professorman

I know this is non-technical, but I wanted to share my experience with other Accord owners. I have been searching the archives for a long time, but couldn't find any info on this, so here, other owners can now get guidance.

Hitch Install
I bought a 90-93 hitch for my 94 Accord, manufactured my Curt mfg, hoping that it would be the same. Two of the three holes aligned up to where the tow brackets were, but he 3rd holes on each side aligned up to a hole that didn't look very strong. In addition, the mounting bracket on the hitch was a 1/4" too long and it was bumping into the bumper bracket. We decided to cut the hitch and drill another hole in the correct place. The Accord has another hole in the chassis that you can tread a bolt through. After we did this, everything bolted up perfectly. I didn't bother to put on the tow brackets, because if my car ever needs towing, they can always hook on to the hitch.

Wiring
EBay has wiring kits for the Accords for $25-$40, which would just plug into the towing wire in the trunk. I didn't want to spend so much. I went to Auto Zone and bought two things:

1. Car side wiring kit- 4-Way Flat Trailer Connector - ~$2.99
Make sure you get the "car side" connector, usually about ~24" in lenght. The one I bought did not have the blue wire connectors, nor the tester.


2. Tail light converter ~$9.98

The Accord needs the tail light converter because it has a separate bulb for the turn signal, whereas the trailer flashes the brake light for the turn signal. Some cars do this as well, and they would not need a tail light converter. I found trailer connection diagram from the Accord manual and wired up the lights. The tail light converter takes the 5 wires from the Accord as input and converts it to 4 wires that goes to the trailer.

Step 1: Connect the 4 wires of the <U>tail light converter</U> to the 4 wires of the <U>car side connector</U>. I just twisted the wires together and put electrical tape around them. You can use your favorite method of connecting these wires together, shink wrap, solder, wire connectors etc.

Step 2: Connect the 5 wires from the tail light converter to the Accord's pre-wired trailer connector. You can get the blue clips seen in picture one if you do not want to cut the wires. You just clip these things on the wire and it makes a connection, not cutting required.


This is the location of the pre-wired trailer connector in the Accord





Receiver
I went to walmart and bought:
(1) 1 1/4" hitch bar with a 1/14" drop or a 3/4" raise. I used it on the side with the 3/4" raise - $18.73
(2) 2" hitch ball - $6.97
(3) 1/2" pin clip (to hold in the hitch bar) - $1.88
(4) Ball wrench (to screw on the hitch ball), which I later returned to walmart. - $9.86

Towing
I was picking up a motorcycle from Philadelphia to bring to Hampton, VA (not far from VA beach), approximately 320 miles. I decided to rent a trailer from UHAUL. I decided to rent the trailer for $14 per day for 3 days. When I went, the guy added on insurance for the trailer, extra $24. I went ahead with this since it was my very first time towing a trailer. The UHAUL guys helped me hook up the trailer and get it secure. I stuck the wiring out of my trunk.



Driving with a empty trailer took some getting used to. I wasn't sure how much I could turn with it and was unsure of how it behaved, so I took it to a walmart parking lot and made some turns and observed how the trailer behave making corners. ( I was worried that it would bump in my car at full circle in the accord. lol). I didn't feel much weight from the trailer, but it bounced alot and every pothole it would rattle, since it was empty. Overall, it was a good driving going up. I had to pay double tolls at each toll both though, and this pissed me off. I was a bit disappointed when I went to fill up my gas, I found I only got 24MPG. Normally, I would get 31.5 MPG on the interstate driving.



So, I loaded up my bike into my trailer



At first, I loaded the motorcycle all the way to the front of the trailer and put the wheel into the wheel bracket area at the front, but I realize that most of the weight was on the rear of my car and little on the trailer axle, so I moved the motorcycle as far back as I could to put more of the weight over the trailer axle.



You can see the sagging in the rear and a bit of lifting in the front of my Accord.



Driving with the weight
Driving in the city with the motorcycle on the trailer was a bit scary at first. I heard vibrations and rattles in the chassis/interior of my Accord. I soon realized that it was just the bad roads in Philly. I noticed that quite a lot of people gave me way when I needed to merge or to enter a road, especially guys. 1 or 2 females tried to cut me off, but most of the guys were pretty cool in letting me in front of them.

Driving at low speeds are the worst part of towing, especially in stop light traffic. It takes much longer to move off and I allow excessive braking distance in front of me. Overall, it wasn't bad though. The accord wasn't struggling or anything, you just felt the extra ~900 lbs on it. I have a 5spd Accord. I probably wouldn't recommend it for an automatic car. Driving on the interstate was where it got fun. Above 60 MPH, I could hardly tell that I was towing a 900 lbs trailer. It was smooth driving. The only thing that changed was that I couldn't use cruise control like I always do on the interstate. The cruise control would over correct and if I set the speed to 60 MPH, at times, it would overshoot and go up to &gt;70MPH, so I just drove with my foot to save on gas. Normally, my cruise control would overshoot up to 5 MPH over the set speed when coming to the top of inclines. At speeds of about 50-55 MPH, I did feel the weight on the trailer though, something about it felt extra, not bad, but it just didn't feel as perfectly smooth as going &gt;60MPH.
Once, I stopped on the side of the interstate to check up on everything and make sure everything was still connected. After I was supposed to merge back into traffic, it was a bit scary, because I didn't know how much acceleration I had to go from 0 to 60 in front of moving cars. I waited until it looked clear enough. The acceleration was definitely not bad. I reached to 60 MPH in a decent time and not holding up the lane. I was impressed. I wouldn't recommend stopping on the side fo the interstate if you don't have to though. That wasn't the best of ideas.



And so, I reached home after a good fun drive. I made 320 miles and my gas needle was at 1/8 tank left. I filled up and to my surprise, I got 24.4 MPG again. I actually got slightly better gas mileage with the motorcycle on the trailer than with it empty!


So, I went home and unloaded


Overall, its not bad to get 24 mpg once in a while when I need to move something big, and with UHAUL renting trailers for $14-$20 per day, its like having a truck for only when I need it. A truck would get less than 20 MPG all day long. I still get my great gas mileage all day, but have utility when I need it. &lt;3 my Honda


EDIT: Towing with automatic transmission (taken from post below)
If you are towing with an automatic, UHAUL always recommend installing a transmission cooler, which is like a small radiator for your transmission fluid. This is to keep it cool, because towing with an automatic transmission will create increased heat, which is the primary killer of Autos while towing.

I guess I should have not said that I would not recommend it, but maybe that you should install a transmission cooler if you want to tow with an automatic. The lower gears on the shifter of Automatic cars are actually to help with towing so yuo can manually move it to get the required engine braking when needed. Never downshift an automatic when going fast though. If you come to the top of a steep hill, its better to stop, and put the car in 2 or D3 and slowly descend it. These gears also preven unecessary upsifting when going up a hill. For example, if you are going up a steep hill and driving less than 30 MPH, you should just put your car in 2 and drive up the hill, to prevent it from shifting to 3 then back to 2 every time you put your foot on the gas and take it off.


Modified by profroopchan at 10:35 PM 5/8/2007

EDIT: What gear should I Drive in when towing (pending confirmation)
Okay, I did some research into this matter about going into 5th gear when towing.

I have never pulled a transmission apart, so I do not know if what I am saying is 100% true or not, but it does make sense to me.

On a 5spd manual, it is better to drive in 4th gear when towing on long distance. The reason for this is because 5th gear is a OVERDRIVE gear, where as 4th gear is a DIRECT drive gear. That means that in 5th gear, the car multiplies the engine speed to get a faster output at the wheels than the engine is turning. Effectively, you are going through gears. 4th gear on the other hand is a DIRECT DRIVE gear. That means, that it just takes the output from the engine and send is straight to the wheels. It does not go through any multiplying nor reducing gears, so there is effectively no additional wear on the transmission than necessary. Effectively, you are over stressing the gears in your car, whereas you could just send the power directly to the wheels without going through additional gearing cogs.
If you are regularly towing in a 5spd over long distances, it is better to just keep it in 4th to extend the life of the transmission.

Thinking about it now, I have heard about people ruining 2nd gear, 3rd gear, and 5th gear. I have not heard of a lot of people destroying 4th gear.
My mechanic friend says that eventually, if you are towing in 5th gear all the time, the car might start jumping out of 5th gear because it is worn (being a overdrive gear).

This kinda makes sense, because automatics have a TOW button which locks them into 3rd gear, which is the direct drive gear, whereas the 4th gear is the overdrive gear. So, in essence, automatics should stick to the direct drive gear as well for cruising.

As far as clutch wear, I consider myself a VERY conservative clutch user. I am always aiming to move off with as little clutch slip as possible. I allow my RPMs to drop to just above the extent to which the engine will start struggling, maybe about 500 RPM when moving off. It does wear your clutch a little more when moving off, especially when towing a jet ski and going up the launch ramp.

I changed my clutch at 150k miles because I was paranoid, and I do not know how the previous owner drove for the first 80k miles of the car's life. When I changed the clutch, it had about 1/2 the clutch life left in it. it was only a little bit more worn than the brand new Honda genuine clutch that I was putting in, so driving habits play a HUGE part in clutch wear. I am almost certain that I wont ever need to change my clutch again because of how conservative I drive, based on how little the old clutch was worn when I was taking it out.

You ONLY wear the clutch when you are moving off, or if you do not know how to rev-match when changing gears. When the car is in motion and is in one gear, the clutch does not wear. The clutch is locked in place. You would need huge amount of load to start stressing the clutch to the point of slipping. I use all genuine Honda parts in my drive train, so I am sure they are up to Honda specifications. If you use other after market clutch kits, I could not guarantee the same results, but I think Honda clutches should be good to hold up to the stress of the extra 1000 lbs limit of towing, maybe even more, but I wouldnt want to stress the limits of my clutch/drive train like that too much or to for example tow other vehicles and crazy stuff like that.
Overall, once you are in gear, there is no clutch wear, unless you have a super cheap clutch and pressure plate, or worn out clutch and pressure plate.

In terms of the automatics, the torque converter effective replaces the clutch. The torque converter really can handle almost infinite load compared to the clutch of a car. The fluid swishes around to move the car, so there is no wear on anything in the torque converter with load. The fluid does break down faster, but you can just change the automatic transmission fluid easily. It is however harder on the transmission with towing. Everyone know's that automatic transmissions have a VERY limited lifetime compared to manual transmission. A driver who knows how to properly rev-match and takes care of the syncros in changing gears can minimize the wear on the manual to make it last an extremely long time. In automatics, the driver have less of a control over how things operate, so it can be a hit or miss situation when electronics does not do what they are supposed to do, or doesnt shift the gears in the correct manner, increasing wear on the automatic transmission.

I would recommend reading the How Stuff Works article on automatic transmissions if you do not know how they work, or if you own one. It really puts things in perspective for the novice automatic car driver.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automa...nsmission4.htm

If someone is a mechanic, you can correct me if I am wrong about this 'direct drive' gear versus a 'over drive' gear.

Other useful treads to read on towing
Here is the same writeup in the motorcycle section (Different responses)
Here is one tread I started about lowering and still being able to tow a jet ski.
User:silverstrike asking about tow capacity for towing Snowmobile

Modified by professorman at 11:04 AM 1/23/2008

EDIT: I have been towing with my Accord since 150k miles. I now have 270k miles, and I am still towing strong with no problems to speak of. I town motorcycle trailer, jetski trailer, and utility trailer. My mechanic makes fun of me that I need a pickup, however I have no problems with the Accord.

hondadude

Nice little write up;
FWIW I used to tow a trailer to the auto auctions, I carried a small 12 volt compressor or air tank and would run the trailer with about 15 psi in the tires when it was empty then air up the tires before loading a car on.

Sorry I have dial up 56k and wasn't supposed to view this post.

ny153

I just looked on feeBay and found some "94-97 HONDA ACCORD CURT CLASS 1 TRAILER HITCH NEW" ($150 shipped, see pic below). It says that this one fits perfectly, no drilling required.. Would you recommend it?

I also have a '95 LX and also wanna buy a bike I've been looking at Honda 250's What suzuki is this?

ny153

Could you please post how you did the wiring for the hitch?
Thanks.

H22CD7

How hard would you say that was on your car? I have a 95' Accord and have been wanting a jet ski for years. But I'm not going to go buy a truck (I hate trucks!) just to tow a jet ski to the lake every weekend. I'm wondering how well the accord could tow something like a jet ski to the lake every weekend? Like I'm wondering how much harder it is on the rest of your car. Like the clutch, brakes, and other things. I see towing something like a jet ski over 50miles on a weekly basis killing your clutch super fast.

professorman

Why did you run the trailer with only 15 psi? What does this do to the trailer? Does it make it absorb the bumps better?

My hitch was actually made by Da'Lan, which was later bought by Curt Mfg, so I may have one of the very old models. There are definately 3 holes in the 94-97 Accord which a hitch can easily and safely bolt up to, so it wouldnt be hard for a manufacturer to just put the holes in the correct space so that no drilling would be required. My friend with a shop used a torch to modify my hitch since it was the wrong year, so I have no doubt that it should fit easily if it is manufacturerd for the 94-97 Accord. It wasnt hard to bolt up either. There are two tow brackets on either side under the rear of the Accord. You would unbolt those two brackets and 2 holes on each side bolt up to these. The third hole is empty, but you can clearly see that it is a treaded hole, and you just bolt up the hitch to it. Very easy. Might need a extra hand to help hold up the hitch as you bolt it up though.

Edit: looking on that hitch picture, it seems like it definately might bolt up exactly, because I remember the last hole, closest to the bar of the hitch was closer to the vertical portion. If you look on the picture, you can see how the last hole is not in a pefect line with the other 2. It is closer to one edge of the hitch.

I will edit the wiring section of the original post to tell how I did the wiring.

If you can drive good, I would think your clutch can last a SUPER long time. I think I am one of the most conservative drivers when it comes to my clutch. I bought my car with 83k miles. I was not sure how the owner before me drove, so I was always worried that my clutch would go out on me in the middle of the road. I finally changed the clutch last year, 6 months ago just because I was paroniod. When I looked on the clutch with 140k miles on it, it was only about 1/2 worn down on the original clutch. I would say, if you have a Honda clutch and you can drive conservatively with the clutch, it should last an extremely long time.

In terms of the clutch, I did not feel any excessive slipping as I was moving off with the trailer. I normally move off allowing the RPM to drop to about 500 RPM and use the engine to bring it back up to speed. It might be a bit harder on the brakes, but I am not too worried about those. I allow plently of stopping distance in front of me while I drive, so I use the engine brake to help me slowing down as well. I downshift and apply the brakes, using the engine brake to help me. The main thing I might worry about if I am towing every weekend might be the shocks might wear out. The shocks on the Accord are desinged to last the life of the Accord, so with the additional weight in the rear, the rear shocks *might* go out sometime...? I do worry about the vibrations at low speeds though. My muffler is touching the hitch, so when my engine reach resonant frequency at low RPMs, with the engine slightly struggling, the muffler would vibrate a little and vibrate on my hitch. My aftermarket muffler tip is larger than normal, so it touches my hitch. If I put on a smaller muffler tip, it would be a perfect fit. I do not think this will significantly shorten the lift of my Accord though, if I drive conservatively. I would recommend being EXTREMLY on time with oil changes if you are towing though. The oil works harder since it has the extra load. 3500 miles/3 months is already a overkill for oil changes, so even with towing a trailer, 3000 mile oil changes should be fine.

YeuEmMaiMai

damn bro you can get a hitch, receiver, lock for way cheap etrailer is a great site.....

drawtite hitch $128
plug in wire harness $25 - PLUGS RIGHT INTO WIRE HARNESS ON LEFT SIDE, no extra BS needed.
draw bar $25
ball $6
lock $13

Shipping $1

Total $198 delivered and it bolts right up. took me 15 mins to install on my 94 LX

You are way off base regarding towing with an automatic. It is by far worse to tow with a manual in a passenger car versus an automatic. Automatic transmissions have by far more clutch area to provide grip when towing a trailer....



Modified by YeuEmMaiMai at 9:14 PM 5/8/2007

professorman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Total $198 delivered and it bolts right up. took me 15 mins to install on my 94 LX

You are way off base regarding towing with an automatic. It is by far worse to tow with a manual in a passenger car versus an automatic. Automatic transmissions have by far more clutch area to provide grip when towing a trailer....
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, I guess my total was about ~$125. I kinda regret not buying the direct trailer connector for $25. I didn't know that I really needed that tail light converter thing.

I have to strongly disagree about the Automatic thing though. If you are towing with an automatic, UHAUL always recommend installing a transmission cooler, which is like a small radiator for your transmission fluid. This is to keep it cool, because towing with an automatic transmission will create increased heat, which is the primary killer of Autos while towing. The fluid is what drives the wheels in automatics. Under powered cars are known to have long automatic transmission life, but once you put a decent amount of horse power, or load on a automatic transmission, it starts to suffer. Manual transmissions are almost bullet proof. The destruction of manual transmissions are usually user error causes. Clutch is a naturally replaceable part, but can last an extremely long time if driven conservatively.

I guess I should have not said that I would not recommend it, but maybe that you should install a transmission cooler if you want to tow with an automatic. The lower gears on the shifter of Automatic cars are actually to help with towing so yuo can manually move it to get the required engine braking when needed. Never downshift an automatic when going fast though. If you come to the top of a steep hill, its better to stop, and put the car in 2 or D3 and slowly descend it. These gears also preven unecessary upsifting when going up a hill. For example, if you are going up a steep hill and driving less than 30 MPH, you should just put your car in 2 and drive up the hill, to prevent it from shifting to 3 then back to 2 every time you put your foot on the gas and take it off.


Modified by profroopchan at 10:32 PM 5/8/2007

YeuEmMaiMai

u-haul wants to sell you a tranny cooler. the accord already has a air to oil cooler (that really long loop of metal that is under the rad behind the front crossmember) and a oil to water cooler (radiator) on their automatics. Only time you need to install a cooler is if

You are constantly towing at rated capacity
towing up and down teh mountains
live in a really hot place like phoenix az

for the casual towing that you do (900lbs) an auto can handle that just fine...just keep it out of 4th gear (per owners manual towing with a manual is NOT recommended).

a manual trans in the accord does not have that much clutch surface area compared to the automatic... and people who tow fall under servere driving witch means change that fluid every15K or so.

professorman

I again have to STRONGLY disagree with you. I read the entire section of my 1994 Honda Owners Manual, and it did not say anything about this. I would like to know which page, or which section did you find this in? If it is another manual you are talking about, which one is it? Haynes, Chilton, or official shop manual, helms or website? I have NEVER seen this. Please point me to where you found this from.

I have seen you posted alot and have always respected your opinion, but I really have to wonder about this one. The clutch doesnt serve much purpose other than slipping to move off and during gear changes. The clutch will NOT slip when the car is under load. If the clutch is slipping under load, the clutch badly needs changing. Compare a clutch as the driving force versus a liquid squishing around a torque converter and you are really comparing liquid versus solid. Manual transmissions are superior in 95% of cases to an automatic. That is why people go through the pain of learning to drive a stick shift. Automatic was designed to be 'easier' but that was not achieved without giving up the longitivity of the transmission. The underpowered Accord is one of the longest lasting automatic transmissions. If you throw some serious HP on the autoamtic, it will die quickly. The internal clutches that do the work for you can burn out. In the manual, the weakest part is the syncros, which will wear out if you do not rev match your gear shifting. If you anticipate what RPM the car will be when shifting to the next gear, you are doing some of the work for the syncros and not wearing them much. If you are skilled enough to be able to do clutchless shifting, you will not wear your syncro any at all. No one should try clutchless shifting though, because all it take is one mistake, and your transmission is toast. I just can not comprehend your logic. I have seen absolutely no facts to back up your statement.

The only reason you change the automatic transmission fluid so often is because of heat. Heat in the automatic transmission breaks down the chemical 'oiling' properties of the oil. The reason you do not need to change the manual transmission fluid very often is because there is no heat in the manual transmission, so the oil does not break down and it keeps it oiling properties. The only reason you change the oil in the manual transmission any at all is because the transmission wears and shaved metal gets in there as the transmission wears, so you change it to get fresh, non-poluted oil in there. The oil change in the automatic is VITAL, because the oil looses its chemical composition. It looses it the same way your engine oil looses its chemical composition. The oil in your engine breaks down alot faster because it is exposed to way higher temperatures, so it looses it pretty quickly. If your engine oil was not exposed to heat, you would only need to change it just because you want new 'clean' oil in there, not because it is no longer oil after it breaks down. That is where syntetic oil comes in. It does not loose its chemical composition as fast as regular oil. With this said, if you want your automatic transmission fluid to last longer, you need to run it cooler, especially if it is under load, so install a transmission cooler. I agree that if it is only the occasional towing, you do not REALLY need a cooler, but just change the oil faster, because it breaks down more.


Modified by profroopchan at 12:06 AM 5/9/2007

Blamm!!

...TRUCK. you can't polish a turd when it comes to hauling heavy cargo!!!

YeuEmMaiMai

well when we get the

"oh **** my clutch burned out" thread, we'll know wassup

professorman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well when we get the

"oh **** my clutch burned out" thread, we'll know wassup </TD></TR></TABLE>
ha, you already had the " oh ****, my automatic transmission died" tread already,
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1484307
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1741904

A transmission cost what, <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I called Kennedy Trans and most of the places want from 2.1K to about 3.8K to rebuild it</TD></TR></TABLE>
and a clutch cost ~$500 ????

pos_cd5

im not tkaing anyone sides here, but....

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by profroopchan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
there is no heat in the manual transmission</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats completely false and untrue...everyone knows friction creates heat, and the clutch and flywheel obviously has alot of friction, therefore creating heat.

edit: this is my 1333rd post. 1333 looks funny.

Blamm!!

Wait a minute someone has a transmission that doesnt create any heat?! roating gears create heat and friction.

professorman

okay, well, I guess it creates heat, but it does not create heat enough to break down the chemical properties of the oil. Is that now a correct statement about manual transmissions?

ny153

here is a apge from owners manual, '95 accord: (Thanks for wiring diagram!!!)

shortlid

I have a '99 Accord EX sedan with a 5-speed and the four cyl. Where in the manual does it say you should not tow with a manual tranny Accord?

kos99ngel

Don’t listen to what these foos say. I have seen in El Salvador little Toyotas or Civic towing motorcycles or up to two. But remember always keep it ad a moderated weight don’t go all crazy and add a 40foot boat. You will be fine these foos have to go and see how they do it down in Central American or Central America

kos99ngel

koooooooooooooooo

professorman

Wow, I am so proud of my Accord. This weekend, I pushed the limits and was scared. I went to pick up my motorcycle from Philly after leaving it there since 2007. The lights on the motorcycle trailer that I was supposed to get from UHaul would not work, so they gave me another trailer, which was smaller, but weighed more. It weight 650lbs. I know that my oxygen sensor needs to be changed, so I have been getting pretty terrible fuel economy for a few weeks now. With the empty trailer, driving up, 311 miles, I got 21mpg. I was out of gas by the time I reached.

Coming back down, I had to clean out all my junk out of my cousin's garage to make room for her BMW, so I had the trailer loaded with the motorcycle. I think I had maybe 1,400 lbs in the car, in addition to my brother and sister and their clothes for the trip. I was really scared driving at first, because I have never had so much weight in the car and the trailer before. The car felt really heavy, but I stayed in 4th gear and accelerate slowly and drive extremely defensive. Half way down, when the roads got better, the car felt really really smooth, and it was a great ride after that. I ended up getting 20MPG with all this load, and a presumably bad oxygen sensor. I think this is still pretty good for the occasional towing and still gets better fuel economy than a truck. My car is lowered in the front with Eibach sportlines and KYB AGX shocks. In the rear, I keep it stock, for the towing, and it levels out perfectly with the load.

Heat

Nice writeup, and thanks for the update!

Out of curiosity, what is your estimate on how much the motorcycle, by itself, weighs? I'm just wondering if you could also carry it on your roof - if it's at about 200 pounds or less, your roof could easily handle the weight (based off of my experiences with my sixth generation Accord). I carry some pretty odd things on my roofrack (or directly on the roof), not too often but a few times per year: Bicycles, furniture (dressors, queen size mattresses with box springs, twin beds (two mattresses & two box springs at the same time)), ladders, banquet tables, four 50 pound suitcases, etc. My avatar has a picture of my car loaded up with suitcases.

professorman

lol, your roof serves you good. I have only carried a mattress and box spring on my roof in the past. The motorcycle weighs about 500-600lbs. The hitch works for me, because renting a trailer cost $15, and its only an occasional use. If I borrow somebody's truck for around the town stuff, I would probably have to give them $15-20 for it.

What type of roof rack do you have?

i drive a honda

accords have stock auto trans coolers built into thebottom of the radiator, you can get a used oil or trans cooler for like $10 off craigslist.

perma-cool or w/e

i drive a honda

accords have stock auto trans coolers built into thebottom of the radiator, you can get a used oil or trans cooler for like $10 off craigslist.

perma-cool or w/e