towing with a 2008 Honda Oddessy-1999 casita 16' spirit deluxe ?

[koy]

I have a question about towing with my 2008 honda oddessy ? I just purchase a 1999 Casita 16' SD and I'm not using a Weight Distribution Hitch-because I hear that it might be "too much" pressure and pull for the Casita frame. Do anybody know is this true ? Any advice for a new Casita owner ?Thank-you

[John in Santa Cruz]

What's the tow rating of you Oddysey? Your trailer will probably way 2500-3000 lbs loaded (if you don't pack it full). Your trailer has aax weight of 3500 lbs. 16s tend to be nose light so only about 10% will be on the hitch. How does your Odyssey handle if you put 300-400 lbs in the very back?

[koy]

Originally Posted by john in santa cruz

what's the tow rating of you oddysey? Your trailer will probably way 2500-3000 lbs loaded (if you don't pack it full). Your trailer has aax weight of 3500 lbs. 16s tend to be nose light so only about 10% will be on the hitch. How does your odyssey handle if you put 300-400 lbs in the very back?

thank you-john- my honda oddysey max. Towing is 3500 lb.-so i don't use a weight distribution hitch,because i hear that it can damage the frame of my casita. Is this true ? Any advice would help,thank-you.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I used a WDH with my Tacoma TRD Off Road because with the stock suspension the Casita 16 made my truck rather 'pitchy', it 'dolphined' on bumps. I didn't adjust the WDH for a whole lot of tension, just enough to take the bounce out of the ride.

but then I got airbags and that wasn't a issue anymore, so I stopped using the WDH entirely. with good quality shocks on your Odyssey, I wouldn't worry about the pitchy part.

Does the Odyssey have a class III (2" reciever) hitch? Casita specifies using a class III hitch, and not a class II 1.25" reciever.

you'll also need a 7-blade RV outlet and a trailer brake controller wired up.

above is facts and/or experience.
following is personal opinion....

I prefer towing with a vehicle thats RWD (or 4x4) with rear live axle, and with a real frame, not unibody. Towing puts a lot of strain on your tow vehicles suspension, and the old school live axle / rear wheel drive setup is just way more robust and will take more abuse.

Vehicles like Tacomas, 4Runners. earlier Ford Explorers(but not the new FWD unibody epxlorer), Ford Excursions, Chevy Tahoe & Suburban, any full sized van, and any standard sized pickup truck are built to tow. Most 'crossover' SUV's and such are built on a beefed upo FWD car platform, with unibody, and multilink suspension designed for ride comfort rather than towing.

The Odyssey *is* a fairly sturdy vehicle for its class, and I'm sure many have towed 2500-3000-ish lb trailers successfully with them... I would definitely watch every pound you put on the trailer, don't pack rat it up to your tug's rated tow weight, or you'll regret it.

Short wheelbase off road centric 4x4's with tall tires, on the other hand, tend to have a 'pitchy' ride, this is the problem I had with my Tacoma, but it was curable with some suspension upgrades (I chose airbags, there are alternatives)

[Nancy]

Our Honda is older than yours. Our 13 Scamp is light, only 1600 pounds because we have no water, fridge, or air conditioner. Our tongue weight is around 200 pounds and the rear of the Honda does drop. Does not affect the way the car drives, but our headlights would be high if we drove at night.

Check your owners manual. Find out the weight of the tongue on the trailer. I think you are going to have to help your van. We have weighed our trailer a few times. Locally we used the weigh station at the local dump to weigh the trailer. tongue weight is not as easy to learn.

We now tow with a RAV4 6. Cyl. It does not drop in the rear as much and has a bit more power. However, we did not lack power with the Honda.

Hope Norm and Ginny see your post. They tow with a newer Honda and have a 16 Scamp I think.

BTW, your tow rating may be 3,500. Our Odyssey manual had a section that for every passenger in the car the tow rating went down. Check the tow section in your manual.

I miss towing with the van. Nancy

[John in Santa Cruz]

traioler tongue weight ratings from trailer makers are at best wishful thinking. Weigh YOUR trailer's tongue with your typical load.

find a truck scale thats reasonable., load your van and trailer like you might for a long trip, get axle readings with just the van and then do it again with the van+trailer,

this way you know the actual weight of the vehicle as well as each axle weight, AND you know the combined weight of the vehicle+trailer, and all 3 axle weights.

vF, vB are the vehicle front and back axles without the trailer
tF, tB, tT are the vehicle front and back, and the trailer axle WITH the trailer hitched.

vF+vB == vehicle net weight

tF+tB == vehicle net weight with trailer (should not exceed the GVWR on the vehicle sticker)

if you subtract (tF+t - (vF+f you get the actual tongue weight

tT + tongue weight == trailer net weight (for a Casita, must be max 3500 lbs)

tF+tB+tT == net combined weight. (should not exceed the GCWR given by the manufacturer in its towing guidelines)

[Tom Haberski]

I towed a 16' Casita with a 2000 Toyota Sienna minivan and the WDH was required, due to the front wheel drive nature of the van. Your configuration is about the same as the Toyota. The WDH will not damage either the trailer or the vehicle. I still use a WDH towing with a full size Chevy van as it makes for a safer and smoother ride.

Research this more, but I'm pretty sure a WDH is necessary.

[Tom Haberski]

Towing your 16' with the mini-van requires that you NOT use overdrive on the Honda transmission. That means your engine works harder, has higher engine speed, but saves the transmission.

I found towing with my min-van, and I did tow 3,000+ miles to Florida and back that it was adequate but a bit underpowered. I would not want to tow in the mountains with that configuration.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

traioler tongue weight ratings from trailer makers are at best wishful thinking.

Weight ratings are not wishful thinking. They are given as a dry weight, meaning that as you add options or objects to your trailer the tongue weight will change.
The makers have no way of guessing what you will put in your trailer or where you will place it. They have to start somewhere, which is a basic, empty trailer.
Simple way to get your tongue weight is to weigh the tongue.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Weight ratings are not wishful thinking. They are given as a dry weight, meaning that as you add options or objects to your trailer the tongue weight will change.
The makers have no way of guessing what you will put in your trailer or where you will place it. They have to start somewhere, which is a basic, empty trailer.
Simple way to get your tongue weight is to weigh the tongue.

THAT is what I was trying to say..

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

What's the tow rating of you Oddysey? Your trailer will probably way[weigh] 2500-3000 lbs loaded (if you don't pack it full). Your trailer has aax[axle] weight of 3500 lbs. 16s tend to be nose light so only about 10% will be on the hitch. How does your Odyssey handle if you put 300-400 lbs in the very back?

typo corrections above:

[Wayne Collins]

We had 3 different Odysseys, a 1999, 2002, 2005. all with six cylinder engines
no added trans. coolers. They handled our 2000 Scamp 16 DLX with no problems. You will need a high rise ball mount which should be shortened to keep the hitch ball as close as possible to the rear bumper.

[honda03842]

We've towed a Scamp 16 for four years with our Honda Odyssey, now approaching 90,000 miles. Our Scamp weighs about 2600 pounds plus 210 pounds on the ball. As suggested we push the ball all the way into the receiver and drilled a new hole to keep the ball as close to the rear axle as possible, picking up just a couple of inches but it's in the right direction.

The Odyssey has no trouble towing the Scamp. Mountains are no problem, the Odyssey's V6 has gobs of power. I know the Odyssey manual suggests staying out of Overdrive, but we've never done it. We might if we had a really long pull up a steep mountain pass.

We do have Honda's Transmission Cooler add on. It's substantial in size. We just had our transmission fluid changed and the color still looked good.

Typically our MPG vary between 17 and 21 depending on weather, terrain and traffic. It tends to be better on Interstates which we generally avoid.

The secondary part of the Odyssey we like is that it get's very good driving around mileage. This spring we're going to NL with our son. He has Toyota Tundra and a 23 foot Nash trailer. Once we get to NL I'm sure the Odyssey will be used as the daily driver, it's way more comfortable and will get substantially better mileage.

We keep the Scamp's tires at 50 psi and raise the Odysseys tires to 36 PSI.

We are old and relatively safety conscious. We have pressure sensors on the Scamp's tires, a rear camera in the trailer and use an anti-sway bar (though we have never experienced sway with the Scamp, for us it's cheap insurance).

After four years the Odyssey has been very reliable, not a single problem.

By the way our Scamp is now 27 years old and we love it. Also a Casita 16 was the first fiberglass trailer we ever traveled in, unfortunately it was too short inside so we bought a Scamp 16.

Safe travels

[honda03842]

When we towed the Casita 16 we did not have the Odyssey. We used a 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual transmission, 2004 Honda CRV. I recall the Casita 16 weighed about 2800 lbs with a hitch weight of 250 lbs.

The CRV had about 170 hp and the Odyssey about 270 hp. It was no race car setup however we had no problem towing the Casita 16. The CRV was a marvelous tow car. We used it for 10 years and never had any problems i 250,000 miles. We would have bought another but could not get a manual transmission.

Finally Ginny said we were old enough at 70 for an automatic, hence the Odyssey.

[trainman]

I first had a 2008 Ridgeline and now a 2017 RL, both were AWD and both pulled our trailers without a WDH or Sway Bar with no problems. Our current trailer is a 2018 17' Casita, we don't overload our trailer or RL when pulling, so all works very well for us. Due note the RL is rated a 5000lbs trailer weight and 600lbs. tongue weight. I thought the new AWD Odyssey's with tow package were rated the same as the RL, but not totally sure on that.

trainman

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by trainman

...I thought the new AWD Odyssey's with tow package were rated the same as the RL, but not totally sure on that.

I think you mean AWD Pilots with auxiliary dealer-installed transmission cooler- rated 5000/500#. Note the tongue weight limit is lower than Ridgeline.

Honda doesn't make an AWD Odyssey. The FWD Odyssey is rated 3500/350#, also requiring the add-on transmission cooler.

Our 2WD Pilot has the same 3500/350# rating as the Odyssey. I would be comfortable towing a Scamp or Casita 16' with either, but no larger. A Casita 17 requires a minimum 5000/500# vehicle, and possibly WDH, due to tongue weight.

[trainman]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I think you mean AWD Pilots with auxiliary dealer-installed transmission cooler- rated 5000/500#. Note the tongue weight limit is lower than Ridgeline.

Honda doesn't make an AWD Odyssey. The FWD Odyssey is rated 3500/350#, also requiring the add-on transmission cooler.

Our 2WD Pilot has the same 3500/350# rating as the Odyssey. I would be comfortable towing a Scamp or Casita 16' with either, but no larger. A Casita 17 requires a minimum 5000/500# vehicle, and possibly WDH, due to tongue weight.

That sounds correct for the Pilot, I just thought the Odyssey was avaibile in the AWD which would boost the total trailering specs up to a higher level. I thought the Odyssey offered a Touring Edition that supported AWD, 2" receiver, and 7 pin wiring. Your right, the Odyssey does not have AWD, Just thinking that AWD was avaibile on all top line models, by Honda.

trainman

[Jon in AZ]

Nope. Toyota offers an AWD option on their Sienna minivan, but it actually reduces the tow rating to 1500#. It's the only AWD minivan currently on the market.

I believe there is a Honda-branded 2" receiver made for the Odyssey. I can't recall if the Odyssey is prewired for 7-pin or not; I know the Pilot is and I'd assume the Ridgeline as well.

How are you liking the new Ridgeline compared to the old one, BTW?

EDIT: I have learned that the statement in red is incorrect. AWD Siennas have the same tow ratings as their FWD counterparts: 1500# without the factory tow package, 3500# with the package. My apologies to Toyota fans and thanks to the anonymous forum member who brought the error to my attention.

[redbarron55]

I can't speak about the Odyssey, but the main issue I have with FWD minivans are reduced traction with trailer weight on the ball.
I use a Reese Mini 350 WDH to handle the bobbing and transfer weight to the front wheels.
With 283 hp on tap from the T&C Pentastar V6 wheelspin is a definite possibility, especially uphill on gravel or a wet road.
The air bags will level the van but not transfer any weight.
The T&C with the towing package has self leveling rear shocks and doesn't need the air bags.
I did have them on my VW TDI Sportwagens.
I don't think a WDH will increase the likelihood of cracking the Casita frame, but all of these small trailers with the drop floor have a tendency to crack WDH or not.
Later trailers may have heavier frame tubing and thus be stronger.
The trick is to use a WDH properly sized for your trailer.
WDHs sized for heavier trailers are easy to find. I had a hard time finding my Reese Mini 350 which is perfect for my modified Scamp.

[Steve L.]

I've pulled a 16' Casita SD for about 10 years with a Ford Flex and a WDH. Knock on wood, no Casita frame issues yet. But I have a light duty WDH (Reese 4301) and I don't have it cranked down all that much because I don't need to transfer much off the hitch.