Premier Cape Cod Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram · Hyannis, MA · Published 19 July 2026

If you are buying a 2026 Grand Wagoneer to pull a boat, one option box decides whether you end up with a 10,000 lb tow rating or a 6,030 lb one, and it is not the trim name. It is the rear axle ratio, it arrives via either the Heavy-duty Trailer Tow package or the Upland package, and it is installed when the vehicle is built. Get it wrong and there is no fixing it afterwards.

We sell into a market where that mistake is expensive and common. Boats leave our lot for ramps at Bass River and Sesuit Harbor most weekends from May onward, and every spring we get calls from owners who discovered their vehicle was built on the standard axle. Here is what a boat haul out here actually asks of a tow vehicle, which three Grand Wagoneer builds answer it, and which one we would put you in.

What a boat haul out here actually demands

Towing here is unusual in that the distances are short and the conditions are awkward. A run from a driveway to a ramp is rarely more than half an hour, so sustained highway pulling is not the test. The test is everything at the end of it.

Low-speed control on a wet slope. A concrete ramp with weed on it, a loaded trailer behind you and a queue waiting is where drivetrain gearing earns its money. The two-speed transfer case in the tow package adds a 2.64 low-range ratio, which lets you ease a heavy trailer up at walking pace instead of slipping your way out.

Braking you can actually modulate. Trailer brakes are recommended above 1,000 pounds and required above 2,000. The tow package includes integrated trailer brake control, so gain is set from the cabin rather than from an aftermarket box screwed under the dash.

Weight you have not counted. Payload runs from 1,415 to 1,625 pounds depending on how your vehicle is built, and it includes trailer tongue weight along with every person and bag inside. A conventional trailer rests roughly ten to fifteen percent of its weight on the hitch, so a mid-size rig claims a large share of that before anyone climbs in. This is the ceiling that stops most family boat hauls, not the tow rating.

Salt, on everything. Winter road salt and year-round salt air do their worst on the trailer connector and the hitch. A corroded seven-pin plug is the single most common towing failure we see in spring.

Three Grand Wagoneer builds, and what each one tows

Build	Maximum trailer weight	Suits
Short wheelbase, 4x4, Heavy-duty Trailer Tow	10,000 lbs, conventional hitch, properly equipped	Anything up to a serious offshore boat on a tandem trailer
Grand Wagoneer L, 4x4, Heavy-duty Trailer Tow	9,860 lbs, conventional hitch, properly equipped	The same trailer plus a full third row and its luggage
Any build on the standard 3.55 axle	6,030 lbs in four-wheel drive; 6,210 lbs in rear-wheel drive	A small runabout or a pair of jet skis, and nothing beyond

Two things in that table catch people out. The first is that the top and bottom rows can be the same vehicle at the same price with a different final drive inside the axle, and you cannot tell them apart in a parking lot. The second is that rear-wheel drive out-tows four-wheel drive on the standard axle, because four-wheel-drive hardware adds mass that comes off the trailer allowance. That reverses once the 3.92 axle is fitted, and the 3.92 requires four-wheel drive.

Every configuration uses the same 420-horsepower Hurricane twin-turbo six, so engine choice is not part of this decision. The full ratings by configuration are on our towing capacity page, and if you want the whole picture first, the Grand Wagoneer research hub collects it.

Getting to the ramp, and back over the bridge

The two we hear about most are short runs that end in a queue on a slope. The ramps out toward Falmouth add a little more distance but the same conditions. What none of these trips need is sustained highway towing capability. What they all need is composure at three miles an hour with a wet surface underneath.

The one hard leg is the way home in August. A loaded trailer coming back over the Bourne Bridge in Saturday traffic means long periods stationary on a grade with heat building, then a merge. The Tow setting in the transfer case and the transmission's wide 8.6 ratio spread exist for exactly that, and integrated trailer brake control makes the descent afterwards a non-event.

One local footnote that has nothing to do with capability: rinse the trailer connector when you rinse the vehicle, not just at the end of the season. Our service department sees more spring towing problems from corroded wiring than from anything mechanical.

Honest trade-offs

The short wheelbase tows the most and turns in 40.2 feet curb to curb, which matters in a packed lot. It holds 27.9 cubic feet behind an occupied third row, which is not much once everyone is aboard.

The Grand Wagoneer L gives up 140 lbs of tow rating and two feet of turning circle, and returns 42.6 cubic feet behind the third row for a flat $3,000. If you tow with the whole family aboard, that is usually the right trade. Third-row legroom is 36.6 inches in both, so the L buys luggage room rather than passenger room. The cargo and third row page has the full breakdown.

The standard-axle car is the one to avoid if a boat is the point, and it is worth saying that a $94,310 Summit Obsidian without the package tows less than a $63,995 base car with it. Price does not buy tow rating on this vehicle. Which configuration buys what is laid out on the trims compared page.

Which one we would put you in

If you tow a mid-size boat and carry four people: short-wheelbase Grand Wagoneer, four-wheel drive, Heavy-duty Trailer Tow package. Rated 10,000 lbs, turns in the smallest circle, costs the least of the three to get there.

If you tow and fill all three rows: Grand Wagoneer L with the same package. You trade 140 lbs of rating for 42.6 cubic feet behind the third row, and with seven aboard you will need it.

If your trailer is small and always will be: a four-wheel-drive car on the standard axle at 6,030 lbs is honest capability for a runabout, and you keep the money. Just decide that deliberately rather than discovering it later.

If you are not sure what your trailer weighs: find out before you order. A public scale gives you the loaded figure in ten minutes, and dry weight from a brochure is routinely several hundred pounds light. Bring us that number and we will tell you which build you need.

Before you order

Call us with the loaded weight of your trailer and we will read the axle ratio, transfer case and package content off any specific vehicle on the ground before you drive over. That is a two-minute conversation that prevents the one mistake this whole post is about. We are at 556 Yarmouth Rd in Hyannis, and the number is (508) 815-5000.

If you are trading something in, start the valuation with our trade-in form so the numbers are ready when you arrive, and if you want a payment figure first, the financing center handles pre-approval online. Otherwise, book a test drive and bring the trailer if you can.