Quote:
Originally Posted by csbravati
My 2007 Honda Ridgeline is rated at 5000 lb tow capacity. Owners manual says not to use a Weight dist hitch. Anyone have experience with a TM and this TV?
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Reasons people have speculated for not recommending a WDH:
1) Increasing front end loads. They might increase a little compared to an unloaded vehicle, but they restore hundreds of pounds to the front wheels versus a vehicle towing without a WDH. This is a goal, not a problem. Steering and braking are two important things we need to not reduce while towing.
2) Hitch receiver mounting stresses. These are actually reduced with a WDH, which is why we often see higher tongue weight ratings with a WDH vs without. I'd think these guys would know:
http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitc...cleid=20106269
3) Soft suspension. An etrailer post supposed that a soft suspension was a problem for Honda with a WDH. I would propose that the effects of an overloaded rear axle would be a bigger problem with a softer suspension, and a WDH would help by keeping loads balanced.
4) Body design weakness at the forward hitch receiver mounting points (generalizing from the Brulaz post above). I dunno, maybe it's a good thing to check on. But if some of the hitch receiver manufacturers are talking about 750# tongue weights with a WDH (see link for item 2 above), a problem like this would be big news to them!
One reason I can think of for not allowing a WDH would be if the hitch receiver itself wasn't strong enough to handle the WDH with it's forces that lift at the back and pull away at the front. Anybody got a Honda hitch receiver that's been bent upwards from using a WDH?
There are two very important reasons to use a WDH: Without one, the 500# trailer tongue adds, in round numbers, 750# on the rear axle and subtracts 250# from the front. For most vehicles, this challenges Gross Axle Weight Ratings in the rear and subtracts a good sized chunk from steering and braking traction up forward. For all but very long wheelbase vehicles, this is a big deal.
This thread is a scale report from a Honda Pilot:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=11142
It doesn't provide everything we'd like to know (weights for TV and trailer axles unhitched, and one time on the scale with the hitch chains slacked so we can calculate tongue weight and the WDH effects). But if the rear axle is near gross with a WDH, it could easily be hundreds of pounds over without one.