Anyone towing there Boat with Tandem Axle trailer and gross weight around 4500 lbs with either of the subject vehicles ?

Looking at the Dakota or Ridgeline to tow my 21 CC to and from the Marina a very short distance from my house with occassional towing down the east coast of Florida. I was told that the Honda Ridgeline has a conservative tow capacity of 5000 lbs. Dakota has a 7k tow rating. Just curious if any THT member tows with either truck ?
Thanks,
Joe

jbg108

Both trucks will tow it fine. I'm bias towards the Ridgeline because I'm a Honda Dealer but I do have first hand experience with them as well. Honda was very conservative with their ratings and the Ridgeline will tow 5000 pounds without any problem whatsoever. I've spent time with the lead engineer for the Ridgeline project and watched footage of it doing things far beyond what it's rated for.

Bottom line is both will tow the boat so buy which ever one suites your needs best.

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sailcrazy

Although I rarely tow with my truck, I can tell you my 2002 Dakota has been a really great vehicle. I am just about to hit 150,000 miles on my 2002 Dakota QC Sport 3.9 V6 Auto. I have had ZERO mechanical failures and hardly any problems to speak of at all. At 100,00 I replaced the brake rotors. At 120,000 my A/C started blowing warm and was told by Tires Plus that I needed a new unit. Took it to a friend who replaced the seals on the compressor and good as new (80 bucks). At 130,000 I replaced the headliner and threw in a new TPS cause it was very cheap and easy and I heard it was good for the truck. The truck looks great, drives excellent, is very well put together, and is also very spacious and comfortable. Im sure your looking new but I will tell you that the 2004 Dakotas were about as bullet proof as trucks get. You could find a 2004 QC 4X4 (if needed) 4.7 V8 with low miles for next to nothing in this market. Good luck in your search.

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2003 266 Sailfish
Twin Yam F115's

JoeCantFish

I have an 07 Ridgeline and it tows our rig just fine. Its a 21ft Sea Fox DC and wet I figure is around 3900-4100 lbs--Dual axle trailer with surge brakes. The AWD/4WD whatever system is awesome. The ramps here at Mayport can get very very thick with sand so its imperative to have an AWD/4WD to get out. I love it--Just put in 'D' and putt on out without any drama what-so-ever.

The only vices I have about the truck when towing...Not enough power to drag race an F350 from a light...Mirrors aren't wide enough to see around the boat...Stupid back up sensor goes ape sh!t when I'm hitched to the trailer (my laziness for not shuttin it off)....and the high RPM while towing. The Honda manual states to NOT disengage the overdrive while towing, so the tranny shifts a bit more while towing. Oh and gas mileage goes to crap while hauling a 2 ton boat (around 6mpg). The ride to the ramp has a couple of bridges to traverse and so I get the see the transmission work its butt off. If its pretty flat out, the tranny will shift into 5th and stay, but at the slightest hint of an incline, down a gear it goes. Its not uncommon to see 3500-400rpm for an extended period while towing.

Other than that, I love my RL. Im in construction and I beat the pee pee out of this thing and it takes every bit of abuse I can throw at it. I drive an hour to work and back and get almost 20mpg. Just make sure that you follow dealer service recommendations with the tranny and diffs.

For the record, my pops has a 92 Dakota V-8(Purchased new) and he claims its the best vehicle he's ever bought. He likes it soo much that he STILL keeps it in the garage.

baypro21

I've got an '02 Dakota 4 door 4x4 with the 4.7 V-8. It will tow and stop #4500 with little effort. It's very powerful, and has almost dangerous throttle response. You could be cruising the interstate at 65mph and jump on it and it will hit 100mph in a matter of seconds and it is still pulling strong. I've only done this maybe once or twice. It has a very smooth ride also, I guess it has progressive springs/tortion bars??? I've had very little problems with mine except they all warp the front rotors every 30K miles. I'm on my 2nd set but they are starting to pulse again and I have 60K miles on mine. IT'S A GREAT TRUCK BUT...it loves gas. 13-14mpg around town, 15mpg on hiway doing 75mph. It gets 8mpg while towing #4500. That is my only complaint. I've got buddies with full size chevys and they get 20mpg hiway.

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*1981 Master Marine 28*
Mercruiser 6.2L 320hp/Bravo 1
RAM 2500 / 5.9TD


Never interrupt your opponent while he’s making a mistake.

Carjunkie

JoeCantFish, that was an excellent post with lots of good, seemingly unbiased, information. Welcome to THT.

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steelhead130

I had an 2000 Dakota 6 cylindar that towed my Sea Pro over 25,000 miles roughly. Truck had 165000 on it when I sold it and never had a problem with it. Dumped it because I got a great deal on an 04 Ram. Towed both single axle and tandem axle with the same boat and the tandem was better tracking.
The only time I really had any issues was when going up to the great lakes, those trips would be tough on the truck. Didnt mind the trans shifting that much, but did keep it in OD as soon as I was at speed on the highway.
Mileage was about 12-15 average, towing down to 6-8

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2004 Sea Pro 206CC 150 Yamaha
2004 Dodge Ram Hemi 4X4

jbg108

Just today one of my salesman traveled to CT (150 Miles) in his RTX Ridgeline to pick up a 24 foot wooden boat. He called me just to tell me how well hid Ridgeline towed the load.

He traded a v10 Avalanche on it a couple of months ago and was optamistic but weary of making such a trip with a v6.

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rollin thunder

There is no such thing as a v-10 avalanche. The avalanche can have the 5.3 295 hp v-8 with 337 ft lb of torque, 6.0 335 hp v-8 with 385 ft lb of torque. and an 8.1 liter big block v-8 with 345 hp and 436 ft lb or torque. He most likely has a 2500 6.0.

jbg108

My bad, I new it was the big engine. It was the 8.1 big block.

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