Towing a single axle trailer

They’re pretty terrible around here.

 

There's some new to camping folks here with a new Ridgeline and a Nobo trailer. He has a 10,000# WDH installed by, you guessed it. Camping World! Which frame will bend first?

 

Ridgeline is a unibody.

 

I don't doubt the capability of the Ridgeline (I had a 2019) but without significant reinforcement to the hitch, it is hard to get close to 10,000 lbs of weight on the truck.

I think the hitch receiver itself has that rating of either 10,000 or maybe 8,000 lbs depending on what Honda put on it.

Our 2019 would have had one of these hitches factory installed. Then Honda set the maximum towing at 5,000 lbs.

There is a company in Ontario (Can-am) that has been doing hitches for decades and they can make it work on the unibodys to carry a good amount more, some are pulling trailers up to ~7,500 lbs. The Ridgeline is a unibody but it does have some significant reinforcement that ties the cab to the bed.

The issue that I would have with going over the towing weight of the Ridgeline would be the braking and lighter drivetrain. The Ridgeline is really a "front wheel drive first" vehicle with a rear drive train that kicks in based on the software.

If the Nobo trailer is in the ball park but still over weight (>5,000 lbs), the Ridgeline could probably pull it but the owner has to understand the pitfalls of what they are doing.

 

Exactly. Should you put a WDH on a unibody vehicle?

 

If you're an rv salesman, you'll throw in a spare tire cover and a set of plastic leveling blocks for free too!

 

It maybe a unibody is the general sense of the word but it is more than that. It even has a higher payload than our Tundras!

We towed our Airstream for 3 years with our Ridgeline and it did very well. We used a WDH and didn't have any issues with it, we get more squat with the Tundra. I just felt that the brakes weren't the greatest but that's me coming from 6 piston fronts and 4 piston rears on my VW.

We went to the Tundra because it offered higher payload (that turned out to be misleading) but it does have a higher towing capacity by the numbers over the Ridgeline. If Honda raised the towing capacity which they could easily do, they would be competing with the rest of the little trucks out there and I guess they don't want to go head to head with the Taco, Ranger, Colorado, Maverick, etc... just to get another 1,000 lbs or so!

 

Would you have installed a WDH for a 5 ton trailer?

 

Actually the WDH that I got is a Weighsafe Unit. It has stiff bars, It was the only one they offered many years ago. Now is it called their HD model.

It has a rating up to 15,000 lbs. I probably would have gotten their Mid range hitch (8,500 lbs) if I was buying today. I just don't see any need to change it since the Tundra seems happy towing my trailer in this configuration. There is some discussion on the effects of a hitch that is too stiff causing damage to the trailer but my trailer is doing just fine after 4 1/2 years and 2 different trucks.

The hitch capacity is one part of the equation. Is the trailer 10,000 lbs that this Ridgeline owner got or are we talking about the hitch?

 

Oooooold point of discussion... But you can only put 1000 lbs in the bed or it will die an ignominious death, according to the manual. I've had [censored] more pounds than that in the bed of the tundra and it just don't care. Heck, my daily load out is more than that. I've driven down the road in a Honda minivan loaded to the max; I've driven down the road in a tundra loaded to the max. 11 times out of 10 I'll take the tundra.

Also, that picture is the definition of a unibody... Unibodies doesn't overload gracefully like body on frame do, so they have to keep the tow cap where it's at to keep FOS reasonable.

Now, back on point, IMO, a WD hitch is useless for most trailers below 4k lbs and dangerous for many single axle trailers.

 

Ya we could go around in circles on these topics.

 

Why is a WDH potentially dangerous with a single axle trailer? Here to learn. I understand Honda recently removed the WDH restrictions from the owners manual but so state they must be properly adjusted. Am I wrong in my beliefs that an oversized WDH isn't considered properly adjusted?

I have nothing against the Ridgeline and at one time considered buying one but the wife won and we got the Element instead. Ugly Two Slice Toaster it was.

 

I had an Element and traded it for the Ridgeline! It was a great little car but needed a truck for towing. Had the Ridgeline for almost 3 years and traded it in on the Tundra (looking for greater capacity). Hoping that we made a good decision on that move coming back to Toyota after decades.

I have used both hitches styles on my Ridgeline and found the WDH to be much better for stability and sway reduction. I could feel the load transfer to the front wheels which made the experience night and day better than the regular hitch. Now with the Tundra, it is even better after making some tweaks to the truck. Our last trip on some twisty highways was the best the combo behaved. This is most likely due to the new trailer tires and some suspension adjustments!

Ours is a single axle trailer. Not too sure why it is dangerous but I am sure we will hear about it.

With my WDH setup, I can see what my tongue weight is and then using the scale, I can dial in the prescribed WD force based on my parameters. The hydraulic scale also provides a bit of dampening so the force goes into the hydraulics and softens the forces on the trailer A-frame. We have some good little undulations in our area and the trailer is no worse for wear!.

 

Not really an expert here, but my first reason would be if a wheel/tire is lost and the trailer is going, I would want it to separate fairly easily vs. having a firm grip on my vehicle making recovery pretty much impossible. Secondly, single axle trailers usually have weaker frames and are more likely to fail while traveling which would lead back to the first reason.

 

This is interesting. Are you referring to offroad travel or on the highway? If I was traveling on a back road or forest service road. Having a regular hitch or even a pintle style would be the ideal connection.

I am not too sure if the coupler would detach but I guess if the trailer and truck are doing all sorts of movements, then it could pop off.

Is this what you are describing?

The frame structure would be based on each trailer manufacturer to pick a weaker frame maybe based on the Gross Weight or cost.

 

If I was going down the highway with a lightweight (single axle) travel trailer (big wind sail) and it became squirrely from a big unexpected crosswind and then suddenly a tire blew out making matters even worse, my preference would be to have minimal hardware keeping it attached to my tow vehicle. That said, I won't ever be towing a cheap lightweight single axle travel trailer, so I really don't need to be concerned with such craziness. Good luck with your own adventures!

 

And that 80 miles will be the lightest it will ever be. No gear, no food, no water, no poops.