So I am at the point that I am contemplating towing to events. The closest track is about 2 hours, car isn't that comfortable to drive there, I worry about something happening during the drive or at the track. Plus, I am also planning on some events much further from home, 6+ hours.

I am new to towing, so I may be asking dumb questions.

I currently own a 2006 Honda Pilot, which has a towing capacity of 4,400 lbs. It has been awhile since I weighed my ITR, but I am guessing 2300ish pounds maybe. How much would an open trailer weigh? Plus gear/wheels, etc.

Can my Pilot do it? Having to get a dedicated tow vehicle would throw another wrench into the decision and I would rather not. Anybody towing with a Pilot?

 

from what I is listed on my hitch, the actually towing weight for auto trailers for the factory hitch on a Pilot is 3900 lbs & boat trailers 4400 lbs. I have a 04 Pilot and will start towing my CRX track car in the near future.

My guess for average open trailers are 1200 to 1500 lbs

so CRX = 2100 lbs
trailer = 1400 lb ish
gear/spares =300 lbs ?

just under suggested weight to be towed.

and to state the obvious. you need the 2 coolers. Auto trans and power steering

 

There is a lot of good towing info for Pilots on one of the RV forums, or maybe a Pilot specific forum. I can't remember, but I considered one pretty seriously when last shopping for a tow vehicle. The biggest concern I would have is that the rear suspension has a lot of camber gain, so most of them are running a whole lot of negative camber when loaded or towing. They make air bags that fit inside the stock springs that will fix the rear end sag problem for very little money. Obviously, the factory towing package with the PS and tranny coolers is a requirement, particularly to make sure you have transmission warranty coverage.

-Chris

 

Thanks for the help guys - I'll be doing my research but unless I find something that says absolutely not I think I am going to go for it and use the Pilot.

 

I would rather drive my racecar on the street then tow a car/trailer with a Pilot. First off, a typical 18' steel trailer weights 2000+ pounds. You could go aluminum but those are $$$ or you could go tiny but that makes loading/unloading a pain. Those towing specs are at sea level on level ground. You being a mile high means you would have significantly less power and there would be no way you could go through the mountains. You might consider a tow dolly instead as that would bring down the weight significantly to a point that it would be safe.

 

I personally wouldn't tow with a v6. If you want to stay with gas, at least get something stronger. If you have any hills, or worse yet mini mountains, you'll find yourself trying to gain all your speed downhill so you don't slow down too much going up hill.

I tow an R w/open trailer & 8 wheel/tires + tire rack = (2450 + 200 + 1300lbs = 3950). Add gear to the Denali = 400lbs. With the 6.0L & heavy duty chasis/tranny that the denali comes with I can tow any speed I want with cruise control on & only vary 3-5mph.

I would have preferred at least a small diesel, but wifey wouldn't let me

Pilot = great mini truck, but I just can't imagine it being great for pulling more than a short distance with small hills & not damage the truck (tranny wear, etc).

Also - I can't imagine your R is down to 2300lbs. That would be one of the lightest I've come across.

Just my .02.


fwiw - I've put a pic of the open trailer below. It used to be stored in the caves, so yea it was a little dirty. It is BARELY big enough for the R.

 

My neighbor tows an 18-foot or so inboard/outboard with an Odyssey (same tow rating, from what he told me).

He's buying a Chevy Silverado or Tahoe this spring. Just sayin'.

 

Thats similar to weight with the setup I tow with. Lighter car but heavier full deck trailer. I tow with a 380ft lb V8 Titan, and I cant imagine towing with anything lower duty.
You would need a very light (and expensive) aluminum trailer. And even then it would not be fun. And honda v6 transmissions are not reknowned for their reliability.

 

I towed in the northeast with my Tacoma V6 (5sp) Xtracab, pulling a 16' Brimar (which is actually 20' long), ITR, wheels, tools, etc. etc. and had no problems going up hills, accelerating onto the highway or nothing (about 4500lbs total). It even pulled up the big hill from the hotels in the Glen up to the track with no major problem. The only modification I had to do to my Tacoma was buy helper springs for the rear leaf. And I also got 11 - 13mpg towing (high teens normal), which I think is pretty good.

However.....

The only way I would tow with a Pilot is if I had anti-sway bars and weight distribution bars on the trailer and the above mentioned the tranny & PS cooler and air bag helper springs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flux &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I currently own a 2006 Honda Pilot, which has a towing capacity of 4,400 lbs. It has been awhile since I weighed my ITR, but I am guessing 2300ish pounds maybe. How much would an open trailer weigh? Plus gear/wheels, etc.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

How did you come up with 2300 lb? I would bet its closer to 2500 lb.

I know I carry almost 1K lb in gear when I go to the track. (shelters, GAS, food, water, spares, tools) the gear adds up quickly.

 

ok, so I don't know the exact weight of the ITR... need to get that thing weighed.

Forget the Pilot, my wife can have it. I'm getting a 1991 Ford E-350 Econoline 1 ton cargo van and just be done with it. That thing is a beast and will tow most anything and I can keep gear/sleep in the back.

thanks for the help guys.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by davidnyc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I towed in the northeast with my Tacoma V6 (5sp) Xtracab, pulling a 16' Brimar (which is actually 20' long), ITR, wheels, tools, etc. etc. and had no problems going up hills, accelerating onto the highway or nothing (about 4500lbs total).
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think it was Bradstard towing with the tacoma going to Expo 5 during the storm from KC to Omaha - he couldn't keep up with a 70mph pace...those hills aren't big. Maybe his 2L was too heavy on the trailer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flux &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Forget the Pilot, my wife can have it. I'm getting a 1991 Ford E-350 Econoline 1 ton cargo van and just be done with it. That thing is a beast and will tow most anything and I can keep gear/sleep in the back. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Glad to see you've come around You'll be glad you did.

 

My V6 Tacoma would always get beat in a drag race against any V8 while towing (have to have some fun towing back home with fellow HC'ers), however, once up to speed (60-80mph) it was easy to keep the speed and accelerate between 60-80 was still no problem.

Maybe Bradstard had the automatic Tacoma? I had no problems...just downshift to 3rd and it moved.

 

I tow my Civic and 16' flatbed with a Nissan Xterra, which shares the same frame, trans, and 4.0L V6 as the Frontier. We added helper springs and a CAI but I have no problems so far with it.

Don't get me wrong, i'd love a 3/4 ton deisel but...

 

Figure:

Car = 2500
16' trailer = 1600
Tires+gear = 400

You're up to your towing capacity already. Add a passenger and you're over. Too borderline for a Pilot, imo. You need something with at least 5,000lbs capacity. Preferably a V8 and at least 6,500-7,000 capacity since i'd imagine you have plenty of hills around your place.

If you want to keep the Pilot and dont plan on towing more than 2hrs, i'd suggest using a dolly.

 

Also, a good thing to try is to rent a dolly and a trailer from U-Haul and see how the Pilot does. They go for like $40-50/day or less. The friggin u-hauls are overbuilt and heavy as hell, so if it tows that, you'd have no problem with a normal trailer/dolly. U-haul trailers weigh around 2200# and even the dolly is over 1000# iirc.

 

Good enough to tow a Ferrari

 

Dammit, once again, THIS THREAD IS TWO YEARS OLD. I'll give you an ounce of credit for a mildly interesting picture, but seriously, did you have to do that?

 

So who snapped me w/ MYFCAR

 

Just picked up a pilot today which Im hoping to use to tow my integral to tracks that are 2-2.5 HOURS away using a dolley. Just have to add the coolers.


Modified by Gong Show at 9:10 AM 7/6/2008

 

Why are you towing anything that's only 2 miles away? Or did you mean 2-2.5 hours?

And Josh, you wish buddy

 

LoL, fixed. I meant hours. I'm hoping to do expo next year. Hope they bring it back to the midwest and have it at RA, Autobahn, or Gratton.

 

I saw a pilot come into the dealer that I work at it had airbags to level the vehicle out to keep good handling and control!

I'd look into something like that just for confidence in the vehicles handling and your tires

 

So is that a pilot towing the ferrai?

 

LOL @ the guy spending all his money on a Ferrari, then towing w/ an open trailer with a Pilot.