Towing Micro Minnie 2100BH with a Pilot

[LucM]

Good day,

I have a Pilot 2017. I think to buy a Micro Minnie 2100BH. Do you have any difficulty to tow with Pilot? Have you been in big hill?

Thanks

[Filshere]

Hi there,
Interesting that your looking at the same set up as me, even the same floor plan. Well, I'm on my second trip with my 2100BH being pulled by my 16 Pilot EX AWD and I'ts going pretty well. I've towed about 1,200 miles with this setup using an Anderson WDH. So far no real surprises. I haven't weighed my rig or weighed my tongue weight so I am making a few assumptions here. I will be weighing my rig in a couple days so i can update you with some weight numbers after that. I travel with my wife and 7 month old baby in the second row of the Pilot with almost no cargo in the Pilot because the exrea weight in the pilot reduces tongue and two capacity substantially. I travel with dry tanks because we are not dry camping, basically full hookup rv parks. I'm only really concerned about the tongue weight due to the 2100BH being so high, then I added a battery and filled my propane tanks so I know that puts my tongue over 500 lbs. The way I'm trying to get around that is by putting a lot of weight in the rear storage, generator and tools. Not sure how experienced you are with towing but know that this can be risky, to much weight in the rear of the TT is bad news and can induce trailer sway. All I'm trying to do is offset some of the tongue weight to keep me within 10-15% of the trailer weight on the tongue. The other thing I'm doing is using a WDH to offset some of that weight, though im trying to fully understand that piece too as this can be a little tricky. The Pilot seems to do a decent job pulling concidrring I'm pulling somewhere between 80-85% of its tow capacity. Pulling on flat roads is no problem, going up hills is slow but it's all in how hard I choose to push the Pilot, can the Pilot go 60 mph up a hill, yes but I don't push it that hard. Going down hill is no issue because I down shift and I also have a Tenkonsh P3 brake controller that makes stopping no issue. It does take longer to stop when towing but that is a given. The heavy tongue does cause the back end to squat a lot which causes my headlights to point up, one guy did flash his brights thinking I had my brights on. The ride is just fine when towing, just slower in all ways. I did have the ATF cooler, hitch and wire harness installed by the dealer. The Pilot has shown no signs of getting the engine coolant too hot, even towing up hills in 95 deg. weather. Though I did get a high transmission fluid temp warning when backing the TT into my driveway on a warm day. I had just drove home from the dealer to have the hot water heater fixed, that's another story. I live in the mountains so it was a decent climb to my house. My house is on a hill, I was backing up up hill slowly and got the high temp warning, I backed up a couple more feet into my driveway and put it in park, let the Pilot idle and cool down until the warning went away. I called the dealer to see if I cooked the tranny fluid and they said I did not, only that I was pushing the Pilot too hard. Next time I'll back up down hill. One thing to be aware of is the transmission temp, this will probably be the first thing to over te.p in the pilot. I'm considering installing a guage that tells me the temp because the Pilot does not, it only tells me if it's too hot. Sorry for the long response but I want to be helpful as I'm pretty new at towing and have had to do ton of research to get to where I am today and I know how hard it is to get specific tow information for the Pilot, specifically real life experience with it. Let me know if you have any questions and good luck on your adventure. Wife and I love the 2100BH, it's small for the 3 of us but we make it work and did not want to trade in our Pilot for a bigger tow vehicle.
Phillip

[LucM]

Originally Posted by Filshere

Hi there,
Interesting that your looking at the same set up as me, even the same floor plan. Well, I'm on my second trip with my 2100BH being pulled by my 16 Pilot EX AWD and I'ts going pretty well. I've towed about 1,200 miles with this setup using an Anderson WDH. So far no real surprises. I haven't weighed my rig or weighed my tongue weight so I am making a few assumptions here. I will be weighing my rig in a couple days so i can update you with some weight numbers after that. I travel with my wife and 7 month old baby in the second row of the Pilot with almost no cargo in the Pilot because the exrea weight in the pilot reduces tongue and two capacity substantially. I travel with dry tanks because we are not dry camping, basically full hookup rv parks. I'm only really concerned about the tongue weight due to the 2100BH being so high, then I added a battery and filled my propane tanks so I know that puts my tongue over 500 lbs. The way I'm trying to get around that is by putting a lot of weight in the rear storage, generator and tools. Not sure how experienced you are with towing but know that this can be risky, to much weight in the rear of the TT is bad news and can induce trailer sway. All I'm trying to do is offset some of the tongue weight to keep me within 10-15% of the trailer weight on the tongue. The other thing I'm doing is using a WDH to offset some of that weight, though im trying to fully understand that piece too as this can be a little tricky. The Pilot seems to do a decent job pulling concidrring I'm pulling somewhere between 80-85% of its tow capacity. Pulling on flat roads is no problem, going up hills is slow but it's all in how hard I choose to push the Pilot, can the Pilot go 60 mph up a hill, yes but I don't push it that hard. Going down hill is no issue because I down shift and I also have a Tenkonsh P3 brake controller that makes stopping no issue. It does take longer to stop when towing but that is a given. The heavy tongue does cause the back end to squat a lot which causes my headlights to point up, one guy did flash his brights thinking I had my brights on. The ride is just fine when towing, just slower in all ways. I did have the ATF cooler, hitch and wire harness installed by the dealer. The Pilot has shown no signs of getting the engine coolant too hot, even towing up hills in 95 deg. weather. Though I did get a high transmission fluid temp warning when backing the TT into my driveway on a warm day. I had just drove home from the dealer to have the hot water heater fixed, that's another story. I live in the mountains so it was a decent climb to my house. My house is on a hill, I was backing up up hill slowly and got the high temp warning, I backed up a couple more feet into my driveway and put it in park, let the Pilot idle and cool down until the warning went away. I called the dealer to see if I cooked the tranny fluid and they said I did not, only that I was pushing the Pilot too hard. Next time I'll back up down hill. One thing to be aware of is the transmission temp, this will probably be the first thing to over te.p in the pilot. I'm considering installing a guage that tells me the temp because the Pilot does not, it only tells me if it's too hot. Sorry for the long response but I want to be helpful as I'm pretty new at towing and have had to do ton of research to get to where I am today and I know how hard it is to get specific tow information for the Pilot, specifically real life experience with it. Let me know if you have any questions and good luck on your adventure. Wife and I love the 2100BH, it's small for the 3 of us but we make it work and did not want to trade in our Pilot for a bigger tow vehicle.
Phillip

Thanks a lot for the detail respond. Unfortunately, I have the feelings the 2100BH is too heavy for me. I have 2 kids, wife and dog add more weight in the Pilot. Also, I live inColorado Springs with a lot of hill and over 6000 feet of altitude. I will return in Canada in 2 year and will a trip of 1500 miles and more in few day,

I look also for the 1700BH, but the dinning area is really small and the fridge is the size of beer fridge. I saw couple of foot plan with 1 axle but with a bigger fridge and slide out. A lot of discussion in the near future with my wife.

Luc

[old_engineer]

Originally Posted by LucM

Good day,

I have a Pilot 2017. I think to buy a Micro Minnie 2100BH. Do you have any difficulty to tow with Pilot? Have you been in big hill?

Thanks

Assuming you have the AWD version with a max tongue weight of 500 lbs you will be over on by the time you add LP and battery. It will only go higher as you load in all of the other stuff you put in the trailer. Based on what I've seen the listed dry weight will be lighter than a typically equipped trailer as delivered to the dealer. My guess is the trailer will be closer to 4K lbs dry add in the typical 1K lbs and you are right at or above your towing weight limit. Another limiting factor will be the maximum trailer frontal area allowed by Honda for your vehicle. This is usually in your owners manual.



I suspect thought that your actual towing capacity is well below the published 500/5K lbs. What comes into play is your max payload capacity. This is on a sticker on the drivers side door pillar. It will say something to the effect, "The weight of all occupants and cargo cannot exceed some weight". Taking this number and subtracting the weight of all passengers, their personal items/luggage, cargo and anything else in the Pilot leaves you with what is available to carry the trailer tongue and hitch weight.


The main thing to keep in mind about SUV towing is they are not designed to handle more than a boat which has very little tongue weight, popups or tear drop trailers. We successfully towed a small TT with a 2001 Ford Explorer. The loaded weight was about 3100 lbs with a tongue weight of 420 lbs. We required a weight distributing hitch (WDH) even though we were under the hitch receiver rating calling for one. This was because the tongue weight lifted the front end enough to potentially cause poor steering and stability. Our Explorer was a body on frame so this is pretty straight forward. The Pilot however is a unibody and from what I've read does not support WDH hitches. Unibodies don't shift weight naturally and airbags don't shift weight even though they can level the vehicle. Unibodies can be modified to be able to shift weight but the folks that do it are specialists and aren't cheap. It also voids any manufacturer warranty. So steering issues are potentially a problem that you can't correct for even on a lighter trailer.



To sum up I feel the 2100BH and even the 1700BH will be too heavy for your vehicle as both will have tongue weights at or over 500 lbs. The Pilot is also pretty short for a 22 foot trailer. It is likely under windy conditions that the tail will wag the dog so to speak. If you wish to stay with an SUV you should consider a full size such as a Tahoe or Expedition. A properly equipped 1/2 ton pickup would work as well for the Micro Minnie's. If you want to stay with the Pilot when a popup or some of the lighter Minnie Drops might fit the bill. Maybe the Micro Minnie 1706FB. For a non-Winnebago the T@B or similar.

[LucM]

Thanks for your details respond. The maximum weight for the pilot is 1340 Lbs. I have rent a R-Pod for next week and will see the feeling. I think if I buy a trailer and stay under 4000 Lbs loaded, I will be good. I will buy a WHD.

[old_engineer]

Keep in mind that a 4K lb loaded trailer will have a tongue weight of 520 lbs exceeding your hitch ratings. Tongue weight recommendations are between 10% - 15% of total trailer weight. Real life they tend to run around 12% - 13% even if the dry weights come in at 10%. This is due to most storage area configurations being in front of the axles . Most people use 13% as the rule of thumb to size a trailer. I also like to figure at 15% for worst case then comparing which would take a 4K trailer tongue weight to 600 lbs.



Another thing is in regards to payload. If you go with a WDH it will use up about 100 lbs of your available payload. Also their function is to move weight back to the from axle. While this will lift he back end some it is normal to still have sag in the rear. Also don't move more weight to the front than what it has without the trailer. It is better to still have the front a bit high than a bit low due to axle weight ratings.

[bricrum]

I pull a 2019 2100BH with a 2016 Dodge Durango V6 with the towing package and it works well. I have towed in hot weather and up mountain passes. The towing capacity for my vehicle is 6,200 but towing capacity is only one of the considerations you need to keep in mind when towing.

You also need to consider max tongue weight and max GVWR which is the combined weight of the tow vehicle (fully loaded with fuel, dogs, people etc) and the weight of the fully loaded trailer.

In my case, fully loaded my 2100BH is about 4,200lbs (with empty tanks) and my car weighs in around 6,100lbs with fuel, people, dogs, cargo. If you add that up my GVWR is 10,300lbs and the max allowable for my tow vehicle is 11,200lbs.

Given all of this I am much closer to my max GVWR (about 900lbs under) than I am my max towing capacity (about 1900lbs under).

Also, I highly recommend you do not tow a load that is very close to your max as your towing experience will not be good and you will be taxing your two vehicle very hard.

Just some things I have learned so far with my camper - hope this helps!

[DGundy]

Originally Posted by LucM

Good day,

I have a Pilot 2017. I think to buy a Micro Minnie 2100BH. Do you have any difficulty to tow with Pilot? Have you been in big hill?

Thanks

Check out this towing guide from Motorhome Magazine: Downloadable Dinghy Guides | MotorHome Magazine

[jlb27537]

We have 2 vehicles. A '17 Pilot and a Ram 3500 DRW Cummins. The Pilot is a CAR, NOT A TOW VEHICLE. The Ram, is a tow vehicle.

Remember that a gas engine, non turbo, looses 3.5% of it's torque for each 1000' above sea level. Monarch Pass is 11,300'. You do the math.

Want to tow something, buy a tow vehicle, not a car that is a great socker mom ride.

Just a old guy that has been doing this for over 50 years.......

[COSCamper]

I'll second the last post.. between altitude and passes, no way I'd tow a 2100 with a Pilot.

I'm actually in CO Springs as well, and looking at that model. I have a Tahoe with ~8200 towing capacity and I'm still strongly wanting to upgrade to an f150 ecoboost, partially for larger wheelbase, but also for the turbo and increased tow capacity. Any trip you take west, you basically start with a ~3000 climb up, which can be pretty challenging on transmission/vehicle.

In addition to altitude and passes, consider the crazy winds we tend to get out here, you don't want to be laying in the median of i70 with all those blown over semi trailers.

[Tgbyrne716]

Originally Posted by Filshere

Hi there,
Interesting that your looking at the same set up as me, even the same floor plan. Well, I'm on my second trip with my 2100BH being pulled by my 16 Pilot EX AWD and I'ts going pretty well. I've towed about 1,200 miles with this setup using an Anderson WDH. So far no real surprises. I haven't weighed my rig or weighed my tongue weight so I am ..... and did not want to trade

I’m towing the same trailer with 2017 Ridgeline and am using OBD2 dongle and OBD Fusion app to get the transmission temp. So far just an hour of towing with fully winterized trailer - some tanks were full and plenty in storage area and no problems.

[thebigrooste]

I realize this is an old thread but I just purchased a 2020 Micro Minnie 2100BH in early June. I've been towing it with a 2017 Honda Pilot 9-speed Touring edition with an EQ hitch and sway control. The Pilot is equipped with the ATF
cooler and towing package. Had it out on 4 trips so far and have had zero issues towing it. We load about 900 lbs of gear including batteries and propane. I rarely go above 60 mph but the trailer tows great. Have towed it in 30 mph winds and over mountain passes with no issues. Zero sway when big rigs pass by. Plenty of power. Zero issues so far, piece of cake.