Between reading posts about legality and warranty issues, I’ve swapped a couple of emails with a towing expert north of the border, and talked at length to a Michigan vendor about pivot point projection possibilities (I think that’s 4Ps).
I am not selling the X5d to buy a truck. I am purchasing a 25RB next week. I will tow it to the Southwest in two weeks. The X5 will be virtually empty. With all that in mind, I’ve been prepping this three-year old, 63k on the odometer X5d by:
- recently replacing all brake rotors and pads
- flushing the brake fluid
- changing the engine oil and filter
- installing new cabin filters
- replacing the windshield wiper blades
- having the transmission fluid, filter, and pan changed today
- replacing today the transfer case fluid
- replacing the differential fluids
- replacing the chipped windshield tomorrow morning
- installing four new XL rated tires 8k miles ago
I did all this because I have at least a modest appreciation for safety and risk aversion, for myself and my wife. And I assure you, that carries over into my Airstreaming.
I came looking for a hitch recommendation. I received several good suggestions...and so much more. And that’s okay with me.
This has been fun.
My Take Aways from all the wranglings of the last few days are these:
- the Eaz-Lift I already own, with 1000 pound bars installed, is likely to suffice quite well
- buying a different hitch before I even try the one I already have is rather like a solution in search of a problem
- Reese SC, ProPride, and other good hitches will still be available for purchase if the friction sway control thing on the Eaz-Lift makes me crazy
As a complete aside: If it were the Germans handling the marketing in the USA, we’d likely see things like manual transmissions, cloth seats, and lots more diesel options available to us, plus factory-installed hitches….just like the ones installed in South Carolina on the X5s going back into the domestic German market. I envied my German neighbors for what they were able to order for in their domestic market, even when the products were built in the USA.
As to hitch safety, towing capacity, and all that, Germans don’t do weight distribution, and the German engineers I know personally are genetically incapable of recommending anything they can’t analyze in their own labs, or in this case on their Autobahns. (And I say that will deep respect and fondness for meinen viele deutsche Freunde).
BTW, here’s what BMW AG says about the X5 towing capacity: “Dazu kommt die Anhängerkupplung , die nicht nur eine Anhängelast zwischen 2,7 und 3,5 t.” The lesser capacity being associate with the 2.5d engines, one would presume.
As noted in an earlier post, I am truly thankful for the thoughtful advice. I read the Forum for a while before joining, but now have a much broader depth of appreciation for those who participate and the generally temperate means by which they work to make and substantiate their positions. I only hope I’ve done met that same standard.
Gratefully,
Rod