Towing with a Pilot without an equalizer hitch

[switz]

Carrying a flat static load is entirely different than having an attachment point that is serving as a fulcrum point for leveraging the downward force of the hitch both to the trailer wheels and the TV front wheels. The magnitude of the stress changes with each vertical rise and fall of the vehicle due to bumps in the road and entry ramps to gas stations etc.

If the sheet metal was that strong, then Andy T at CanAm would not have needed to put a 2" solid steel bar welded to my existing draw bar to a cross member several feet in front of that location. There is a photo of that added bar you can see by clicking on "Images" below my avatar.

The Mercedes factory hitch was known to fail with the rotational forces associated with weight distribution hitches. In fact my 2007 hitch was re-welded by a factory recall. Thus the need for a lever to prevent even minute hitch rotation.

The factory hitch was rated 500 pounds in that year vehicle and the trailer weight was limited to 5,000 pounds. The 25FB we bought had a 1,150 pound tongue weight at the dealership. The writings on the forum encouraged me to go to the larger trailer we selected.

The service writer at the Mercedes dealership never blinked at the CanAm weld job, but stressed the point of the transmission being rated for a maximum of a 5,000 pound trailer weight. When I loaded the trailer for camping including a full fresh water tank, my wife and I in the car plus about 60 pounds of miscellaneous stuff in the back of the car, the entire drive train actually groaned a little at the slight inclines going to and from the scales.

That sound was a bummer, but the overloaded front axle and exceeding the car's GVW was the notice that the car was NOT adequate to tow a 7,300 pound trailer with a then 1,175 pound tongue weight. I have owned the car since it was new in October 2006 and the car has now reached 110,000 miles and continues to be the daily driver.

The replacement tow vehicle, a 2012 Dodge 2500 HD pickup with Cummins diesel, has the towing capacity to handle any current new Airstream.

The lovely 2011 34' tri-axle Classic with a GVW of 11,500 pounds that I drooled over and fantasied about pulling would have been too much towing weight for this truck that has a 20,000 pound combination and truck and trailer rating. At a minimum, one would need at least the 21,000 combination weight to pull that trailer which is the domain of a one ton truck. Actually, a 22,000 pound combination weight would be preferred as my pickup weighs 8,500 pounds without anything in the bed and is closer to 10,000 pounds when hitched and loaded for camping with us in the cab.

This is my experience and my solution to towing both the 25FB and the 27FB Classic (which has a 9,000 pound GVW) we have on order. The truck has the axle and tire ratings and brake system to safely handle this much weight even in the mountains with the aid of a serious engine brake.

YMMV

[MrJim]

FWIW, our Honda Pilot happily survived its recent 2K mile trip cross country towing our non-empty 3530# empty '71 Safari, which also survived the trip in good shape. We used an Equil-I-Zer hitch rated for 6,000#s the whole way without issues.

Part of the key to our success may have been our keeping the cruising speed set to 55 MPH the whole way. Only passed 4 vehicles in the entire trip! Better, only 1 vehicle ever honked at us.

If I'd known then what I know now, I might have chosen a tow vehicle with a higher rating, but treated gently this combination did well together.

[Moflash]

Unibody construction was implemented by the automobile manufacturers not for its outstanding strength or longevity but because it is a much cheaper way to build a product for the masses.Placement of drilled holes are critical as are any modifications.As mentioned many times all vehicles flex both with a full frame and a unibody.But the differance is a full frame has a body bolted to it with rubber body mounts so normal flexing does not affect it as that is the purpose of its design.Add a load to the rear of the full frame vehicle and the full frame takes the load.
Now in the case of newer unibody vehicles the structure is the strength and that strength is arrived at by the use of strategic bent sheet metal.The bends in the metal create its strength.There are no steel beams in this design,just bent boxed sheetmetal to to give it strength.
Over the years safety has been brought to the forefront and this is where the unibody shines as it crumples on impact where a full frame is not as forgiving.The manufacturers realized that with the unibody design if they put weak point in certain areas of the structure such as holes or cutouts that they could design a car to crumple in a preplanned fashion and lower the deceleration forces that damage Or terminate the human body on impact .These week points are in both the front and the back of the vehicle for obvious reasons.Now why is all this important.
Put more weight on the rear of the unibody vehicle than it was designed for and it will put undo stress on a structure that was not designed for this purpose.
Drilling holes in the structure in the wrong place and over time flexing will take its toll.
Add more metal bars or modify the structure and who knows how the vehicle will crumple on impact.
Dont believe me ??I am sure there are crash test videos of your particular vehicle on YouTube ,watch one.
So before you let someone convince you that drilling a few holes here or there or adding a additional homebrew support there or that its ok to do something that is stated in your owners manual not to do...sounds like he knows what he is doing....Think again .

There are alot of well meaning people giving out miss guided information from the seat of their pants education.

[Stefrobrts]

I think we are drifting away from the original question, which is about towing a trailer which is well under the recommended towing capacity of a Honda Pilot. Honda says not to use a WD hitch. The OP wants to know if anyone is towing with a Pilot, and if they used such a hitch or not, and how the towing experience was.

[Moflash]

I believe the Pilot is a unibody build so it does apply and possibly explains why the manufacturers warns against A WD hitch.

[Stefrobrts]

But we're not talking about overloading a unibody beyond the specs the manufacturer has set out for it. This is not about overloading it, adding structural components, or anything like that. This is about using a vehicle in the manner the engineers have indicated it can be used, and how does it perform in the real world.

[Moflash]

On the contrary.a WD hitch creates a wheel barrow affect when transferring weight from rear of tow vehicle to the front. This puts undo stress on weight distribution hitch which int turn places the stress on the unibody structure,enough stress that the people that built and designed this vehicle place a warning in the manual against WD useage.

[tailpipe]

When you are loaded with water.. groceries..passengers and toys how does the Ridgeline sit. The problem comes in when the front becomes light . Many roads have dips or series of dips this is when you could get in trouble, a truck passes you the rear is soft and when it goes down the front end comes up. This is all it takes....please do not take this lightly rv' ing should be fun driving should be fun ....not white knuckled fun .

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by tailpipe

When you are loaded with water.. groceries..passengers and toys how does the Ridgeline sit. The problem comes in when the front becomes light . Many roads have dips or series of dips this is when you could get in trouble, a truck passes you the rear is soft and when it goes down the front end comes up. This is all it takes....please do not take this lightly rv' ing should be fun driving should be fun ....not white knuckled fun .

And that's why we do use weight distribution.

The irony is that a loaded truck without a trailer behind will handle much worse than a loaded truck and an Airstream in tow, with a properly set up weight distribution hitch. Of the two, the RV'er is in a safer rig.

Reading some of these comments makes me think that some folks just want a new truck, even though the old one was performing fine. You can justify anything playing with numbers.

doug

[tailpipe]

Doug, do you have a link to the data that verifies your statement :

The irony is that a loaded truck without a trailer behind will handle much worse than a loaded truck and an Airstream in tow, with a properly set up weight distribution hitch. Of the two, the RV'er is in a safer rig

[dkottum]

No, but try it, you'll know.

Here's the deal. When my truck is loaded back heavy it is light in front and handles very poorly. Add a trailer with weight distribution and the load can be equalized, significantly improving handling.

doug

[Ahab]

Originally Posted by tailpipe

When you are loaded with water.. groceries..passengers and toys how does the Ridgeline sit. The problem comes in when the front becomes light . Many roads have dips or series of dips this is when you could get in trouble, a truck passes you the rear is soft and when it goes down the front end comes up. This is all it takes....please do not take this lightly rv' ing should be fun driving should be fun ....not white knuckled fun .

This is how it sits and I don't have white knuckles when driving it.

[Moflash]

Doug I think in your case using a Ram 1/2 ton regular cab shortbox you are correct because you are loading close to max payload design but with a longer wheelbase vehicle with a higher payload capacity,I do not believe your theory holds any merit.

[Road Ruler]

Originally Posted by tailpipe

When you are loaded with water.. groceries..passengers and toys how does the Ridgeline sit. The problem comes in when the front becomes light . Many roads have dips or series of dips this is when you could get in trouble, a truck passes you the rear is soft and when it goes down the front end comes up. This is all it takes....please do not take this lightly rv' ing should be fun driving should be fun ....not white knuckled fun .

Here is a Ridge with a WDH installed.......

[Moflash]

Ridgline has a completely different structure.Here is a Pilot the blue indicates high strength steel notice the back has very little high strength steel as this allows the structure to crumple easy on initial impact then gets firmer passenger compartment for safety.But as with alot of unibodies this makes for a week rear wheels back area allowing it to bend fairly easy when exposed to undo stress.Now it is easy to see why Honda warns against WD hitch install.

The Honda Pilot has earned the coveted 5-Star ranking from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Pilot has received a 5-star frontal and 5-star side-impact crash test rating which means, there is High-Strength Steel used throughout the body structure.

The unit-body construction makes extensive use of high-strength steel (52 percent) to minimize weight, and maintain safety for passengers in the event of a collision. Of course, the famous Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) Body Structure is used to help. Repairs made to the ACE body structure directly affect your level of safety, correct application of equipment and materials is necessary.

[Moflash]

Honda Ridgeline notice the full length frame in red.

[Scouter Mike]

I just returned from another trip with my trailer and Honda Pilot with no problems as usual. Some of the conversation on this thread led me to double check my manual, Here is what it says:

Weight Distributing Hitch
A weight distributing hitch is not recommended for use with your vehicle, as an improperly adjusted weight distributing hitch may reduce handling, stability, and braking performance.

The concern stated is about handling, not strength. An incorrect towing setup could probably cause these problems with any vehicle. I'm not sure why Honda wants to point this out, but its probably "weasel words" to get out of any liability for problems with a tow set-up that Honda hasn't analyzed or tested.

[andreasduess]

Mike, my Honda Odyssey specifies use of a weight distribution hitch for trailers above 1850lbs. The Pilot and the Odyssey share the same platform, in many ways they are the same car, so I would not worry too much.

[JeweloJalopy]

Originally Posted by MrUKToad

I was wondering if anyone had any stories to relate about unibody weaknesses in and around the hitch securing points.

I absolutely understand what Switz is saying but I've not encountered anyone saying that they've had an issue; not yet, anyway.

I don't have a factory fitted hitch on my TV but my after-market "Hidden Hitch" uses the factory provided mounting points. I can't offer any genuine comments because my hitch has been beefed up and has a third, central mounting point in addition to the two on either end.

Just interested is all...

I installed a Euro-spec hitch on our 1995 BMW 5 series wagon, and on our 2000 BMW 5 series wagon (540it). The factory-type hitches replace the bumper bar, and are attached into the bumper mounts. On the BMW at least this is a strong, reinforced area. And the hitch protrudes into the structure to help resist the bending moment.

It was attached by 10 high strength bolts. I don't think it was however designed for weight distribution, so it would have had to be modified to get past the 200 lb hitch weight limit.