[bxhowell]

Payload Capacity, G1 vs G2

Have you ever looked at YOUR trucks actual payload? Most of us know, although some may not that you can find it on the drivers side when the door is opened. I'm really interested to know what the real numbers will be for the G2. The curb weight between top and bottom trim levels (according to Honda), shouldn't vary by more than a couple hundred pounds. The variance from the top stated number of 1584lbs shouldn't be that much different, regardless of model.

I was at the Denver car show a couple months ago looking at the domestic and foreign truck offerings. I had my eye on the G2, but they had the secret service, and multiple snipers in the building to make sure you didn't cross the yellow line.

Bottom line is that I checked the payload of the top o the line Ram 1500 with all da bells and whistles, and the ACTUAL payload was 986lbs! My VW GTI can carry 1036 pounds in comparison. Point being that if there are four big guys in the Ram (a 60k truck by the way), that my mountain bike would exceed the manufacturers stated load capacity.

Ask any domestic truck owner what his payload capacity is, and 9 times out of 10 he/she won't have a clue.

I love showing this to heavily lifted, balls hanging from the tow hitch redneck truck owners that piss on the "Odyssey" based RL.

 

[phineas]

That information is in this document: 2017 Honda Ridgeline U.S. Specifications & Features - Ridgeline - Honda News

On the RTL-E and the Black it's 1499 pounds.

 

[bxhowell]

I get that Phineas. Thanks for replying by the way. My point is that from a hauling standpoint, that most of the body on frame trucks (midsize or half ton) can actually carry less than the RL with it's independent suspension.

 

[Uncle Festus]

You are correct bxhowell, same thing with Gen 1. It had usable payload that exceeded many of the "real" half-ton trucks on the market.

 

[bxhowell]

Thanks UF for the response.

 

[Last Train]

You are correct bxhowell, same thing with Gen 1. It had usable payload that exceeded many of the "real" half-ton trucks on the market.

This is an older thread, but the topic is very relevant for those of us who tow travel trailers with our Ridge. The yellow sticker on our 2011 RTL declares our payload capacity to be 1,470 lbs. That certainly is competitive with lighter duty 1/2 ton trucks, and I think is one key element in providing towing stability for us. We consistently find our towing weight (per a local CAT Scale) at 4,600-4,700 lbs with a tongue weight of 460-520 lbs (per Sherline tongue weight scale). So we are staying in the upper regions of the G1's ratings, and the truck and trailer perform amazingly well in all kinds of terrain. It ain't a diesel! But we are still getting 9 mpg (premium grade) and staying stable in winds and traffic.

But, the G2's payload numbers concern me, in that the GCWR actually went down a bit (someone with a better memory help me out here - I do recall the G1 was 10,085 lbs). And the payload numbers do not offer a lot of difference either, as I understand (again, my memory of G2 specs is not clear), but the gist of it is that there is not much improvement in these critical specs for real world towing capability. What I do appreciate is that the G2's 6-speed tranny and modest increase in torque (15 lbs/ft more) - not to mention 30 more hp - all significantly help with its towing experience.

However, what if I want to throw a generator or some other accessory gear in the bed of the truck? Or what if our planned trip this summer to Mt. Rushmore and then to Glacier National Park in Montana "require" me to have more stuff on board - for safety purposes, for instance - that cause those payload and tongue weight numbers to be hit? (And I haven't even mentioned axle ratings.) Man, do I love our G1 Ridgeline, but in the future having a safety margin might drive me to look at a 1/2 ton that provides some flexibility for RV'g. I actually hate the thought of that, because both of our Ridgelines have been such great vehicles.

Your thoughts are welcome as we try to think about the future.

 

[longboat]

One thing to keep in mind with the other truck mfrs, their payload numbers can be tricky to figure. You'll see high payload numbers advertised, but those are base trims. You start adding all of the options you want, and the payload can drop significantly before you even purchase the vehicle. With the Ridgeline, you know exactly the payload you are getting when you purchase.

As an example, check the payload on the different Ford Raptor trims.

As for towing....i think 5000lbs is a very arbitrary number. Do you think Honda tweaked everything just perfectly to get 5000lb rating? If you tow 5001lbs, you will break something? Of course not! 5000lbs is arbitrary, something they feel is very safe and easy to remember, and fits nicely with Class III towing specs.

Still waiting for TFL or someone to test-tow a 5000lb trailer back-to-back with G2, Taco and Colorado and give an honest, objective report on how the vehicles felt, and how confident the driver felt IF THEY DIDN'T KNOW THE TOW RATINGS! I think TFL might be a little biased, so C&D or M/T might be better testers.

That being said, if I consistently towed 5000lbs and above, I would not be looking at ANY mid-sized truck. 3/4-ton trucks would be more appropriate. However, if i towed a 6000lb trailer only a couple times a year over, say, less than 30 miles, I'd have no problem using the G2 to do so.

For a 4500lb trailer, it all comes down to how comfortable the driver is. The G2 is certainly capable. A 3/4-ton would feel better, but at what cost? Is a half-ton the answer (be sure you know final optioned-out ratings!)? Only you can answer that.

 

[PETDOC]

Having never owned a camping trailer I'm clueless on what would be a good weight to shoot for with my RTL-E. Looking forward one day to getting an Airstream or similar trailer for my wife and me to tour the Western US. Any recommendations on good weight to get would be appreciated.

 

[Ryan Little]

If the G1 could do it the G2 can do it easier. There are many G1 owners on here that state there and some in the gallery section under what have you hauled lately. I don't have a trailer but we had 1600lbs in the bed and the truck still felt it had a lot more room. I wasn't comfortable loading it more at the time but after the drive I would go higher if I had to. We live on a windy hilly road and it did great.

 

[bisonp]

One thing to remember about payload and towing is that while the truck may seem perfectly capable of exceeding the limits, if you are overloaded and in an accident you could face civil and criminal consequences. While rare, it's still a real risk.

My F-150 is only rated for 100 more pounds of payload than my minivan. It is certainly capable of hauling much more than that with ease, in fact I've had it overloaded by 500 pounds and it wasn't even squatting in the rear, it just leveled it out. However the rating has to consider what a load in the rather high bed does to the center of gravity.

 

[Midnightsun]

Had 16 sheets of 5/8' plywood in the back today. just about max as the suspension bottomed out on even small imperfections, about 1350lbs. keep in mind that the plywood over hangs the rear so you cannot load as much.

 

[Portland user]

I put 1800 pounds of organic compost in the bed a week ago. It was overloaded. Bottomed out just creaking over speed bumps in the local neighborhood.
Would not have gone that high but the bulk buy on it was half bucket or a bucket from a loader.
guy said it was 1800lbs.

Saying that - got home fine and truck is fine.

 

[ISO Truck]

...

But, the G2's payload numbers concern me, in that the GCWR actually went down a bit (someone with a better memory help me out here - I do recall the G1 was 10,085 lbs). .....

Correct, the G1 has a higher GCWR than the G2, by roughly 100 lbs.

G1=10,085 lbs
G2= 9,986 lbs (AWD)

 

[ISO Truck]

....

As for towing....i think 5000lbs is a very arbitrary number. Do you think Honda tweaked everything just perfectly to get 5000lb rating? If you tow 5001lbs, you will break something? Of course not! 5000lbs is arbitrary, something they feel is very safe and easy to remember, and fits nicely with Class III towing specs.

Still waiting for TFL or someone to test-tow a 5000lb trailer back-to-back with G2, Taco and Colorado and give an honest, objective report on how the vehicles felt, and how confident the driver felt IF THEY DIDN'T KNOW THE TOW RATINGS! I think TFL might be a little biased, so C&D or M/T might be better testers.
....

The tow rating is capped at 5K lbs by virtue of using the Class III hitch.

But the Class III hitch does not cap the GCWR, so the engineering calculations may have favored the higher rating for the G1.

An alternative explanation for the G1's higher GCWR rating may have to do with changes to vehicle classification, and how vehicles above and below the 10K lbs GCWR are now treated. If this is the case, my guess is it has something to do with the MPG credits that Honda is selling to other manufacturers. This would also explain why Honda won't put a Class IV hitch on the Ridgeline and bump up the tow rating -- that too would push it over the 10K lbs GCWR.

[Honda made almost $2/3 Billion by selling mpg credits last year -- which probably saved it from serious financial difficulties caused by the airbag fiasco.]

I'd like to see TFL run that test as well. The Ridgeline looks competitive against the Colorado/Canyon Duramax based on current test results, but only until you realize that the mini-Duramax was hauling a much heavier load over Ike Gauntlett. Far from a fair comparison. I'd love to see the MPG and times for the Duramax with only a 5K load.

 

[csimo]

Well the payload capacity is a calculation... not a specification (it's not regulated by law like GVWR and Curb Weight). The payload capacity of the vehicle is the GVWR minus the Curb Weight. Curb Weight does NOT include any passengers, cargo, etc., but does include the weight of a full tank of fuel.

So if you take a BE you have a GVWR of 6019 lbs. minus the Curb Weight of 4515 lbs. means you have a maximum payload of 1504 lbs. (but Honda advertises 1499 lbs.)

So if you have the maximum in bed payload of 1100 lbs. (including trunk contents) that means you can have 404 lbs. passengers and cargo in the cabin. It's real easy to max that out without realizing it.

But even if you have only a 150 lb. driver that does not increase the bed capacity of 1100 lbs.

And if you're towing the tongue weight should be added to the bed weight so you don't exceed the 3042 lbs. GAWR of the rear axle.

 

[PETDOC]

So if you take a BE you have a GVWR of 6019 lbs. minus the Curb Weight of 4515 lbs. means you have a maximum payload of 1504 lbs. (but Honda advertises 1499 lbs.)
.

I looked at the door sticker in my RTL-E and it lists payload as 1477 lbs.

 

[longboat]

Well the payload capacity is a calculation... not a specification (it's not regulated by law like GVWR and Curb Weight). The payload capacity of the vehicle is the GVWR minus the Curb Weight. Curb Weight does NOT include any passengers, cargo, etc., but does include the weight of a full tank of fuel.

So if you take a BE you have a GVWR of 6019 lbs. minus the Curb Weight of 4515 lbs. means you have a maximum payload of 1504 lbs. (but Honda advertises 1499 lbs.)

...

Maybe it's that sliding rear window? Content = weight.

How's your knee doing, Joe?

 

[2017BE]

The tow rating is capped at 5K lbs by virtue of using the Class III hitch.

But the Class III hitch does not cap the GCWR, so the engineering calculations may have favored the higher rating for the G1.

An alternative explanation for the G1's higher GCWR rating may have to do with changes to vehicle classification, and how vehicles above and below the 10K lbs GCWR are now treated. If this is the case, my guess is it has something to do with the MPG credits that Honda is selling to other manufacturers. This would also explain why Honda won't put a Class IV hitch on the Ridgeline and bump up the tow rating -- that too would push it over the 10K lbs GCWR.

[Honda made almost $2/3 Billion by selling mpg credits last year -- which probably saved it from serious financial difficulties caused by the airbag fiasco.]

I'd like to see TFL run that test as well. The Ridgeline looks competitive against the Colorado/Canyon Duramax based on current test results, but only until you realize that the mini-Duramax was hauling a much heavier load over Ike Gauntlett. Far from a fair comparison. I'd love to see the MPG and times for the Duramax with only a 5K load.

FWIW, I run the "Ike Gauntlet" on a regular basis with my Black Edition Ridgeline. Headed east, from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel is a brutal stretch of highway. It's a fairly steep grade and the altitude climbs to over 11,000 feet.

I recently ran the gauntlet returning from Moab, towing my trailer that weighs about 3,000 lbs (I've weighed it) as well as a family of 5 and gear for a 4 day weekend. I'd estimate the people weight was 500lbs, and gear was in total about another 1,000 lbs (heavy coolers full of food/water/ice, 20 gallons of fresh drinking water, all the camping and off road-related gear, etc.) We also had a full tank of gas. My truck is stock except for the tonneau cover.

By my math, we're near the RL's capacity on that test. Going up the gauntlet, the truck needs to grab 3rd gear. Pedal to the floor, the truck will maintain 70mph at pretty high rpm in 3rd gear. I want to say it was around 5500rpm. Weather was around 40 degrees. I did turn off the AC going up the gauntlet as well.

The truck was working as hard as it could, but it did it. To me, those are pretty extreme conditions, just based on the altitude. I'm hoping the truck will hold up and be able to handle this trek many times over the years without any trouble.

One of the things I love about the RL when towing here in the Colorado Rockies, is just how planted and stable the truck feels. There are a lot of high-speed curves on I-70 (65-75 mph) and the truck handles amazingly well. I've also experienced just how well it handles rainy highway roads and snowy highway roads. Being AWD is a huge advantage for safe towing (or just driving) in those conditions. All other trucks are 2WD with part-time 4WD - which is not ideal when you're constantly dealing with slick rain-soaked roads or patches of snow and patches of dry pavement.

 

[ISO Truck]

......
I'd like to see TFL run that test as well. The Ridgeline looks competitive against the Colorado/Canyon Duramax based on current test results, but only until you realize that the mini-Duramax was hauling a much heavier load over Ike Gauntlett. Far from a fair comparison. I'd love to see the MPG and times for the Duramax with only a 5K load.

Actually, what I'd really love to see is Honda put that Duramax engine in the Ridgeline.

It wouldn't be unprecedented for Honda and GM to buy/sell engines to each other. Honda previously sold 3.5 V6 engines to GM for use in the Saturn Vue.

The 2.8 I4 Duramax coupled with the new Honda 10-speed transmission would be a home run.

 

[Last Train]

Actually, what I'd really love to see is Honda put that Duramax engine in the Ridgeline.
The 2.8 I4 Duramax coupled with the new Honda 10-speed transmission would be a home run.

Yes!! All in favor say "Amen!" :grin: