resmas
Alaska
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Joined: 05/05/2008
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Just curious how many passengers you are carrying in your minivan while towing? Have you ever weighed your fully loaded van + camper to see what the weights are?
I have a friend who is bound and determined to pull something with her 08 Odyssey, and I'm curious what all your experiences are. I am thinking she would be best off with a small pop-up.
My concern lies in the fact that her minivan will be fully loaded with 8 passengers + gear which according to the Honda manual leaves her with 150lbs of towing capacity.
The terrain we will be towing on is all hills, steep grades, mountain passes, twisty/turny road clinging to the side of a mountain. No flat areas, no 4-lane interstate. Vehicle control is a major issue, as is transmission and braking power.
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yorkgm
York Beach, Maine
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Joined: 03/26/2007
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I was towing with a '04'Toyota Sienna. I would put 5 people and tow a jayco 1207. I think fully loaded the camper is just under 3k pounds. It did have a bit of a problem going up steep hills, but other than that it did well.
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maybz
ontario
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Joined: 06/28/2009
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I pull my 03 10 foot flagstaff with a 03 dodge caravan short wheelbase. The trailer is 1480LBS dry, so with gear loaded I would say it would be close to 1800LBS. There is four of us in the van of aprox. weight of 600lbs plus usually 200LBS of gear in the van. I installed an auxillary tranny cooler which i would definately advise. I have no problems pulling that weight as long as you use your senses while driving. I give myself extra room for breaking and slow down earlier. If needed on steep grades I drop the tranny into third so i am not shifting. I have a friend who has an 04 honda van and he pulls two atv's and trailer about 2300 lbs and doesn't have much problem but complains about the fuel consumption. Although I do think that with that many people and cargo in your honda you would be pushing or beyond your limits.
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cochalet
Colorado
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Joined: 09/09/2004
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I have six people in my 04 Toyota Sienna (granted, usually 4 of them are very little) and tow the littlest Jayco popup - the 806 - with no problems. One of the reasons I bought the little one was precisely because I would have no worries about taking it anywhere even with a packed minivan.
K.T.
2005 Bigfoot Class C
2008 Jayco Tent Trailer
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aeohio
New Mexico
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Joined: 09/20/2007
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Can they tow a small pup with a mini van yes, even with people in the van. We have a Toyota Sienna with the tow package and had no issues with 5 of us in the van and towing a 2000lb pup, no water in tank. Granted I put air bags on the rear shocks of the van and 3 of the passengers were under 3 but the dog weighed 100lbs. Towed it from Ohio to South Dakota and back no issues. Towed it from New Mexico to Ohio no issues, had 4 kids plus 100lb dog on this trip. I would think that it could be done but do not plan on breaking any speed records if in hills or mts and would use low gear. If you are really worried about vehicle control then you could look into wd/anti sway hitch system but not sure if that will work on a minivan. I would also suggest getting electric brakes on the pup and break controler on the van. Will help with breaking. If you are still concerned then take a second vehicle and put supplies and people in that vehicle. I think you will be fine but will not go very fast up the hills.
2010 Passport UL 290BH
2006 Ford Expedition Limited
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Guest
USA
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Joined: 08/02/2004
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03 Honda Odyssey and Fleetwood Sun Valley pup (12 foot box, no slide or trunk).
Van now has 137,000 miles on it with no towing related powertrain problems. (I say towing related because it HAS had the typical Odyssey recalls on timing belt tensioner, transmission and repeated EGR valve gunking common to ALL Odysseys, towing or not).
I weighed last year on our longest and heaviest trip ever. We are a family of 5 (though one is a baby, she still probably results in more weight added than the 8 year old: car seat, stroller, back carrier...). Our GCVW per a CAT scale was 7,800# vs the GCVWR of 8,265#. We were pretty much maxxed out on front axle weight (35# under GAWR), but had a couple hundred left on the rear axle, thanks to our weight distributing hitch (Reese 350mini). Trailer officially weighs 2,000# dry, and weighs an actual 2,700# loaded per the CAT scale.
BUT, I should note that we travel without water, have no AC unit on the pup, have just one G29 battery and one LP tank, bring no firewood and generally pack fairly light.
If they are going to do this, the most camper they could get with any hope of staying within van axle ratings is a Coleman Sun Valley or Jayco 1207. If they want to jam 8 people in the camper, the Coleman has the edge with TWO king beds able to sleep three each in reasonable comfort (Jayco has king/queen). #s 7 and 8 can sleep on the couch and dinette respectively. Or push some big kids out into a pup tent - they'll likely love it. The nice thing about these trailers is they have a ton of space available inside for stowing all your gear, reducing what needs to go in the van.
Even still, they will need an ATF cooler, should consider swapping ATF to Mobil 1 full synthetic (now meets Honda ATF Z1 spec), will need wdh, SHOULD get sway control and MUST wire an electric brake controller. The Odyssey will NOT be able to stop a rig like this on a downward hill without trailer brakes any more than an F150 could stop a 7,000# TT without trailer brakes. (It was barely able to handle my old 1,700# 8 footer without brakes.) Even on a DIY basis, all the tow equipment will cost $1,000. Probably $2,200 if professionally installed.
Our rig has been to Glacier NP and the Smokies and lots a ground in between. We never lacked for power, but be sure to use premium gas when towing, per the Honda owners manual (READ that, btw).
* This post was
edited 10/08/09 07:56am by Guest *
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red31
Bryan
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Thanks Guest for sharing. It important folks go to the scales and follow the recommendation in their owner's manual (wdh, brakes, ratings, etc).
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Caddywhompus
Southeast WI
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Minivans are a lot more capable than most give them credit for. I myself pull right at the 3500 rating (sometimes over) with a family of 4 and a large dog in our van. This is absolutely a non-issue for our Ford Freestar, and towing couldn't be more comfortable. In fact, this past weekend we moved into a new house and our van earned it's keep by making several trips loaded to the ceiling with boxes and at the same time towing a 6x12 enclosed utility trailer loaded with even more. Modern vans are just a LOT more capable than they used to be.
That said, Honda vans aren't the best choice for towing. They are decent, don't get me wrong, but Honda has some real odd towing theories. For example, they REQUIRE a Weight Distributing hitch to tow anything with more than 200 pounds of tongue weight with the minivan, yet discourage it on the Pilot and Ridgeline (shared platforms). My main gripes with the Honda van as a tow vehicle is it's rather low payload capacity and inability to select and hold 4th gear (1:1 Drive) in the transmission. If your friend is planning on loading 8 passengers in the van, he/she may be at maximum payload (depending on how much people weigh) before even hitching up a trailer. And while I don't put a lot of stock in tow ratings (especially as they pertain to minivans), I would not advocate exceeding GVWR or GAWRs which is exactly what will happen if you use up all your payload on people, then hitch up a camper.
'04 Ford Freestar (Primary tow vehicle)
'05 Subaru Forester (Backup tow vehicle)
'65 Bethany popup (best popups ever made!)
Looking for a tow vehicle
Minivan towing
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vladio
lancaster
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Joined: 05/25/2009
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I pull a large Viking P'up with a Chrysler Town and Country and it's heavy when loaded. I have three boys with bikes plus mine and my wifes, a pack n play and stroller for the baby, all our stuff... The van has the 3.3L and not the 3.8L motor but does have the towing package with a enormous trans cooler. I think the motor is rated at 200hp and it pulls the Pa mountains like a champ. I'm quite impressed how it pulls. I get 17mpg fully loaded too. I know that mini vans use a car-type trans and have been worried about problems but haven't had any yet. I got to give it to Chrysler for making a great van. I'm not a "dodge" person and prefer Gm or Toy but we really liked the T & C. The inside of the P'up is stuffed, the cargo area in the van is the same plus all of us. I drive gently though and keep it around 65 with plenty of room between me and what's in front.
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AZJIM1
Phoenix, AZ
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Joined: 02/29/2004
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7000 plus miles towing our 1999 Coleman Westlake with our 2006 Honda Odyssey including a 2000 plus mile trip to Sequoia/Yosemite and a 3300 mile trip to Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore.
Our trips are usually one of two configurations; Either the two kids and I OR the whole family - Me, DW, DS, DD both dogs and sometimes even the pet bird.
1999 Coleman Westlake that replaced STOLEN!!! 1987 Coleman Sequoia
2006 Honda Odyssey
Me, Wife, Daughter, Son
A Pack (Two) of Australian Shepherds
MY CAMPSITE, PLACES WE HAVE SEEN, CAMPER & MOD PICS HERE
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