Jayco 19h towed with 2010 Honda Pilot?

prooney · 03-07-2010, 08:48 AM

Hello all,

New to the forum and new to TT. We have tent camped for 20 years and this is our first TT.

We are picking our 19h up this Friday. I am very concerned with towing it with my 2010 4wd Honda Pilot. The two dealers I shopped said no worries. The Pilot is rated to pull 4500lbs. The 19h dry is about 3600 from the specs.

I am debating trading in my new Pilot (which I love) for a new F150 with tow package to pull 7000lbs. Thoughts?

Thanks and I look forward to getting lots of info from this forum as we know nothing about TT.

Peter and Wendy

Come-N-Go · 03-07-2010, 09:32 AM

Welcome to the forums. Your pilot wil probably handle it with a good weight distributing hitch, no doubt the F150 would do much better....Check tweetys.com for a good deal on those hitches and accessories. You may want to weight the trailer when you get it, they sometimes weigh more than they say, and the stuff you put into it really adds up faster then you think. I have over 2300 pounds worth of stuff in my fifth wheel.

Denise · 03-07-2010, 09:57 AM

Hi Prooney and welcome to the Jayco Owners Forum! Sounds like you already have a new "truck" with the 2010 Pilot. What is the max storage weight for the 19'? I'm guessing not a lot so maybe you would be under the maxed out at the 900# difference. We previously owned a Casita pulled with a Honda Odyssey. Loaded up we were about 450# under the max for our car's towing limits. Pulled fine, but we really slowed down on those grades!

prooney · 03-07-2010, 10:13 AM

Thanks to both of you. Looking forward to picking it up on Friday.

The max on the 19h is 4900lbs, which is obviously over my limit. Again, the dry weight is 3600lbs, so will i really load up over 900lbs in the trailer? Usually it is just my wife and I camping so I dont see how I can put 900lbs in there.

As someone new to this, I am nervous about killing my new Pilot from towing something so close to the limit. I put over 40k a year on my cars as I live in Upstate Ny and work in the city.

I appreciate all feedback and thanks again.

Peter

OurJayco · 03-07-2010, 01:45 PM

I would be a concerned with the Pilot towing on hills and overheating.
Does your Piolt have a tranny cooler? If not, I would either install one or get the F-150 and not worry.
As for the weight of 900 pounds, consider what you will be adding in the trailer. Chairs, blocks, bedding, food, etc... plus if you do any boondocking / dry camping and you need to fill the water tank, that is also more weight.
I really think you would be MUCH happier with a F-150. I am not saying that because I have a F-150, but you will be happy with the pulling, stoping and all around towing experience you will have with a F-150.
Climbing hills, stoping at a moments notice if needed and handling during highway speeds.

Again I have nothing against your Pilot, but I really believe you would be happier with a bigger truck.

prooney · 03-07-2010, 02:07 PM

Yeah, I think I agree. Love the Pilot as I am a huge Honda fan, but think I will have to get something different.

My wife is due for a new vehicle so maybe I will pick up an F150 for her down the road here shortly.

For now I will tow with the Pilot and see how it goes.

Thanks........

vesteroid · 03-15-2010, 09:04 PM

I see so many post about tow vehicles all over the TT forums I surf. Everyone seems to have an opinion. I recently purchased a new 29bds that is max rated at 7500 lbs ( I think the dry weight is around 5700 or so). My F150 is rated at 8900 lbs. I have now towed the camper over the sierras twice and about 600 miles in one trip.

I did buy a weight distributing hitch.

I would rate my combination as OK. On level roads I can go 70 although it feels like its straining to do so on a regular basis. I spent most of this trip in CA so the max speed limit is 55. It ran at 60 very well. i had little issues at that speed. As far as pulling the passes of 80 going over the sierras between sacremento and reno, it was rather slow. I often dropped to 40.

so all in all for me I am fine with my 150 and this weight combo. I dont use the trailer all day ever day so going the speed limit on any road and never slowing down on hills is not a requirement for me. I can say if I traveled more I would consider switching to a diesel.

As far as weight, you say you wont fill up your trailer. I have no idea what size water tanks your unit has, but I believe water weighs in around 7.5 lbs a gallon. It doesnt take much in the fresh and grey / black to add up, before you even put a single item in the TT.

I think if your TT max weight is over your tow vehicle you are asking for issues. Now does this mean it will blow up, heck I dont have a crystal ball, but mine is 1400 lbs below my tow rating and I would not classify my tow as good, just OK.

your mileage may vary

glazier · 03-17-2010, 08:32 PM

That trailer will work your Pilot. Its not just the weight your pulling, its the big box your pulling in the wind. Handling may be another issue with the short wheel base on the Honda, tail wagging the dog. In the end you must decide what your comfort level is in towing. Try it then you will know if its a keeper, or if it is time to kick some tires for a new tow vehicle.

Denise · 03-18-2010, 09:42 AM

Here's another thought Prooney.... You have a fairly small tt. How long do you plan to use it? Perhaps after as little as a year your situation may change and you may decide to upgrade to something more roomy, has more storage, etc. If that could happen, you may want to get that F-150 for your wife afterall

If you buy the F-150 new and can afford it, the Platinum is sweet. No matter, get the heavy duty tow package and larger engine (can tow over 10,000lbs although you would be better to still stay under 7500lbs because the truck still has to work on grades). Pick one that has extending mirrors. If it has P rated tires larger than 18", make changing the wheels/tires to 18" LT rated tires a part of the deal. After camping a few times, you might envision yourself in a really big trailer of which it would be to your benefit to just go for a 3/4 ton. Safety is obviously important, but if you can see yourself down the road in two or more years, it may help you decide which truck to spring for now.

Good luck and happy shopping!

prooney · 03-22-2010, 08:20 PM

Thanks again to all of you. We picked up our TT two weeks ago and towed it home with the Pilot about 80 miles. It did pretty good for the most part.

We too it for a test run this past weekend to a nearby spot and it was ok. I didnt really try and push past 60 mph, and it seemed to handle ok.

I went tonight and looked at the F150 and if I can unload my 2010 Pilot without taking a beating, I am going to get the F150 Supercrew with the bigger V8 and tow package. I will feel much more comfortable towing with the F150.

Thanks again.......

prooney · 04-06-2010, 05:51 PM

Ok, traded in the 2010 Pilot and picked up a new 2010 F150 with max tow package, can pull 11,300lbs.

Took it for a 3 hours trip this past weekend to Cabelas in PA and it was like nothing was attached to the truck. Gas mileage was a little rough, but with it being brand new and not really broke in, I figured as much. I got about 10 mpg.

Thanks again to all for your thoughts and advice.

Happing Camping............

rvrev2 · 04-06-2010, 09:23 PM

Yeah, gas mileage is one of the few bummers of RVing (and I don't really know of any others). However, I believe it is worth it.

Denise · 04-10-2010, 12:01 PM

Hi Prooney, Sounds like the one we have as for engine size and towing capacity.... did you go for the Platinum? And yup, mileage sucks. OUrs averages 9-10 when towing *pout*

prooney · 04-10-2010, 02:53 PM

Hi Healthi........

No Platinum was a little more than my wallet wanted to take. Took a decent hit on Pilot because it was so new.

I got the XLT with the same engine specs as yours with the 3.73 slip.

Going on our 3rd trip of the season next weekend.

Happing camping everyone......

Peter

Texas Sam · 04-10-2010, 04:02 PM

Healthi and Peter,

I would love to get 9-10 mpg with my tow vehicle. I get about 6 miles per gallon towing a 2010 G2 RLS with a 2007 Chevy sporting a 6 liter Duramax gasoline engine. Another one of those coulda, shoulda, woulda situations--a diesel would have been a far better choice but at the time there were not a lot of gas stations selling low sulfur diesel as it was just being phased in. Even so, it is painful to spend so much on gasoline when traveling from the hot Central Texas area in the summers to the mountains of New Mexico, Colorado and states north and west.

pnj442 · 04-11-2010, 10:27 AM

You can NEVER have too much truck.

Denise · 04-13-2010, 09:40 PM

Yup, we had a diesel F250 back in the day when we towed a 5ver back when diesel was cheaper than gas. Although the ride was rough, we really liked that truck! But with our current needs we opted to go with the F150 although are now finding that diesel is running about what gas does. It would be nice to have more truck.... Oh well. We still love our Platinum.

Gigler · 04-29-2010, 07:28 AM

We picked up our JayFeather Sport last week from Middlebury Indiana with my Toyota FJ Cruiser. My FJ is rated to tow 5000 lbs and the Sport is approx 3900 lbs dry. I outfitted my FJ with a weight distributing hitch and a brake controller. I yanked my trailer all through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky. My vehicle performed fabulously. It has been my experience that the ratings of tow vehicles are rated conservatively and they can usually tow a few thousand pounds more then rated. The honda Pilot will be just fine.

Gigler · 05-04-2010, 06:52 AM

Does anyone know where I can purchase additional RJ5 connectors for my JayFeather like the ones used by Jayco? So far its been really difficult for my dealer to get the parts from Jayco.

Denise · 05-04-2010, 09:45 PM

Welcome to the Jayco Owners Forum Gigler! Your set-up sounds like what we had with the Honda Odyssey and 17' 2500lb Casita not long ago. Hope you continue to enjoy the tt/vehicle combo you have. Oh, we also picked up our Jayco from Middlebury!

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