The Dodge Journey is a nice little car or crossover SUV, whatever you want to call it, but I was actually surprised at their towing capacity and the fact that they had any whatsoever and to be honest was shocked to see some of the numbers that I saw when I was doing the research.
In this article, I look into how much they can actually pull and have included model years 2009 to 2020, so I can encompass all of the vehicles possible in one (easy-to-read) post. I hope this article helps somebody out there who may be wondering about their specific capacity specs for their Journey. Let's dive in!
Overview of the Data For the Dodge Journeys:
Engine Choices: Over the years, from 2009 to 2020, the Dodge Journey had four different engines to choose from and the engine you had equipped affected the capacity numbers somewhat but not as much as some other factors like: the number of people that were in the vehicle and whether you had the trailer tow prep package installed.
The engines I came across were: the 2.4 liter engine, the 3.5 liter engine, the 3.6 liter engine and the 2.7L engine. I wanted to break down the data even further and give weight rating ranges based on the four different engine options.
- 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 Journeys that used the 2.4L engine had a towing capacity of up to 1,000 lbs.
- 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 Journeys that used the 3.6L engine had a towing capacity of 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2010 and 2009 Journeys that had the 3.5L engine had a towing capacity of 2,500-3,500 lbs. (with trailer package) and 1,000-2,000 lbs. (w/o package)
- 2009 Journeys that had the 2.7L engine had a towing capacity of 1,000-3,000 lbs. (with trailer package) and 1,000-2,000 lbs. (w/o package)
The Trim Levels: Looking at the different trim levels proved to be quite challenging, as there were some trim levels that only appeared for a handful of years, while others were prominent for most of the life of the vehicle.
The trim level did not have a direct effect on the trailer weight ratings, but they did have limited engine options available to them, in some cases which indirectly affected the numbers
I broke down the different trim levels that were available and listed their respective towing capacity based on Dodge's specs:
- 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 SE (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 SE (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010 and 2009 SE (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2020 Crossroad (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 Crossroad (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013 SXT (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 SXT (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2010 and 2009 SXT (3.5l): 1,000-3,500 lbs.
- 2019, 2018 and 2017 GT (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 RT (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2010 and 2009 RT (3.5l): 1,000-3,500 lbs.
- 2015 and 2014 Limited (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 AVP (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2015 AVP (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
- 2011 Express (2.4l): 1,000 lbs.
- 2011 Mainstreet, Crew and Lux (3.6l): 1,500-2,500 lbs.
The Number Of People In The Vehicle: Another major factor that affected the ratings for these CUVs was how many passengers you were carrying in the vehicle. This seemed to affect the capacity quite a bit.
In fact, I noticed that 1,000 pounds (or more in some cases) was the “average” difference between having one to two people in the car and six or seven people in the car.
Overall Tow Capacity: When you look at the models that were made from 2009 to 2020 you'll see that the overall capacity didn't really range all that much and stayed pretty consistent over the years.
The 2020-2009 Dodge Journey had a towing capacity range of 1,000-3,500 lbs., depending on the model year, the engine equipped, how many people you had riding in the vehicle with you and whether you had the trailer tow prep package installed on the vehicle.
Remember to always read through the owner's manuals completely before you tow anything, as there might be additional information that I did not post in this article that may be helpful to you.
In this post you might see one tow chart for many different model years and this is because the chart is exactly the same or very similar (with minor discrepancies) but the information was close enough to only post that one chart that will apply to all model years listed.
2020 Models:
The 2020 Journey had a towing capacity of up to 1,000 pounds, but it included five people in the vehicle and any luggage and cargo they had, which was a predetermined weight for each person, I assume.
Usually the assumed weight of each passenger is around 150 pounds, so if that was the case in this example, then 5 people in the vehicle would equate to 750 pounds of total weight, plus the weight of additional luggage for each passenger, whic is usually around 20-30 pounds per person.
I don't think you can get more capacity out of the vehicle by having fewer than five people either and I would assume that the rating would still be the same if only 1 or 2 people were in the vehicle.
2020 Chart
2011-2019 Models:
Dodge Journeys made from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 had a towing capacity of 1,000-2,500 pounds, depending on which engine you had equipped and how many people were in the vehicle.
If you look at the chart below you can see that the 2.4L engine had the lowest rating in the chart of 1,000 lbs., which includes up to five passengers in the vehicle with additional cargo weight included in that capacity.
The 3.6L engine had a tow capacity that ranged from 1,500 lbs. and went all the way up to 2,500 lbs. and the number of people in the vehicle was the determining factor in the weight range numbers.
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 Charts
2010 Models:
The 2010 models had their own unique table, mainly due to the fact that they had two different engine configurations: the 2.4L engine and the 3.5L engine.
The towing capacity for the 2010 Journey ranged from 1,000-3,500 lbs., depending on the engine equipped and if you had the 3.5L engine, whether you had a trailer tow prep package installed.
As you can see from the 2010 tow chart below, the 2.4L engine had the lowest capacity rating, coming in right at 1,000 pounds and the 3.5L engine (without the trailer tow prep package) had a range of 1,000 pounds to 2,000 pounds.
If you had the 3.5L engine with the trailer tow prep package installed then the weight limits were much higher, ranging from 2,500 pounds, going all the way up to 3,500 pounds, which is nearly double the overall capacity.
2010 Chart
2010 Cont.
2009 Models:
The 2009 models had three different engine configurations to choose from: the 2.4 liter engine, the 2.7 liter engine and the 3.5 liter engine, which made the table a little bit harder to understand than the other model years we looked at already.
The towing capacity for the 2009 Dodge Journey's ranged from 1,000 lbs. - 3,500 lbs., depending on the engine you had equipped, how many people were in the vehicle and whether or not your vehicle had a trailer tow prep package installed.
If you look at the chart below you'll notice that without the trailer tow prep package installed AND no matter which engine you had equipped, the trailer weight ratings is significantly decreased, ranging from 1,000 lbs. and only going up to 2,000 pounds.
In contrast, if you compare those specs with the specs of the 2.7L engine and 3.5L engine with a trailer tow prep package equipped then you can see the range is a lot higher, starting at 1,000 lbs. and going all the way up to 3,500 lbs., dependent upon how many people you had in the vehicle.
2009 Chart
2009 Cont.
What You Need to Know About Your Vehicle
Like I stated earlier, you didn't need to know a whole lot about your vehicle in order to get your maximum trailer weight rating. In fact, you just needed to know the model year of your vehicle, the engine you had equipped, how many people were riding in the vehicle, more specifically their weight and if you had the trailer package installed.
The model year should be pretty easy to find, so the other three variables are what most people are going to need to focus on and figure out. On a side note, if you do not know the model year of your vehicle, you could always use the VIN and get it that way. I will explain this in more detail in the following sections.
What Engine Do I Have?
The engine that you had equipped in your vehicle from the factory was definitely the most important detail about your vehicle when it came to getting an accurate trailer weight rating, as I have probably overstated in this article way too much already!
I would bet that most people can pop the hood of their vehicle, look inside the engine Bay and identify what engine they are looking at, but there are some people out there that probably are not confident in doing this. There is another way to identify the engine of your vehicle and that would be to plug in the VIN of your vehicle into an online VIN decoder and that should tell you what engine you have equipped.
These decoders will also tell you a whole bunch of other helpful information about your vehicle and will even help you figure out what model year it is, if you need that information as well.
The Weight of You and Your Occupants
If we look at some of the charts, we can see that dodge specifies a specific number of people in the vehicle and the maximum trailer weight ratings will change according to how many people are in the vehicle.
In some cases, this can be one to two people, three to four people, five to six people or seven people and then they specify specific ratings depending on the number of occupants in the vehicle. One thing I wanted to point out is that it's not really the number of occupants, it is how much each of your occupants weigh.
You can't have five people that weigh over 300 pounds in the vehicle because it would be too much weight than what the assumed amount of weight was. I think dodge could have done a much better job with this metric and it is basically just something I know because of all the research I do when it comes to vehicles, their weights and other information that most people overlook.
I was not able to find a definitive answer on what the assumed weight of each passenger is but from my experience, most other manufacturers use a 150 pound rating for each person in the vehicle and I assume it would be very close to what dodge assumes as well.
Do I Have A Trailer Tow Prep Package Installed?
When researching the trailer tow prep package for these CUVs, I wasn't able to come across any definitive articles or documents on Dodge's website. At this point, if you're curious whether your Journey has a tow package installed, then I would recommend taking it to a dealership to see if they can check for you, as there are no indicators I found that would allow you to check yourself.
If this changes in the future, I will be sure to update this article to make everything as easy as possible.
Resources I Used For This Article:
I gathered all of my information from the owner's manuals that I found on the Dodge website and I posted the links for the specific model years below just in case anybody wants to do a little bit more in-depth research into their specific model or read up on some of the other very helpful tow related information that is included in the owner's manuals.
Last updated on May 29th, 2022 at 10:02 pm
