Honda Pilot towing up to 2700 lbs. dry

I currently have a Fun Finder X-139, dry weight between 2000 and 2200 lbs., depending on which website you believe.  I have a 2006 Honda Pilot, tow capacity with 3 occupants is 3500 lbs.  The towing is comfortable.  Of course, I'm towing, so I drive conservatively, but unless I'm climbing, it's easy towing.

My wife and I are thinking of buying a larger trailer, dry weight up to 2700 lbs.  It's still below the 3500 threshold, and we don't have much gear.  maybe 200 lbs. tops, including food and firewood.  Would I notice a huge increase in difficulty in towing with possibly up to 500-700 lbs. extra?  I'm already towing.  Would an increase from 2000...2200 - 2700 pounds be that noticeable with 3500 lbs. towing capacity?  Total weight would be under 3000.  I hate to have a situation where I feel uncomfortable towing an overweight trailer.  How would that extra weight be climbing?  Much different than now, where I must shift into 3rd anyway?

And what about a sway bar?  One dealer said I needed one. I don't use one with the X-139.  Is it necessary, or is he trying to sell a sway bar?

Also, is towing an 18-foot trailer much different than towing a 14-foot trailer, in terms of driving, backing in, changing lanes, etc...?  Does that extra 4 feet make a noticeable difference?

Or is this all a psychological change?  All in my head, and I would get used to it in the first few miles?

Towing capacity is normally stated for a vehicle that is empty except for a 154 lb driver and fuel.  Do you have some official source that states the 3500 lbs is with three occupants onboard? Or is a 4WD Pilot, which has a 4500 lb capacity with one person and therefore probably 3500 left over after 2 extra passengers and some gear are added?

I would be very leery of trying to tow more weight  with your Pilot. Dry weight is meaningless anyway - the actual weight of that new trailer is going to be upwards of 3000 lbs with propane, some water, your gear, etc. onboard.  You will be pushing that Pilot to or beyond its max limits.

"Do you have some official source that states the 3500 lbs is with three occupants onboard? "

For my '14 Pilot EX-L the owner's manual has a couple of good tables comparing occupancy to recommended trailer load and tongue weights.  For mine, 4wd, 3 persons would reduce the towing capacity from 4500 to 4300 pounds.  However, some in my family exceed the 150 pound body weight assumption.
This past Saturday I bought a 2006 Cherokee, 25DD, UVW = 4290.  It came with the weight distributing hitch.  Also, I recently added the Timbren HROD2 rear suspension enhancement.
Took a friend with me and together we weigh about 450 pounds.The drive home took about 1 hour.  Some miles on interstate and some in US Route, through the hills of the New River Valley.
Never once did we have any concern over ride, sway, braking or anything; all was much better than  expected.  Climbed steep hills and maintained 50mph in a 55 zone.

MikeNNRV said:

"Do you have some official source that states the 3500 lbs is with three occupants onboard? "

For my '14 Pilot EX-L the owner's manual has a couple of good tables comparing occupancy to recommended trailer load and tongue weights.  For mine, 4wd, 3 persons would reduce the towing capacity from 4500 to 4300 pounds.  However, some in my family exceed the 150 pound body weight assumption.
This past Saturday I bought a 2006 Cherokee, 25DD, UVW = 4290.  It came with the weight distributing hitch.  Also, I recently added the Timbren HROD2 rear suspension enhancement.
Took a friend with me and together we weigh about 450 pounds.The drive home took about 1 hour.  Some miles on interstate and some in US Route, through the hills of the New River Valley.
Never once did we have any concern over ride, sway, braking or anything; all was much better than  expected.  Climbed steep hills and maintained 50mph in a 55 zone.

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Like many, you are mixing up towing capacity and carrying capacity.

Also, dry, or empty weight is not what you tow. No one tows an empty trailer except to deliver it from the factory. You need to use 10-12% of trailer GVWR as added load on the tow vehicle (tv) to see if it can handle the weight. A weight distributing hitch doesn't remove it. The hitch moves some to the front wheels.

You need to look at the stcker on the B pillar to see what your car can carry.

Like many, you are mixing up towing capacity and carrying capacity.

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Likely true, but an increase in the carried load also reduces the upper limit for towing capability. Per SAE J2807, the tow rating is for a vehicle with two occupants and no other cargo onboard except the trailer hitch and trailer tongue weight. Tow ratings prior to J2807 typically were given with only the driver onboard (plus hitch weight).

People are assumed to be the 154 lb standard adult weight used in federal regs for various purposes.

Paul:  You are close to your max capacity now.  I bet if you ran across a scale loaded and ready to camp, that 2200# camper will really weigh at least 2700#, probably more.  Add for passenger wt above 300#, cargo wt in the Pilot and the weight of your hitch and you are pushing the limit.

The new camper STARTS at 2700#, then add 500# or more for camper contents, and you are already at capacity.  CAN IT BE DONE?  Sure. folks do it every day.  IS IT WISE?  Absolutely no.  In an emergency, you would have your hands full!  The extra stress may cause premature failure of components like transmissions.

Mike:  That EMPTY camper with passengers is still 50# under the max weight.  It should handle well.  The situation may well be different after loading 1000# plus gear into the camper.

Just to be clear in case some reading this don't know, "passengers" includes driver. The vehicle spec assumes a 150lb driver and 150lb passenger. So, if you are like me, 200lbs, I have added 50 to the load.

Any time you get up near 90% of any vehicles weight capacity...towing or carrying.

Driving becomes work......and your vacation is over.  ;D 

At one time I had a 2010 Pilot 4WD. It had a nameplate towing capacity of 5000 pounds. Our one experience towing a rental trailer with a 3000 pound dry weight was marginal. The trailer towed OK and we didn't experience any problems other than slow acceleration and slow hill climbing (this was a trip to Red Feather Lakes NE of Ft Collins, CO at about 9000 ft). The big issue for us was sagging on the back end. When I dropped the trailer on the hitch, the back end dropped by a good 6 inches. This made the front end very light and we had a lot of drifting on I-25. The Pilot would have required air bags if we decided to use it as a tow vehicle. The other issue with vehicles like the Pilot that have frameless construction is that Honda expressly says no Weight Distribution Hitches. So if you have the 2WD and a 3500 pound limit, I'd think twice.  At a minimum you would need rear air bags and I would vote for a sway reduction device.

We ultimately decided that anything light enough to tow with the Pilot was too small and DW did not like hybrid trailers as she froze the one time we tried one (it was Sept and at 9000 ft winter was coming). We ended up with a 24 ft Keystone Passport and moved up to a Nissan Armada tow vehicle (Miss the Pilot though). After a couple of years she decided that hitching/unhitching. leveling and all the stuff that goes with it were too much, so now we have a Thor ACE 30.1 Class A and dolly tow a Mini Cooper S (Do not miss the Armada and love the Mini). Loading the Mini on the dolly is now the current target for "too much work", but its staying for awhile. So far the threat of trading her Acura RDX for a Jeep is keeping her at bay.