Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim Gass
But the Honda manual is interesting.. It does not recommend using a WDH as one could affect control... Of course if it is maladjusted control could be lost. That could be an issue for any tow vehicle.
Is Honda just writing CYA language? Or is there something unique about unibody construction?
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With older vehicles (cars and trucks) they had a solid frame with a body that sat on it, hence the term body off restoration. Cars switched to the unibody design first but most SUV and trucks kept the body on frame construction for strength. A lot of the old SUV's used many of the same parts as their truck counterparts for cost savings. My Titan and my wife's Armada were 90% identical.
You need the solid frame to apply torque at the back end to drive the front end back down with a WD hitch. Think of it like a teeter toter with the rear axle as the pivot point. With the unibody design you don't get the same application of the torque from the WD hitch like the solid frame.
Many smaller SUV's are not based on a truck frame that just have a SUV body on them like a lot of larger SUV's. To get good gas mileage and improved ride quality they use the unibody design. It's not an adjustment of the hitch issue causing safety but trying to apply a type of tool to something that doesn't respond to the physics the same.
We just bought a newer Nissan Pathfinder and it states that it can tow 6000lbs. We don't use it for towing since I have a F250 but I started researching all the same. Come to find out that Nissan (and Toyota) sidestep the topic of using a WD hitch in their smaller SUV. Buried in the paperwork it says they aren't recommended but they say you can tow 6000lbs.
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