Show/Tell us what you are haulin'

Let's have this thread be for what we are hauling with our Ridgelines. The poster who put an unbelievable amount of drywall and other items in their Ridgeline inspired me to start this thread.

Pictures are of course welcomed and encouraged. :D

I haven't hauled anything major in the bed or trunk. Just put a cooler full of Gatorade to take to the range for the SWAT team. Then took the cooler out of the trunk and stuffed it full of medical equipment and entry vests while we went to dinner. I know there are folks out there with better stories than that.

So let's hear about it!

It's only our second day with our Ridge and we used it as a truck today.

We flipped the seats up and the tow package in the box fit handily. We were on the way to the home repair store or we would have carried that in the open bed. We didn't buy much, but two eight foot long pieces of wood fit in the back and through the back window and a quarter piece of plywood in the back.

It wasn't much, but it was nice to have options of how to haul it.

We also got accosted ;) in the parking lot by someone who loved seeing a Ridge in person.

The only items I've done is two 10' ladders and ten 2x4s in one shot. I left the tail gate closed and lashed them down. Drove 30 miles on the freeway with them and then backed up a really steep dirt road. My friend was nervous going up the hill, thought I should engage the VTM lock but I said nah, don't worry. Made it up no problem at all and the load was just fine the whole trip.

I took down two 40' maple trees, cut them up, and loaded them into the Ridgeline to take to the brush pile. It all fit in one trip with the gate up. Unfortunately, no pix. It looked like my Ridgeline had a hairball in the back.

My heaviest load was a little over 600 lbs going to the dump. I couldn't even tell there was anything in the bed.

My prettiest load was 5 Japanese Lace Leaf Maples in pots (each weighed about 100 lbs).

My prettiest load was 5 Japanese Lace Leaf Maples in pots (each weighed about 100 lbs).

Are you a bonsai grower by chance?

No but there is a really nice nursery up here that is.

Here is a link to their site: http://www.tsugawanursery.com/

The only thing that I have hauled was 20 bags of mulch, about 700lbs total. It made no difference on the ride.

I just brought home 10 sheets of drywall, and 10 sheets of insulation, that dryway is very heavy stuff, but I could not notice any change in the ride.

On a family mission to San Antonio, hauled a full-size dryer, door, roofing tiles, power tools, full complement rolling tool box, ice chest, 2 Westies, and clothing for a 3 day stay. Not only did we haul, but we hauled it! It rode even better with all of the stuff in it. Rock steady.

Picked up 25 bags of mulch today, three cubic feet each. Don't know how much it weighed but I could tell it was back there! We drove about five miles home.

UTV,

I got my ridgeline so I would not have to do what you did. At home depot and Orchard supply , they can load a pallet into your truck and the ridgeline bed is just right for a standard 40x48 pallet.

I was tired of loadiong stuff into a cart and then into the minvan. My time was worth more than the stuff I was loading. Be sure that you put a piece plywood on the bed so they can slide the pallet. Otherwise you will get white scratches which I already have from loading washer, dryer, pallet and stuff.

I haul all of my tool in the bed trunk.

Sounds like good info. I think I'll cut a piece of plywood and have it ready for those times when the floor of the bed needs protection. I wonder how many bags fit on a pallet though.

Home Depot only had the 2 cubic foot bags and the nursery that I bought from had the 3 cubic foot ones. They were in large piles wrapped in plastic and loaded by one of their workers so after a couple of minutes I was on my way.

Unloading was a snap. I dropped the tailgate to get the first batch and then closed and opened it sideways to reach the rest. The height of the bed actually makes getting stuff out real easy. (And an 18 year old son!)

If you get a pallet load, some places give you a discount for volume. Also it is wraped so nothing will fall out on the road and you do not have to wash the bed afterwards. I used to load sod into my minivan, that was no fun! that's when I decided to get a truck.

BTW, does your 18 year old son ask you if he can drive the truck everyday? Even to the prom?

Anybody else using it as a truck?

After unloading the drywall scraps, I just hosed out the bed and all of the gypsum dust and rub marks vanished!

Today I helped my Brother-In Law tear out 90' of fence. Here's what 50' looks like in the bed of the RL. We cut the sections in 1/2 so they would stack and fit nicely. A couple of tie downs and off we went.

We got some stuff from a yard sale today. A full patio furniture set and an old record player. No problem loading up. I just had to tie the stuff down really well for our 20 mile drive home doing 55 MPH on the backroads. :cool:

Great pictures! It is really cool to see how many ways this truck can be used as a truck, driving it makes you think it's a luxury SUV. I love it.

Don't have any pictures doing it, but I pulled some shrubbery up by the roots this weekend with mine. Turned on the VTM lock so I wouldn't tear up the yard and they yanked right out of the ground.

Other than yard waste....it will or has been pulling/carrying

2004 Sherco Trials motorcycle
Ski-Doo MXZX snowmobile
2 x Yamaha Jet-Ski's

It tows my 5x12" trailor with one of the above every weekend.

Nice bike!! I used to have a Bultaco Sherpa T 250.

yah thanks......modern trials bikes are mega fun.

Sore today, had a 2-day trial this past weekend. Do you still ride..??

Do you still ride..??

No, I sold the bike and kept the kids :(

Anyone haul a sportbike yet? I've got a 600rr, and I'd just be curious to see how it fits in.

A few pounds of green railroad ballast. Each pail holds 70-80 lbs. There are 16 pails, therefore 1200 lbs give or take...flower pots another 60 lbs or so. :eek:

I wish you had a side shot. It sure looks like there was no body sag with that load onboard.

There was sag but it was nothing like a regular pickup does. The truck rides perfectly with the load, no sway, no wallowing, it pretty much rides as it does without the load. I do have a couple of pictures but they are not great. Since I have to pick up more of these rocks in a couple of weeks I shall be more diligent with the picture taking.

Looks just like my truck.. let me go check the garage ( hmm ) :eek:

Those two pictures show the sag perfectly. Thanks for posting them.

I thought the limit was around 1100# ?

I was real happy to discover the roof is clear when a ladder is placed on the tailgate and the back bar of the roof rack. I did scratch the rack but now use a towel as a pad but the roof is undamaged.

I used my Ridgeline RTL as a truck for the first time today. I hauled a Pioneer big screen TV to the dump with my first load. I know the bed scratches real bad from other threads here so I put an old quilt down and I had no problemo. The tv, which was big mind you, fit like a glove, even with the tailgate up.

Then, I had an old hot tub cover for dumping which was 90"x90" (fold in half makes it about 45" wide) and was placed in the box my new hot tub cover came in. Overall, the box measured 8' length, 49" wide. The entire thing fit flat in the bed! Even with a large portion of it off the tailgate, a little rope and the box was secure. Ridgeline rocks!!

This being a holiday, my wife and I went over to our local house and garden superstore to pick up about a hundred pieces of retaining wall bricks. These weigh about 8 lbs a piece. I've noticed a slight sag when the fork lift operator lowered the stuff onto the bed. Driving home was unremarkable. It was as if nothing was loaded in the back. We would certainly be back at the store pretty soon. :) I've taken a few pics for everybody to look at.

I haven't said I love my RL yet today so here it goes.

Went to Home Depot to get some lumber, the 4' x 8' kind. Paid and promptly went out to my Truck lowered the tailgate and slid the 2 sheets of MDF into the bed with ease, slight overhang off of the back but what a great fit.

I saw 3 contractors loading similar sheets on top of their bed racks. One looked at me and scratched his head in disbelief. :D

I loaded 12 bags of PlaySafe rubber mulch for my kids' swingset into the bed. Not as impressive as some others but you gotta start somewhere.

I loaded 12 bags of PlaySafe rubber mulch for my kids' swingset into the bed. Not as impressive as some others but you gotta start somewhere.
PM me with what you think of that mulch. I thought about using it but couldn't find a local dealer last time I looked and the shipping was outragous.

Carried home 30 bags of mulch. 24 fit just fine in the bed - right to the top of the bed walls. Put the other 6 in the back seat area. Other than the distinctive mulch smell, the ride home was great. No effect on handling at all.

Darn, I forgot to get a photo. We just hauled a 5' tall 100' long roll of pasture fence and 40 seven foot steel T-posts. I threw some carpet plush side down into the bed as I'm still not willing to have my new truck get scratched.

Here's my Ridgeline (my daughter named her Boston) with 1200lbs. of concrete mix in the bed. The rear end sagged a little, and you could definitely feel the weight in the back when driving, however it was always under control, unlike any other truck I've owned.

Two weeks ago I went to the lumber store to buy some material for a railing down some new steps I had poured.
I purchased Weather Best some of that new composit lumber. I picked up four eight by 8x8 sleeves that fit over a 4x4 post and some 2x2, 2x4 and 1x6 stock. other than the posts which fit in the bed no problem, all the other material comes in twelve foot increments.
I did not want to cut it so opened the rear window to and slid it through letting the aft end supported by the tailgate and the forward end supported by the dash, the middle was supported by the rear window frame and my bike seat as my bike was in the back seat area with the rear seats up.

This worked well other than the composite boards are as slippery as snot on a door knob, each time I accelerated I needed to wrap my right arm around the bundle tight to keep it from slidding aft. I was happy that I had no panic stops on the way home or a new windshield would be in my future.

I found this lumber just as tough to work with as to haul due to its slippery nature, I was chassing it around in circles trying to cut it, thought sure I would wind up circumsizing myself again before it was over.

A nice product for the Ridge might be an internal support bracket that attaches to the rear floor for supporting loads like this.

You need a Hitch-Hand, dude. Search for Hitch-Hand and shovelhd, and you'll see one on my truck with 16' boards in the bed.

I found this lumber just as tough to work with as to haul due to its slippery nature, I was chassing it around in circles trying to cut it, thought sure I would wind up circumsizing myself again before it was over.
I hope you have one of those circular saws with the laser guide. Your going to want the precision if your doing this kind of surgery!

I have used that material before. It is difficult to work with.

Just what I needed to hear. I've got 80 pieces to lay down on my deck and screen house this year. Ugh.

shovelhd,

Would it be possible to bring your hitch-hand to our meet on Sat? Would love to get a hands on close look at it.

Absolutely. I was planning on bringing it,as well as my Poor Man's Nav.

JUST KIDDING! :D

Just haulin myself, some of my lady friends, my daughters from time to time and training gear. :)

Aaahhh! My eyes. I think I'm blind..

Just a defense mechanism. :eek:

I think you may need a larger Hitch Hand.

I think you may need a larger Hitch Hand.

Great answer!

So Glad The ROC has a sense of humor! :D

When I get home I'll show you guys what I really haul in my truck.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I'll have you know that I paid good money for that lunch that I just spewed! Probably won't sleep tonight. Gonna have to change my user name now that you posted that picture - don't want anybody to confuse me with that! Ruined, just ruined........

Okay ROC!

You seemed to like my joke earier today as to what I was hauling! Now I'll show you what I am really hauling. The following pictures are some of my lady friends I go out with. I also included a second picture of the same friend just so some didn't like I was just taking pictures from magazines! :)

This one was the one that I let get away, DARN IT! :(

We got a 50inch Sony Grand Wega TV and stand. They fit from front of bed to tailgate snug as a bug. Tie downs were placed great. Got the TV home, set up and it looks awesome too :)

Just got a Pace enclosed trailer for track days. RL pulled it great. I didn't even realize it was back there....

Very nice Molsonman! I have one of those in my future so it is good to know that you like it. Your other picture is great too. I have had to do that kind of turn only a few times as a defensive maneuver. I try not to make a habit out of it. I'll bet it is a real gas on a bike that is built for it though. Thanks again for the picture and the info on your new trailer.

Nice racing pic. It brings back memories.

Have you considered adding some drop to your ball mount? The trailer looks like it's sitting up a bit in front.

Just got a Pace enclosed trailer for track days. RL pulled it great. I didn't even realize it was back there....

Nice pics there YOUNGIN!!!! I love it!! You should come to the Charity Race on 8/14. You'll love it. We can even put you in a kart that hits 65 at the end of the stretch. The G forces are AWESOME!!!!

JUST KIDDING! :D

Just haulin myself, some of my lady friends, my daughters from time to time and training gear. :)

HEY!! How'd you get my picture!! :D
( that's me on the left ) :eek:

Eventually I'll be hauling this http://camaroclubkc.homeip.net/albums/3SuperSports/KTM002.jpg but I need a new ramp, a way to step up into the bed while I'm loading it and some tie-downs meant for a dirt bike.
I was using an ATK bike shoe in my old truck.

I'll add a picture of it actually in the truck later.

Nice Supersport!! I love a man in racewear!! ;)
This is what I haul, only Drew's kart is missing. I'll go take some shots on lunch and post them later.

Ok..here are some pics of Drew's Kart. Vehicle graphics by his Momma!! :D

Nice racing pic. It brings back memories.

Have you considered adding some drop to your ball mount? The trailer looks like it's sitting up a bit in front.
Yea it has a small drop on the ball mount...it sits up a little. IT looks worse in the pic b/c the ground was not very level. It towed great though. Thanks for the compliments. We had a blast during that track day. Can't wait to do another one.

Nice pics there YOUNGIN!!!! I love it!! You should come to the Charity Race on 8/14. You'll love it. We can even put you in a kart that hits 65 at the end of the stretch. The G forces are AWESOME!!!!

Thanks Mom :) 65 in that little go kart??? That must be awesome. Already got plans for the 14th otherwise I'd be there....well depending upon where the charity ride is....

Thanks Mom :) 65 in that little go kart??? That must be awesome. Already got plans for the 14th otherwise I'd be there....well depending upon where the charity ride is....

Way North of North Kakilacki

Way North of North Kakilacki

yea no kidding...Ohio huh? Well I'm from PA so it probably wouldn't be that much further.....but unfortuntately I'll be in PA that weekend so can't make it.

yea no kidding...Ohio huh? Well I'm from PA so it probably wouldn't be that much further.....but unfortuntately I'll be in PA that weekend so can't make it.

Thats ok. Drive safe and have a great time son!! ;)

Sold a 10 year old business. Sold the buildings and property where they were located to a different buyer than the business, had to clean out all of the stuff that had been stored there and in my basement now that the kids are grown and on their own. All in the last 3 weeks. I am exhausted. The Ridgeline is dirty for the first time ever since I have used it VERY HARD hauling A LOT of stuff and I have not had a minute to even think of washing it.

The Ridgeline really came through and worked great with all of the stuff that I had to move. The canister for the Retrax cover did not get in the way for any of the many, many different items that I carried. It rained for two days during the moving process and the Retrax cover protected the boxes perfectly. I would have appreciated having a few more tie down points in the bed but I made do just fine otherwise. The fold-up rear seats gave me a lot more protected space. I was going to rent a trailer but I really didn't need it since the trip length was only about 2 miles. If the trip length was longer a trailer would have made more sense than a lot of short trips. The "Hitch-Hand" worked great when I had to carry long items like a 12 foot long counter/desk top.

What do you haul in your Ridge?
Send pics!
Mike

awesome pics!

nice wardrobe!

no pics to show, but on my first week of owning my RL my wife loaded the bed with bricks and rocks to do landscapeing.750lbs worth. Needless to say she scratched the bed all over. Her claim " its a damn truck ,get over it."
I have hauled 2 8'x6' privacy fence panels. I did wrap the sides of the bed with a blanket to protect it. :)

Three cases of beer iced down in the trunk with 8 bags of ice. That is the best use of the trunk and why it was built that way. I can think of no other good use for it and is a huge hit during tailgate parties! The bed itself gets used only once in a great while. I hauled an old big screen tv and a hot tub cover to the dump once and that has pretty much been it.

Thanks, I've been wondering what the empty space in the back was for. :rolleyes:

Thanks, I've been wondering what the empty space in the back was for. :rolleyes:

LOL :D LOL :p

Yes indeedy! I just hauled some lumber for a friend from the White Mountains in Arizona down to Phoenix. Used one of those Home Depot ratcheted orange colored strap tie-downs. Boy are they perfect for securing loads! Look cool too with my Nighthawk Black Pearl :) .

Thanks for posting the pics. I am going to merge this thread with a thread already in progress about what you are haulin' in your Ridge.

JUST KIDDING! :D

Just haulin myself, some of my lady friends, my daughters from time to time and training gear. :)
These are the women I was talking about Tony!! :D

What do you haul in your Ridge?
Send pics!
Mike
Yeah!!?? I thought this was coming to my house!!??
That's a beautiful piece.

I tow a 2005 Fleetwood Sequoia folding trailer. Weighs 3,500 lb. It tows great with plenty of power on hand even in the mountains. With 400 lb. tongue weight, the rear end sag was less than 1.5 in.
I also tow a boat/trailer combo that weighs 3,250 lb. and does it very easily.
For fishing small lakes and rivers, I have a home built 7.5' jon boat that fits nicely in the bed of the RL. Trolling motor, battery, and gear all fit in the trunk.

My "little Hondas" get hauled to a from the deer camp numerous times a year. The Ridgeline pulls the trailer great, although the MPG does go down to around 14-15 MPG from the normal 19 -20 MPG.

Care to guess how I spent Saturday morning? This is not a heavy load, but I thought it looked cool so I revived this old thread.

I threw a tarp over it and used my Honda cargo net. Not one leaf blew out on the way to the dump.

Two weekends ago I trucked ten of those tarploads to the transfer station, although my stuff was chopped up grass and leaves. Now the oak leaves are half down and I'll have to do it again.

Care to guess how I spent Saturday morning? This is not a heavy load, but I thought it looked cool so I revived this old thread.

I threw a tarp over it and used my Honda cargo net. Not one leaf blew out on the way to the dump.
Nice rake holder too:)

Two weekends ago I trucked ten of those tarploads to the transfer station, although my stuff was chopped up grass and leaves. Now the oak leaves are half down and I'll have to do it again.

WOW! That's a lot of leaves. You must have trees everywhere. We just dump our leaves in our pasture and the next door neighbor loves the compost and manure mix in the spring for his garden.

You're right...way too many trees!! We only have a little Birch tree up front and raking the leaves for that little thing was enough for me :D I haven't hauled anything this year except a couple of fishing poles. Maybe next year I'll move up to some bags of mulch!

I only have an acre but the perimeter of my yard is surrounded by trees. 90-100 foot white pines (needle carpet 2x/yr), maples, birch, cherry, and one big mutha oak. It's a pain to keep clean but it's worth it. I have a JD 345 with a 48" deck and power blower that will fill both bags in a 50 foot pass.

Recently on a trip down to our cabin I cut up some hackberry trees, some of it I was able to cut up with MY sawmill, but I had to bring a large log home to a friend that has a bigger mill! Pulling logs out of the brush has been the coolest demonstrations of the 4WD system..you may here ONE wheel spin for about a half a second and that's it.

Nice trailer. I'm looking for one just like it.

Summer months of course. So I haven't tried the boat ramp yet being as I bought the RL 10/31. But I look forward to it. The power sliding rear window will surely be a blessing for launching!:D should make it much easier to hear my buddies yelling "STOP!!!":eek:

My tacoma had a sliding rear window, but what good is it if you gotta get out of the truck & climb in the back to use it? That's why I never used it in two years of ownership.

FINS

Care to guess how I spent Saturday morning? This is not a heavy load, but I thought it looked cool so I revived this old thread.

I threw a tarp over it and used my Honda cargo net. Not one leaf blew out on the way to the dump.

Wouldn't it be easier without the tarp? You'd just have to drive around the neighborhood and *POOF* no leaves :D

Just got back from Lowe's with the posts and concrete to fence in our backyard for our new dog, which you can see him watching in the 2nd pic. I had 29 4x4x6 posts in the back with 15, 80 pound bags of concrete on top of that. The back was noticeably sagging, unfortunately I'm not sure you can see that in the pics. It was dark when I took them and I missed the front end of the truck with all 3 pics that I took. The front end felt light while driving and the truck felt "light" going over waves in the road...same feeling you get when shocks are bad, the truck kinds of bounces a little longer than normal. My 9 year old son in the back seat commented on how the seat was "reclined" as well.

I have no idea how much those 4x4 posts weighed, but the concrete by itself was 1200 pounds.

Acceleration and braking was still good; however, I could tell I was accelerating slower than when empty. Overall, I was reminded of the sag on my F150 when loaded with a "scoop" of pea gravel.

It looks like you're going to have a happy puppy when you get that fine fence built.

I'm glad you posted your story and you remembered to take pictures.

See my 17 ft Sugarsand Jet boat on the left? We'll be towing that to the colorado river this summer :D

See my 17 ft Sugarsand Jet boat on the left? We'll be towing that to the colorado river this summer :D
That sounds like fun, not just the towing but also the CR.:p

Thanks..................

I was gonna ask you about that boat. What's under the cowling?

Wouldn't it be easier without the tarp? You'd just have to drive around the neighborhood and *POOF* no leaves :D
That was my idea too, but the wife wouldn't hear of it. She likes our neighbors. Plus I was the guy who quoted DOT regulations on falling cargo. Applies to private parties also.

I don't have a Ridge.... yet.... well, I probably won't have the money for one for quite a few years... but a Ridge would've handled the 1300lbs+ worth of cables and other electrical/lighting equipment (plus myself and a passenger) a lot better than my Element did! The E was overloaded to twice the load limit as stated in the owner's manual. Good thing it was only a quick 10 mile juant!



http://e-shen.com/element/loaded01.jpg

http://e-shen.com/element/loaded03.jpg

http://e-shen.com/element/loaded04.jpg

http://e-shen.com/element/loaded06.jpg

Loooordy! Neil Diamond would be proud! Lol, very funny pic. My friend has an Element. I am forwarding this pic to her if you don't mind.:)

This is all I tow.

Yesterday, my sister-in-law got her Ford Sporttrac stuck in the mid at my father-in-laws house.
It had been raining cats and dogs in Marin County, CA, and she pulled up to the rear fence with the truck loaded with cinderblocks.
After the load was removed, the trucks rear wheels (non 4WD) got stuck in the wet lawn/mud. The weight of the loaded truck sunk it into the mud..

It didn't help she needed new tires all around, and had very little tread. We tried putting wood and pieces of broken brick down for a toe-hold and wiggling the truck back and forth; to no avail. The Ford wasn't moving.

I used my Husbands Ridgeline to tow her out--and let me tell you all-there was NO STRAIN on the engine!

Husband tied mountaineering rope to front of Sporttrac tow area. Tied rope to back of Ridgeline (could not see where he tied the rope). Moved forward to put strain on the rope (and to stretch it out).

She had the truck in Drive and hubby gave us both the signal to accelerate.
I was afraid the Ridge would strain, downshift and 'grunt' at pulling out the other truck.
The Ridgeline was just beautiful! No straining, shifting gears, etc.
The Sporttrac was pulled right out of the mud easily--I was amazed!

This kart will probably be riding in the bed soon so we can take the big kart out on the trailer.
http://photos.imageevent.com/sbmotorsports/wheelsofadventure/DSC00449.JPG
http://photos.imageevent.com/sbmotorsports/wheelsofadventure/DSC00451.JPG
Bigger kart...now with V-Twin power
http://photos.imageevent.com/sbmotorsports/wheelsofadventure/DSC00292.JPG

Today I hauled probably the weirdest load yet.

A full size folding Ping Pong table, upright :eek: . I had put this unit together several years ago but just didn't have room for it. So we sold it this weekend to a friend. So up into the bed it went, DOH, 63" long. We angled it no problem, tailgate up. 6 straps later we thought it was stable until the 1st corner I went around. So we adjusted the straps again for the rest of the 35 mile trip.

Needless to say we made it to our destination unscathed even made it up to 50 mph once. Thank goodness that's over.

Oh yeah I forgot to take a picture until I was 1/2 way there, sorry was turning around to get the camera.

How does this look, It is called the Base Camp and you can haul a bike or quad in it. I talked to a dealer last week he told me they are 50 grand cdn ??? The airsteam site says they are 20 us. Does anyone in canada know the real price.

To date: Couch and love seat, light load
Dining table and eight chairs, light load again
Half a cord of wood, nice size load, could feel it a little
Half cord of wet wood, quite the load, could definitely tell it was there going uphill!!

I myself have not towed anything all that big yet... just the average DIY projects. The biggest was a friend's average size ski boat. (I only towed it from the campsite to the ramp though, so not far, but it did really well.)

I guess when I started reading this Thread; I was hoping to read about people that have hauled boats/trailers. Are there anymore stories about hauling boats and trailers? I am very interested to know what larger items you all are hauling...

Thanks fellow ROCers!

Last October I hauled 150 bails of straw on a very sturdy (and heavy) tri-axle trailer. Each bail was probably 20-30 pounds. I only travelled a few miles at 20 mph (didn't tie any of it down), so it wasn't a true test. I did, however, have NO problem going up the 100 feet loose gravel driveway, including a nice-sized incline towards the beginning.

I did tow a small (1000 pound?) camper 2.5 hours last summer with no problems.

This summer we hope to tow the blue VW Thing (pictured above) 8 hours to Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan.

I hauled 7 boxes of engineered bamboo flooring from Orlando back to Melbourne. The boxes were about 76 inches long so I had to have them rest on top of the closed tailgate. I used some ratcheting tie-downs in the front and the rear to secure the boxes as best as I could.

Forgot to get pics. I have no excuse.:(

How does this look, It is called the Base Camp and you can haul a bike or quad in it. I talked to a dealer last week he told me they are 50 grand cdn ??? The airsteam site says they are 20 us. Does anyone in canada know the real price.

The Airstream dealer in SC told me that they were having some production issues with the Basecamp. He wondered aloud whether or not it would actually make it to market.

I haul this 2,500 lb. boat with ease. I got on I-20 and set the curise at 80 mph to see what it would do, and even up a long steep hill, the speed only fell 3 mph to 77 mph.

Thanks what I like to hear!!! Thanks!

We'll be pullin' this contraption again in about a month headin' for Charlotte and a whole lot of ROC heads..( I hope :D )

http://www.wakesiderides.com/rides/index.php?page=out&id=776


This is what I tow. A towboat.

1 dirty Ridgeline. 300 Board Feet of Black Walnut lumber. Over 1,000 pounds. Some boards over 11' long and three "full sized" men. It drove great, you can see that the back sagged a little, but I was very happy even if it looked a little funny.

Ready to go out and play! KTM and Cannondale

I haul this 2,500 lb. boat with ease. I got on I-20 and set the curise at 80 mph to see what it would do, and even up a long steep hill, the speed only fell 3 mph to 77 mph.

RedrockRT I must ask what brand of boat that is in the picture also what length is it. It looks pretty similar in size to my 19' Bayliner. I have been wondering how it would tow a boat that size. I know it is well within the towing capacity of the Ridge. How was the acceleration from a stop, any searching of gears on the highway?
Main reason me asking all this is I had a Mitsubishi Montero Sport prior to my current truck and it was a complete dog when towing (3.0 V6):( . From all of the postings on this site I don't think I have to worry but still would like to be able to take notes from someone with basically the same boat.

MoeD, I have a 19' Bayliner than weighs 3,200 lb. on the trailer. Not only do I tow that with no problem, but I also tow a folding trailer that weighs 3.500 lb. I am very satified with the towing capabliites of the RL.

Thanks Webwader & RedrockRT. That was just what I was hoping to hear. :)

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This is just one shot of a great adventure...

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/832000-832999/832268_26_full.jpg

I like the 57 too.

Beautiful car!

Do you mind if I ask the weight of the combined car and trailer?

I'm on the fence about buying the Ridgeline because I have a 4100 lb Airstream which I know is under the GVWR but I'm still undecided and need more real-world towing experience from owners.

thanks!

James

Thanks for the compliments! I love my 57 but it still needs lots of work. I drove from South Florida to Madison, Wisconsin hauling a 1999 Acura CL (had to take it up north so I had more room in Fla. for another car!) and then went to Green, Iowa and picked up the 57 and came back to Florida. Did this all in about 3 1/2 days!

The combined weight with the 57 was a little over the 5k limit -- trailer label said it weighed 2k, the car supposedly has a 3,340 lb curb weight. I didn't notice any problems stopping or maneuvering. My Ridgeline seemed to take the abuse very well, too.

I wish I had weighed it so I'd know for sure what it was! In the Ridgeline all we had were two adults (myself and another adult) and two small bags with a couple changes of clothes. Total combined weight in the passenger compartment was probably under 400 lbs. Nothing in the bed.

http://micro-tools.com/lv1.jpg

Hauling 4 Scooters. 7'x12' Wells Cargo Trailer

I realize this is incredibly boring but you asked. I'm hauling buckets of rocks. My land has rocks where I don't want them so I move them in buckets. ... sigh ... It sure is easier moving buckets of rocks with my Ridgeline than it was using my Chevy Blazer ;)
6620

dunno if you guys can see it, but there is about 400lbs of camping gear in the bed :) No noticable sag in the rear... but then again, thats only with 8k miles on the truck

http://www.phines.com/vacation/roadtriptruck.jpg

dunno if you guys can see it, but there is about 400lbs of camping gear in the bed :) No noticable sag in the rear... but then again, thats only with 8k miles on the truck

Only 8,000 miles and you already had to stop for gas! :p

I had a 5,000 lb trailer attached to mine and there was no rear end sag, either. These trucks are pretty solid wouldn't you say?! :)

Wait a minute guys? No sag? There should never be any sag when stationary with a properly loaded trailer. Remember the 600lbs tongue limit? As long as you're under that, your truck / trailer combo should be as straight as an arrow.

I'm renting a 6x12 open top next weekend to clear some yard waste. Will be my fist towing experience with the RL.

Wait a minute guys? No sag? There should never be any sag when stationary with a properly loaded trailer. Remember the 600lbs tongue limit? As long as you're under that, your truck / trailer combo should be as straight as an arrow.

I'm renting a 6x12 open top next weekend to clear some yard waste. Will be my fist towing experience with the RL.

So I guess I had a properly loaded trailer, what a relief!

Pulling a trailer with this truck is a snap. I took mine on a long haul and learned to NOT use the cruise control in hilly areas (too much gear shifting going on!). Other than that, this thing really hauled you-know-what! :)

There should never be any sag when stationary with a properly loaded trailer. Remember the 600lbs tongue limit? As long as you're under that, your truck / trailer combo should be as straight as an arrow.

How do you figure there will no sag with a load on the hitch? It may not be excessive, but if you load a suspension, it will compress the springs. For example, with 400 lb. on the hitch, the hitch ball drops 1 3/8". Not real noticable and not excessive, but it does "sag". Its a lot less than most trucks with the same load and I feel no loss of ride quality.

Only 8,000 miles and you already had to stop for gas! :p

I had a 5,000 lb trailer attached to mine and there was no rear end sag, either. These trucks are pretty solid wouldn't you say?! :)


yessem.. but I can definately say that Honda was out of their minds with the gear ratio for 5th. I couldn't use cruise control one bit driving between San Antonio and El Paso and maintain 75mph... constantly downshifting every 20 seconds or so... Either that, or the cruise control/tranny module needs to let the engine work harder in 5th :mad:

Last two nights I ended up unloaded my truck in the dark. I love those bed lights!! :p

My first pull with the Ridgeline.

From Port Orchard, WA to Bellingham, WA with an empty trailer. If not for the hitch noise, I wouldn't have known it was there. :)

Got up to Ural Northwest and loaded the Gear Up. (Barely fit!!)

No more hitch noise and I *still* didn't feel like I was pulling anything! Ok, ok...Got into some heavy traffic around Seattle, and when braking, I could feel the approx 1200 lbs of trailer and bike pushing (light trailer, no brakes), but still, no sweat for the brakes on this here truck. :)

Was getting tired, so took the ferry back across instead of dealing with the hassle of Tacoma traffic.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid202/p66e32c7d7f604db7349501a360f661af/eff14b08.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid202/p8fc39be9315b85955c775d527a4e263d/eff146ab.jpg

7800 ft. Kirkwood, California. Luggage, snowboards, wife and two large teenagers (one 6'5" and the other 6'3"). Pretty comfortable ride. Have to say the Ridgeline climbs the grades better than any vehicle I have driven, which includes Landcruisers and Sequoias. Great brakes too. I really like the gearing and shift patterns on the grades. Barely noticeable.

I finally got my Ridgeline dirty. I bought 10 bags of mulch, about 500 lbs. Had only a short local drive but the Ridge handled as well as some of you have said. I didn't even feel the load. Turning and breaking was easy. The only hard part was me unloading the bags with no 26 yr old son around. I'm 59 and don't really like doing this stuff anymore. Come to think of it, I didn't like it when I was 26!

The day before, I had a light load of twigs after trimming our fire bushes. It filled the bed and I had to stomp on the load (a la grape stomping) to compress it. Then my Retrax closed nicely and I rode off to the landfill knowing I wasn't blowing twigs all over the road.

I recently hauled a very heavy cat tree home from the pet store -- does that count? :)

Seriously, my heaviest load so far was 19 boxes of books that weighed between 25 or 30 pounds each. I only had to take them a few miles on surface streets, but I really couldn't tell the difference in the drive -- the truck handled just fine with that weight in the back.

This was last month, from Laguna Beach to central San Diego, piece of cake.
There was also a 6 cyl short block strapped down by the rear wheel :)

http://images1.filecloud.com/126460/tow1.jpg

Just got a call from Honda asking, "what are you towing". He took down a few details about my trailers and thanked me for my time. Seems Honda is interested in fine tuning the trailering capabilities of the Ridgeline.

Here is what I hope to tow within a month, as long as the weather cooperates:)
I took it around the subsdivision today just to see how it feels. It's only around 1100 lbs, felt great.

This is Steve Smith's Ridge. So, what are ya haulin?

:)

That's my brand new "Wells Cargo" 6' x 12' rig. As you can see, this pic was taken only days before I installed my chrome 18 in. wheels and factory bug shield. Towed it empty with no sweat ( haven't hauled the 2 motorcycles with it yet).

That's my brand new "Wells Cargo" 6' x 12' rig. As you can see, this pic was taken only days before I installed my chrome 18 in. wheels and factory bug shield. Towed it empty with no sweat ( haven't hauled the 2 motorcycles with it yet).

Hi ya Steve! what kinda bikes are ya haulin??

Thanks for the photos Fin's......

As soon as the wheel chocks and tie down anchors are installed, I'll be haulin a custom '03 Honda CBR1100XX "Super Blackbird", and a semi-custom '04 Honda 919.:cool:

As soon as the wheel chocks and tie down anchors are installed, I'll be haulin a custom '03 Honda CBR1100XX "Super Blackbird", and a semi-custom '04 Honda 919.:cool:

Oh baby! Could you be so kind as to post photos when complete??? Thanks.:p

Oh baby! Could you be so kind as to post photos when complete??? Thanks.:p

Photos of the bikes is what ya want(I'm assuming)? Sure, As long as Fins dosen't mind scanning more of my pics.:rolleyes: :cool:

5S Dude, do you ride? Got any motorcycles?

Photos of the bikes is what ya want(I'm assuming)? Sure, As long as Fins dosen't mind scanning more of my pics.:rolleyes: :cool:

5S Dude, do you ride? Got any motorcycles?
Yeah, grew up riding the SoCal desert, Had a bunch of street bikes, got into Three Wheelers and quads for a while and just bought a new dirt bike after about a 10yr layoff. Still makes me feel young again! Going out again this Sunday so we'll post some pics.:p

Fin's, you are Da Man!!!:cool:

ROC-0n !

This culvert I needed to move didn't quite fit into the bed so I needed to use the tiedowns.
7357
No matter how I tried to load the 20 foot culvert into the five foot bed - sideways, diagonally longways, it just wouldn't fit so I leaned it up onto the cab. I don't recommend it though. I heard a few crunching noises and remembered the thread about how you can't break dance on the cab roof without denting it. Fortunately, there were no dents visible when I unloaded the culvert.

Photos of the bikes is what ya want(I'm assuming)? Sure, As long as Fins dosen't mind scanning more of my pics.:rolleyes: :cool:

5S Dude, do you ride? Got any motorcycles?

Sure, you got my addy! Send 'em over!

This culvert I needed to move didn't quite fit into the bed so I needed to use the tiedowns.

7357

That pic gives a whole new meaning to home defense! :eek: Scud missle launcher?

Those Steel Blue RTs can really haul, huh?!:p ;)

i already posted this in another header but did not get any feed back was wondering does any body know if you can fit a 4-wheeler(raptor 660 yamaha)in back with a retrax cover

I Like To Camp Go Riding On My Quads And Some Time Go To Havasu Ride The Seadoo. I Pull With My Ridge A Duble Trailer Two Quads In The Bottom And A Full Size 3 Seater Seadoo ON top. I Will Not Lie You Can Feel The Pull But It Does It And It Does It With Power
I Have Photos In My Comp But Cant Copy And Paste. If Someone Can Help With This, You Will Have Pics.

I Have Photos In My Comp But Cant Copy And Paste. If Someone Can Help With This, You Will Have Pics.

It is a little "non-intuitive" but here is how to upload pictures.
1) Click on the little paper clip up there. This will open a window that says "Manage Attachments". Click on the Browse button and find your picture file on your hard drive. Then click on the Upload Button.

2) Then, the next time you click on the paper clip you should see your uploaded pictures listed. Click on them to insert the picture. I'm inserting a mountain picture I took last week to check the procedure:

7376

Steve Smith said: Those Steel Blue RTs can really haul, huh?!

Yep!! I don't think an RTL or RTS could have handled it. :D

I was able to haul 2 X 6's that were 16 feet long by opening the back window and sliding them up to the windshield. :)

7451
I towed this trailer with 3 quads this past weekend to the Hatfield McCoy trails in WV. The trailer and quads weighed about 3500 LBS combined. I must say that I was a little disappointed with the gas milage that the Ridgeline got (10 MPG) on the hills of WV, I expected better than that. Overall the Ridge towed the trailer and quads with ease, I was able to maintain the 70 MPH speed limit on I79 hills, pass traffic on the inclines, and impress my buddies who rode in the Ridgeline with me.

Overall the Ridge towed the trailer and quads with ease, I was able to maintain the 70 MPH speed limit on I79 hills, pass traffic on the inclines, and impress my buddies who rode in the Ridgeline with me.
That pretty well explains your gas mileage. :)

According to the Bill of Lading, 1047 lbs.

Had to carry some in the back seat area. No problems. :)

7539

7540

Man how often do you plan on changing your oil. :D

lol mayfielh:

Well, based on the history of the truck I just retired - 1986 Mazda B2000 410,000 km on 9 oil changes - not often. ;)

Contrary to what some seem to think on this site, when used properly, AMSOIL returns exceptional extended oil drains...

7546

To lindag,
I hate to bring this up becuase I was also thinking about using the back window to pass long items through but I read this in the Owner's Manual.

The back window is not designed to
carry long items through it. Do not
use the opened back window as a
cargo area pass-through.

Of course they would have to say that because they don't want to be sued if the long items swing loose and cause a problem. :(


.


.

Montana Fred:

I did not read that in the manual, but I probably would have done it anyway. I wouldn't recommend it for a long trip, but I only had a couple of miles to go. It did bounce quite a bit because the wood did not rest on the top of the tailgate, so I had to go slow. Anyway, it worked for me.

I think I have posted these before, but here they are again. It looks like I have about 2 tons in the bed, but it is an optical illusion. The other side (right rear) is in a "hole" and makes it look like it is really drooping.

I could not get another limb in the bed, and the trailer has my Ferris 36" walkbehind.

I did not weigh it, but that mower alone is quite heavy.

George

I'm buying 15, 20 foot 1 by 6" boards this weekend and fortunately the local building supply will deliver for free. But if I had to haul something like this I would look into getting the "Hitch hand" http://www.off-road.com/atv/HitchHand.htm
http://www.accessconnect.com/hitch_hand.htm

except I haven't installed the hitch yet. DOH!!! :(

Pulled A 16 Foot Trailer Yesterday To Pick Up A 505 Lb Lawn Tracktor. Very Smooth Operation And The Hitch And Lights Worked Fine.

2005 CBR600rr, I love my honda's!

Just haulin myself, some of my lady friends, my daughters from time to time and training gear.



:eek: WOOOUUUUUUUAHHHH. LMFAO :D WRONG JUST PLAIN WRONG. I was just telling my son, that I was waiting for someone with a real truck :eek: (I mean a real work truck), Say a 1 ton dually to show a picture of some real hauling but that was wrong, SLMFAO!:)

It is a little "non-intuitive" but here is how to upload pictures.
1) Click on the little paper clip up there. This will open a window that says "Manage Attachments". Click on the Browse button and find your picture file on your hard drive. Then click on the Upload Button.

2) Then, the next time you click on the paper clip you should see your uploaded pictures listed. Click on them to insert the picture. I'm inserting a mountain picture I took last week to check the procedure:

7376


GOT IT. I THINK. NO I DO. I GOT IT. NOW I HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM THE FILE SIZE IS TO BIG IS THERE ANY WAY TO MAKE IT FIT?

MGUZMAN, go to file and export the picture , pick jpeg and choose no larger that 600 by 600 and then export the picture to your desktop , once in the forum and you are posting your post , go to manage attachments and browse and pick the picture and upload it ,should work fine .

This is what I hauled today . Picked up my honda generator from the shop . They put it on with a forklift and my rl did not even budge one bit .

Went to Home depot this weekend to start my shed project. I loaded up the 'Ridge with:

Two sheets of 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood, 4 x 8
Seven 2 x 6 x 10 ft pressure treated lumber
Nine bags of 80 lb. cement

I assume that the total weight was about 900 lbs. The truck rode excellent! I barely noticed any change at all in performance or handling. The truck still sat level even with all of that weight.

RidgeLI

Took my new '37 Ford Legends car to Barberton Speedway's Test and Tune this weekend. The Ridgeline pulled it so well that I barely knew the trailer was behind me. I also had a generator, spares, tools, etc. in the Ridgeline's bed.

http://www.craigschmidtracing.com/images/towing.jpg

12x6 v-nose cargo with about 3,000 pounds of jewelry and equipment for my traveling company. Totals about 4,000 pounds and no brakes. RL brakes relatively well however, although I'm sure the pads are going fast.

Ridge does well but begins to sweat a bit in headwinds or major interstate hills at 70+. I'm getting about 10mpg towing ... a drop of 11-12 mpg from normal! Used 30% of my "Oil Life" on my last 900 mile trip. The V-6 is definitely working hard.

Weight is obviously a major issue accelerating, but wind resistance seems to be the major fuel mileage factor. 65-70 yields about 10mpg with regular fuel in "normal" (southeast,USA) terrain. 75-80+mpg drops her to 7.5 -8MPG ... :eek:

Smooth as glass though.

http://www.priorhome.net/images/mm20%20in%20rl%20pic.jpg



Approx 900 lb band saw. Carried up steep hill and down back yard into shop. I was pretty nervous about the tie-downs - they did flex some when strapping it in. Tailgate didn't fall off though :) I drove slowly :eek:

Just a cubic yard of mulch. The weight pressed the trunk gasket flat so it came off the lid when I opened it cleaning up. It snapped back in place but I'm wondering if it needs re-glueing.

Just a cubic yard of mulch.

What did they use to load it? Previously I've borrowed my father's 12 year old Nissan pickup with 6ft bed. Just the right size for side-loading with the bucket used by the landscaping supply place. I'm wondering if the RL bed might be a touch too short for this (?)

Mark

A "Bobcat" scoop full for $23.00.

They came right up behind and dumped it from 5 feet above the walls. there was a couple inches overlap on both sides with only 2 or 3 shovels full spilled out.

I've hauled a couple loads of yard waste and about 600 pounds of top soil with no problems at all. Just towed for the first time this weekend. Waverunner and trailer weigh about 1400lbs. Also carry a gear box with another 300lbs of stuff. Ran with the a/c on 2-lane highways through small towns on relatively flat terrain. Max speed was 65 mph. Returned from the lake on mostly interstate at 70-80 mph. Didn't burn a full tank on the trip (4 hrs of driving) but the mpg dropped from 16.4 day to day to about 16.1.
Very pleased as this will be the common truck usage. I have a modified Alumistinger drawbar (solid aluminum) that I updated by boring the 5/8 pin hole out to 1". I then put a neoprene bushing in the oversized hole and use the 5/8 pin. I never heard the clunk of the hitch once during the trip.

Recently hauled:

6.5ft tree
9 pcs. 10 ft X 4 inch pvc pipe
8 medium shrubs

I can't wait until I go to Home Depot and buy 40 pcs 2x4x8, a door and two windows!

RidgeLI

We recently needed to move a bedroom full of furniture. We had a F150 and my Ridgeline available for the move. The F150 had a tilt up tonneau cover and the Ridgeline has a Retrax bed cover. As you can see by the pictures, the F150 could only carry the mattress, bed-spring, a mirror the head board and foot board and the disassembled bed frame. Everything that was flat had to go in the F150. The big stuff went in the Ridgeline, which has a Retrax installed, just the opposite of what one might expect. I carried the dresser, a desk and a hutch, a bunch of small stuff and still had plenty of room for the installed car seat and 3 adults. The trunk was only half full of my junk and the under seat storage space still had my usual load of crap with more room to spare.
This is as much about the limitations, or lack thereof, that tonneau covers put on the cargo carrying capability as it is about the real world way that vehicles are used every day. Both trucks had bed covers, just different designs. Certainly the F150s bed is larger than the Ridgelines bed is and the F150 can carry more if neither truck had a cover. The fact is that both trucks did have a cover and since this was a rather short (30 miles) and simple move it did not justify removing either cover. That would have been more trouble than it was worth. If the cover had been removed from the F150 I doubt that everything would have fit in it's bed in one trip anyway. So for those that fear that the Retrax will limit the usefulness of the Ridgelines bed, and the Ridgeline can't haul nuttin', here is a real world example for you to chew on.
It works fine for me.:)

U-H, your real world example is great. I love the pics. This versatility with the Retrax is what made it attractive to us. Did you do anything to block the furniture from sliding forward into the Retrax cannister?

U-H, your real world example is great. I love the pics. This versatility with the Retrax is what made it attractive to us. Did you do anything to block the furniture from sliding forward into the Retrax cannister?
There was about 1/2" between the furniture and the Retrax cover. I have a piece of commercial rubber flooring as a bed mat that I use when hauling stuff and the furniture kind of plants itself on it so that it doesn't tend to move around. The tie down straps were ther to make sure. I did have to make sure that I took it easy on the gas so that I didn't dump everything out the tailgate at stop signs:rolleyes: .

How about 30, 40 pound bags of top soil from HD. The ride was still smooth and stable. The Ridge still meets all my requirements.

the only thing i've hauled so far in the 6 days i've had it is A$$:D

Asides from the usual folding the seats and cramming the inside,the bed and the trunk during a recent move in SoCal, I haul my 26' sailboat. This is quite a sight that turns many Ford,Chevys and others, heads.
The mossy marina ramps proved no match for the VTM of the Ridgeline. This sailboat has water ballast, so the dry weight is about 3300 but it dwarfs the towing vehicle.

Dude, now that needs a picture! :D

I haul my 26' sailboat. This is quite a sight that turns many Ford,Chevys and others, heads.
The mossy marina ramps proved no match for the VTM of the Ridgeline. This sailboat has water ballast, so the dry weight is about 3300 but it dwarfs the towing vehicle.

Which boat is that? I'm guessing either the MacGregor or the Catalina? I'm VERY jealous. Had to leave my '22 on the coast but most likely will be picking up a 16 footer for day sailing next month.

http://www.tcsn.net/bosun/hondahauler.jpg

what a great thread, not only did I get to see what my new truck is capable of but I found out that there are some others in this group that share not so common interests with me....

I too have a nice old record player to play my old punk rock, reggae and even some country albums on.
I don't have VESPAs-but I've had a couple similar scooters Italian Lambretta Cento and the Spanish version of the Lambretta- the Serveta Jet 200... for you non scooterists try going 80 mph on a 10" wheel!

I don't have a URAL but I've been dreaming of the Ukrainian version of that bike (Dnepr from KMZ plant-kiev) for a year or so now. Currently I have the original 'sport' bike, an 82 honda nighthawk.

I look forward to having a load of mulch dumped in this and also backing my boat down the big ramp at raccoon lake (indiana)!

i just found out 248HP are not enought... i need way more torque

nice boat:cool:

i just found out 248HP are not enought... i need way more torque

Are you serious? You can't tow that little boat with your Ridgeline? If you're serious, I'm really disappointed because that's about the size boat I was hoping to get!

Please, tell me more.:(

Agree, that looks like a 20-21 footer to me and that should easily be pulled by the RL. I"m looking at that range sized boat for waterskiing and also am very interested in this comment.

Hey Lupo911,
Can you post stats on your boat? Kinda curious as well.

yes its a 22feet Yamaha, i am really a little bit disapointet about the Torque on my RL. This "Truck" needs a 3.5l Turbodiesel Engine! thats a Fakt. I drove true a Couple Hills to a Lake, and you can really feel that you missing Power.
And the Gasmilage with the Boat is terrible :eek:

I have in Germany a Mitsubishi Montero (its called there a Pajero) and you can get instead of the 3.5l Gas Engine a 3.2l Turbodiesel Engine, and this is a Big Step forward. This SUV hauls A... not like my RL :mad:

What can i do? :confused:

I think we can see it's a 22 footer, Lupo. Boat/trailer and tongue weight would be helpful. If it weighs what I think it weighs, your RL should not have any problem pulling it.

aprox. 2500 - 3000

I hauled a 3000 pound car on a 2000 pound trailer (actually a little more than that, total weight was around 5300) and had no problems! Gas mileage was bad at first but I learned how to drive it so I could maximize my mpg. The hills in Tennessee were no problem, I just didn't use the cruise control.

If you're having trouble pulling that little boat, then you either have a bad Ridgeline or you're just used to something different. You should hardly even know it's there.:rolleyes:

THis week I hauled 30 bags of mulch (2 cubic ft per bag), 1 bag of peat moss (3.8 cubic feet). Estimated weight 600 lbs (?). The bed held just held all of the bags. Truck rode perfectly!

RidgeLI

This weekend I brought home a yard of dirt in the bed, the RL was squated pretty good but it did as well as I had hoped.

Nothing exciting - just went to the local warehouse market and it was nice having both the trunk and the bed to load up!

check this out

so mguzman, is that what you said about taking to the LP meet?..nice!

We'll be pullin' this contraption again in about a month headin' for Charlotte and a whole lot of ROC heads..( I hope :D )

Charlotte???? That's in my neck of the woods!!!:D

MGUZMAN- That's a really cool set up. Did you custom design that trailer?:eek:

THANX GUYS, iT'S HARD TO FIND SOMTHING LIKE THIS NOW A DAYS THIS TRAILER SHOP HAD THIS IN THIER SHOP IN THE CORNER SO I OFFERD THEM 2000 AND GOT IT NOT BAD HUH..THE TOP SWINGS DOWN FOR THE SEADOO

Picked up both a washer and a dryer last week in mine. When driving home with the washer, feeling smug about owning a Ridgeline, I saw a truck ahead of me with a HUGELY tall cabinet loaded in the bed. As I got up closer, I realized it was another Ridgeline! Felt doubly smug then.:)

Loaded up the Ridge' on Fri. after work with 57 2x4x8's 2 sheets 4x8 5/8 plywood, one exterior door, two windows, and some odds and ends.

The truck rode well and wanted more!

RidgeLI

This is a typical day with my RL . I usually have about 100 lbs. of grass clippings in each barrel . The rl is definately my work truck .

Just picked up a 20' boat. Probably around 4800 lbs (boat + trailer) with fuel,
etc.. The Ridge has absolutley no problem pulling the rig up a boat ramp.
Driving on the highway is OK but MPG suffer big time. I got around 11 MPG going
60-70 most of the way. I typically get around 19 MPG in my everyday driving.

The rear-end drops a bit with the load but not that much. Braking is no
problem, but as someone else mentioned surge brakes (on trailer) are
annoying...kicking on and off over bumps. The Ridge handles fine with the load
and you tend to forget that you have 20'+ of boat/trailer back there.

Nice boat Bob! My wife said it makes the truck look tiny.

Sunday -- 20' inboard ski boat
Monday -- 1/2 yard of black dirt (about 800lbs?), had room for more but didn't need it
Tuesday -- 1 yard of mulch (600lbs. or so?) + bale of straw, bed pretty full

That's it so far. This is my third truck ('77 and '97 Chevys) and I must say, technology has come a long way or Honda has really done their homework. It tows like a dream and even with nearly 1000lbs. in the back, the truck did not visibly sag one bit!

Looking forward to giving it more chores this summer ...

:)

Nice boat Bob! My wife said it makes the truck look tiny.

Thanks. I think the camera perspective makes the boat seem much
bigger than the truck.

I towed my 5000lb boat up to Shasta in 107 degree heat with a 20 mph headwind and had no trouble at all. Shasta also has some of the steepest boat ramps in the country but it was no problem. (Honda actually tested the Ridge on Shasta ramps). I posted this story before a year ago but not in this thread so I thought I'd do so for the benefit of new readers.

Vertrkr, your original posting was very influential in me deciding to go with
the Ridgeline. Thanks for the original post and the repost.

Vertrkr, your original posting was very influential in me deciding to go with the Ridgeline. Thanks for the original post and the repost.

Ut-oh, now if BobP has any troubles at all, Vertrkr is going to hear about it! :eek:

Where are all the ATV owners in here? I posted a pic awhile back of my Ridge with my ATV in the back and asked to see pictures of others with theres in the bed of there truck but haven't seen even one other??? Come on guys and gals.
I REALLY wish honda would have designed the ridge to fit a full size ATV with the tailgate up this is my ONLY complaint. I have been trying to figure out a way to make this possible possibly a ramp type rack that would put the wheels up over the top of the cabin or something anyone have any ideas???

Anthony:confused:

Ut-oh, now if BobP has any troubles at all, Vertrkr is going to hear about it! :eek:

No, not at all:rolleyes: . Seriously, I searched various sites for all the Ridgeline
towing threads I could fine. By far the this thread (and site) has been the most
helpful.

Nice boat. I have a 20' Nordic Thunder that I'll be pulling with our Ridge, so it will be interesting to compare notes. I'll post a note after I bring it up to our cottage.

Please post some pics too if you can.

Hey MegNAnts. I have an ATV and will be hauling it in the bed of my RL. I'm just waiting to get a set of ramps. As soon as I do, I'll post some pics on this thread.

Had to show off some pics here of my Ridge hauling some Osage Orange logs. For those of you who aren't familiar with this variety of wood, it is very dense and HEAVY. When I went to pick them up the guy I bought them from had a cow, he thought we were going to destroy my truck AND his yard. He was freakin' when we were dropping and sliding those big things in my bed. But the Ridge barely squatted and I drove out of his damp yard without a single wheelspin and barely a tire track..Thanks Honda!

Hauled two scoops of mulch today. I think well over 1000 LBS. I could feel it, but it handled fine.

Just a few weeks ago I was visiting an Aunt and Uncle who needed some screened top soil to do some repairs to their lawn. I volunteered to get the stuff from a yard where the really big rigs get their crushed stone, sand and you name it. My uncle asked me to get one ton. I unflinchingly said OK. ( I knew the max payload is 1561lbs) And away I went to get the screened top soil. When I arrived they weighed the truck in at 4460 lbs and off I went to the yard for a load of top soil. They were using loaders with 8 cu yard buckets ( my dad is an engineer and says that is their size?) and needless to say I knew that they could literally scoop up my truck with that size bucket. The first guy came up to my truck opening his door and looking down from his rig said, "What do you want? I said one ton of screened top soil and he said, "in that"?, no way... I'm going back to the office to find out if that can be done. Needless to say another driver came by and asked what I wanted and scooped up a load of top soil that upon my re-entering the weigh station they said was 1700 lbs. And I want to tell you that was the limit that I ever want to haul. Sorry I do not have pictures. The truck handled the load fine, but I knew I was pushing the limits and when we finally got it unloaded I was relieved only to here my Uncle ask if I could get another load. I could hardley say no...but I just did not want to get there and have them put on more then that last load for fear of something breaking. But I went back and got another load this time weighing in at 1560lbs, the RL's max rating, and this liitle bit of difference was a big difference in the way the truck handled. Just seemed to be more stable and not over its supension limits...it felt more safe, not that the first load was causing me any problems but I could tell that limits were exceeded and I needed to drive with caution and at one point the truck started to squirm with the first load. I was traveling very slowly and driving with extreme caution.
Even though I used a tarp inside the bed and to protect the tailgate, since the top soil over ran the back of the truck, I was cleaning this stuff out of my tailgate for weeks. Finally had to take off the tailgate panel to clean out and regrease the hinges.
I will be attaching photos of a recent trip to our camp where I used my truck to haul wood. Not nearly the weight. See next post.

Here are the photos of our camp project. Enjoy.

More work being done in Northern PA.

These photos taken at the end of April. We schedule our work party to coincide with the Spring Gobbler Season here in PA.

And finally the fruits of our labor.

What kind of Beer did you have on tap for that wood hauling project?:D

You know what they say...all work and no ......Yuengling Lager.;)

You know what they say...all work and no ......Yuengling Lager.;)

Sounds very nice! You'll have to pardon me for not being more informed, but I had never heard of Yuengling. I'm from Bourbon country!

In my never ending quest to learn and expand my horizons, I did a quick search, and voila; learned some history. Here is a link to Yuengling's Web Site. I found out they are America's oldest brewery.

http://www.yuengling.com/

Now back to my Elijah Craig...

You know what they say...all work and no ......Yuengling Lager.;)

Nothing like a good cold lager, It's funny how there is a difference in area's. We have Herr's Products, Tastykakes and Yuengling, and some folks have never heard of any of them!

If any of you folks are in WI, or know of a place that sells New Glarus beers in your area (Their most popular is called "Spotted Cow". An unfiltered wheat beer), and you like the lighter type beers (Pilsners and the like) you gotta try "Totally Naked". It's a seasonal beer put out by the New Glarus brewery and it's awesome. The perfect summer beer. Crisp, clean, refreshing, with a very clean finish (Very little aftertaste).

Just remember, you have to be careful how to phrase it when you tell your significant other you are heading to the store to get some. For example, "Hey, honey....I'm heading down to the liquor store to get Totally Naked...do you want anything?", might get you into trouble. :D

Nothing like a good cold lager, It's funny how there is a difference in area's. We have Herr's Products, Tastykakes and Yuengling, and some folks have never heard of any of them!

Don't forget to bring along the Scapple & Pork Roll to enjoy with the Yuengling! For those of you that have never heard of or enjoyed the taste of Scapple, the link below will bring you to a description on how to make. Scapple is great with SOS for breakfast!

http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0012/msg00823.html

Pulling a Goldwing seem to be no problem.

Wife is making some changes in the front yard.

Went to Walmart and purchase 36 decorative blocks for flower gardens.
36 x 24lbs = 864 lbs.

Did not even notice them back their during the drive back home. In fact the Ridgeline rides better with a load in it!!!!

Wife is making some changes in the front yard.
Went to Walmart and purchase 36 decorative blocks for flower gardens.
36 x 24lbs = 864 lbs.
Did not even notice them back their during the drive back home. In fact the Ridgeline rides better with a load in it!!!!

So the new topsoil is coming next? :)

Please post photos of your garden when done as people love to see what the Ridgeline can create... errr your wife! I'm curious to the plants that grow in other locations throughout the country.

I didn't take any pics, and my haul doesn't compare with some of yours but...

This past weekend I hauled home a new John Deere riding mower in my Ridge... tired of using a push mower. As I said, doesn't compare much with other loads people have been hauling, but the look on the store personnel's faces as I pulled my tie-down straps out of the trunk was pretty priceless! :)

Not to heavy of a load but all of this was loaded within 5 minutes of ownership(Fog lights, splash guards, door visors, hitch, hood deflector, tonneau cover). Time to unload!

Not to heavy of a load but all of this was loaded within 5 minutes of ownership(Fog lights, splash guards, door visors, hitch, hood deflector, tonneau cover). Time to unload!
Now that's a worthy first load!

I see a white Geo Tracker in the background. How do you like it? Here is my 2003 Tracker. I bought it at the end of the run of the Chevy Tracker/Suzuki Vitara convertible model line. I also bought when Chevy was having their HUGE rebates, so I got a GREAT deal. See my signature for more info on my Tracker and photos.

Here is our Yamaha SUV1200 4 seater, 135 hp jet ski. Today was the first day that I got to tow something with the Ridgeline, and all I can say, is that I am very impressed and satisfied. No problems at all towing the jet ski. I can't recall the weight, but it is fairly heavy, as it has a 3 cylinder engine, and it is 13' long. I think I should have no problems pulling my 2005 Honda Foreman on my trailer since this pulls so easily.

Jon

Here is another.

Jon

Now that's a worthy first load!

I see a white Geo Tracker in the background. How do you like it? Here is my 2003 Tracker. I bought it at the end of the run of the Chevy Tracker/Suzuki Vitara convertible model line. I also bought when Chevy was having their HUGE rebates, so I got a GREAT deal. See my signature for more info on my Tracker and photos.

Keith, That is not my Tracker in the photo, it belongs to a buddy of mine. 120k on the clock engine runs good but the tranny is gone. The only Suzuki I ever owened was an 87 Samurai. I loved that thing, put it through hell and back offroad and it never even wimpered about it. Damn Consumer reports had to kill the sales of it. The newer models which were not available in the US had fuel injection and coil springs. Rode very nice and were quicker. If I could I would have one of those as well just for fun!:D

Last weekend, my wife and I picked up her new Ducati Monster S4R in our Ridge. We live in Tucson, picked the bike up in Queen Creek, AZ and then went to see George Carlin in Phoenix. Home by 1am.

Just over 350 miles round trip, and the truck didn't notice the weight of the bike. Sorry - no pictures - but it did look good!

The following evening we loaded the in-bed trunk up with two cases of beer and eight bags of ice and went 'round to a friend's house for a tailgate party.

Life is sweet! :D

--
'06 RTL Navi - Billet Silver

....The following evening we loaded the in-bed trunk up with two cases of beer and eight bags of ice and went 'round to a friend's house for a tailgate party.
....
Remember back in the old days when you'd go up to the Drive-in movie and would get caught with many cases of beer that would be confiscated. (you youngins out there, ignore the next statements) Now kids can load up the RL and the cops would have no idea, well, very few of them anyway! hahah

Man, we would have two vehicles, the "obvious" truck for the police to look at with 8 guys in the back of it with the "cheap case" that would likely get confiscated. Then our "love couple" would have a car completely loaded with beverages that would get right through. Ahhh, those were the days! :)

Hauled this the other day:
If you can guess what engine it is, you get an e-cookie

Sunday -- 20' inboard ski boat
Monday -- 1/2 yard of black dirt (about 800lbs?), had room for more but didn't need it
Tuesday -- 1 yard of mulch (600lbs. or so?) + bale of straw, bed pretty full

That's it so far. This is my third truck ('77 and '97 Chevys) and I must say, technology has come a long way or Honda has really done their homework. It tows like a dream and even with nearly 1000lbs. in the back, the truck did not visibly sag one bit!

Looking forward to giving it more chores this summer ...

:)

Wednesday I hauled another yard of mulch ... and here are the pics. Sorry, didn't get any with the black dirt or the ski boat ... yet. But will soon.

:)

My Ridge had a busy week. I had to bring home 18 ArborVitae trees from Depot. Managed to fit 9 in the bed at one time - I figure these 7' trees were about 110lbs each. Truck did superb on these two trips with 1000lbs in the back. Later in the week I helpded a friend get sand. My wife, two kids, and our friend (probably about 525lbs for all of us) went to the landscape supply place. The guy driving the Bobcat looks at my truck, laughs, and says "You're going to put the sand in that? You know it will get dirty, right?" I asked him how much a scoop (1/2 yard) weighs - he says about 1400 pounds. In it went. Both our friend and the Bobcat driver looked at the truck and said "wow - doesn't even look like it has much weight in it". Even a few hundred pounds over the 1550 limit, the truck drove like a dream. Our friend asked how the steering was - he's used to "normal" trucks where weight in the rear means the front tires are off the ground. Not this truck - just as steady and stable as if empty. After unloading the sand we decided another load was needed. Back to the store we went. This time the Bobcat driver starts asking me about the truck, where I got it, and what I paid. He was impressed - funny how that works! After the second load of sand we returned home, hooked up the travel trailer (I have a great little 14' Fleetwood Wilderness Yukon), packed up, and went camping.

I really love this truck. Only thing I'd like to see is an engine with a wee bit more torque - like that found in the Tacoma and Frontier, and the blackout grille/roof rack standard. But these are minor quibbles. Me with the Ridge and my wife with an '04 Ody EX-RES; I am truly a Honda pimp.

Hauled this the other day:
If you can guess what engine it is, you get an e-cookie

Mazda RX-7 rotary?

do You guys turn off overdrive when you tow? Isn't that bad for the transmission when you dont?:eek:

do You guys turn off overdrive when you tow? Isn't that bad for the transmission when you dont?:eek:The manual says not to turn it off. It puts you in 3rd, not 4th, which is bad on the tranny because of heat.