New 2009 Honda Ridgeline RT Towing Info

Pics of our New 2009 Honda Ridgeline pulling our 2619. Honda recommended only sway bar, so added sway and she rides like a dream. Ready to go camping.
Have a Happy Holiday Season.

Nice lookn' setup.

Betcha Honda doesn't know you got 500 lbs. of weight hanging behind the bumper. Just make sure you don't exceed the RAWR. A 500 lb. tongue weight put an extra ~700 lbs. on the rear axle of my F150, and took off ~200 lbs from the front axle.

Betcha Honda also didn't know that TMs have very little sway.

Enjoy the new ride.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by The3ofus

Pics of our New 2009 Honda Ridgeline pulling our 2619. Honda recommended only sway bar, so added sway and she rides like a dream. Ready to go camping.
Have a Happy Holiday Season.

Nice looking rig.

2 suggestions......think about getting a WDH. I can tell, by looking at the pics, that your TW is causing a substantial amount of weight loss on your front end. That's not good.

The other suggestion is, while considering a WDH, consider trimming the tongue height down to where your trailer is level while fully loaded with passengers and cargo.

You should be able to draw a straight line from the front bumper of the TV to the rear bumper of the trailer and the trailer tongue should be on that straight line. Also, if you measure the distance from the top of the wheel-well to the center of your axle, the distance should be the same in the front as in the rear. If the front is higher (which seems to be evident in your pics), that's not good.

[Bill]

Nice rig. I bet Wayne (PopBeavers) will enjoy seeing the two dirt bikes in the bed. Not enough capacity for all of his stuff, but a nice start. By the way, it looks you might almost-but-not-quite be able to hook up the TM when the tailgate is down and the bikes are aboard. Am I mistaken? A long-shank hitch (or a hitch extender) might add the needed 2 or 3 inches, though you have to be careful of what that does to the tow rating and the handling.

Once you've gotten used to towing the TM with it, try a trip without the sway bar. I bet you'll be surprised. But by the same token, you may decide that a weight-distributing hitch would be a good thing on a 5000-pound-rated vehicle. The 122-inch wheelbase helps with the stability aspect, by preventing the front end from rising as far as it would on a shorter vehicle. But you probably aren't far from the max tongue weight specified for the hitch (probably 500 pounds).

And when you get a chance, it would be a good idea to weigh all three axles with the TM packed up and ready for camping. There is a thread on this board where actual weights are tabulated - yours would be a good addition.

After you've got a few thousand towing miles on the rig, report back and let us know the good and the bad. We all learn from these reports.

Bill

Thanks for the info and will consider a WDH. Switching over to the towing section and putting in some more pics.
Thank you

Bill,
Thanks for the reply and I will consider trying without the sway and yes, I am considering a WDH. I think the best thing to do is load both up and see watch it looks like. I have seen some with a WDH and some without. Guess it depends on the setup. And you are probably right(didn't think)about the bikes loaded and pulling the tm. Guess I'll have to look into a 12" extention bar. Thanks again and I'll pipe in later when I have done my homework.
Leo

The Ridgeline will do great towing your TM. I had an 06 Ridgeline and I towed a 3023 for two years up and down the east coast with out a wdh or sway bars and I had no problems at all. Sure the rear sagged some but the the truck never had a problem with stability at any speed. Just use common sense when driving. I sold it and got a GMC Acadia because I needed a place to carry my dog safely.

[Wavery]

Hi again Leo,

As I stated in the other thread:

You should be able to draw a straight line from the front bumper of the TV to the rear bumper of the trailer and the trailer tongue should be on that straight line. Also, if you measure the distance from the top of the wheel-well to the center of your axle, the distance should be the same in the front as in the rear. If the front is higher (which seems to be evident in your pics), that's not good.

Having someone tell you that your set-up is OK and it actually being OK may be 2 different things. The pics that you posted seem to indicate that your front-end might be quite light (however, that could be camera angle).

The most important aspect of any TV set-up is that the TV is able to stop the fully loaded package within a certain distance and without the front wheels locking up and loosing control of the Vehicle.

The way that you can tell if this may be an issue is as follows:

1. Measure the distance from the center of the fender wheel-well to the center of the axle on all four wheels with the vehicle empty and no trailer.

2. Hook up the trailer and load the vehicle with your normal towing load. Take those same measurements again.

Your 1st measurement will probably find that your rear wheel well is higher than the front wheel well. If after you load your vehicle, the rear distance drops and the front distance increases, you have a problem.

The ideal is for the front and rear axles to drop the same amount. Without a WDH, that isn't going to happen, so....2nd best is that the rear-end lowers (and it will) and the front-end stays the same (which is unlikely). Even my big heavy Chevy P/U with a 147" WB increases about 1/2" in the front when I hitch up the trailer (my tongue weight is 490# BTW). The ideal thing for even my rig would be a WDH. However, I find them a hassle and the weight of my truck pretty well takes care of any lock-up concerns.

It's just physics. The rear axle acts as a fulcrum point. When you put weight aft of the rear axle, it will remove weight from the front axle. The shorter the WB, the more the loss on the front wheels. If you add a hitch extender, that moves the fulcrum point forward and further aggravates the situation.

The less weight that you have on the front wheels the less braking capacity that you will have and the easier it will be for your front wheels to lock up. If the front wheels lock up, you loose control of the vehicle. That's not good and should be avoided at all cost.

Bill's suggestion to weigh the vehicle is a good one. This will give you real world figures to work with. The wheel well measurements are good for starters but there is no substitute for cold hard facts.

Harveyrv,
Appreciate it, this is all great information and I am printing it out and this will be my next project.
When I get it all together and like Bill said, Miles down the road I will post back in on the status.
Have a wonderful holiday season.
Thanks again.

Thanks for the replys. There is a article about the 2009 Ridgeline. Supposedly the engine was redone with a bigger cam shaft and torqued up more than the 2008. Seemed to drive fine around town and short distance on highway.
I have some research to do on this. Honda recommended the sway, but I might be looking at WDH also. I like to haul my bikes and such and didn't think about the tailgate being down. So, I will have to get an extention bar and this also changes things.
So, I have work to do.
Thanks