2014 Ridgeline towing Livin Lite 14db questions.

I have been towing my travel trailer for 6 years with a WDH. NO problems. I previously had a Ford Exploder which had lots of problems (I still love to see Fords win however).
I have abused my Honda Pilot till no end, towing out in the desert, and elsewhere. They can handle it. I live in the mountains, and I tow severe inclines on hot summer days, again no problems. I have never had a check engine light come on, and I have 175,000 miles on my Honda. Get the AWD. Its great for low traction situations especially when merging onto a road with lots of dirt or gravel.
HOWEVER, if you plan on upgrading to a bigger trailer in the future, consider a truck with a V8.
BTW, the advisory about not using in the manual refers to an improperly installed WDH. Yes, an improperly adjusted WDH can cause breaking problems. Honda is just being overly cautious.
Take Care

That should be a very good combo. You would have slow going up the Rocky Mtn passes, but otherwise you will probably enjoy the setup. Like the others, I doubt you need sway control but a sway bar is an option of you want it. And yes, get electric brakes instead of surge! You'll appreciate having the ability to adjust your braking force from the tow vehicle on the fly, and it's also a safety benefit that you can slide a switch over on the controller to activate trailer brakes without using the tug's brakes; if you ever did have sway, this is the way to straighten it back out. Can't do that with surge brakes.

I think you will be dandy with just a good quality BC. My parents tow a similar size unit with a Montana and have no issues. Be sure to set the draw bar height so the front of the trailer sits a little lower than the rear.

I had surge brakes on 2 different large PUPs. I hated them. Get the electric brakes and a Prodigy brake controller.

Honda's anti-WDH stand was the main reason we decided not to buy a Ridgeline, even though we loved the vehicle.
they are the only auto manufacturer that takes such a stand.

what this told me was Honda doesn't really trust their vehicles for towing a travel trailer, which WDH are almost always needed for a tow vehicle with a 5000lbs. towing capacity.
it basically says, yes the Ridgeline is our truck and can tow a popup or boat but we don't think it should tow anything bigger.

as was said, go to the Ridgeline Owners Forum. a lot of Ridgeline owners ignore Honda and use a WDH anyway.

and go with electric brakes and a Prodigy brake controller.

At this weight you most likely do not need a Weight Distribution hitch. You may want to look at sumo-coil for the rear springs. Helps a lot. I would not bother to get the sway control until you pull it a few times.
Yes on the electric brakes and a moderate priced controller. No need for top of the line for such a light tow.

Try the Honda Ridgeline Owners forum where many of us Ridgeline owners hang out.
This topic has been talked about there many times with several experts that know the trucks frame and handling.

Cairn terrier wrote:
snip...

My Ridgeline book notes to NOT use a weight distribution hitch. Anyone with experience in this area with a Ridgeline?

Welcome to the forum

The Ridgeline is derived from the Odyssey, as is the Pilot. All three
share the basic platform and are monocoque (Unibody). Though the Ridgeline
does have a sub-frame of sorts that adds to the platforms torsional
rigidity

Understand how a WD Hitch system works and that they are generally NOT
advised by OEMs for their monocoque (Unibody) vehicles.

Once you understand how a WD Hitch system works, next is to understand
the difference between a ladder frame architecture vs monocoque (Unibody)

Your proposed trailer is in the grey area of needing/required to have
brakes and WD Hitch setup.

The trailer brake requirement varies from state to state. So check your
DMV's rule book. I'd have them regardless, as it just ups the safety factor
or margin

The need for WD is up to the TV and receiver vs the trailers actual
tongue weight.

Using a WD on a Monocoque will NOT have the spot welds fail instantly,
but will sooner than later. Also dependent on how you drive, where
you drive and a host of other attributes (speeding over RR crossings,
pot holes, etc that dynamically increase the tongue weight)

Sway control is up to you. All trailers, small to big, can and do
sway at some time or another. Magnitude is the issue and the TV's
ability to manhandle (control) the goal.




Check out these old posts that apply to your decision making. My opinion
and you will find opinions ranging all over the place. The decision
is yours and the end setup is the responsibility of the driver (they
get whatever ticket might to issued...speeding, etc)


WD hitches and unibody


Wt Distr Hitch is not recommended for our vehicle

I wouldn't worry about sway control with that short of a trailer, especially if your keeping the weight near 3500lbs. As long as you have the correct tongue weight it should tow fine behind the Honda. With the tandem axles and being 18' long it should be rock solid.

If you need sway control you could use this http://www.etrailer.com/Ball-Mounts/Draw-Tite/7390.html

And this http://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Curt/17200.html

Having pulled trailers with both electric and surge brakes, I much prefer the electric for a TT application. If it were a boat trailer going in/out of the water, especially salt water all the time, it would be a different answer. I certainly wouldn't pay extra for surge brakes in this case.

As far as controllers go, I have a Tekonsha P2 in both my vehicles and have been very happy with them. For me, they offered the best of both worlds in that they work great but are still reasonably priced.

I can't answer for the WDH system for a Ridgeline except to say that if you need a WDH to transfer some of the tongue weight from the rear axle to the front axle, there isn't really a substitute for it. With our setup that is about the same weight you are looking at, we don't need a WDH because I have little to no unloading of the front wheels when hitched. But I'm also towing with a much heavier duty truck with a much longer wheel base.

I do run a friction sway control like the one pictured above mainly as cheap insurance. I've never experienced any sway with our set-up even without the sway control, but given the relatively low cost (as low as $40-$50) of the system and ease of using it (adds maybe a minute to the hitching process), it didn't make sense not use it. It only has to prevent one incident involving damage to more than pay for itself.

HOW A WD HITCH WORKS & WHAT IT IS - VIDEO

WD and SWAY CONTROL FAQ

This should answer a few of your questions.