect the air hose to the RV and plug in the 7 way plug and I believe it's on.

We've got the Demco SBS Stay In Play Duo with a charge line hooked up to the battery so the Jeep batt doesn't drain while being a toad. No air hose for us -- that seems like it could be nice/easier, but ah well. Sorry for the confusion.