Is anyone towing with a Honda Pilot?

I am looking to tow a 1996 19' MasterCraft ProStar 205. Honda manufacturer specs state max towing weight is 4500lbs with 4x4 V6. Including boat, trailer, gear, fuel, and passengers, am I getting too close to max tow weight? What problems am I looking at as I get closer to max weight?

Thanks

Ask your auto insurance if you will be covered once you have past the restrictions for your vehicle.

Safety Issues:
Stopping is a pretty big one.
Vehicle gets squirrely, may need to stop.

Not to mention your vehicle will die a slow death.

Ive tow with a 2005 nissan pathfinder v6 it is rated at 6000#. 2 seasons, no problems

I tow my 175 Glastron - I do not know the weight. No problems. I will be towing a 2007 Supra 21V soon. I am taking the Pilot in to add the cooler for the transmission and brake fluids (Manufactures states as requirement for towing up to 4500 lb boat). The Supra is 4250 I believe. I will let you know in a week how it does.

Not trying to hijack thread but has anyone towed with a v6 Jeep grand cherokee, it says it can towup to 5k#'s will it tow an X2

Geoff, I have an 05 X2 and a Pilot. I choose to leave the Pilot at home and tow with the Tundra. I guess you could do it, I wouldn't want to. How far will you be towing? Does the trailer have brakes? The pilot hunts gears enough without anything behind it. Fricken' stepping on the gas and waiting for 20 seconds for it to pick a gear kills me, my only gripe...

rg, I wouldn't want to tow an X2 behind a v6 grand cherokee either.

I agree i really dont want to also. Bryan you need to make sure if you tow with a V6 that you keep overdrive off then it wont hunt for gears. Your mpg will be less of course but that will help protect the tranny. Geoff--I would suggest you get a tranny cooler and make sure the trailer has brakes. Also I'd only use it for shortt distances. Does it have 4x4? If it doesnt I wouldnt even use it, since you could have problems getting the boat out of the water

rg, I don't tow with a V6, but you are correct. I believe the Pilot has a 5 sp auto, I would leave it in D3.

Geoff, the more I think about it, the more I think you might be alright. How much does a 19' prostar 205 weigh? 2500 lbs? Plus an 800 lb trailer? Now you're at 3300 lbs. Plus, gas and gear? Get those coolers especially the tranny cooler and you might be OK. Trailer brakes would help out a great deal.....

I wouldn't. People might do it, but you'll be begging for help at some point. When towing, I say find what does the job, no questions asked, then go a notch above.

I'd say half ton, v8, and some type of extended wheelbase. Thats for starters. If you have any type of distance, or challenging ramps, 3/4 ton.

Don't need the big bad penis trucks, diesels, 4x4, or anything late model. Lots of stuff out there. I have a fully loaded Excursion(2001), V10. Worth about 10k, max. Tow a very heavy boat, never a prob.

the nissan pathfinder I tow with, has the tow package and one of the features is that it alows you to turn off overdrive, and I second good brakes on the trailer.

i had a honda pilot and then switched to a toyota seqouia pulling a cc 211.... when all is said and done the boat/trailer is at 4500lbs (not including gear and extra ballast)

the pilot "should" work for short hauls but hills and emergency breaking should be a concern...

the pilot is good but it doesnt have the torque of a v8 or a diesel which is needed for towing - caveat emptor...

If you tow a boat that exceeds the weight limit of the truck and caused a bad wreck, you would be held accountable for your negligence. Just my thoughts on the subject.

JW- I wouldn't tow a Supra 21V with a Honda Pilot. First of all, towing at or near the capacity of a vehicle is not a wise choice. Can yo do it? Yes, but for safety reasons I wouldn't suggest it.

Second, you will be over the max rating of the Pilot. You said that the tow rating on the Pilot is 4500lbs? And you said that the boat weighs 4250lbs? Does that include the trailer? If not, add on another +/- 1200lbs. Then on top of that add in fuel, gear and any other add ons that may be on the boat. Then take into account the weight of supplies and gear in the truck and passengers. Most likely you will be exceeding the limits of the Pilot. It will hurt the longevity of the vehicle as well as putting you and others in danger.

Just my $.02

FWIW- we use a Pilot as an OCCASIONAL tow vehicle, and it works great. Our boat is a 99 CC Pro Air (BB chevy engine) and should weigh around 3000 pounds, add 800 pounds for the single axle trailer. I picked up the boat, and towed it for 350 miles over the interstate, some mild foothills, and the engine and tranny never missed a beat. The rear suspension is a little soft, and the brakes are ok but could use a little better brake pad, but other than that it would be ok.
I wouldn't use it as a every weekend type of tow vehicle, but it can handle ~4k pounds with no big drama.

Jack

I dont know what a Pilot is capable of, but I will tell you that I used to tow my 21v with this 2006 Chevy 1/2 ton 5.3L V8 chevrolet and I upgraded to a Dodge with a Cummins diesel. Look at the size of the boat vs the size of the truck... now place a Honda Pilot in front of the boat...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e52/Trainwreck06/100_1139.jpg

The truck did ok, may of done better had it been stock, but even lifted and re-geared to 4.56 gears it struggled on the highway. Slowing down was never really and issue with trailer brakes.

You have to take into consideration that although on paper a 21V may weigh in at 3400 LBS thats not including fuel, trailer, or the water that you'll be dragging out with the boat after a good days ride.

I wouldn't reccommend pulling near your "limit" and I would use this in any instance. Slowing down and pulling it out of the ramp are the most important things and within 1K of the limit can put you and your family and others in danger.

(Message edited by Trainwreck on August 20, 2007)

"within 1K of the limit can put you and your family and others in danger"
Are you serious? What is the point of manufacturers stating these numbers if you cant go by them for safety? Im darn sure they say you need trailer brakes also. Can we use the manufacturers number for any reference at all and if so then who says where the line is? I will agree that you are stressing the drive train for sure when running near the man. limits and no doubt it will reduce the life of the truck.
Towing approx 5000 lbs behind a 96 4X2 v8 explorer for over 6 years.

"Are you serious? What is the point of manufacturers stating these numbers if you cant go by them for safety?"

Well, as long as you're reading the fine print I completely agree but when people throw out a single number as the tow rating they're not reading that fine print. I believe it was a Dodge I was looking at that had a pretty high tow rating but you have to subtract from the tow rating for everything in the truck. And what's the tow capacity of your Jeep Grand Cherokee with the HEMI V8? If you answered anything over 2000lbs then you must have a weight distributing hitch installed because without it, it's 2000lbs. I haven't owned a Ford in a while but the tow capacity table on my old Explorer was an absolute mess and that's back when they only had one engine option. At least you didn't have to subtract for everything in the cab. There are a lot of gotchas in the fine print. An easy way to make up for that is to just remember a single tow capacity figure and take away a certain percentage to allow for the fine print. I do believe that a margin of 1000lbs is a bit excessive though.

You know what, you might be on to something there. Say you had 4 average adults weighing 200 lbs each and they each had some baggage, coolers, etc you would be close to that 1k?? As far as I remember due to my ex being a v8 with 4X2 it had a tow capacity of 6800 lbs which I think I towed once and did not like it very much. Common sense plays a big part in what you know is safe and what is uncontrollable on the highway. What might be safe on 10 minute 40 mph backroad trips might be downright dangerous on the interstate crossing the countryside?? I still say crew cab, diesel, 4X4, extended bed, trucks are excessive for all but the giant wakeboard boats they are making now or of course those triple axle go fast rides we got to watch this past weekend.

The shape and volume of the trailer, as well as toungue weight, make huge differences as well. Boats tow really well for their weight because they are streamlined, and the tongue weight is very constant. Boxy things like travel trailers get blown around badly by wind and other vehicles. You can also cause fishtailing by imbalanced loading.

I have a friend that tows his MC with a damn 6 cylinder mini van. Does it no problem but is only traveling maybe 5 miles to the lake

anytime the vehicle's "capacity" outweighs the actual vehicle, you're asking for trouble.

Could it be done? sure. Would most of us do it? prolly not. On a regular basis? no way.

We tow with a Pilot. 2800 lb boat + trailer. Trailer has brakes.

No problems.

Just towed 700 mi round trip this weekend. We probably tow our boat about 2000 mi each year on flat midwestern terrain and this is our fourth summer with the Pilot. We have the tow package with tranny cooler - a must.

The Pilot performs great.

I'm thinking that the 21V could roll the Pilot in a minute. If you were to have to swerve and hit the brakes hard.

I tow a 2004 Mobius LS with a Pilot...no problems

I had an uncle tow a glastron with a dodge caravan, v6. He got stuck I herd getting up a ramp lol and had to have a few ppl push from the back to get the boat out. I guess it goes to show you can tow with anything but doesnt mean you wont have issues!

Just because the boats weight is higher than the tow vehicle doesn't mean it is unsafe. Look at the tow ratings for large pickup trucks 12,000+lbs and you can sure as heck bet that the truck itself doesn't weigh 12,000lbs. A wakeboard boat is no different.

Ive mentioned the same thing in the past JG. Can you imagine a guy with a 15k lb rv towing with a 15k lb vehicle The mileage is bad enough pushing the wall of air with the rv but your adding another 5-6k lb of extra weight. Does an 18 wheeler cab weigh less then the trailer?

No it doesn't but the suspension and frame are made to support a helluva lot more than they do tow. Big rigs ARE NOT towing within a few hundred or even a few thousand lbs of max capacity. You guys are discussing pulling a 3000lb or more boat plus trailer plus fuel plus gear and getting within a couple hundred lbs of the MAX tow rating... not safe but yes it could do it.