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  #101  
Old 11-11-2018, 07:00 PM
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It appears that you do not know that German automotive industry is not only BMW and MB, but that's fine.

Anyway, if I were you I would stop glorifying MB hitch, which was known for weak welds and the recall.
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  #102  
Old 11-12-2018, 08:06 AM
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I weighed the tongue weight on my trailer instead of guessing like most do. My trailer lists itself at 438lbs tongue weight.

I have 4x 6v golf cart batteries and two 30lbs propane tanks on the tongue. One tank was full and one was about 1/3 full. Plus misc crap that always stays in the trailer and an empty water tanks. The actual measured tongue weight was using a sherline scale;

618lbs +/- 2%. Which incidentally would be about 13% of our trailers estimated weight of about 4700lbs as it sits. So about what you would actually want, which is generally 10-15% of trailer weight as tongue weight.

So it wouldn't surprise me when I drove to colorado and back with a full tank 43 gallons of fresh water and a 100lb generator and other gear that I was pushing ~950lbs of tongue weight. Car performed just fine btw with this load, no issues, no bending or breaking of anything. However we were clearly overloaded and exceeded the rear axel weight on the car, and max payload weight which is 1100lbs for the X5.

Were leaving on a trip friday and will hit some cat scales. We'll redistribute some of the weight in the trailer and not go with a full tank of water to keep the tongue weight down. Next trip we'll have lithium batteries to cut about 180lbs of weight on the trailer a-frame near the tongue.

Last edited by Thecastle; 11-12-2018 at 08:15 AM.
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  #103  
Old 11-12-2018, 11:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bono View Post
I am only boon-docking. My mods include: lithium batteries 400Ah, 2800 Magnum inverter, 640W solar panels. I ordered the trailer with two 20 lbs tanks instead of 30 lbs and relocated the batteries to inside the trailer to keep the tongue weight lower.

If you want to lower tongue weight you need to relocate batteries. You can use AGMs and put them in the trailer, if you do not want to spend $ on lithium.

Over 14k towing miles later, X5 is great tow vehicle. We towed through Rockies, many times in Tahoe, Yosemite, etc.

Nice mods!

We are seriously considering lithium for the weight savings. We're running 430ah of golf car batteries which weigh 242lbs+case (4x60.5lbs) So for that weight we have a usable 215ah+/-. Going to 200ah of lithium would cut our weight by 180lbs.

I've also wired in an inverter and an auto transfer switch, so all my outlets are powered by the inverter and the auto transfer switch automatically switches between shore / inverter power.... With no smoking or suicide cords.

How/where did you relocate your batteries?

Since I have a murphy bed on our trailer, we're going to test and see if lowering the murphy bed which is right at the very front of the trailer cuts tongue weight. When its folded up all the weight is right near the hitch.

We planning to spend 5 days boondocking in Guadalupe National Park leaving friday. So getting the hitch weight down so we can take on more fresh water has been a priority without significantly exceeding the 600lbs hitch maximum on the X5M. We do have a weight distribution hitch, which probably helped us quite a bit when we were so overweight without knowing it.
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  #104  
Old 11-12-2018, 12:29 PM
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1,100 lbs payload is just standard value BMW is using across all E70 engines. Check your approved gross vehicle weight and the actual weight, the difference would be the real payload. Anyway, IMO payload is just reference point. You should realy care about the axle and tire limits. But this is just me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thecastle View Post
I weighed the tongue weight on my trailer instead of guessing like most do. My trailer lists itself at 438lbs tongue weight.

I have 4x 6v golf cart batteries and two 30lbs propane tanks on the tongue. One tank was full and one was about 1/3 full. Plus misc crap that always stays in the trailer and an empty water tanks. The actual measured tongue weight was using a sherline scale;

618lbs +/- 2%. Which incidentally would be about 13% of our trailers estimated weight of about 4700lbs as it sits. So about what you would actually want, which is generally 10-15% of trailer weight as tongue weight.

So it wouldn't surprise me when I drove to colorado and back with a full tank 43 gallons of fresh water and a 100lb generator and other gear that I was pushing ~950lbs of tongue weight. Car performed just fine btw with this load, no issues, no bending or breaking of anything. However we were clearly overloaded and exceeded the rear axel weight on the car, and max payload weight which is 1100lbs for the X5.

Were leaving on a trip friday and will hit some cat scales. We'll redistribute some of the weight in the trailer and not go with a full tank of water to keep the tongue weight down. Next trip we'll have lithium batteries to cut about 180lbs of weight on the trailer a-frame near the tongue.
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  #105  
Old 11-12-2018, 12:30 PM
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I have bunk beds in the back. The inverter and batteries are under the bed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thecastle View Post
(...)
How/where did you relocate your batteries?
(...)
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  #106  
Old 01-15-2019, 10:34 AM
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I just towed about 6k lbs with my N55 X5. I was burning a quarter tank of fuel for every 50-60 miles. That equates to 11-12 mpg. I was cruising about 75 for a period of time with the trailer. However when I slowed down I could tell the tank of gas was getting me farther. I would say it towed fine, however braking was tough.




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  #107  
Old 01-15-2019, 11:16 AM
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No comment on towing, but what are the plans for the salvage model 3? You watch rich rebuilds on YouTube?
__________________
2005 X5 4.4i Build 04/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, Pano, Sport (Purchased 06/14 w/ 109,000 miles) (Sold 8/15 w/121,000 miles)


2006 X5 4.8is Build 11/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, DSP, Pano, Running Boards, OEM Tow Hitch, Cold Weather Pckg (Purchased 08/15 w/ 90,500 miles)

2010 X5 35d Build 02/10
Nav, HiFi, 6 DVD, Sports Pckg, Cold Weather Pckg, HUD, CAS, Running Boards, Leather Dash, PDC, Pano (Purchased 03/17 w/ 136,120 miles)
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  #108  
Old 01-15-2019, 11:31 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalworks View Post
No comment on towing, but what are the plans for the salvage model 3? You watch rich rebuilds on YouTube?
I have seen some of his videos a while back. I’m rebuilding for myself right now. Might drive it for a year and resell
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  #109  
Old 01-15-2019, 12:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dennisvab View Post
I have seen some of his videos a while back. I’m rebuilding for myself right now. Might drive it for a year and resell
Very cool. Best of luck with the project.
__________________
2005 X5 4.4i Build 04/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, Pano, Sport (Purchased 06/14 w/ 109,000 miles) (Sold 8/15 w/121,000 miles)


2006 X5 4.8is Build 11/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, DSP, Pano, Running Boards, OEM Tow Hitch, Cold Weather Pckg (Purchased 08/15 w/ 90,500 miles)

2010 X5 35d Build 02/10
Nav, HiFi, 6 DVD, Sports Pckg, Cold Weather Pckg, HUD, CAS, Running Boards, Leather Dash, PDC, Pano (Purchased 03/17 w/ 136,120 miles)
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  #110  
Old 01-15-2019, 12:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dennisvab View Post
I just towed about 6k lbs with my N55 X5 (snip) equates to 11-12 mpg, (snip) however braking was tough.


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MPG: my diesel x5 got 14-16mpg towing an enclosed v-nose at nearly 9k lbs. pulling a flat nose enclosed at6k lbs I only get 12.5mph. So you are within reasonable on gas mileage.

BRAKING: those Uhaul trailers have surge brakes which may or may not be adjusted well. But at the end of the day you’ve doubled the weight of the moving package but not doubled th braking capacity x5 brakes are vastly better than the trailer brakes). You should expect/assume degraded braking performance when towing anything.

SPEED: And IIRC the trailer itself is not supposed to go over 55mph. This might be for your safety depending on what tires were on that trailer. Nice that you didn’t get pulled over for towing too fast for the trailer.
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