Quote:
Originally Posted by X5chemist
... Next, a hitch for Austin tailgaters hit "into".
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I agree with your desire for a barrier defense mounted to your X5, in Austin traffic (it was already bad even in the 60-70's, when I'd go down to party on 6th street, occasionally). And, as a 58-year veteran of the DFW traffic wars (I had a long daily commute of 120+ miles, round-trip, from SW to NE across seven cities in three counties...Tarrant, Dallas,Collin...for over thirty of those years), I consider myself fortunate to never have been rear-ended in the chaos of the
particularly bad Dallas traffic. I've had many vehicles nearly get me, but noticed that they were actually more respectful of my rear bumper, when I commuted with a truck, bearing a receiver hitch, shank, and ball.
I have a large Weight-Distributing hitch mounted to the receiver hitch on the back of my '04 Chevy 2500HD, that I use mostly for camping, pulling my home-built 4'x8' squareback trailer. I leave it on there (secured with a locking device) year-round, since I hardly ever get tailgaters willing to come too close.
I also had another WD hitch on my wife's '98 GMC, but she sold her 20' trailer, and didn't need the hitch anymore (and she kept hitting her shins on it, when loading or unloading her gardening supplies from the truck bed), so I removed it. I could put it on the X5, but it weighs a ton, but I might, if I ever tow with the X5 (already have a receiver, a regular ball & shank, and 4-way wiring, but no wiring for the 7-way and trailer brakes I'd need, to use with my 4x8 camping trailer). She seldom drives her truck, anyway.
As we're both retired (me, now nearing 74, then at 65.5, after 50.5 years of work...and the wife, then at 51, after a fraction of my time, retiring just because I did!), we hardly ever need to brave the insane rush-hour traffic
we? once did, but even in the afternoon traffic in our once-semi-rural area. The population of the six main communities we most frequently drive through...Mansfield, Rendon, Kennedale, Crowley, Burleson, & Arlington (south of I-30), is probably now approaching 300K, 2-3x what it was 31 years ago, when we moved here. And the number of cars, and cars with idiot drivers behind the wheel, has grown proportionately. Only some of us old-timers try to "drive friendly":
- 1) like pulling to the side on two lane highways, to let a faster driver pass
- 2) only using the left lane to pass,on four lane highways
- 3) leaving the proper space between cars at stoplights "You should stop at a distance from the car in front of you where you can still see where their rear tires touch the pavement", etc.
So,
X5chemist, I'd suggest putting on your X5, either
- 1) a WD hitch,
- 2) a single-spear carrier for round hay bales...my father-in-law was pulled over by DPS in Hood County, for driving through Granbury with his hay spear still attached to his truck (I guarantee no-one was tailgating him),
- 3) or a hitch receiver-mounted cargo carrier, static or fold-up
