kraze00young

Hey guys I don't exactly have a TL yet but im thinking about getting one but the thing is i have a sportbike that I need to tow around because i go to the tracks and stuff but is the TL capable of towing a sportbike? if so anybody have experience with it? you guys got any pics of you guys and towing anything?

datmrman

Towing is actually not recommended in the manual, but there have been threads of people installing bike racks and trailer hitches. Perform a search for bike rack* or trailer to find those threads.

Other than racks/hitches that connect to the trunk/rear. You might be interested in a roof rack. There are threads on those as well. I believe Thule is one of the manufacturers that makes them.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

nope, that's what my truck is for

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I think the OP is referring to a Motorcycle.

Vanilla_Gorilla

Ditto!!!

geekybiker

Motorcyle like that will be well under 1000lbs including trailer and associated gear. I wouldnt worry about it.

cajunsteve

I wondered the same thing last year when I was buying my 06 TL (for my ATV and trailer)and asked the salesman and service manager - their replies were the same, that "TL was not designed for towing and I might invalidate my warranty for the powertrain if I towed anything". Needless to say, I never installed a hitch on my baby!

Ahmad310

i seen a 04-06 TL yesterday at a gas station pulling a Waverunner!

black label

With the tranny problems they have had in the past, I wouldn't do it. The previous generation MDX had trans, oil and power steering coolers installed with the tow package. If you had an aftermarket hitch installed (without the cooling equipment) and then had a transmission problem, you had a warranty problem.

Xx06SickspdTlxX

Ive seen the same, it looked kinda goofy!

timmahh

Funny.. the Accord is rated @ 1500lbs I think

kenny5

In lieu of a sportsbike, it is safe to toll a scooter or skate board though.

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

theres only one thing my car hauls.... ASS lol

j/k. nah i wouldnt do it. not even a dinky lil u-hual trailer. the car shouldnt be towing anything

subinf

It shouldn't be a problem. I probably wouldn't tow anything with my TL, but you shouldn't run into any problems.

bonbTLman

I have installed a hitch on my '06 TL this past spring to be able to tow my jetski. The installation was time consuming, but in the end it looks pretty good. Wiring the hitch is a pain since they don't offer a "plug-n-play" kit for the TL. In order to wire the TL you have to run a wire up to the batter to draw its power as well as sotter into each wire in the brake light cluster and wiring kit.

Only the receiver is showing under the bumper. My TL tows my jetski (approx 1400 lbs) with no problem, and it was last week I actually saw a TSX towing a similar jetski. This reassured my confidence that my TL would not have any problems towing my jetski.

timmahh

Do you still have a warranty?

Eoanou

As long as the dealer doesn't find out, I assume so.

fsttyms1

Ive got a 2nd gen and pull alot with it. Ive pulled my Malibu ski boat(twice when i had no other choice- about 3k lbs with tailer), my 4 wheeler(2 k with trailer and plow on) and my jetski (1kish with trailer??). the 3rd gen will pull a motorcycle just fine

fsttyms1

What does it need to draw power from the battery for?

subinf

Although it has been a while since I've installed wiring harnesses for hitches, I don't think you need to run a wire to the battery. Usually you only need that if you have a brake controller, but the trailers equipped with brakes are way too big for the TL. Did you use a universal harness?

Xx06SickspdTlxX

If you dont think the TL should tow anything, the other day at work we had an S2000 in the shop with a trailer hitch on it. I thought it was kind of funny, and we were wondering what he tows with it. So i am sure the tl can tow small things, not sure if you will have a powertrain warranty though...

Evader

Could you please post a picture of this? I'd like to see what your TL looks like with a hitch, also with a pic of your jetskit on would be cool to see too.

Thanks!

geekybiker

More than likely it tows a support trailer for track days. Tires, tools, etc.

brimp

Thought I'd bump an old thread, been towing my boat with no problem. I think its less than 1000lbs, tows great. I am sure it is putting a bit of wear and tear on it, but hey, i get to go boating.

IMG_0015.jpg?t=1254841488

PhilB81

I don't understand why a car with 250+ hp (base and tls) can't tow a small bike or jetski. I mean people in Europe manage to move stuff without requiring a super heavy duty truck. To me the 'need a truck' is an overkill response. Before my tl
I had a 95 maxima which my parents gave me. They bought it new and he used to tow a small boat with it. We put about 220k miles on that car before we gave it to a friend and it still drives.
The only reason I'm not putting a hitch on my car is for esthetics.

Xiomaro

iTrader: (5)

^ well for starters, HP doesn't equate to pulling power, that would be torque...

But IMO, i'd think u would be ok to haul some smaller things (little hard shell cargo trailer, a smaller bike, as we've seen - a small boat, etc.)

I mean whats the difference in hauling a small trailer or having three fat asses in the car with you... other than the sweat

VQPower37

^ true true ... if u think of it that way towing small items should be fine in the tl

d-townhakuzo

I don't suggest it if you lower the car or even stock.

PhilB81

Okay, I agree about the torque for towing comment, but really the only way to get 250hp and have very little torque is to have a redline of 20k rpm, which the TL doesn't.

My point was mostly to show that the TL has a pretty good powerplant, and should have a transmission to match it. Granted towing something can't be compared to a WOT load, because the tension and heat buildup is constant in towing, but at WOT it's more of a burst, so it doesn't need as much heat dissipation capability. But everything mentioned for towing is, in my opinion, within reason. It's not like you'd need to be WOT on a flat surface to keep a constant velocity of 40mph, because that would be a bit tuff on the tranny

I mean, back when I was a kid in Romania, I can't tell you how much sh!t they hauled with a good ole Dacia 1310



see my point... and no that's not my dacia.

and those things had about 55 to 60 hp, and torque wasn't way up there either, also didn't have 14 transmission coolers.... but it also didn't come with a warranty

Toddy

iTrader: (5)

Shoot I find something every day that I can use my truck for better than I could use my car. When I bought my TV it wouldn't fit in my car, had to go home and get my truck. Everytime my wife goes to Sams Club or Costco, I need my truck. The yard work I have to do this weekend, will require a truck...

My point is the TL was not meant to tow anything so why would you want to do something that it was not meant for. You are ultimately asking for trouble...

Xiomaro

iTrader: (5)

absolutely! what i'm saying is don't expect to pull a 16ft, 8,000lb capacity trailer, with a tandem axle. however! even small things can have dire consequences for the overall longevity of a car. Just be careful and everything should be AOK!

PhilB81

Don't get me wrong, I can certainly see how a truck is usefull, but I personally find myself 'needing' one less than 5x a year, and if I do, I rent the home depot one. I don't buy TVs multiple times a year, nor do I do grocery runs to fill out 3 refrigerators in 1 shot. But that's just me, so perhaps I'm projecting my routine habbits onto others. I just noticed that a lot of people tend to overkill towing cappacity, I always find it amusing here at the beaches and boat launches when i see a heavy duty ford towing a trailer for a single jetski. [I don't assume he bought it to tow just that with it, but it looks a bit ridiculous]. Like the lawn guy for my neighbor, F-350 turbo diesel, what does he tow, a single ride on lawn mower, a push mower and edger on an open tiny flat trailer.

Plus I think if you're really worried about towing with the TL, can't you buy a small inline cooler for the tranny? I think the TL has a simple oil cooler, but no tranny cooler. And I really don't think the axles will warp due to the load, not unless you seriously overkill the towing cappacity.

anyways, happy truckin

Xiomaro

iTrader: (5)

if i was going to go on a long trip in my TL and got a small hitch mount attached, i would get something like this for the trip!

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=66771

Toddy

iTrader: (5)

I see what you are saying. I guess Im a little biased from growing up in the country. I've never pulled less than 7500 pounds behind my F250 and the most I've pulled was 22,500 weighed in on a set of big rig scales. yikes....

SUTL

I tow with my 04 SUTL all the time. They are about 1200lbs with trailer with a 50lb or so tounge weight. I added a tranny cooler and upgraded the brakes. She pulls like they aren't even there and its easy as cake putting them in the water and pulling them out. Never once spun a tire. I can go about 65 or 70 on the freeway no problems and get about 12mpg sometimes more. I go from Miami to Key West all the time with them. It has a hitch from uhaul with 4 mounting bolts with backing plates and one that goes through the tie down hook in the back. Super solid, just make sure to use locktite and torque it to 80lbs. 90 bucks for the hitch and 20 for the wiring kit off of etrailer.com. It plugs right into the factory harness and can be removed anytime in 2 minutes. You can't see the wiring because at the time it wasn't installed but it just installs in the trunk behind the liner and i just hang it out when i use it. So the answer is yes you can tow and it handles it awesome! Just watch out for bumper dings when backing up haha.. i'm sure you guys see that in the pic. I was so excited the first day i backed up to far

S PAW 1

It's not a question of hp or torque.

The TL doesn't have a frame that is defined by past automobiles.

One of the few probs of being FWD (IMO) is the lack of traction at the front wheels if you are trying to pull much weight out of the water on a wet dock

PhilB81

Holy moly, that's some heavy loads there man I agree that it wouldn't be a good idea to use the TL for such loads, however, I am sure the Dacia above could do it no problem...

12mpg? that's much worse than I expected. My towing experience was with my dad's boat 21ft Bayliner boat, and my cousin's Acura Integra race car on a twin axel open trailer. Those were with me 1994 5.2L V8 Grand Cherokee, and my fuel economy was usually 9mpg while towing 65-70mph.However, when I had to keepup with other guys in convoys going to racetracks and they were flying at 90mph... then economy dipped between 6-7mpg.

I agree with the lack of traction, but it's still better than a pickuptruck that's rwd and no locking rear differential. The FWD car has the traction wheels further from water so the pavement isn't super soaked.
When we were going fishing at Carter's lake (north GA) several times guys would pull their boats with rwd trucks, and 1 wheels would just start spinning, so a few of us would jump in the back to put more weight on it so he can get the boat out. I did see some cars dropping off jetskies at lakes, but i don't remember them ever needing help pulling the jetski out. But those don't weigh very much anyways.
As far as the TL being soft, I don't think the frame is soft, it's quite rigid for safety and performance, I think the issue is that the area around the attachement points of the hitch receiver are soft. If you got a big carried away and got a lot of metal under there and welded it to the structural cage of the car, I think it would be super solid. Then your weakest point would probably become transmission or axels.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Just because you "can", doesn't mean you "should"?

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

I do have a hitch receiver on mine, albeit for my bike rack only. But, I wouldn't go too much further than that.

jpgayan

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should" can just as easily be applied to autocrossing or anything else fun in a car. Just like racing will reduce the service life of parts of your car so will towing. Keep the weights reasonable and you shouldn't have any problems. My Maxima has 212,000 miles on it with the original engine, trans, and clutch and I've towed for thousands of miles with 2k pounds on the trailer with no problems. If you're buying a trailer I would suggest spending the extra money for an all aluminum one. Less trailer weight means wear on the car and or able to haul more stuff for the same overall weight.