Anyone Towing with New Honda 9 Speed? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 11-23-2020, 07:25 AM   #1
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Anyone Towing with New Honda 9 Speed?

Is anyone towing with a newer Honda Pilot or Ridgeline with the 9 speed transmission. Would be interested in:
- Driving impressions
- What you tow and where
- Transmission temperatures, if monitored

Thanks,
Philip
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Old 11-23-2020, 11:11 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg White View Post
Is anyone towing with a newer Honda Pilot or Ridgeline with the 9 speed transmission. Would be interested in:
- Driving impressions
- What you tow and where
- Transmission temperatures, if monitored

Thanks,
Philip
Yep and whether the gas mileage has really improved too.

Walt
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Old 11-24-2020, 06:02 AM   #3
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2020 Honda Pilot Elete. I tow mostly in the mountains of WV. In addition to that I have one trip to Savana GA and one to Charleston SC. and one to FL.I tow a Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Excellent vehicle for this. Gas mileage around 16MPG. No tyranny problems so far. I do have a sway and weight distribution. I keep on top of maintenance, oil changes and differential oil changes. that is about it.
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Old 11-24-2020, 07:05 AM   #4
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I'd go for the Honda Pilot. My brother drives it to tow his RV. According to him, it drives as smooth as butter, the transmission temperatures are also good. He says that the type of tire you use would make a great difference. His Nitto Ridge Grappler tires does wonders, even if he tows his RV through the terrain, there isn't any concern with bumps on the road.
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Old 11-24-2020, 07:58 AM   #5
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I know this is not the personal feedback you’re looking for, but I’d recommend spending some time on the “Piloteers” owner’s forum. There may be a separate one for the Ridgeline. It’s not as active as this forum, but it’s a good place to become aware of any problems. I remember reading about some early production complaints involving the 9-speed back in 2016, but I’m guessing they’ve probably addressed them by now. There is a towing section.

I have a 2011 Pilot with the old 5-speed @ 190K. I’ll have to replace it eventually, so I will look forward with you to the replies.
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Old 11-25-2020, 08:48 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RLJR View Post
2020 Honda Pilot Elete. I tow mostly in the mountains of WV. In addition to that I have one trip to Savana GA and one to Charleston SC. and one to FL.I tow a Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Excellent vehicle for this. Gas mileage around 16MPG. No tyranny problems so far. I do have a sway and weight distribution. I keep on top of maintenance, oil changes and differential oil changes. that is about it.
Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,
Philip
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Old 11-28-2020, 12:13 PM   #7
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Name: Rick
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg White View Post
Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,
Philip

I have a 2018 Ridgeline RT-L (AWD, 5,000lb tow capacity, 9980 GCWR). I've towed a 17' Casita, Spirit Deluxe up and down the Rockies, Sierra's and the California Coastal Range. In the mountains, I slow way down . . . a combination of my own personal safety parameters, and I hate it when the engine revs really high. I've read posts from more experienced people that modern engines do fine at the higher rpm's, but I dislike the noise, and I'm truly more comfortable towing at the slower speeds - so the net result for me is that the Ridgeline tends to stay under 4,000 rpm's the bulk of the time, but I'm only going in the 40 - 50 mph range. Most people drive faster than I do.

On the flats, I drive in the low to mid-60's max, and I do use cruise, but am quick to disengage the cruise if I get into rolly terrain. I prefer to keep the truck in a rpm range and I let the speed of the truck fluctuate.

I use an anti-sway bar, but no weight distribution. I have not monitored transmission temps, but do watch engine temps (Honda gauge only, no aftermarket gauges). I also am pretty quick to lock out 5th gear in hilly terrain, but the transmission tends to downshift anyway so it really seems that locking out 5th gear is mostly beneficial when going DOWN a mountain where some engine braking is helpful. Going up, the tranny downshifts anyway.

I changed transmission fluid and radiator fluid at 30,000. Honda recommends the tranny fluid then, but not the radiator. With an abundance of caution, I opted to change that as well.

On our trip to California (we live in Kansas) last August, the mpg gauge indicated I got 19 mpg for the entire trip. I suspect it's optimistic to the tune of 10% or so . . . I can't believe it got that, but didn't bother to manually track gas consumption.

We sold our Casita in October after our last trip and are getting a 19 Escape in March of next year. I don't anticipate problems matching it to the Ridgeline, but I might add weight distribution. The Escape will be around 700 lbs heavier than the Casita.
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Old 11-28-2020, 01:51 PM   #8
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Towing with Honda 9 speed

We have towed our 2016 Escape 17B with both a 2017 and currently a 2019 Acura MDX with the Honda 9 speed. We tow mostly using cruise control both on the prairies and in the Canadian Rocky mountains. We tow at 100 to 110 km/hr on prairie highways. We have experienced no problems with the transmission or vehicle.
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Old 11-28-2020, 02:59 PM   #9
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Name: Ralph
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg White View Post
Ralph,
Thanks for your response. I have read a lot of posts on the Pilot and Ridgeline forums. The experiences seem pretty varied.

How does the transmission respond to towing the Casita in the mountains? Does it want to keep the engine turning high rpms (>4000)?

Do you tow in D or S and do you allow it to shift, or do you manually do it with the paddle shifters?

Can you tow with cruise on and, if so, how does it behave?

I’ve read that the 9 speed will not downshift multiple gears at a time like when trying to pass (e.g., 7th to 4th). Instead it only downshifts one gear at time, resulting in a delay in getting to the gear you need. Has that been your experience?

Do you monitor transmission temperatures and, if so, can you share the typical range and max? I’ve seen folks report high temps while towing and had to install a larger trans fluid cooler than the factory installed unit.

Have you performed a transmission fluid change yet? If so, at what mileage and how did it look?

What has been your fuel mileage when towing in the flatlands?

How many miles on your Pilot?

Sorry for the barrage of questions.

Thanks again,


Philip


Almost 16000 mi on the Pilot-I tow mostly at about 63-65 mph-Mileage is about 16 to 17 0n the flats-No temp problems to date-Tranny does shift to maintain a higher RPM in the mountains, Hardly ever see rpms above 4000-Haven't changed the tranny yet, but did change the rear end at 15000 as recommended. easy to do. I use cruse on the flats and in drive-All in all it isn't F-250 diesel, however for our use it does as good as we expected and is pleasant to drive. I recommend it.
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Old 11-30-2020, 10:51 PM   #10
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Everyone,
Thank you for the feedback. Have decided to hold off on the Ridgeline and see how the Tacoma does in the mountains before making the jump to another tow vehicle (I really like the Tacoma).

This will give Honda time to come out with the refreshed Ridgeline and allow more towing data to come in on the 9 speed.

Philip
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Old 05-23-2021, 10:26 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by RLJR View Post
2020 Honda Pilot Elete. I tow mostly in the mountains of WV. In addition to that I have one trip to Savana GA and one to Charleston SC. and one to FL.I tow a Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Excellent vehicle for this. Gas mileage around 16MPG. No tyranny problems so far. I do have a sway and weight distribution. I keep on top of maintenance, oil changes and differential oil changes. that is about it.
Hi. We just got a 21 Elite that we towed our Escape 17B with once so far. It seemed to hesitate/jerk a little while driving anywhere from 35-55. Off and on, very very subtle, but I felt it as a passenger. Do you happen to know what this might be from? Thanks!
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Old 05-23-2021, 10:28 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by Stoonies View Post
We have towed our 2016 Escape 17B with both a 2017 and currently a 2019 Acura MDX with the Honda 9 speed. We tow mostly using cruise control both on the prairies and in the Canadian Rocky mountains. We tow at 100 to 110 km/hr on prairie highways. We have experienced no problems with the transmission or vehicle.
We just got a 21 Elite that we towed our Escape 17B with once so far. It seemed to hesitate/jerk a little while driving anywhere from 35-55. Off and on, very very subtle, but I felt it as a passenger. Do you happen to know what this might be from? Thanks! Our nose was slightly down the time we towed, we are going to flip our ball mount to adjust. We didn't have an anti-sway yet, but we were driving straight/flat, etc.
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Old 07-03-2021, 10:37 AM   #13
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I had considered getting a Ridgeline 2 years ago when I was looking for a new truck to replace our 2004 Dodge Dakota. I only had a 16' Scamp at the time (GVWR 3500 but heaviest weight was 3,000 lbs).
I ended up getting a Ford Ranger mostly due to the towing capacity and the Black Friday discount that saved me over $8,000 compared to the best price on the AWD Ridgeline.

What surprised me about the Ridgeline, and something I hadn't noticed until today, is their top speed recommendation (55 MPH/88 KPH) in their 2021 owners manual when towing a camper. Perhaps just legal wording to avoid potential lawsuits?

I'm glad we ended up buying the Ranger (7,500 lbs towing) since we have upsized to a 19' Escape since then (5,000 GVWR)

Excerpt from page 381 of 2021 Honda Ridgeline manual:
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Old 07-03-2021, 03:28 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Radar1 View Post
..
Excerpt from page 381 of 2021 Honda Ridgeline manual:
Just about every veh manual I have seen has something like that.. and some have different and conflicting restrictions in the very same manual.! Its the lawyers contribution and not the engineers talking and not very meaningful. My Toyota manual says I can tow up to 65 MPH.. but only on flat, straight and dry roads... LMAO.

From the manual:

Toyota recommends that the vehicle-trailer speed limit is 65 mph(104 km/h) on a flat, straight, dry road. Do not exceed this limit, theposted towing speed limit or the speed limit for your trailer as set forth in your trailer owner's manual, whichever is lowest. Instability of the towing vehicle-trailer combination (trailer sway) increases as speed increases. Exceeding speed limits may cause loss of control


How much you wanna bet that at least one lawyer tried to get the limit at 55, or maybe 45... or 35... why not zero.. we know thats safe!
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Old 07-03-2021, 03:40 PM   #15
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I towed my 17B with a 2008 Toyota RAV4 V6 Sport at speeds up to 120 kph ( 75 mph, slowed when I realized I was going that fast ). Manual had this warning.
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