I'm thinking of buying a trailer to put my car on and visit my favorite roads.
The trailer would be used to take the car there - unload/enjoy - put back on to visit more fun roads.
I'm using a Ridgeline with 5000lb capacity to haul with.
Any suggestions would be appreciated ---

 

Based on what you're towing with. Get an open aluminum trailer. The one with the best re-sale value when the time comes to upgrade is the Trailex CT-8045, you won't need this width for the s2k but when you sell it there's many more buyers for this sized trailer. Other options are featherlite and aluma.

Also get a trailer brake controller if you get one with electric brakes.

 

I went to the Barrett Jackson auction this year and saw all manner of trailers. They ranged from lightweight ones without any cover to fully enclosed beasts. A number of them were pretty tight on the wheel covers located about where the doors of the trailered car might be thus ensuring some real gymnastics getting your car on and off the thing. Other trailers operate almost like an elevator lifting the trailered vehicle up and down. The bottom line is how much you want to spend. The Ridgeline should be fine with a lightweight car like the S.

 

i second the aluminum option simply because every trailer i've ever worked on was rusty and in need of repair. also make sure to get quality led lighting and make sure they are SEALED. another thing water destroys quickly.

make sure the trailer is long enough that the car doors clear the trailer wheel arches if they are inboard, plus the extra room for wheels, tires or some random thing you buy along the way is always good.

 

I recall you can rent a UHaul car trailer for about $60/day. Open car trailer is what? $4000-$6000? Plus tax, title, tags and insurance. Plus a place to store it.

New Ridgelines come with the 5000 pound HD Tow package features so that doesn't seem to be a concern but a 2800 pound car on top of a 2000 pound trailer is pushing the 5000 pound max tow capacity pretty close. That 5000 pounds only counts if the truck is empty so there's no real cargo capacity (which includes people) weight available. As a comparison my Ford Expedition can tow 9200 pounds almost twice as much an the little Ridgeline. Trailex 8550EB only weighs 1200 pounds -- but it's $9,000!

Try renting a UHaul for a couple of weekends and see how it tows, loads, etc. with just you in the Ridgeline -- a passenger will overload it.

-- Chuck

 

Factor in tongue weight (10-12% of trailer + car weight to make it tow properly and not induce sway) in your choice. For example, my steel trailer and car totals about 4400-4500 pounds. Our Tacoma can tow 6500 which is fine. However, that tongue weight is 500ish lbs. For your ridgeline, that may be the max tongue weight or close to it. Aluminum is going to be lighter and give you more headroom. Even on the weight, 4500 is less than 5000. But more headroom is always better when towing.

Get electric brakes if you can. Surge brakes suck and you will get tired of them quickly, each time you stop and take off again. Plus, with electric brakes you have the means to adjust the boost and set them up the way you want, plus the even better advantage of being able to manually activate them without activating the truck brakes if the trailer starts swaying on you. Overall just a much better setup and nicer to tow. Tekonsha brake controller works well and if your truck came with a tow package then there is likely already a connector to attach the adaptor to. I am not sure what options come for the Ridgeline, but if you have the round 7 pin connector you most likely have a harness for the brake controller so you dont have to wire it all yourself

Fenders short enough to open the doors around are nice, but that many times means the deck is higher. Mine I can open the doors over but the deck is a tad higher than I like, but it still pulls fine. You can also toss some 2X10 pieces down to make the car sit higher to clear or on most trailers there is a way to pivot or remove the fender too.

After hauling mine to the track a bunch, my favorite tie down method by far is using the factory chassis holes with r-hooks, with straps running to eyes on the sides of the trailer (rear tie point to forward eye, front tie point to the rear eye). Some claim they dont like this because if the suspension bounces, it can loosen the straps. At least with my car which does have stiffer than stock suspension this is never the case. I can ratchet it down tight enough to put slight compression on the suspension and the car does not move up and down at all. Some like doing it through the wheels, and the tie points on the trailer will dictate some of that.

Get straps with locking hooks. Makes hooking it up easier and one more safety on them coming loose somehow. Just the hooks with the spring flap in them so they cant come back off.

Whatever you get, get info on the tires. Even if they look ok, trailer tires get replaced more often than tires on your car. Many recommend 3 years replacement regardless of mileage, with 5 being the absolute max. Get good trailer tires. I have Maxxis ones on mine which are great.

I am not sure your experience with towing, especially something like a car trailer. If none, or little, spend a bit of time reading up on it online. It is not all scary and stuff, but doing it right makes for an uneventful trip. Doing it wrong can be terrifying After you get the trailer and get it set up, do some test tows, getting on the highway and easing up to highway speeds watching the trailer, making sure you dont see it wagging its tail. If you do, adjust the tongue weight (move the car forward if too little) and try again. Then mark where you put the car. I have a sharpie line on mine where I sit a wheel chock to get the car in the right place when I load it. You dont want too much tongue weight either. Best if you can set up a way to actually measure it with the car loaded and tongue at the height you want it. Plenty of stuff online for ways to do this. But a lot dont know anything about this concept and go out and have major issues. Trailer sway is not fun

 

That "little" Ridgeline has a tongue weight rating of 600lbs, same as an Expedition. It's payload capacity isn't far off from your mighty Expedition either, about 100lbs difference.

Payload = tongue weight and people/cargo, so he's fine with 2 people in the Ridgeline easy. The non-HD towing model Expeditons have the same tow ratings as the Ridgeline, FYI.

 

I thought it was 500 pounds, 10% of max towing capacity which was posted at 5000 pounds.

Can you safely use a WDH with the Ridgeline? Unibody (no frame) construction used to prohibit a WDH. Expedition can (and needs one) to increase the "weight distributing" tongue weight to a maximum of 920 pounds. You're correct that the non-Max tow Expeditions have only a "little more" towing capacity (a mere half a ton) than the Ridgeline (6000/600 vs 5000/500). The payloads are also very similar. 5000 pounds is still the limit (maximum towing capacity) and a 2800 pound car on a 2000 pound trailer is still pushing the limit beyond my comfort level with my S2000 on board.

-- Chuck

 

Nope. 600lbs tongue weight limit. Honda says you can use a WD hitch if desired, since most of them have an anti-sway built in it's not a bad idea except you then have to take the weight of the WD hitch into consideration. I'd skip the WD hitch and just get an anti sway bar added to the trailer/hitch, it's what I use since I cannot use a WD hitch with my tow vehicle.

Using a lightweight aluminum trailer with the Ridgeline and towing an S2000 isn't overloading it if done properly.

 

The tongue weight is 10-12% of the weight of the loaded trailer (Trailer weight plus car) not 10% of the max tow capacity. So if pulling a 4000 lb load, then it would be 400-480 pounds of tongue weight. You move the load forward and aft to get it right.

And yep, WDH weigh a lot themselves and add to tongue weight. I have no WDH and no anti sway built in and have no issues with mine. Have pulled it up to 600 miles each way before and pulls great. The fun part is getting the tongue weight right the first time.

The ghetto way is to get stuff that equals the tongue weight you want, and sit it right where the tailgate and bed meet and measure the bumper height from the ground. Then load the car on the trailer and move it to you get that same height. That is pretty ghetto but does better than you may think!

Another way is to set up a scale, a stack of bricks or blocks the right height and a 2x4 as a lever (you can do this to not overload the scale) and move stuff around. The thing about this is, as you move the car forward, the tongue will sit lower when attached to the truck and thus, will cause more tongue weight when actually attached to the truck and it squats.

Probably a better way is to get the truck at normal height, put a scale under it that can handle the load, and cut a board so that it just touches the bottom of the hitch when unloaded and the board on the scale, then pull the car on and adjust.

There are also hitches with a scale built into them for this purpose, although I have one friend who loves his, another that says the reading changes each time and thus does not trust it.

I used the ghetto method above, and then just make slight tweaks to get it right after towing. Do what you think will be accurate and get you to the safe point.