3500 lbs without a transmission cooler, 5000 lbs with the ATF cooler installed for AWD models.

 

Yup, don't tow 5000# without the ATF cooler and AWD any great distance unless you want to cook your transmission and shell out $$$ for a replacement.

If it's a dealer installed OEM hitch, they are supposed to put a sticker that comes with the kit saying 5000# over the factory applied one that says 3500# when they install the cooler. If you don't have that sticker, safe bet you can only haul 3500#.

Cheers

 

Had the dealer install the hitch and transmission cooler when I bought our Pilot. I tow a Sea Ray 200 approximately 20 miles every year but if I had to tow it long distance I’m good to go. They tried to stick that 3500# sticker on my hitch but I called them on it and they sent me the 5000# sticker in the mail.

 

Just a utility trailer for me. Nothing heavy at all. The heaviest thing I have towed was a Honda 400 EX lol

 

A Harbor Freight SUPER DUTY (aka just under 2,000 lbs) utility trailer. I've probably had it somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 a number of times, unless I really went heavy towards the front of the trailer I barely noticed it with the Pilot.

 

Oh this is a great thread you just started.

Looking forward to see some pictures and read some shared stories.

 

Hello from the MDX forum! Here’s our experience. We have a 2011 MDX that we purchased in 2014 and with that model the tow package was standard with the transmission cooler. We started towing a travel trailer about two years ago. Prior to that we towed a utility trailer to haul mulch and hay bales. We did not want to buy a truck since we like our MDX and we were looking at Airstream travel trailers. We were ready to buy a new 23 foot Airstream but happened to find a 2006 25 foot Airstream safari GVWR 7300 lbs (dry weight 5200 lbs) that also came with a Hensley arrow hitch. We were in contact with a company in Canada called Can-Am who specializes in set-ups and are able to reinforcing the receiving hitch it the tongue weight is high. Ours was about 1000 lbs.

Last fall we took a 6000 mile trip from Ohio to the Oregon coast, down 101 to Northern California, and back home. My wife and I share the driving and we had a great trip with no problems. We did pack light. The MDX performed flawlessly towing our Airstream with the Hensley hitch providing weight distribution and anti-sway. Torque vectoring worked great even towing up steep gravel roads. The Pilot uses the same platform.

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I'm not intimately familiar with the MDX, does it share the 2nd gen Pilot's 4500 tow rating? It sure looks like that MDX is squatting in the rear, no rear airbag assist?

I don't want to get into a big lecture and argument here, but I disagree with going over the manufacturer ratings at all, let alone by probably more than 1,000 lbs, up to 3,000 if you full loaded it. Please consider a safer tow vehicle.

 

It does have a 5000 pound tow rating based on Government ratings and marketing. We were within the payload capacity of the vehicle. We do not use airbag assist and although it doesn’t look pretty the ride was very controlled and stable. Our MDX has 125,000 miles on it and last year we put on 10,000 miles with towing. We also switched to a LT truck tire for better sidewall stability and improved performance.


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IMO driver experience, ability and maintenance of the towing vehicle and trailer is a huge factor in safe towing. It appears to me that SeveNdebbie are just fine with their rig.

 

Here is a before and after photo showing how it looked right after we bought it at the dealership and the other picture after our set up with CanAm. When we towed it from Traverse City to London Ontario the trip went OK but it definitely felt much better after their reinforcement and re-doing the set up.

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My inner lawyer says "I wonder what the insurance company would do about my coverage if I had an accident pulling a trailer @1.5x the rated tow capacity of my vehicle".

Personally I would not take the risk. The owner's opinion of "safe" would certainly be different than the government and insurance company's.

Cheers

 

So...anyone else want want to say what they hauled or towed with their Pilot?


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Most of the time I only have my #GoGalley on the hitch (picture was from before the tire upgrade). We've sold our 16' pontoon that I used to tow with our '06 Pilot. I do occasionally have other things on the hitch. We also made sure to get the ATF cooler. The grill alone weighs 450 lbs.
While towing a boom lift, a person in an accord plowed right into it. I was lucky enough to see him coming while I was stopped at a crosswalk and started moving to lessen the damage. He wasn't so lucky. The picture was from after I moved into a school driveway off the main road where I was hit (oh and the lights were still working on the trailer after the impact). Thankfully there was no damage to the Pilot (yes I had the entire hitch assembly checked). I also purchased a specialized riser with added weigh supports and for added clearance for when I have the grill or a full bike rack on the hitch.

 

Sorry to go off topic but is the accord driver that hit you walking around in socks?

 

I thought that too at first, but he has some kind of sandal sock things on. The officer asked him too.

 

20' wooden yawl packed with gear. Have tranny cooler installed by dealer and high-end hitch, plus ScanGageII to monitor transmission oil temps.

 

Could y’all kindly post your VIN numbers so I know which cars not to buy in a few years when the 2016-2018s become cheap?
All joking aside, it’s great that the Pilot is a capable tow vehicle. I never saw it as that but my mind is changing.

 

I used to tow a Forest River Flagstaff MicroLite 18RK. Empty weight was just under 3,000lbs. I had a weight distribution hitch, electric brakes on the trailer, and an engine/transmission oil cooler. It towed pretty well all things considered.

 

deleted due to multiple submissions

 

deleted due to multiple submissions

 

Most people aren't aware that the tow rating of a vehicle doesn't actually tell you how much the car can safely tow. You really have to do the math to know if you are not exceeding the vehicle's capabilities and are towing illegally. You won't be charged while towing but after an accident it may be easily established that you drove reckless.

I've done the calculation on my 2003 Ford Explorer a while back https://web.archive.org/web/2006020.../http://www.niesens.com/hobbies/cars/2003-ford-explorer/towing-capacity.en.html . And I suggest you go through that exercise as well.

I'm totally aware that most people give a sh*t about this. But then it's already very hard to make people aware how dangerous it is to have the RV step down while driving.

As for the Pilot, I haven't done any interesting towing with it. Just a small 4x8 folding trailer and pulling the sail boat in/out of the boat ramp.

 

Most people aren't aware that the tow rating of a vehicle doesn't actually tell you how much the car can safely tow. You really have to do the math to know if you are not exceeding the vehicle's capabilities and are towing illegally. You won't be charged while towing but after an accident it may be easily established that you drove reckless.

I've done the calculation on my 2003 Ford Explorer a while back https://web.archive.org/web/2006020.../http://www.niesens.com/hobbies/cars/2003-ford-explorer/towing-capacity.en.html . And I suggest you go through that exercise as well.

I'm totally aware that most people give a sh*t about this. But then it's already very hard to make people aware how dangerous it is to have the RV step down while driving.

As for the Pilot, I haven't done any interesting towing with it. Just a small 4x8 folding trailer and pulling the sail boat in/out of the boat ramp.

Claus is 100% correct.
There is no way in hell what Stevendebbie is doing is even close to legal, or safe.

He is one of those people that think only of himself on the road. The same as people pulling tri axle toy haulers with a 1/2 ton pickup.

I hope that he never kills an innocent family on the roads, that he has no business even being on with that rig.

I will guarantee you are over many of the maximum towing specs, specifically the rawr, gcwr, and gvrw. I would would guess he also over weight on his tires.

I had a truck rated to tow 12000 lbs that I used to pull a 9500lb trailer with about 1100lbs of tounge weight. That truck was within 100lbs of rawr with it loaded. My rear axle weight rating was higher than the entire towing capacity of his MDX!!

Watching people that tow like this without regard to the safety of others on the road really bothers me.

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Have a 2019 AWD Pilot EX w/ dealer-installed tow package. In May & June, my wife, our dog, and I did a 38-day, 21-state, 8300 mile road trip pulling a MicroLite Car-Go Lite Xtreme. It’s about 1100lb. dry and was probably close to 1500lb. loaded. (BTW, MicroLite is the MANUFACTURER, not the model, as in the Fall River Microlite). The Pilot performed like a champ! We were zipping up crazy-ass inclines out west where semis and Class A’s were pulling over. Used a Scan Gauge II to monitor ATF temps. The most common reading was 188’F, but on one particularly hot day it very briefly hit 225’F. The Pilot is a GREAT road vehicle, whether towing or not.
We hit fierce head winds going across northern Texas and eastern New Mexico, and I was fretting over our unusually low MPG of 13mpg. Spent the night at a KOA and talked to our neighbor, who had a huge pickup and pulling a very large 5th wheel. During the head winds he was getting 1.5mpg!!!

 

Have a 2019 AWD Pilot EX w/ dealer-installed tow package. In May & June, my wife, our dog, and I did a 38-day, 21-state, 8300 mile road trip pulling a MicroLite Car-Go Lite Xtreme. It’s about 1100lb. dry and was probably close to 1500lb. loaded. (BTW, MicroLite is the MANUFACTURER, not the model, as in the Fall River Microlite). The Pilot performed like a champ! We were zipping up crazy-ass inclines out west where semis and Class A’s were pulling over. Used a Scan Gauge II to monitor ATF temps. The most common reading was 188’F, but on one particularly hot day it very briefly hit 225’F. The Pilot is a GREAT road vehicle, whether towing or not.
We hit fierce head winds going across northern Texas and eastern New Mexico, and I was fretting over our unusually low MPG of 13mpg. Spent the night at a KOA and talked to our neighbor, who had a huge pickup and pulling a very large 5th wheel. During the head winds he was getting 1.5mpg!!!

We averaged about 9-10 mpg, where normally we get about 18-20. We have the 3.7 liter 300 hp engine (the oil burner) that takes premium. Sweet spot in towing is 3800-4000 rpm. Usually in 4th gear on the highway but with our smaller tires we were able to spend more time in 5th gear. 6000 mile trip and 2011 MDX was flawless (in part thanks to Mr. Hensley!).

Safe travels,

Steve


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I never said you were over your payload. I said rawr, gvwr and gcwr. Payload is another one of those mis quoted numbers, just like towing capacity. You stated you are over the max towing capacity and max tounge weight. You ARE knowingly driving an ILLEGALLY setup vehicle.

Do what you want, just know YOU are responsible for your actions. If you run into someone it is NOT an accident.


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I tow my 2005 Malibu Response LXI with no problems!