Towing question, have read all the threads

[frayed]

on towing enclosed trailers. The fella with the airstream, enclosed trailers with race cars etc.

My understanding is that when you tow a 24 ft enclosed trailer, the key is anti sway and good brakes on the tailer. I've looked over the Equalizer hitch Hayaku uses and it looks great.

Properly setup with such a hitch system, do you guys ever feel like the tailer is wagging you?

My doom and gloom friends tell me that I'll die in a fiery ball of twisted metal as soon as a rig passes me at 80 mph on a windy day.

Input?

[JCL]

My experience on the X5 isn't with an enclosed trailer, but I have towed close to 5000 lbs and it is remarkably stable. Much more so than previous Expeditions, Explorers, and heavy duty pickups with similar and larger trailers. I have also driven commercial vehicles, with trailers, and I continue to be impressed by the X5's towing prowess.

Tell your friends that a key design feature is the distance from the rear axle centreline to the hitch ball. It is much shorter on the X5 than on many larger vehicles, hence there is less of a 'lever' for the trailer to wag the car. This is exactly why 5th wheel trailers are more stable than traditional hitches. The inherent stability and handling of the X5 helps as well.

You mention a good hitch, and trailer brakes, both good points, but I also think that prudent driving practices play a part. Watch your following distances, slow down in heavy cross winds, and anticipate traffic as much as possible.

[frayed]

Thanks JCL.

The 'experts' on other boards (I frequent both bmw and porsche boards) flip their shit when the hear of a short wheelbase, unibody X5 towing a trailer anywhere near 6,000lbs. These folks cite personal experiences or those from others of harrowing tales of highway misadventures in light duty SUV rigs.

OTOH, my dad and I towed a 33' fifth wheel in a less than ideal 1/2 ton 1978 dodge p/u back in the day. Far less capable than modern metal. He took it easy and we always got where we were going safely with minimal problems (except cooling). I understand the concept of giving yourself a big margin out there when towing.

[surgeondress]

I'm a trailering newbie, but I didn't want to own a big-ass truck AND a day-to-day driving vehicle, so I decided to try towing with my 2001 X5 3.0 (90k miles). I too have read all the posts, and found those by 'withidl' most helpful. I'm towing a 20-foot 7000 lb. (with full load) Roadmaster Predator in the Florida panhandle every weekend now for 2 months. I have the Draw-tite weight distribution hitch and an anti-sway system installed (Curt Manufacturing Sway Control). Also installed the Tekonsha Prodigy electric trailer brake controller per instructions found on this forum. I have no problems towing that trailer up and down the mild hills here, but the sway at any speeds over 60 mph is significant. Due to the nature of this trailer (the front half has living quarters, rear half is a garage with the 'true' load), it may have more to do with my weight distribution inside the trailer 'garage', as I may now have less than the recommended 15% of the total trailer weight at the tongue now. I towed this trailer at it's empty weight of 5250 lbs. the entire length of Florida at 70 mph without this problem when I first picked it up.

Beware of the triple-speed blinker issue in your X5 that several of us have experienced. Also, the trailer LED lights will go off about every 10 or so seconds with the vehicle turned off. I can't seem to find a fix for this anywhere on the web, and my dealer is clueless. It does kind of appear that the trailer has an alarm on it at night though....

Overall, I'm happy with the setup as I'm probably never going to be towing more than 300 miles from home, and 60 mph keeps my gas mileage right at 11 mpg anyhow. Any longer distances, and then a little extra speed would be nice, and may require other modifications.

The 3.0 liter engine seems to have plenty of power to move this trailer ably. Some hills have to be climbed in 3rd gear, and per withidl's recommendations, I've been towing in the manual mode on my steptronic transmission to keep engine rpms above 2000 and speed above 55 to keep the torque converter locked up as much as possible.

Good luck, and be safe!

surgeondress

[JCL]

Surgeondress:

Thanks for the post, some good comments there. I was very impressed with the towing ability of my 3.0 X5 (with less weight than you are pulling), and it seems that it is working well for you. I would try playing around with the weight distribution and see if that fixes the swaying issue. 10% tongue weight is a minimum, 12% is better, in my experience.

Withidl continues to be the grand champion on the board, pulling his Airstream with a 4.4, but your experience with a 3.0 should make some stop and think about the capabilities of the X5.

Not much help for you with the LED lights, but you may want to try a trailer supply store instead of the dealer, as they may have some ideas. My fast blinking problem was all with U-Haul trailers, no LED lights involved, and was always fixed with a proper ground wire instead of relying on the hitch itself.

Cheers

Jeff

[cj10jeeper]

Some great advice and comments in the posts.

I've towed a 2 ton Jeep on a 1 ton trailer fror more than 10,000 miles around Europe (motorway and mountain passes) with my X5. It's rock solid in most conditions.

The key for me has always been spot on nose weight. Get that wrong and you'll be in real trouble with snaking. Add to that modified driving behaviour and I foreseee no problems

[frayed]

It sounds like enclosed trailers can be successfully towed (i.e., towed safely at reasonable highway speeds), if you get the weight distribution correct, based on experience of several people here.

How do you measure tounge weight?

[statdoc]

Originally Posted by frayed

How do you measure tounge weight?

I'm guessing about a pound.

[cj10jeeper]

I dropped my rig on a weighbridge first time and therafter used marks on the trailer, but an old pair of bathroom scales does the trick.

[JCL]

If you are weighing more than a bathroom scale will handle, use two scales and a crossbar, dividing the weight between two scales.

Once you have measured it a couple of times, you will know right away if it is close as loading is usually similar from trip to trip.