Travel Trailer

[LVP]

Originally Posted by jdstrickland

+1 on the brake controller.

The short wheelbase can lead to your trailer passing you, and this can be very ugly.

Tekonsha has the RF version. I just ordered it. Get it next week. First tow of a trailer with brakes will be in July. I'll test beforehand and report back on the forum.

[kvc]

A friend's father has the 3.0 diesel X5 and tows a large glazier's trailer throughout the south island of NZ. This is usually laden with glass and aggregate weight is approx. 3.5 metric tonnes. He claims it's the best towing vehicle he's owned and it's recently turned over 350,000 kms. For those that don't know, the south island of NZ is very mountainous (think Rockies).

[Imndeep]

Originally Posted by kvc

A friend's father has the 3.0 diesel X5 and tows a large glazier's trailer throughout the south island of NZ. This is usually laden with glass and aggregate weight is approx. 3.5 metric tonnes. He claims it's the best towing vehicle he's owned and it's recently turned over 350,000 kms. For those that don't know, the south island of NZ is very mountainous (think Rockies).

That's very helpful, Thanks for the reply. Not everyone understands what Mountainous means, hilly maybe, but real; mountains such as the Cascade Range, The Rockies, The Alps or the Southern Alps, looks like New Zealand is on huge mountain range so you guys would know!

[Imndeep]

Well, Today with everyone's suggestions and help I bought a Keystone Bullet 210RUDWE. dry weight 4060 pounds. Tongue weight is 460#. It is Aluminum construction with Glass sides. I'm happy with the deal I got, I just will be happier when I pull Vantage at at least 50 mph. That would be a feat. Vantage for those elsewhere in the world is a very long steep grade that goes from the bottom of the Columbia River basin to the top of the plateau. Thanks to those that chimed in.

[kvc]

Looks really nice mate. Happy travels!

[Riggodeaux]

Nice trailer, congrats! I pickup up the new horse trailer yesterday - only 2300 lbs empty, an easy, level tow, including at 65-70 mph up I-75 with trucks passing and buffeting, without a weight-distrib/antisway hitch. On slightly hilly GA backroads, I did have to downshift from 6th to 5th to maintain speed [50 mph plus]. We'll see how it handles/tows with two horses and tack, which will put me in the range of Imndeep's weight once his is loaded. Imndeep, with that much sail, I would consider a WD hitch - I noticed they're common on travel trailers.

[Riggodeaux]

BTW, LVP - I installed the Tekonsha Prodigy RF on our new horse trailer. With OEM hitch electronics and upgraded software on my E53, installation and 'mating' the sending unit to the 'power' unit on the trailer was seamless. No need to first do it on a US vehicle. The only glitch, at the start, was the sending unit displaying 'nc' (not connected) when I first connected the power unit to the E53's seven-prong hitch. It was, in fact, connected, and dialed up otherwise without a problem. I'll now try it with the trailer on the CEO's ML350 bluetec, which has lower hitch and higher tongue/weight capacity than the E53.

[Riggodeaux]

And one other thing; though our horse trailer has LED lights, I did not need to use a 7-7 prong 'resistor' converter [I bought the Curt version] on the E53 to recognize the lights and not throw codes. I understand this can be an issue with other Deutsch suvs, and have the converter to use with the wife's ML if needed there.

[Riggodeaux]

I filled the tank last night and was able to estimate/calculate my fuel mileage for the 300 miles I towed the empty horse trailer [2350 lbs]. Over 200m on I-75 at 65-70 mph, the rest GA two lane and four lane blacktop, 55-60 mph, rolling terrain. I've been getting 21 mph sans trailer; my combined on this tank and a half was 16.6 mpg, and my calculation of the 'towing' mileage puts it at 13.4 mpg. I expect my 'loaded' mileage, adding 2400 lbs of horse, tack, etc., to be in the 12.5 range. Your results may vary .

[LVP]

Originally Posted by Riggodeaux

BTW, LVP - I installed the Tekonsha Prodigy RF on our new horse trailer. With OEM hitch electronics and upgraded software on my E53, installation and 'mating' the sending unit to the 'power' unit on the trailer was seamless. No need to first do it on a US vehicle. The only glitch, at the start, was the sending unit displaying 'nc' (not connected) when I first connected the power unit to the E53's seven-prong hitch. It was, in fact, connected, and dialed up otherwise without a problem. I'll now try it with the trailer on the CEO's ML350 bluetec, which has lower hitch and higher tongue/weight capacity than the E53.

Thanks for the tips. It'll be a while yet before a trailer with brakes is connected, but I'll hit you up if I have any issues. Thanks.