Ok, so I have a 2012 Base. When I bought it, I immediately added a class 1 hitch for a bike rack. It's great. I also have a little cargo shelf which I have used for toting my lawnmowers to the shop and the occasional bulky/lightweight thing like furniture. However, I bought a house a couple years ago and have a larger yard - really, I just need to give up and buy a riding lawnmower.

So my question is, if I borrow a mini-trailer from my friend (2 miles west of me) to bring my riding lawnmower to the repair/maintenance shop (1 mile east of me) once a year, am I likely to damage anything? It would be about 1,000 pounds max. This would be on city streets, no faster than ~35mph. I'm pretty anal about maintenance, regularly replace my brake pads/rotors, etc., coolant flushes, trans fluid swaps every 30k, etc.

I know Acura says the TL has a towing capacity of "Haha no, wtf." but the 2012 Accord can take ~1500lb. If I take it slow, am I still risking transmission damage or something? Or is it fine?

Otherwise I'll just rent a truck or pay the shop the extra money for pickup/dropoff; it's not a big deal, I just don't really want to buy a truck.

 

I 150 mile tow an Equinox on a dole with the RDX without any problems, and considering that it has the same transmission, everything is 100% fine.
If the fluid is changed at the correct interval, the friction discs on these automatic transmissions are very reliable.

 

I think it would be the same as if having the car full of 5-passengers and luggage. Just make sure the tongue weight is acceptable and not pushing on the rear suspension of the car too much.