I'm a believer! Been thinking about getting a trailer to tow a sports vehicle myself. Please continue to keep us posted on the progress of the transmission. I know what the book states, and have seen it done. But am always nervous about actually towing something with the X5 (3.0i), in fear of the tranny going to the craps after pro-longed load exposure.

Great photos!

A viper on HREs and those black fog covers and washers are so sick!

I was under the impression that the X5 was could only tow about 6000 lbs or so????

To me, that always meant, if I wanted to tow my race car, it needed to be in an OPEN TRAILER. Because the weight of a Porsche 911, is about 3700 lbs. (I think) and closed trailers wight about 4000 lbs, (I think)...
And that is not including all the other gear: extra set of wheels and tires, compressor, people, etc.. So I thought the X5 was really not equipped to handle that much load..

So then, what is the tow capacity of the X5 (gasser not diesel) and does the engine size matter (4.4 vs. 4.8is) ??

How do you know when you are trying to tow too much?

Thanks,
B

When you see your transmission in your side view mirror....:rofl:

My X5 is a lease, so technically, it's not MY transmission, it's THEIR transmission, lol...

B

withdl is towing more than what your combo would be. Looks like the key is load distribution (and having trailer brakes). It would be good for you to not let BMW know how much you are towing.

Cliffnotes: you should be able to your 911 enclosed no problem if everything is prepped right.

Yeah, I figured I'm right at the CUSP with trailer and car. But then I started to factor things like, full tank of gas, passenger, gear, tools, cooler, wheels, etc. And all of a sudden, it seems like I'm bouncing off the factory specs..

Having said that, I have towed with an open trailer on both 4.4 and 4.8 X5's and they are so well planted, powerful.. that the trailer loaded up almost seems like an after thought..

I personally think the X5 is much more capable than the rating's they give.

B

Towing
 

I towed a 7x16 ft blunt nose trailer that was pretty tall. It was not ideal, but a loaner. I almost borrowed my buddy's 20ft trailer and loaded it with 5 motorcycles after my enthusiasm from looking at the pics from people towing the 31 ft airstream and the 20 ft car trailer with the Viper. I was towing at about 65 to 70 miles and hour averaging 10.9 miles per gallon. Perhaps purchasing a 7x12 ft v-nose lowhauler and hauling only 2 bikes is my best option. I did see that BMW was coming out with a deisel 3.0 with 398 ft lbs of torque in 2008.

Don't think too much into it. Do it :)
Remember, its an X5 and you have a 4.8is.:thumbup:

I always thought the tow restrictions had less to do with the power of the engine (4.8is vs 4.4i) and had more to do with transmission coolant, suspension setup, etc.

Otherwise, why would BMW rate the 4.4 at the same tow capacity as the 4.8is. That never made sense to me, unless you figure the limitations have nothing to do with engine but with collateral parts.

B