Towing question, have read all the threads

[surgeondress]

So I have moved several hundred pounds of gear forward in the garage portion of my trailer (over the double axles), AND I had another Curt Manufacturing sway control installed on the other side of the trailer tongue. This has all but eradicated the sway problem I was having, and I have towed the trailer up to 70 mph without any issues whatsoever with my little 3.0i. Certainly if we had any real hills/mountains here, the 4.4 or 4.8 would be needed. Or that 3.0sd due for release this year!

[mfiver]

I just towed my enclosed trailer, which is very tall and weighs 5000+ lbs, about 800 miles last weekend. Up and down mountain passes, 30 mph crosswinds, passed by umpteen semi's and never a nervous or scary moment.

I've been towing for 30+ years and this was my first time with the X5. Not once on the trip did I have the feeling of being "pushed around" that I have grown accustomed to over years of towing. (Part of that feeling, at least when braking, may be attributed to brakes on both axles of the trailer and an excellent Prodigy brake controller.)

I can honestly say it's the most stable vehicle I've ever towed with, and the linear tracking has to be felt to be believed.

Here's a couple of pics of my rig from last weekend -

[frayed]

Cool. What kind of hitch are you using?

[mfiver]

Originally Posted by frayed

Cool. What kind of hitch are you using?

I'm using the factory BMW hitch without any aftermarket sway control.

FWIW - After looking at all of the available options and doing the hitch install myself and seeing how it is made an attached, my semi-professional opinion (as a mechanical design engineer) is that I wouldn't consider any hitch other than OEM for heavy loads.

Frayed - If you haven't wired in the electronic brake controller yet, you will want to check out my thread on the install. Wiring the the controller is super easy IF you know where to pick up the 12v braking signal.
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...hlight=prodigy

[surgeondress]

I finally got around to attaching the photo my rig. Had it weighed at the trucker scale: 8,200 lbs.

[surgeondress]

So I have an appointment this week to see if my hitch wiring harness is coded to the ECU to correct the fast blinker/flasher problem. My OEM hitch was dealer-installed, and it's hard to believe that this part was of the install was overlooked (or is it?). I'll keep you posted on the results.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by surgeondress

So I have an appointment this week to see if my hitch wiring harness is coded to the ECU to correct the fast blinker/flasher problem. My OEM hitch was dealer-installed, and it's hard to believe that this part was of the install was overlooked (or is it?). I'll keep you posted on the results.

It will be interesting to see what they say. I used the service manual instructions to install the OEM hitch and wiring harness, and there was no mention of an ECU update. It may be that it came out later, or that it only applies to certain model years. Let us know.

[davidachoi]

I've been looking for this exact subject for the past 6 weeks and finally found it. I just bought a 27' 1976 Airstream trailer and it's GVVR is 6200 lbs. mfiver, how heavy is your rig loaded? What type of tow equipment do you have to pull that load? And did you say you didn't have any sway problems? How fast did you go? I was looking at the specs for the Prodigy brake controller http://www.reese-hitches.com/product...HH_39519,90185
and it says that it's not recommended with the X5. Any idea why not? And what exactly is a brake controller? It controls the brake system? That's assuming that the trailer comes with brakes? My AS guy said my trailer only comes with emergency break away brakes. Do I have to buy additional brakes?

[JCL]

Originally Posted by davidachoi

I've been looking for this exact subject for the past 6 weeks and finally found it. I just bought a 27' 1976 Airstream trailer and it's GVVR is 6200 lbs. mfiver, how heavy is your rig loaded? What type of tow equipment do you have to pull that load? And did you say you didn't have any sway problems? How fast did you go? I was looking at the specs for the Prodigy brake controller http://www.reese-hitches.com/product...HH_39519,90185
and it says that it's not recommended with the X5. Any idea why not? And what exactly is a brake controller? It controls the brake system? That's assuming that the trailer comes with brakes? My AS guy said my trailer only comes with emergency break away brakes. Do I have to buy additional brakes?

There are lots of posts on trailers and brakes, but I think you may need some basic information on towing, brake controllers, weight-distributing hitches, etc, to make sense of them. That information is not specific to the X5, it applies to all tow vehicles.

There are articles on the X5 World home page on installing brake controllers. What a trailer brake controller does is pick up a braking signal from the tow vehicle, and then activate the trailer brakes. The signal can come from the X5 brake lights, or a second brake light switch mounted on the brake pedal. It can also come from a switch attached to the top of the brake pedal, essentially a switch that you step on to push the brake pedal. Yes, you will need active trailer brakes for that weight of trailer on the X5. They can be surge brakes (which self-activate when the trailer feels the tow vehicle slowing) or they can be electrically activated.

[davidachoi]

Thanks, that helps. For the active brake system for the trailer itself, does that have to be installed separately? Maybe that's a trailer question.