Nice trailer.

While you can use a weight-distributing hitch to reduce the tongue weight, you probably shouldn't need to. That is a light trailer, and you should have some ability to position your load to result in a 500-600 lb tongue weight. Not sure what will be on the trailer (presume a track car) but if it is small enough to shift it rearward, for example, that will help. You can also possibly vary the tongue weight by loading the vehicle backwards instead of frontwards, depending on the vehicle involved. It depends on how much weight you are putting in the front tool box/tire rack. You need to play around with the load, and once you find out where to put the vehicle mark it so that the same weight distribution is easily reproduced.

My reluctance to use a weight distributing hitch for a trailer this light is really only the additional work of hooking it up each time, and the additional cost. They work very well. The one I have heard most about on this forum is a Hensley Arrow. Do a search on this site for posts by withidl, who towed 8000 + lbs of Airstream with that hitch. I believe Hayaku has one as well.

Haven't done a trailer brake controller myself on an E53, but there are posts with DIY instructions on this site. Check out the Online References tab at the top of this page, in the E53 PDF section, which includes this article and this article.

Good luck

Jeff

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