towing with honda crv?

[monicedi]

I noticed someone uses their honda crv to tow...they mentioned "aftermarket tranny oil cooler" What is that and where do I buy it?
I am buying a teardrop and haven't weighed it yet, hoping it'll be well under the 1300 lbs I'm allowed!

[bobhenry]

If you are not sure what it is don't try and install it.

It looks like a small radiator with tubes and fins that will air cool the ATF as it returns to the radiator cooler. It is usually placed in the air stream to the radiator and 2 lines are ran one in and one out. Find a good RV shop or your local U-Haul COMPANY store and have it installed . Take 20 to 30 minutes.

[monicedi]

Thank you!! I thought it was an additive for the oil! The girl who built it thinks it only weighs 900 lbs dry weight so I should be okay. Thanks again for the advice.

[Gage]

What year CRV do you have? Per Honda, a trans cooler is not required for the CRV.

[Steve_Cox]

I tow with a 05 CRV. Towing about 1600# with another 250# or so stuff in the back of the CRV. Works OK for the flat lands of Florida. I-95 is usually 75+ mph traffic, the CRV starts to downshift out of OD quite a bit at +75 mph with that load. I have put off going to the Georgia mountains until I get a different tow vehicle, I just don't want to wear out the CRV quite yet. I see tow ratings as a guideline not necessarily the rule, just depends on what you are going to do. We just made a 300 mile trip across the state to St Joe Peninsula State Park Link and took the scenic route 55-60 mph top speed, and got around 20 mpg. It was an easy pull for the CRV.

[sdtripper2]

I thought about putting in an Xmission fluid cooler~

I haul with the 1997 Honda CRV and my rig weighs about 1300lbs. My CRV is rated lower than the newer year models. The manual says about 1000 pounds and a tongue weight of 100lbs. I check for burnt Xmission fluid often and no burnt or smell has come from my fluid and I have pulled to 11,500 feet in Utah. And if you ever have been to Utah .... you know they got some mountains. I went from almost sea level to the top of the sky and no problems. So the newer model CRV's should take at least my or your 1300lbs to where~ever without the Xmission fluid cooler.

[Jazzy Lynn]

I have a 2003 CRV and the teardrop I am buying will weigh 1000-1100 when loaded. The manual recommends electric brakes on anything over 1000 lbs. Do you guys have electric brakes on your trailers? I live in New Mexico and will be doing a lot of mountain driving.
Jazzy Lynn

[sdtripper2]

yes I have electric brakes

[Jason and Amanda]

As a general rule you shouldn't exceed 75% of your GVWR or 80% of your max tow rating.

But from personal experience, any trailer under 1500 lbs doesn't really need trailer brakes if you tow with a vehicle weighing more than 2500 lbs. If you tow with a vehicle weighing less than 2500 lbs then i have noticed that you should have trailer brakes on any trailer weighing more than 1000 lbs.

Make sense?

All in all the biggest factors are your grades and elevations, and your tow vehicles towing abilities. I would not feel comfortable stopping a 4000 lb trailer with anything other than a full sized truck or SUV. But really anything under 1000 to 1500 lbs isn't much work for any vehicles larger than say 2200 lbs to get stopped respectably.

As for the transmission situation, well I'm a little uneducated but I do know that most cars have "longer" gears than what should be used for towing therefore putting more stress on the tranny, but at the weights that we are talking (pulling a teardrop) I don't see much risk involved. If you have 4 people in your car, that's about 700-900 lbs anyway. (this goes strictly for GVWR for transmission heat and stopping distance)... trailer weight affects many other factors completely differently than overall weight.

Another thing to consider (mostly for those of us with boats) is your control and stability with front wheel drives. I hate recovering a boat at a steep ramp with a front wheel drive, what a touchy situation. Also front wheel drives lose control proportionally to the tongue weight on the rear of the vehicle. Also front wheel drive half shafts or whatever the drive train is called tends to not be built to standards condusive to heavy towing.