Towing Exp.

[TowX]

After several years of cross country towing with my X5 (and probably 75,000 miles of towing race car trailers over the past 20 years), a few of my thoughts for you....

Keep an eye on your trans fluid, and change it frequently. When my trans died at 75k miles, the "lifetime" fluid that came out was just plain fried. If I planned on keeping my X5 (with my new enclosed race car hauler I just can't see long distance towing with the X5 so working on buying a Yukon Denali or Infiniti QX56) I would absolutely change trans fluid annually. The V8 will no doubt pull a big trailer pretty well, but the trans will need all the cooling and lube help it can get. It's a weak link even without the added heat of towing.

Be very careful with the towed weight. You mentioned you towed to Indiana. If you were pulled over in Indiana and your trailer weight did in fact exceed the tow rating of the X5, you would have been given an expensive ticket, and perhaps even forced to park the trailer or reduce the weight before being allowed to continue. Many other states have similar laws. Some people believe there's a variance offered, like 5%, but from the Indiana state troopers I've talked with, that's just an old internet rumor.

Using a weight distributing hitch is a very smart way to go with that weight trailer. One tip for you, shared with me by a BMW dealer shop foreman who also towed with an X5- Hitch up your trailer with the engine turned off and key out of the ignition so the pump for the rear airbags is not operating. Drop the trailer onto the ball, get your spring arms into place and only then should you turn on the X5. This way you get the X5 and trailer properly leveled and the airbags just have to keep it all level. Otherwise the airbags will pump up to take all the weight of the tongue weight and the spring bars be improperly tensioned. I've done this for 3 years and it makes a big difference in the stability of the tow vehicle and trailer, especially in cross winds. And this is also the way most US SUV's with self leveling suspensions are supposed to be loaded too, so it's not anything unique to the X5.

Do NOT exceed the max tire pressure on the rear tires. With the heat of driving I bet your rear tires ended up at 55-60 psi after a half hour of driving. Not what any passenger car/ SUV tire was designed for. I've towed 1,000 miles in a day with the rear 19" tires at 40 psi and never had even a hint of instability, and I got close to 40,000 miles out of the Michelin Diamaris tires.

I know what you mean about the wind drag of that huge "parachute" above the roof of the X5. I borrowed a flat front Haulmark trailer from a friend one weekend and just towing it home from his house 50 miles I had a heck of a time holding 65 in 5th gear with a head wind. I threw my Yakima roof pod on for the long tow, and was amazed how much easier the trailer pulled. I can only speculate that the pod's aero shape was able to cut the wind higher up, and perhaps deflected some of the air over the trailer. Now I pull a V-nose enclosed trailer and it slices through the air very efficiently.

Now if I could find a set of mirrors so I could actually see around my trailer without the mirror extensions vibrating so badly that they're basically useless.

[TowX]

Originally Posted by Dan Fowler

Thanks for sharing info. I have the BMW hitch mounted but not used yet. I remember somewhere instructions said not to use load equalizer on X with self leveling rear suspension. If you have leveling why what was your thinking on equalizer? Also, I have no experience with the wireless brakes; your impressions? Thanks again.

The factory hitch has two different ratings on it- load carrying and weight distributing. I've never seen anything that says not to use a WD platform, and have towed probably 30,000 on this X5 with rear self leveling and never an issue.