Trailer Hitch Alternatives

I need a trailer hitch but the dealer wants $600 or so for the hitch, wiring assembly and installation. My question is are there any other sources for a hitch other than Honda?

I hope to get a reply from Draw Tite as to when they will have a hitch ready for the Ridgeline.

I'll post as soon as I hear something.

Tiger

I need a trailer hitch but the dealer wants $600 or so for the hitch, wiring assembly and installation. My question is are there any other sources for a hitch other than Honda?

That's not a bad deal considering. If you buy it online at reduced prices it's going to be about $500 after shipping charges. $100 to put it on might be worth it if you're not comfortable monkeying around under the dash pulling & hooking wiring, relays, fuses up. Took me about 2-3 hours to install it myself.

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The factory trailer hitch is a simple steel unit that is class III rated , BUT ,
the wiring harness is very different than the usual stuff and the necessary
connectors are NOT like the standard hitch company uses .

I think that even the "discount" price is a rip-off , but a necessary evil for
proper electrical configuration .

.

As of Friday, March 18th I had a electronic brake control installed and was very happy with the set-up as for now (haven't had a chance yet to use it though). But wanted it installed so when I need it, it is ready to go. If anyone needs any information, please feel free to contact me and I'll share what I know. Nicholas

Since shipping is so high, one option is to buy the hitch at the dealer and have an independent mechanic install it.

Bring the price list from the online stores with you and see if the dealer will match.

_W

Let your fingers do the walking in the yellow pages under trailer hitches and save 50% over Honda for the same thing.:confused:

I looked around for months, gave up and went to the Honda dealer.

IMOP it was worth the $230 and LOOKS cleaner (shows less) then aftermarket ones................

That's not a bad deal considering. If you buy it online at reduced prices it's going to be about $500 after shipping charges. $100 to put it on might be worth it if you're not comfortable monkeying around under the dash pulling & hooking wiring, relays, fuses up. Took me about 2-3 hours to install it myself.
Bought my complete Honda towing kit last week (Friday) for $404 shipped and it arrived today.:D

Forget paying big bucks for the Honda hitch. It's not even made by Honda. Go to www.hitchsource.com and do a search under Ridgeline. Excellent, all welded class III hitches for less than $150. They, buy the "hidden Hitch" electrical connector for about $40. A hitch is a hitch, but stick to all welded units. Website has great pictures on how it looks on the Ridgeline.

Here is a photo of the U-Haul hitch. Notice that it sits back underneath the bumper. I want to say (but not sure) that I paid $230 for everything including arm and ball.

yes i paid also 230 $ inkl. all

and i got finally my quiet hitch (http://www.quiethitch.com/)

thats awesome!

I went with a Hidden Hitch (bought new on EBay for ~$120.00 shipped) and a wiring harness from etrailer.com (~$50.00).
You can see a pic of my hitch here:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showpost.php?p=86950&postcount=1

$453 includes shipping and just over an hour to install it by yourself, in the driveway.

Honda Acura World has FREE SHIPPING on all of their products.:D

http://www.hondacuraworld.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=08L92RPKG&Category_Code=HR

I forgot to say this, but U-Haul pricing includes installation. I would suspect that "Trailer World" or similar places would also include installation as part of the pricing.

I think Honda is tremendously overpriced when it comes to trailering. Heck, my sales guy even told me to not buy the Honda hitch package as it's outrageously priced.

Come on Honda, at least make the pricing half-way competitive. :rolleyes:

Awesome tip. Cheapest i have found and they ship to canada for anyone interested.

Thx.

Brand Spanking new RL owner and lovin it.

I forgot to say this, but U-Haul pricing includes installation. I would suspect that "Trailer World" or similar places would also include installation as part of the pricing.

I think Honda is tremendously overpriced when it comes to trailering. Heck, my sales guy even told me to not buy the Honda hitch package as it's outrageously priced.

Come on Honda, at least make the pricing half-way competitive. :rolleyes:
Before I bought my Ridgeline, I wanted to ckeck around before paying the Dealer's price for the tow package. I found some listed on E-bay, but with the wiring kits they sold, they said to tap into the wiring inside the brake lights.
I called three different U-Haul locations in my area. The first location I called, (I know has been around for at least 20 years) Asked me what the heck a Ridgeline was. He said he found a listing after fumbling around in his book, But said it was not yet available. The other two locations didn't even know as much as the first guy. I had seen a hitch on a Ridgeline with a U-Haul sticker on it, so I knew they were available..but If they didn't even know Honda had a Truck out for a year I wasn't about to trust them to install a hitch for me.