Gear Ratios are quirky

[jrinjax]

We recently took the boat and jet skis on vacation to a couple of rental houses on top of a mountain in Franklin NC.

I quickly found out the one thing I did not like in my Wife's almost flawless Pilot AWD.

When I tried to back up any incline towing the boat or jet ski, which are both less than 2000#, the Pilot would just stall and eventually get a hot transmission light. It would pull them both up easily in forward.

I think Honda made a mistake with too high a gear ratio in reverse which could easily shorten the life of the tranny. I have no idea why you would need such a high ratio in reverse.

We had the overheated fluid changed as soon as we got home and the tranny seems OK.

[moda_way]

Did you overheat the tranny even with the cooler unit on? Wonder if you could swap a universal larger one in there if so. Agreed, this shouldn't happen though.

Was towing about 2000lbs of lumber yesterday on the wife's 09 Touring. Did extremely well, but didn't have to worry about reverse at all under load. I did back the empty trailer up the driveway and it did great.

FYI, remember, you aren't AWD all the time, just when needed.

[N_Jay]

I'm betting the trailer brakes were coming on.

Did the trailer have surge brakes?

If electric, what type of controller was in use?

Did you try letting the rig roll forward a foot or so and then backing up without touching the brake peddle?

[N_Jay]

Any chance there is a short putting the power for the revers lights onto the electric brake line.

I back over 3000 LB up a moderate incline all the time when parking my trailer.

[jrinjax]

The boat has surge brakes with an electric lockout so I did resort to using a bolt through the actuator to lock them out manually. The jet skis do not have brakes. It still struggled with both and we would have to hitch to other vehicles to move them [a real pain].
I do have the factory cooler but it still did not handle the job.
It just really seemed like the GR in reverse is just to steep for my AWD since it would only rev to 2K RPM.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by jrinjax
The boat has surge brakes with an electric lockout so I did resort to using a bolt through the actuator to lock them out manually. The jet skis do not have brakes. It still struggled with both and we would have to hitch to other vehicles to move them [a real pain].
I do have the factory cooler but it still did not handle the job.
It just really seemed like the GR in reverse is just to steep for my AWD since it would only rev to 2K RPM.

How steep?

I have trouble believing it not something to do with the trailers, as I push a LOT more weight and have had ZERO trouble backing up inclines.

The 4WD has little to do with the power applied or the gearing unless you had wheels slipping.

[jrinjax]

Some of the driveways to the houses were quite steep, maybe 9% grade. The biggest issue was that the torque converter would only let it rev up to 2K which gives the little V6 engine very little of it's useable torque.

Trying to block the wheels on a trailer to keep it from rolling while you hook up another vehicle is almost impossible on a steep grade.

When we first bought the Pilot, we had a real problem pulling the boat up a steep ramp on the Suwannee.

The same time, a Friend with a MDX could not pull out his jet skis out the same ramp, I had to tie onto his MDX with my Ford 4x4 and pull both out [quite easily].

The next time we go to Franklin, I guess I am going to find a dry storage to put the boat/skis in so we don't have to carry them up the mountain. I hate to do this since I hate leaving the boat unattended.

[dustino8]

I don't have any idea what is wrong, but something is not right. Like N_Jay, I've backed up my travel trailer which is 4000+lbs many times into campsites with moderate grades on hot days without any issues. My driveway where I park the trailer is about an 8% grade, and there have been times when its taken 5 or 6 tries of going back and forth to get it just right, and I've never had the tranny temp light come on. Mind you, I do have an aftermarket cooler.

[N_Jay]

Reverse is lower the 1st, so if you can't back it up, but can pull it, then something is amiss with the trailer setup.

[jrinjax]

The next time my Wife takes it to the Dealer for routine maintenance I am going to ask "why?".
Thanks much,
JR

[N_Jay]

My guess is the dealer will have no idea since unless there is some very odd problem, it is a trailer issue not a car issue.

[jrinjax]

Jay,
I guess you missed the point where I explained that the jet ski trailer has no brakes on it, so it is impossible for it to be a trailer issue.