'17 Ridgeline AWD w/ factory tow package. 19' AS Flying Cloud

[nickteller25]

Hello.

My research says that the '17 Honda RL AWD with factory tow package (5000# tow capacity; 550# hitch weight) is adequate for the AS Flying Cloud 19' (4500 GVWR).

We will be traveling with (2) adults (180# and 100#) and (2) small kids.

We are installing a WD hitch and a brake controller.

Also we will be tracking tongue weights and being careful with the weights of our gear as well as positioning in the trailer and in the RL.

We will be traveling in the Northeast US (max. 300 mile trips one-way) on relatively flat terrain mostly weekends, so no real challenging terrain and no real heavy gear loads.

I've read several conflicting threads on the RL experience with a 4500# AS, but I've noticed many of these more negative threads were early in the RL production release, so have to figure much of the criticism was not based on miles traveled on the road.

Anybody have an updated experience towing based on the above info. (AS 19' and late model G2 RL)?

Thanks so much in advance. New to RV but have been pulling boats and construction trailers for 20 years. Trying to be as safe as possible while maximizing fun potential (no white knuckles!)...

[YippieKiYa]

Since you’re going to be in the NE US, it’s not a long drive to go see Andy at CANAM in London, ON. Call him up - he’s very experienced with this sort of thing and would be considered a great source of info.

[AirHog]

Congrats and best of luck. We are from RI and have been Airstreaming for quite a while. Andy at Can Am is the best and we have personal experience with him. Please sent a PM if you want to chat and get some biased info. Best of luck again.

Titu

[nickteller25]

Originally Posted by YippieKiYa

Since you’re going to be in the NE US, it’s not a long drive to go see Andy at CANAM in London, ON. Call him up - he’s very experienced with this sort of thing and would be considered a great source of info.

Thank you, thank you. I spoke with those guys. Excellent help. Safe travels.

[DryFly]

I've towed with my 2011 Ridgeline since we bought it in 2012. Both with our 20' Argosy (3300 lbs) and a 20' Vintage Cruiser (4300 lbs). Zero problems in some pretty nasty wind conditions. Stay below Honda's tongue and trailer weight limits and you'll be fine. Do NOT have anyone convince you to use a weight distribution hitch, unless they will provide insurance for the Honda as it will probably void your warranty.
Here's an article you should read.

[DryFly]

I ran out of time on the last post. A couple of other comments. The new iteration of the Ridgeline shares the same engine and frame design as the first generation, with a 6 speed transmission vs 5 speed. The engine is fully capable of towing the 19' AS, but you'll be going pretty slow up some hills. I do think you are at the edge of the trucks designed capability towing that trailer when loaded for camping.
If you haven't already purchased one of the rigs, research what the "ready for camping" weight is of the 19' AS, then determine if the Ridgeline is adequate to tow it. If you've already bought the Ridgeline, you may need to go with a lighter trailer. If you've already bought the AS, you may need a truck with a bigger tow rating.

[nickteller25]

Originally Posted by DryFly

I ran out of time on the last post. A couple of other comments. The new iteration of the Ridgeline shares the same engine and frame design as the first generation, with a 6 speed transmission vs 5 speed. The engine is fully capable of towing the 19' AS, but you'll be going pretty slow up some hills. I do think you are at the edge of the trucks designed capability towing that trailer when loaded for camping.

If you haven't already purchased one of the rigs, research what the "ready for camping" weight is of the 19' AS, then determine if the Ridgeline is adequate to tow it. If you've already bought the Ridgeline, you may need to go with a lighter trailer. If you've already bought the AS, you may need a truck with a bigger tow rating.

Interesting info.. thank you for sharing.

I will do some more homework.

[bbandeddie]

My set up is a 2017 Ridgeline Touring AWD and 2014 Eddie Bauer 27FB. We are just back from 5 months touring the SW (Barrie ON to AZ, UT, CA) 17260km. While towing, our fuel mileage averaged (calculated from odometer and pump receipts using iOS app Road Trip and using only purely hooked miles (no solo trips in the calc)) is 19.14l/100km which works out to about 12.25 mpg.
We were set up by Can-Am with eze-lift WDH and 1000lb bars. We purchased the trailer first and the Ridgeline second with towing the AS in mind.
Absolutely no issues with this rig. Slow up hills, really? No issues pulling 6-8% grades at 55-60mph with gears and throttle to spare and no issues accelerating back up to 60mph after someone cut me off on that same hill and knocked me back to 40mph.
We pulled several passes to 9000 ft with zero issues ascending or controlling descent speeds.
Actually some of the backroads hills in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ontario were way steeper than any of the passes we hit out west.
Super comfortable, very quiet - well except for the <1% of the time we revved up to 5500rpm (still well below redline).
So many times my navigator would chide for for speeding and I’m like “hun - she just wants to go! I’m not into the throttle!”
Heh! V6 they just don’t make them like they used to. Thank god! Designed built and tested to rev when you want it so give ‘er!
As I’ve already mentioned and others too, Can-Am did my set up. Under no circumstances would I simply drop this trailer on a stock Ridgeline without their professional setup. That would be an unmitigated disaster.
So, your 19’? A piece of piss!

[DryFly]

Originally Posted by bbandeddie

My set up is a 2017 Ridgeline Touring AWD and 2014 Eddie Bauer 27FB. We are just back from 5 months touring the SW (Barrie ON to AZ, UT, CA) 17260km. While towing, our fuel mileage averaged (calculated from odometer and pump receipts using iOS app Road Trip and using only purely hooked miles (no solo trips in the calc)) is 19.14l/100km which works out to about 12.25 mpg.
We were set up by Can-Am with eze-lift WDH and 1000lb bars. We purchased the trailer first and the Ridgeline second with towing the AS in mind.
Absolutely no issues with this rig. Slow up hills, really? No issues pulling 6-8% grades at 55-60mph with gears and throttle to spare and no issues accelerating back up to 60mph after someone cut me off on that same hill and knocked me back to 40mph.
We pulled several passes to 9000 ft with zero issues ascending or controlling descent speeds.
Actually some of the backroads hills in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ontario were way steeper than any of the passes we hit out west.
Super comfortable, very quiet - well except for the <1% of the time we revved up to 5500rpm (still well below redline).
So many times my navigator would chide for for speeding and I’m like “hun - she just wants to go! I’m not into the throttle!”
Heh! V6 they just don’t make them like they used to. Thank god! Designed built and tested to rev when you want it so give ‘er!
As I’ve already mentioned and others too, Can-Am did my set up. Under no circumstances would I simply drop this trailer on a stock Ridgeline without their professional setup. That would be an unmitigated disaster.
So, your 19’? A piece of piss!

I learn a lot every time I follow a thread on this forum. In this case I researched the 2017 Ridgeline specs vs my 2011. As far as towing goes, the 2017 has 280 HP at sea level at 6000 rpm vs my 2011 at 250 hp at 5500 rpm.

Everything else is pretty much the same, including Honda's recommendations, GVWR and GCWR, the warning against using a wdh, etc. And of course the physics of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine.

Andy at Can Am is a great guy, but he won't replace your warranty - he'll only void it if you follow his recommendations. I wonder what your liability is if you exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations and something drastic happens? Personally, I'll trust the Honda engineers.

But that's just my opinion.

[nickteller25]

Originally Posted by bbandeddie

My set up is a 2017 Ridgeline Touring AWD and 2014 Eddie Bauer 27FB. We are just back from 5 months touring the SW (Barrie ON to AZ, UT, CA) 17260km. While towing, our fuel mileage averaged (calculated from odometer and pump receipts using iOS app Road Trip and using only purely hooked miles (no solo trips in the calc)) is 19.14l/100km which works out to about 12.25 mpg.
We were set up by Can-Am with eze-lift WDH and 1000lb bars. We purchased the trailer first and the Ridgeline second with towing the AS in mind.
Absolutely no issues with this rig. Slow up hills, really? No issues pulling 6-8% grades at 55-60mph with gears and throttle to spare and no issues accelerating back up to 60mph after someone cut me off on that same hill and knocked me back to 40mph.
We pulled several passes to 9000 ft with zero issues ascending or controlling descent speeds.
Actually some of the backroads hills in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ontario were way steeper than any of the passes we hit out west.
Super comfortable, very quiet - well except for the <1% of the time we revved up to 5500rpm (still well below redline).
So many times my navigator would chide for for speeding and I’m like “hun - she just wants to go! I’m not into the throttle!”
Heh! V6 they just don’t make them like they used to. Thank god! Designed built and tested to rev when you want it so give ‘er!
As I’ve already mentioned and others too, Can-Am did my set up. Under no circumstances would I simply drop this trailer on a stock Ridgeline without their professional setup. That would be an unmitigated disaster.
So, your 19’? A piece of piss!

great info.. thanks so much for chiming in.

Piece of piss. I won't forget that line anytime soon!

Safe travels.

[bbandeddie]

Originally Posted by DryFly

I learn a lot every time I follow a thread on this forum. In this case I researched the 2017 Ridgeline specs vs my 2011. As far as towing goes, the 2017 has 280 HP at sea level at 6000 rpm vs my 2011 at 250 hp at 5500 rpm.



Everything else is pretty much the same, including Honda's recommendations, GVWR and GCWR, the warning against using a wdh, etc. And of course the physics of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine.



Andy at Can Am is a great guy, but he won't replace your warranty - he'll only void it if you follow his recommendations. I wonder what your liability is if you exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations and something drastic happens? Personally, I'll trust the Honda engineers.



But that's just my opinion.

Well, I didn’t find anything warning not to use a WDH maybe the Cdn book is different? Regardless, Can-Am significantly reinforced the receiver to accommodate the torque loads from the WDH. I have no concerns there. As for GVW, I’m no where near that limit in our loading. GCW is simply a sum of GVW and Tow Rating, in the Honda’s case. The tow rating is a performance guarantee rather than a design criteria. Based on the intensive and extensive testing Can-Am has over 40years of hitching, I’m unconcerned about excess wear and tear. Even if my vehicle life span has been reduced 30%, I routinely see used Honda Ridgeline with 300,000+ km on them selling for $10k. So, a 30% drop would be to 200k and that’s 8-10y if use for me. I would expect to replace the vehicle around the 10y mark anyway. That said, the stats Andy shared in the Cayenne thread last week with 200k trouble free MILES on their Grand Caravan pulling substantially more challenging (higher rpm, lower gear) trailers than the Airstream, again, unconcerned. Just be sure to service on extreme service intervals.
If Andy’s work resulted in warranties being voided left right and centre he wouldn’t still be making the recommendations. They have put thousands of rigs like this one the road. In fact whenever we spend a few nights camping in their forecourt we see an even number of rigs coming and going - full sized trucks vs cars/suv/etc. Further, they use these same cars for 100s of thousands of KM of commercial towing (to RV shows, picking up trailers from JC and Elkhart, customer test drives). Their potential liability exposure is significantly greater than mine, so they wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t safe. Also, he wouldn’t tow with his jag. Or let his daughter tow with a taurus. The rest of the employees wouldn’t also tow with all sorts (Acadia, BWM 7 series auto, Mercedes, etc).

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by DryFly

I learn a lot every time I follow a thread on this forum. In this case I researched the 2017 Ridgeline specs vs my 2011. As far as towing goes, the 2017 has 280 HP at sea level at 6000 rpm vs my 2011 at 250 hp at 5500 rpm.

Everything else is pretty much the same, including Honda's recommendations, GVWR and GCWR, the warning against using a wdh, etc. And of course the physics of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine.

Andy at Can Am is a great guy, but he won't replace your warranty - he'll only void it if you follow his recommendations. I wonder what your liability is if you exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations and something drastic happens? Personally, I'll trust the Honda engineers.

But that's just my opinion.

Opinion based on incorrect premises isn’t worth much. False, versus true.

.

[Piggy Bank]

This you may or may not find helpful. Feel free to ignore.

We had a Pilot (similar vehicle) and we traded it in about a year before we got our airstream, once we decided that the 16 was too small for us.

We got a pickup (Tundra V8) and a 22 sport. (similar size/weight to your 19). We never once wished we were in the less powerful Pilot when towing. Aside from hills that you may or may not encounter, just everyday interstate merging and safety maneuvers can realistically require you to have the ability to "gun it" to let in merging traffic, change lanes and maintain speed, or to slow down quickly.

If the Ridgeline is within specs, then it's not really debatable if it is OK to tow with it. By definition it is. I assume that you looked at both tow capacity and payload? Payload is the real deciding factor. With 4 people and gear for 4 that will be a critical number for you to understand.

Would your experiences be as you anticipate with the Ridgeline, or would you have a more satisfying experience with more vehicle?

One more thing is that kids grow quickly. Would you assume the same set up would be sufficient for 4 adults?

Just some points to consider. Knowing what I know I would prefer a V8 truck over the Ridgeline.

[DryFly]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Opinion based on incorrect premises isn’t worth much. False, versus true.

.

Incredibly profound. Thank you for your erudition.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by DryFly

Incredibly profound. Thank you for your erudition.

Simplest is easiest as to statements.

Examine the premises.

[DryFly]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Simplest is easiest as to statements.

Examine the premises.

I am truly humbled. I bow to your superior intellect.

[nickteller25]

Originally Posted by DryFly

I learn a lot every time I follow a thread on this forum. In this case I researched the 2017 Ridgeline specs vs my 2011. As far as towing goes, the 2017 has 280 HP at sea level at 6000 rpm vs my 2011 at 250 hp at 5500 rpm.



Everything else is pretty much the same, including Honda's recommendations, GVWR and GCWR, the warning against using a wdh, etc. And of course the physics of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine.



Andy at Can Am is a great guy, but he won't replace your warranty - he'll only void it if you follow his recommendations. I wonder what your liability is if you exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations and something drastic happens? Personally, I'll trust the Honda engineers.



But that's just my opinion.

Finally got around to reading the manual on the Ridgeline. There is nothing that expressly warns against using a WD hitch. The manual says “If you wish to use one, consult your trailer maker for proper installation and setup”.

[Countryboy59]

Originally Posted by DryFly

I learn a lot every time I follow a thread on this forum. In this case I researched the 2017 Ridgeline specs vs my 2011. As far as towing goes, the 2017 has 280 HP at sea level at 6000 rpm vs my 2011 at 250 hp at 5500 rpm.

Everything else is pretty much the same, including Honda's recommendations, GVWR and GCWR, the warning against using a wdh, etc. And of course the physics of a normally aspirated internal combustion engine.

Andy at Can Am is a great guy, but he won't replace your warranty - he'll only void it if you follow his recommendations. I wonder what your liability is if you exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations and something drastic happens? Personally, I'll trust the Honda engineers.

But that's just my opinion.

He’s towing a 19’ in the East. With a reinforced frame. Give it a try, see how it does.

[nickteller25]

Originally Posted by Countryboy59

He’s towing a 19’ in the East. With a reinforced frame. Give it a try, see how it does.

So Ive put a several hundred miles on it now with a WD hitch set up by my dealer. Tows like a dream. 60-70 mph on the highway with ease. Stops easily driving around town. Very happy so far.