Towing in COLORADO

[vailridge]

We are the proud owners of a new used Honda Ridgeline. I have looked at all of the links here, but I still have a pressing questions.
We are looking at a Rockwood Roo 233. The dry weight is 3,460. The GVWR is 4,684. I understand that the GVWR is the dry trailer plus what we put in it. Am I correct? We live in Denver but we love to travel to Moab, UT a couple times a year. Is our Ridgeline going to be able to pull this trailer over two of Colorado’s 11,000+ foot passes?
Also, the dealer is trying to sell us a weight distribution hitch and anti-sway bars. Do we need them? The Hitch weight of the camper is 284.
Any help with these questions would be great!

[Truckin']

Congrats on getting a great vehicle. I'll let owners of campers chime in on the specifics you are asking about. We have a Rockwood Premiere tent trailer that is about 3,500 loaded up and we are impressed with how smoothly it tows.

You're smart to head to Moab for your vacation breaks. Isn't that a great area to explore?

[ToyTruck]

vailridge--congrats on your purchase. You will find that the RL is an excellent tow vehicle. Regarding the weight distribution hitch, you will find many opinions and experience here, especially if you do a search. The tongue weight of your trailer is low, so the rear of the Honda should not sag. Many here find that the WDH is not to their liking/not needed, and follow Honda's guidelines. I have a WDH (left over from towing with the RAM) and anti sway bar setup, but have found that we don't need to tension the bars as they interfere with the handling of our RL. I just barely snug up the bars and that works for us. We tow a 17' Hi-Lo that only weighs around 3200-3500# loaded up. The anti-sway bar is a gem-we never feel any sway when passing or being passed by big rigs. This vehicle is rock solid.

[Webwader]

The anti-sway bar is a gem-we never feel any sway when passing or being passed by big rigs. This vehicle is rock solid.
We tow a 3,500 lb high-sided folding trailer with no anti-sway bar. Also rock solid.

[jeepwatchman]

The weight of that trailer will slow you down going up Vail pass or the Eisenhower tunnel, but not being in a hurry and just cruising up those passes shouldn't give you any trouble.

When I tow my Jeep and trailer (a touch over 5K lbs) up over our summit here on I-80 in Laramie (7% grade I think), it will slow me down to around 63 mph, and I know those two passes I mentioned are quite a bit longer than our summit.

The RL should be ok with all the extra tarnny coolersand factory stuff.