Help Needed December 10, 2004, 12:06:04 am Yahoo Message Number: 47576Hi everyone. I am not good at mechanical stuff so can't figure all this stuff out. Can I tow a Honda Pilot behind my 261/2 2004 LD? If so, how, on what? Thanks for all your info! I'm going to Calif & want my car with me too.Rose
Re: Help Needed Reply #1 – December 10, 2004, 04:50:03 am Yahoo Message Number: 47579Quote Rose In addition to the hitch weight/towing capacity issue previously discussed, be sure to carefully read the Pilot owners manual. That is the Honda ultimate authority on towing your car. A quick look says you must stop every eight towing hours to recirculate the automatic transmission fluid. This wouldn't seem to be a big issue. I know my butt can't take more than about 4 hours of sitting. There may be additional requirments in the manual. Then you need to get a hitch, the towing hardware installed on the car, lights wired, a brakeing system, etc. $3,000+- ready to tow. Plus whatever it costs to upgrade the hitch as previously pointed out.Ed
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Help Needed Reply #2 – December 10, 2004, 10:55:37 am Yahoo Message Number: 47599I tow an '04 Honda Accord with automatic transmission with my ' 01 LD RK. Honda has a strict procedure for preparing the transmission for towing (you must cycle thru the gears and end up going from Drive to Neutral, then allow the trans to idle for three minutes). This process allows you to tow up to 8 hours. However, if I stop for more than a few minutes (e.g., for lunch) I repeat the process just to be on the safe side. You can get a copy of the procedure from your Honda dealer. I use a Blue OX tow bar and have had excellent results. Make sure the installer knows what they're doing however, especially with the electrical. I was told I had to remove the brake light fuse while towing. Unfortunately, with the fuse removed the automatic transmission locks up in Park. It took a call to Honda to get the procedure for manually releasing the trans. Best to have your Honda dealer show you this process -- it may not apply to your Pilot.Good luck,Dean Lovejoy Gold Canyon AZpcdaizy pcdaizy@...> wrote:Can I tow a Honda Pilot behind my 261/2 2004 LD? If so, how, on what? Rose [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: towing Honda Pilot Reply #3 – December 10, 2004, 11:56:52 am Yahoo Message Number: 47610"Best to have your Honda dealer show you this process -- it may not apply to your Pilot." That's especially important since up until 2003, the Pilot was not really a Honda at all--it was an Isuzu Rodeo with Honda nameplates pasted on. Since it was not built by Honda, the restrictions and procedures for towing may well have been completely different from those for all other Honda models. Incidentally, if you look at the frequency-of-repair stats for those pre-2003 Isuzu-built Pilots, you'll see that they stick out like a sore thumb compared to the outstanding reliability of all the other (Honda-built) models. Isuzu's engineering and QC were definitely not up to Honda's usual high standards. Undoubtedly that's one reason Honda dumped them and started building their own Pilots. Mid-2003 and later Pilots are pure Honda products, but you should still check with Honda for the authoritative answer to your towing questions. And as others have pointed out, any Pilot is too heavy for the factory-standard hitch on your Lazy Daze--that will definitely need to be beefed up.Andy Baird
Re: towing Honda Pilot Reply #4 – December 10, 2004, 01:22:19 pm Yahoo Message Number: 47614Umm... Andy... The Pilot is a new Honda model, based on the Acura MDX. The rebadged Isuzu was the Passport, not the Pilot.Michelle
Re: towing Honda Pilot Reply #5 – December 10, 2004, 01:53:18 pm Yahoo Message Number: 47615"The rebadged Isuzu was the Passport, not the Pilot." Whoops! You're right, Michelle. I got my "P"-named Hondas mixed up. Yep, the Passport was the Isuzu-built clunker; the Pilot is all-new and presumably shares none of the Passport's reliability problems...although it does fill the same place in Honda's product line that the Passport formerly occupied. Thanks for the correction!Andy Baird
Help Needed Reply #6 – December 10, 2004, 12:46:26 am Yahoo Message Number: 47577Can I tow a Honda Pilot behind my 261/2 2004 LD?RoseYou can and you can't. You can if you take your LD to a qualified welding shop and have a frame-mounted hitch installed. If your rig has the stock towing point, ie, a receiver attached to the bumper, you cannot tow a Pilot because its 4416 pounds of weight exceeds the 4000 pound rating of your hitch. Sorry. TJ
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Help Needed Reply #7 – December 10, 2004, 12:13:39 pm Yahoo Message Number: 47611Thankyou, that's what I needed to know. I will have to fly back & drive it AGAIN. Ugghhhh!
Help Needed Reply #8 – December 10, 2004, 11:01:28 am Yahoo Message Number: 47601Then you need to get a hitch, the towing hardware installed on the car, lights wired, a brakeing system, etc. $3,000+- ready to tow. Plus whatever it costs to upgrade the hitch as previously pointed out.We had our ReadyBrute Plus tow bar ( http://www.readybrake.com/readybrute.html ) installed for around $2,000. This included everything needed to tow our Honda Element: tow bar, brake, break away, dash light kit, brake circuit disconnect, and base plate. Price was the determining factor in our choosing this tow system (plus the fact that we didn't want a brake that had to be taken out each time we wanted to use our toad and put back in each time we towed). While I'm sure all the tow bars and braking systems do the job they are intended for, it's not necessary to spend more than $3,000 to have a tow system installed.Linda & Earl 2004 23.5' Red TK From Quartzsite, AZ
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Topic: Help Needed (Read 4 times)
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