Honda Pilot w/tow package

[Ettelson]

We put our 2003 Honda Pilot to the test with a trip to Yellowstone from San Diego by way of the Rockies and it passed with flying colors! We have a 2720 and use a sway bar. The gas mileage was about 15-19 mpg and we hardly knew it was back there! We also experienced a flat tire from a nail and the trailer was fine. Just pulled over to change the tire and can see no damage.

 

[Brightsu]

We tow our 1995 3326, with a 8 cy. Mercury Mountaineer, complete with towing package and sway bars that we added, we're going to add an electric hitch, my husbands brother has one and it's easier.

Pam

 

[Happytrails]

Pam, before installing the electric hitch, be sure to search it out on this web site as I believe someone was having problems with it burning something out in the TM. (The converter maybe as I recall). They did come up with a solution, but make sure to check into it first before making the install...........Might save you a lot of grief later on......


[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails........[/glow]

 

[Brightsu]

Thanks

I pretty sure we will run it off the battery in the Mercury and bypass the TM.

Pam

 

[camperboy]

The problem mentioned on the board had to do with the charger. I believe the awnser was to go directly to the battery and fuse the wire just off the battery and not to use it while plugged into shore power. Not sure, perhaps someone with a better memory than I might remember. I would wire the jack to the TM since you wouldn't be able to operate it without the tow vehicle then. I would find that frustrating when hitching and unhitching. Also, if you sell it, the buyer wouldn't be able to use it until rewiring was done.

Just my 2 cents.
Camperboy.

 

[red_apache]

It was good news to read that your Honda Pilot did so well. I am curious though, the tow rating for the Honda Pilot is 3500 lbs
Your 2720 must have weighed that if not more, yet you say you hardly knew it was back there? I'm glad to hear that because I have a Suzuki XL 7 that we will use to tow our 2004 2619, the Suzuki tow rating is the same and I was getting a little nervous that we were to close to max, but since your Honda Pilot did so well I'm feeing more comfortable. The Pilot has more horsepower than the Suzuki, but the Suzuki has a final rear drive ratio of 5:13 to 1, (gear ratios really matter in towing) this should more than make up for the horsepwower difference.

 

[Denny_A]

[quote author=red_apache link=board=20;threadid=1046;start=0#msg7615 date=1059927540]
It was good news to read that your Honda Pilot did so well. I am curious though, the tow rating for the Honda Pilot is 3500 lbs
-----------------snip---------------
[/quote]

Hi Jack (don't say that in an airport),

I've been badgering Honda America and my local dealer about the 4500 lb tow limit (for boats) and 3500 lbs for EVERTHING else. Always got the same response - It's aerodynamics! Since aerodynamics is part of my specialty, I "dialoged" that there must be more to it. Used the example of a low profile trailer. Blank stares, or long pauses on the phone.

Two days ago, I went back to Cust Svc at my local dealer and talked to a mechanic who tows a large trailer. He said it's rally a tongue weght limit. He produced an in-house Pilot brochure which specifically stated the limit is due to a) aerodynamics of a boat and b) a 450 lb tongue weight limit.

Then he said - a milisecond before I could follow-up, "do you use a WDH". To which I responded, "yes, and 1/3 of the tongue weight is transferred to the trailer, plus another 1/3 is transferred to the TV front wheels. That means if the tongue weight is as high as 600 lbs, there's only 400 lbs on the Tow Vehicle. We were of a similar mind. He allowed that Honda may assumw no WDH.

Another issue, is that the tongue weight of a boat trailer is normally no greater than 8% of total weight. Whereas the tongue weight of a TrailManor (TM's assumption) can be as high as 14.1 % (I believe).

If a boat trailer, w/out WDH weighs 4500 lbs, then the tongue weight wouldn't exceed 360 lbs. (at 10% = 450 lbs)

A travel trailer weighing even 4100 lbs with 14.1% of it on the tongue, w/out a WDH, would carry 565 lbs on the tongue, but only 375 lbs with a WDH hooked up properly. A 3500 lb TT. at 12.8% tongue weight, no WDH, would have a tongue weight of 450 lbs. I'm guessing that's how they figure it. Probably wrong tho.

Summary : I think the areodynamics issue is possibly overstated - at least in the case of a TrailManor. If the tongue weight limit of 450 lbs assumes no WDH in use, Then the TrailManor might very well be unfairly restricted due to Honda erring on the side of caution. I plan to pursue this a bit more with Honda!

Denny_A

 

[grkman1]

We have an electric hitch on our 2003 2619. It makes life alot easier. I got the hitch from camping world and had it installed. It is connected to the battery and have not had any problems.

I got the maximum hitch strength to avoid any problems later on down the line.

We tow our TM with a V8 Grand Cherokee and weight distribution hitch....never had any problems with sway, and we have been across the country and back in all kinds of weather conditions.

Thank you for the information on the Honda Pilot. We are looking to replace our tow vehicle with a quality vehicle like the Pilot, and I wasnt sure since it has the 6 cylinder 240 HP engine if it would do the trick. I need to look into this more carefully

George

 

[aulii]

George,

What problems have you had with the Jeep? We're hoping to pull a 2720 with a '95 Cherokee. Should we reconsider?

Paul

 

[Happytrails]

Possibly, dunno about the newer transmissions, but as I posted earlier on this board, a guy who worked for a transmissions shop said the typical Cherokee/Grand Cherokee transmission wouldn't hold up well for towing........(for the automatics anyway) Might want to contact a local transmission shop or two and ask them yourself and get their input on it.........I will say the one row thin radiators on the cherokees don't hold up, we don't even stock them at all, we only sell the two row version for all of them, might take your radiator cap off, reach down in their with a finger, and see how many rows your rad is. (Being as the transmission cooler is built into it, it's kinda related...unless you've added an external cooler as well). What year, model, (reg, or grand) and engine size do you have? Just curious..........Happy to help ya out, and can probably do it a lot cheaper than anyone else......... :

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails.........[/glow]

 

[Steverino]

Regarding the Pilot's permissable weights - my dealer also gave aerodynamics as the main reason for the weight "split" (3500/4500). Taking advice from elsewhere on this board, if you take the TM factory's dry weight figure for a 3023, plus the cargo weight, that's 4,092 lbs. maximum trailer weight. Most folks probably won't load to the max. anyway. IMHO, the Pilot should be able to handle this quite well, given the relatively low profile TM. One of the selling points of these trailers is that you don't (shouldn't?) *have* to have a large truck to tow them. Some minivans may be a bit on the light side (usually 3,500# capacity), but a small-ish SUV like the Pilot may be a good compromise choice. It's mileage is comparable to a minivan, plus you get AWD.

So far (if it isn't already obvious), the Pilot is at the top of my TV list at this point. For each factor (comfort, reliability, AWD, tow ratings, passenger & cargo room, mpg) it presents the best set of compromises for us. Now I just have to rob a bank...