joe8918

When I tow with the RV I baby it to death. I also run premium fuel. Last camping trip of season my wife topped off with regular...baaaad performance. My towing MPG dropped 2 and I kept having to drop the trans back to 4th on even low angle assents (I drop it down anytime I can't maintain 52 or so MPH). I did a camping trip in MI last year when we drove out and the temp outside was 104...no temp overheating issues. I have meticulous maintenance records, Mobil 1 , Trailer tow prep. I appreciate the suggestions but I think I'm going to continue to tow.

I have just turned 55,000 miles on my 2010 Journey R/T and am still on the original rotors and pads with no signs of excessive wear. I drive a majority on the highway and just don't drive / brake aggressively. Easy on the pedal and live a long life. I would not have thought they would have made it this far with the notice mailed to me about extending the to 36000 miles, etc. Remember....easy on the brakes

Jay - I forgot to mention I do not tow with full tanks. I can't afford that extra weight. All tanks are empty. I'm even picky that I'm going to empty my hot water tank when traveling this year

The Jayco website you see if for the 2012MY which is slightly higher. RV manufacturer's normally put the "off the line" weight on their sites and literature. What you need to look at is the sticker on the RV entry door. Mine says that it is 3094lbs. The hitch weight is something which is also something that "on paper" is unknown. I have a weight distribution system so my rear end is not seeing all 400 lbs obviously because some of that weight is distributed to the front my vehicle and the back of the trailer. That being said, I'm assuming I'm around 300 lbs trailer hitch weight with my WD system (Equalizer). As I said, I am pushing the "limit", however, what is important to know when towing is what is your GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) of the tow vehicle. The 2010 Journey is 8300 lbs or something like that (I have done the math this hasn't been a shot in the dark). I took the GCWR, the journey curb weight/passengers, trailer data, expected contents of trailer, and I am still thinking I'm fine. I did a "test pull" with an RV dealer to ensure that I'm not doing something foolish. You definatly know that you're pulling it but I baby the Journey when it's pulling. Let me know if anyone else has questions.

Attached are the pics

Hi - it doesn't seem like many people use the full towing capacity of their Journey. I have been utilizing it with great success. I have a 2010MY R/T with towing prep. I installed the Curt hitch. I had a dealer install the 7 pin connector. I'm towing a 2011MY Jayco X17Z. I have a Prodigy brake controller and an Equalizer hitch. We took it on 4 different camping trips last year and had a great time. The fuel economy really is decreased as I only get 11.4 MPG but that's what you get when you tow like this. I only drive 60MPH and never go into 6th gear. If its really hilly terrain I have to rarely put it in 4th. I will post pics from another post. Joe

I have 32,000 miles on my 2010 R/T. The other night my wife complained that she smelled a burning smell. I went over to her side (right rear....passenger side) and smelled scorched brake pad and the rotor was extremely hot. The next morning I took it to the dealership. I jacked it up the following morning and spun the wheel. There was definitely more restriction than expected. I drove it to the dealership ( I figured I could do more damage only going < 10 miles as I just drove it probably 25 the previous evening ....cough, cough). The dealership declared that the caliper slide pin was seized. They replaced the right rear rotor as well as both sides pads. They also said they lubed the caliper slide pin on the left rear as well...I hope so. That's kind of irritating as there are very few issues that should be had on modern vehicles, especially calipers as they've been around for so long. Just wanted to vent...maybe a thought to pull your calipers and lube them as I've read online that others have suffered this defect.

I just did my first oil change on my '10 R/T w/ trailer tow prep group. I specifically say trailer tow prep group as it has the engine oil cool which moves the oil filter location to a little rearward of normal 3.5L engines and protected by some plastic guard. My question is what you do with the plastic piece that is under the oil filter. What I did was loosen the two (2) M10 bolts and just let it dangle on the push pins on the wheel well trim. I tried to remove the push pins but they seemed it pretty well and I didn't want to break them on the first oil change Looking forward to your methods. Joe

I have a 2010MY Dodge Journey w/ trailer tow prep group. The dealer included the 7-pin round wiring harness but I think it's over kill and I do not want to splice wires in to the PCM to get the wiring to work. I will at most tow the recommended 3500lbs so I do not think I will have use for it. I want to got with an aftermarket 4-flat wiring harness. I saw on e-trailer.com where I bought the hitch that there are plug-in harness for 2009 but not 2010. The guy I emailed said that the 2010MY is a hard-wired application and gave me a link shown below. Does that sound right? http://www.etrailer.com/p-20251.htm Also, a friend of mine mentioned that I need to be care splicing into the tail lamps as the Journey platform uses low-voltage to power the electronics like the brake lights/running lights, etc. He said that if they see voltage too low it will go to some automatic shut down / lock-up where you would need to take it to the dealership for them to resurrect it. Does anyone know if that is true either? If there is someone out there with a 2010MY who has put in the 4-flat please tell me which one you went with . Thanks, Joe

Concurred!

1989 Dodge Shadow 1996 Ford Ranger 2001 Ford Ranger 2001 Chrysler Sebring 1996 Jeep Cherokee (still have it 2010 Dodge Journey

Well, one thing for sure is that it was not in the Job1 batch for 2010MY. I have a 2010 and it's the same as the 2009MY (alternator on top).

The towing prep group comes with two things: 1.) Engine oil cooler (not auxillary tranny cooler other than stock JC49 design) 2.) 4-pin wiring harness - NOTE: my dealership was a bunch of idiots as they did not know about the wiring harness. I had to open an issue with Chrysler cust. svc. to get them to to get me the harness. I actually received the 7-pin harness with 7pin to 4 pin adapter as well. However, I will need to install it myself by running the hareness to the front and splice some wires in the PCM. That will be fun :rolleyes: Make sure they don't screw around with you and get the wiring harness which is a part of the trailer tow prep group! Joe