As I mentioned in another thread, "Spot" my 2003 Accord decided that it didn't have need of 3rd gear anymore. This vintage of transmission is problematic on a good day and they just don't last much past 150k even with religious services including filters, pressure switches, and oil changes. (The car has around 270, the transmission was replaced at 110k by the dealer).
Luckily it happened at a time when I was able to go fetch a U-Haul trailer and tote it up to a (fairly) local guy that built his business around rebuilding Honda transmissions. He'd done my wife's 2000 and my brother's 20something Civic. Good dude, does good work, at a fair price. The kind of person that's hard to find these days. I decided to tow it as opposed to diving to keep it from causing itself any other harm and I wouldn't have to bother the wife to follow me up there.
Total trip is about 45 miles, including a mix of 4 lane, city streets, and country road.
Uhaul reports the car trailer as being 2210 pounds and the Accord should be about 3360, so slightly over 5500 pounds being pulled. The Uhaul trailer seems to be slightly tongue-heavy although I have no weight for that, but I'd suspect it was probably near the 750# limit for the truck, although I have nothing to judge that by other than the similar weight travel trailer I've pulled just seemed a little better balanced.
Power - The 2.3 and 10R80 sure is quite the combination, it punches WAY above its weight in my opinion. At no time did I want for any power. You can accelerate to highway speeds with no effort and no need for full throttle. Uphill starts, no problem at all. I was monitoring boost, and took the opportunity to do a full-throttle accel run a few times and watched boost top out around 20-21 psi and stay there, so there's quite a bit of air being force-fed into that little mill. Steady-state cruising it is running between 2-3 psi, all as reported through Torque. Shift programming in Tow/Haul is very good. It eliminates any shift skip and shifts sequentially, holding onto gears longer and downshifting sooner under throttle. It also grade shifts and will drop many gears to help with engine braking (see below).
Brakes - No problem stopping the trailer, although as usual, surge brakes are a little odd in my opinion. Wished they had electric brakes as I have a very nice brake controller that works great. There are some other people on other forums that praise the transmission programming and engine braking. Well, the 10R80 does have good logic and will drop many gears, but that little 2.3L just doesn't provide much resistance. It's not surprising, but it doesn't really help all that much. "A" for effort though I suppose.
Handling - No issues, although I do have Bilstein 5100's in the rear of the truck which I did because from the time I took it off the lot I knew the FX2 ('offoad') shocks were garbage for what I wanted, but I wanted that package for the electronic locker and not the 'offroad' angle.
Gas Mileage - No clue, can't fight physics though so it was probably between 10-15 mpg, maybe slightly more. Wasn't important to me at the time as I had other things to do Saturday.
I actually had torque running while I was pulling. Not an overly hot day, probably 70 degrees out at the time, but engine and trans temp both hovered right around 200 degrees almost the entire time. The only time the trans crept up was idling through a few red lights when it climbed to around 210. The engine never got any hotter than 205. We're planning on a south Florida trip in August with a travel trailer, so it will be interesting to see what happens then.
Would I have bought the Ranger if I were towing all day every day? No, probably not, but you can get some 'real' work done with one. Next up will hopefully be a travel trailer this summer as the wife and I sort of switch gears in our life and start doing more weekend traveling, and some longer distance stuff. (Yes, I know a travel trailer is a different beast with the wind loads and all. We will be using a WDH and all the fixings with it, and I've got plenty enough experience to feel safe.)
Verdict - Big thumbs up from me. If you told me I needed to drive this combination several hundred miles and through the mountains, I'd have had no problem. The truck just got the job done with no complaining and not feeling like I was torturing it.
Luckily it happened at a time when I was able to go fetch a U-Haul trailer and tote it up to a (fairly) local guy that built his business around rebuilding Honda transmissions. He'd done my wife's 2000 and my brother's 20something Civic. Good dude, does good work, at a fair price. The kind of person that's hard to find these days. I decided to tow it as opposed to diving to keep it from causing itself any other harm and I wouldn't have to bother the wife to follow me up there.
Total trip is about 45 miles, including a mix of 4 lane, city streets, and country road.
Uhaul reports the car trailer as being 2210 pounds and the Accord should be about 3360, so slightly over 5500 pounds being pulled. The Uhaul trailer seems to be slightly tongue-heavy although I have no weight for that, but I'd suspect it was probably near the 750# limit for the truck, although I have nothing to judge that by other than the similar weight travel trailer I've pulled just seemed a little better balanced.
Power - The 2.3 and 10R80 sure is quite the combination, it punches WAY above its weight in my opinion. At no time did I want for any power. You can accelerate to highway speeds with no effort and no need for full throttle. Uphill starts, no problem at all. I was monitoring boost, and took the opportunity to do a full-throttle accel run a few times and watched boost top out around 20-21 psi and stay there, so there's quite a bit of air being force-fed into that little mill. Steady-state cruising it is running between 2-3 psi, all as reported through Torque. Shift programming in Tow/Haul is very good. It eliminates any shift skip and shifts sequentially, holding onto gears longer and downshifting sooner under throttle. It also grade shifts and will drop many gears to help with engine braking (see below).
Brakes - No problem stopping the trailer, although as usual, surge brakes are a little odd in my opinion. Wished they had electric brakes as I have a very nice brake controller that works great. There are some other people on other forums that praise the transmission programming and engine braking. Well, the 10R80 does have good logic and will drop many gears, but that little 2.3L just doesn't provide much resistance. It's not surprising, but it doesn't really help all that much. "A" for effort though I suppose.
Handling - No issues, although I do have Bilstein 5100's in the rear of the truck which I did because from the time I took it off the lot I knew the FX2 ('offoad') shocks were garbage for what I wanted, but I wanted that package for the electronic locker and not the 'offroad' angle.
Gas Mileage - No clue, can't fight physics though so it was probably between 10-15 mpg, maybe slightly more. Wasn't important to me at the time as I had other things to do Saturday.
I actually had torque running while I was pulling. Not an overly hot day, probably 70 degrees out at the time, but engine and trans temp both hovered right around 200 degrees almost the entire time. The only time the trans crept up was idling through a few red lights when it climbed to around 210. The engine never got any hotter than 205. We're planning on a south Florida trip in August with a travel trailer, so it will be interesting to see what happens then.
Would I have bought the Ranger if I were towing all day every day? No, probably not, but you can get some 'real' work done with one. Next up will hopefully be a travel trailer this summer as the wife and I sort of switch gears in our life and start doing more weekend traveling, and some longer distance stuff. (Yes, I know a travel trailer is a different beast with the wind loads and all. We will be using a WDH and all the fixings with it, and I've got plenty enough experience to feel safe.)
Verdict - Big thumbs up from me. If you told me I needed to drive this combination several hundred miles and through the mountains, I'd have had no problem. The truck just got the job done with no complaining and not feeling like I was torturing it.
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