I wouldn't because of the possible liabilities if anything goes wrong. Just think of all the "what ifs" and who's pay for them.

 

I'd say it is very do-able on flat terrain. I tow a 4,600 lb+ boat and trailer combo (single axle even!) with surge brakes and I've had no issues. The terrain is hilly as well...Not mountaineous but some steep grades and sharp corners, off camber roads, etc.

My biggest concern in your case is the maintenance/quality of the U-Haul brakes. I can't imagine they really care about their equipment the same way a private trailer owner would. If it was a 'known' trailer that received good care, I think your towing project would be a no-brainer.

It is good that you are at least seeking advice...As you know, there are a lot of knuckleheads out on the roadways towing that should have stayed at home!

 

I'm not gonna say you should, but I have towed overweight rigs with my RL on numerous occasions. Many of those occasions were multiple hundreds of miles through the mountains.


If you decide to do it, go the speed limit or slower at all times and use premium gas. Anticipate braking way ahead so as not to overheat the RL's brakes.

 

There are two risk factors at play:

1. U-Haul's maintenance of the trailer, especially its brakes.

2. Your ability to correctly load the trailer for weight balance.

Make sure that your hitch's ball and ball mount are fully qualified for the load. I use a Class IV ball mount because the top Class III was only rated for 500 lbs of tongue weight, and my 5000 lb boat/trailer's load here is about 525-550 lbs (I could see the Class III mount bend under load!).

 

Another thought is the condition of your 07. Is it well maintained and does it have a lot of miles.

 

donuteater306,

The Ridgeline should be able to handle a load like that without much trouble. I tow a boat and trailer combination that is 5,300 lbs dry/5,700 lbs wet just about every weekend in the summer and have taken it on long road trips as well. Although I do pull this load with a newer Ridgeline that has the J35Z5 motor, better gear ratios for towing, and a factory tow hitch, you should be fine.

In my years of towing this load with my Ridgeline, I have five points of advice to share:

1. When near the limit of the Ridgeline's towing capacity, every 200 lbs or so that you can shed from the trailer will make a difference in performance. Thus, I recommend emptying the trailered vehicle's gas tank and remove any loose items that can be put in the bed of your Ridgeline vise the trailer.
2. If you will be towing a heavy load any significant distance, reduce the tongue weight of the trailer to a minimum safe weight. With a trailer that's around 5,000 lbs, every bump the trailer encounters will be transferred through the Ridgeline's frame making for an uncomfortable trip. For my 5,300/5,700 lbs trailer, I try to keep my tongue weight around 400 lbs; it makes for a better ride and I have no problems controlling the rig (the truck and trailer combination). But a word of warning, don't reduce the tongue weight too much or you will have control and oscillation issues.
   
   
   
3. When towing heavy trailers, good trailer brakes are essential. If you are going to tow around 5,000 lbs over some moderate terrain and the trailer has functional brakes, you should be fine. When I tow my heavy boat on the weekends, it's over a combination of flat terrain and rolling hills in stop and go traffic and I have no problems doing so with confidence. I believe that is due to having good trailer brakes because the Ridgeline is not known for having great braking performance under load.
   
   To be thorough, I should warn you that I have had trouble in the past when driving down some savior slops with my heavy trailer. When descending down a very steep mountainside, my Ridgeline had trouble slowing my rig. If I had to come to an emergency stop while descending this steep hillside I would have been in trouble for I was only able to slow the rig from 55 MPH to 30 MPH. Unfortunately with surge brakes, you get what you get when it comes to the amount of braking force that's applied by the trailer's master cylinder. If I have to go down steep hillsides more often, I will upgrade my front brake pads to EBC's Yellowstuff.​
4. When towing heavy loads, use 91 octane or higher gasoline to reduce wear and tear on the drivetrain. Once you have a pure tank of premium fuel (no lower grade gas polluting your premium fuel), you should notice your Ridgeline downshifting less and should cruise with the torque converter locked up for greater periods of time reducing transmission pressure and wear-and-tear on your overall drivetrain. You may also notice an increase in towing MPG; but that will depend on the aerodynamics of your loaded trailer and your average speed (when towing, slower is better for your MPG).
5. When towing heavy loads, keep your speed and acceleration rates to a minimum. As you increase your speed, you decrease your ability to control your rig in emergency situations such as panicked stops and emergency maneuvers. Also, don't bother trying to accelerate quickly from a stop with a heavy trailer because the Ridgeline's power curve is not very good at low RPMs and first-gear is only 2.693 : 1 or 2.697 : 1 (depending on model year). Use no more than half-throttle when accelerating from a stop because the Ridgeline will not accelerate any faster. If you do use more throttle, you'll just be putting more strain (i.e. extra torque twisting) on the drivetrain and wasting gas.

If you choose to tow the trailer, good luck, be safe, and be confident that your Ridgeline can handle the job.

McChizzle

 

donuteater306,

The Ridgeline should be able to handle a load like that without much trouble. I tow a boat and trailer combination that is 5,300 lbs dry/5,700 lbs wet just about every weekend in the summer and have taken it on long road trips as well. Although I do pull this load with a newer Ridgeline that has the J35Z5 motor, better gear ratios for towing, and a factory tow hitch, you should be fine.

In my years of towing this load with my Ridgeline, I have five points of advice to share:

1. When near the limit of the Ridgeline's towing capacity, every 200 lbs or so that you can shed from the trailer will make a difference in performance. Thus, I recommend emptying the trailered vehicle's gas tank and remove any loose items that can be put in the bed of your Ridgeline vise the trailer.
   
   
2. If you will be towing a heavy load any significant distance, reduce the tongue weight of the trailer to a minimum safe weight. With a trailer that's around 5,000 lbs, every bump the trailer encounters will be transferred through the Ridgeline's frame making for an uncomfortable trip. For my 5,300/5,700 lbs trailer, I try to keep my tongue weight around 400 lbs; it makes for a better ride and I have no problems controlling the rig (the truck and trailer combination). But a word of warning, don't reduce the tongue weight too much or you will have control and oscillation issues.
   
   View attachment 199458
   
   
   
3. When towing heavy trailers, good trailer brakes are essential. If you are going to tow around 5,000 lbs over some moderate terrain and the trailer has functional brakes, you should be fine. When I tow my heavy boat on the weekends, it's over a combination of flat terrain and rolling hills in stop and go traffic and I have no problems doing so with confidence. I believe that is due to having good trailer brakes because the Ridgeline is not known for having great braking performance under load.
   
   To be thorough, I should warn you that I have had trouble in the past when driving down some savior slops with my heavy trailer. When descending down a very steep mountainside, my Ridgeline had trouble slowing my rig. If I had to come to an emergency stop while descending this steep hillside I would have been in trouble for I was only able to slow the rig from 55 MPH to 30 MPH. Unfortunately with surge brakes, you get what you get when it comes to the amount of braking force that's applied by the trailer's master cylinder. If I have to go down steep hillsides more often, I will upgrade my front brake pads to EBC's Yellowstuff.​
   
   
4. When towing heavy loads, use 91 octane or higher gasoline to reduce wear and tear on the drivetrain. Once you have a pure tank of premium fuel (no lower grade gas polluting your premium fuel), you should notice your Ridgeline downshifting less and should cruise with the torque converter locked up for greater periods of time reducing transmission pressure and wear-and-tear on your overall drivetrain. You may also notice an increase in towing MPG; but that will depend on the aerodynamics of your loaded trailer and your average speed (when towing, slower is better for your MPG).
   
   
5. When towing heavy loads, keep your speed and acceleration rates to a minimum. As you increase your speed, you decrease your ability to control your rig in emergency situations such as panicked stops and emergency maneuvers. Also, don't bother trying to accelerate quickly from a stop with a heavy trailer because the Ridgeline's power curve is not very good at low RPMs and first-gear is only 2.693 : 1 or 2.697 : 1 (depending on model year). Use no more than half-throttle when accelerating from a stop because the Ridgeline will not accelerate any faster. If you do use more throttle, you'll just be putting more strain (i.e. extra torque twisting) on the drivetrain and wasting gas.

If you choose to tow the trailer, good luck, be safe, and be confident that your Ridgeline can handle the job.

McChizzle

What type of weight-distributing hitch setup are you using?

 

Well, I see a few here say they would tow it. If it was me, I wouldn't. I would never dream of trying to explain why should an accident occur. But that's me. Where I'm from, I may get pulled over with such a load and I would have to justify where it says the RL is designed from factory to tow that kind of load with the equipment provided. But above all, for liability reasons, I wouldn't.

J

 

When it comes to "liability," since few follow the SAE J2807 standard, the liability issue becomes complicated and hard to prosecute. However, "donuteater306" is looking to tow at the advertized tow rating, if not a little less, so the issue of liability becomes moot.

There tends to be two camps of thought when it comes to towing capacity. There are those who believe that you must tow a 5,000 lbs trailer with a 7,000 lbs rated vehicle for safety and performance reasons. Others say, "Save your money" and purchase a vehicle that has an advertized tow rating that is close to your trailer's weight; because the manufacturer would not want to be "liable" for putting the vehicle and its passengers at risk, so it should be able to handle it with some margin to spare. Since the SAE 2807 standard is not universally followed, both positions have their pros and cons.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. The RL is rated to tow that weight and U Haul has liability skin in the game so the trailer brakes "ought" to be good. But that's my opinion. I've also towed loads at or slightly over the max rating at times with no issues though.

 

I've towed in excess of 4,000 pounds a couple times. The RL handled it fine. 5,000 pounds isn't really that crazy of a weight... but it is right up at the limit. I'd say go for it. Just go easy and leave plenty of braking room.

 

'Never heard of Grade 10. I think Grade 8 is the top dog for SAE standards, but I've been away from the business for a while. Might you be referring to some metric standard?
Back to topic: There are 2 questions: CAN you, and SHOULD you. Both have been pretty well answered here; you just need to decide if you want to manage the risk & accept the responsibility. Your call.
My opinion; Yes you can (if you're tow-savvy), and no you probably shouldn't (reasons stated above), but I probably would if I needed to. Doesn't sound that daunting as defined, assuming your rig is in proper order. As I said; your call.
If you do, just overkill the careful part. Slow & sure wins the race.

 

'Never heard of Grade 10. I think Grade 8 is the top dog for SAE standards, but I've been away from the business for a while. Might you be referring to some metric standard?

I should have said Grade 10.9; it's a metric standard. From what I've learned, Grade 10.9 metric bolts are roughly the same as SAE Grade 8 bolts.

 

Hey thanks everyone for the advise. I'm not too concerned about the liability that comes with towing his car. The owner and I are long time friends, we're both car nuts, and we've been weighing the pros/cons of me towing his car back to him. He and I have towed each other's cars before. Great advise to use 91octane, lightening the tongue weight and making sure the towed vehicle is empty. Thankfully, hwy 101 here in northern CA is fairly level. The speed limit while towing is 55mph and I'd stick to that.

My RL is 7 years old, has 93k miles on it and is well maintained. But it's still 7 years old with 93k miles on it. Honda or no Honda, that's a good amount of miles and mine is showing some age. My rear struts seem to be getting weak and occasionally the transmission is slow to downshift (hoping it dies before Hondacare expires). But other than that, it's in good shape. I think that maxing her out with mediocre struts is probably a bad idea but lightening the tongue weight and keeping it at low speed would help. Like I had said, my concerns were being able to keep the vehicle stable and being able to stop. Sounds like it will handle that just fine.

 

Best Preventive Medicine when towing: Allow PLENTY of stopping distance in front of you at all times! Have fun.....

 

I made a mistake. My RTL (like all RTLs) did not come from the factory with a tow hitch. Mine was installed by the dealer. I'm going to climb under there tomorrow to see how they attached it. I've towed lighter loads with this truck without any problems, but i've never inspected the hitch and have no idea how they attached it. I do know that it's not an aftermarket receiver/hitch. Good call on that one.

 

Dnick, the fluid has been drained/filed 3x in 90k miles. All by the same Honda dealer. I bought it from the original selling dealer, and I am the 2nd owner. I still have it serviced by that dealer. When Hondacare expires at 8yrs and 120k miles, I will return to doing my own services

I used to work as a service advisor...very familiar with extended service policies. I'll never forget a claim being denied for a customer because GM's name for a part was different than what the "warranty" company called the same piece. There was no arguing with the administrator, flat out denied. Fly-by-night extended warranty by a company called Lloyd Anderson Service Plans. I think they're long since out of business. But that's where I learned to research and make sure to call parts by their, what we called "policy" name.

Reason my transmission hasn't been replaced is because there are no codes set...yet, and it's intermittent. But both of my rear struts are leaking. Dealer said they're covered by Hondacare.

 

I would not recommend towing a 4,999lb trailer with a Ridgeline. SUTs are NOT made to pull heavy loads! Will it do it? yes, most likely. Will it shorten it's "useful life"? yes, most likely. Is it dangerous? Given how much most people know about "proper towing practices" YES! ANY time you have a trailer that weighs close to the weight of the tow vehicle, things can/will get real exciting in a hurry! Ridgy's work great for pulling around 1500lb low profile trailers hauling home bags of mulch from home creepo. Any more and your asking for trouble- I know, I've done it.

 

I WOULD recommend towing a 4,999lb trailer with a Ridgeline. This specific SUT is made to pull this load!

Will it do it? yes.

Will it shorten it's "useful life"? No more (likely less) than with comparable "heavy half-ton" trucks on the market. Several owners here on the ROC report towing thousands or tens of thousands of miles at or near the Ridgeline's documented limits. A few go notably past those limits, lending credibility to the conclusion that Honda's safety margins are above the documented limits, not below them as one usually told for conventional trucks.

Is it dangerous? Given how much most people know about "proper towing practices", maybe, though it's much less dangerous than with comparable trucks or SUV's with leaf springs and solid axles. These vehicles can take you for what's known as a "wild ride" with uncontrolled sway, especially if the trailer is improperly loaded. I should know -- I've done it with such vehicles (and boating/camping forums are full of such stories). However, I was unable to produce such an effect during simulated emergency manoeuvres in the Ridgeline in the early days of towing my 5000 lb boat/trailer. Its rear suspension doesn't take high loads like a 1-ton truck, but it's by far the best in its size/weight category, to the point where drivers of conventional trucks just can't believe how good it is.

BTW, I did my emergency simulations head-to-head with a late 1990's Silverado 1500 (that's before they became monster-sized), the nearest comparable vehicle that I had at hand. I used it as a baseline for what to expect. The two vehicles were pretty similar under load, though the Ridgeline gave more confidence in rear stability over bumps, and of course is much better for ride and control when unloaded. The Silverado made it "feel" a bit better for minor sensations when on good road surfaces, but was not actually any better on compromised surfaces or in a swerve/stop move.

 

Is it dangerous? Given how much most people know about "proper towing practices", maybe, though it's much less dangerous than with comparable trucks or SUV's with leaf springs and solid axles. These vehicles can take you for what's known as a "wild ride" with uncontrolled sway, especially if the trailer is improperly loaded. I should know -- I've done it with such vehicles (and boating/camping forums are full of such stories). However, I was unable to produce such an effect during simulated emergency manoeuvres in the Ridgeline in the early days of towing my 5000 lb boat/trailer. Its rear suspension doesn't take high loads like a 1-ton truck, but it's by far the best in its size/weight category, to the point where drivers of conventional trucks just can't believe how good it is.

BTW, I did my emergency simulations head-to-head with a late 1990's Silverado 1500 (that's before they became monster-sized), the nearest comparable vehicle that I had at hand. I used it as a baseline for what to expect. The two vehicles were pretty similar under load, though the Ridgeline gave more confidence in rear stability over bumps, and of course is much better for ride and control when unloaded. The Silverado made it "feel" a bit better for minor sensations when on good road surfaces, but was not actually any better on compromised surfaces or in a swerve/stop move.
You are/were correct. MODERN Trucks(Ford,Chevy,Fiat-Ram) that have factory built in brake controllers have Built in sway control. It is a system that looks at braking pressure, steering angle, speed , vehicle attitude, and many other things. It will even apply the trailer brakes while you are still pushing on the throttle if it thinks you are getting into trouble. I seriously doubt honda will EVER put anything that sophisticated into their SUTs.

 

I'm trying to decide if I want chance towing a friends vehicle with my RL.

GVWR on the car is 2789 lbs, and the trailer weight is 2210 lbs. (4,999 lbs) total.

Assuming you typed what you meant to type when you wrote "GVWR" (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), and also assuming that the car will _not_ be towed with a full load of passengers and cargo, the total weight will be several hundred pounds less than the proposed total of 4,999 lbs. Thus, I don't understand the hesitation. Hook it up and go, unless there's some other, unstated reason to not.

 

I tow our 24ft Coleman travel trailer all the time, best to just run 55 and let traffic pass, way better mileage, and the up and down shifting is more comfortable. The camper weighs 5000 pounds unloaded so, I'm sure I'm exceeding the rating, but, the truck has never biotched! lol:act035:

Going down a steep incline the D3 button actually keeps the truck AND camper at the desired speed limit! Amazing.

 

Thanks for the information on this thread. We are considering a purchase of an RV with a dry weight of 4,876. Dealership will be adding stabilizer and sway bars to ensure a better towing experience.

To be continued....

 

Oh, ok. Is there a specified range of tongue weight that is considered appropriate for the RL so that a WDH is not needed? Where can I find these specs? The trailer I'm looking at has a tongue weight of 450lb. thank you.

 

The average recommended tongue weight is 10% of the overall trailer weight, so a 5,000 lbs trailer should have a 500 lbs tongue weight. Honda does not recommend the use of a WDH for the Gen1 but is considered okay for use on the Gen2; why, I have no idea just a lot of nonsensical explanations from Honda. Because the Ridgeline is designed to tow at or under 5,000 lbs, the only reason you would need a WDH is if you could not balance the load (due to what you are carrying, trainer design, etc.) and you have to put a lot of tongue weight on your hitch.