My newbie head exploding with hitch choice

[Rgentum]

My sweetie & I & our two woofers have just returned from the National rally & then the NW rally --- 9000 miles in 6 weeks --- with our 27FB & Blue Ox hitch. Issues:

1. Although there are lots of users on this Forum who swear by the ProPride hitch, our Blue Ox does everything we want with a hitch, & I'm not aware of any real (as opposed to theoretical) advantage a ProPride hitch would provide us, even tho it would cost 4-5 times what we paid for the Blue Ox. Mind you (& all the ProPride users), I'm not complaining about the ProPride hitch (other than about its weight & cost), I'm just saying the Blue Ox so far has done everything we would expect & want a hitch to do.

2. I and many others have had problems with the short, simple, lever arm provided with the Blue Ox, the tool used to tighten its chains. My solution to this was to buy a 25 inch-long cheater bar from Harbor Freight, at approx $10, and attach to it a 1 inch, 6-point, 1/2 inch deep-socket. That provides approx 3 times the torque of the Blue Ox lever arm & makes the job of tightening & loosening the chains effortless (and safer).

[greghoro]

Originally Posted by loudruff

Go for the best. Propride. We won't ever go back. Worth the expense.

ProPride is a good hitch but Foley has a poor track record installing and setting them up properly.


Greg

[rostam]

Originally Posted by PKI

...Step two - ignore the "you don't have enough TV" comments...

A modern 25' Airstream has a tongue weight of over 1000#. When the tongue weight of the trailer exceeds the payload of the TV, I think its fair to say "you don't have enough TV".

X5's hitch is rated at 600#. What is the rating of the hitch after its reinforced?

[rmkrum]

Originally Posted by greghoro

ProPride is a good hitch but Foley has a poor track record installing and setting them up properly.


Greg

That's very sad, because all you have to do is follow the directions in the very clear manual, and have or buy the right 1/2 inch drive 250 foot-pound torque wrench.

It took me and 18 year old daughter only a couple hours to install it right the first time.


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[Mrjkq]

For what it's worth, here's a little inside as to towing a 25 FC. I've just returned from a 10,150 mile that went from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans plus a lot in between including crossing the continental divide, 7 % grades and every type of terrain imaginable. My TV is a half ton pick up that did a great job in all situations.

If you plan to do any kind of extensive travel I strongly suggest reevaluating your tow vehicle before spending a small fortune trying to retrofit your BMW. When on the Interstate caught between two 18 wheelers passing you at 79 mph you'll be glad you did. If your a weekend camper just driving a couple hundred miles to your destination then you'll be fine in that TV. This is just my 2 cents, but it's 2 cents from someone who's done a lot of towing, over 20,000 towing a trailer and another 25,000 miles towing a car behind a Motorhome.

[wlanford]

We pull our 2016 31' Classic with our 2015 BMW X5 diesel. It pulls and drives so much better than our previous Toyota tundra 5.7l. And we average 15 to 16 miles per gallon. In my opinion, you should consider a Hensley or pro-pride hitch due to the relatively short wheelbase of your X5. We let Andy at Can-Am RV install and reinforce our hitch receiver on the X5. Then we came home and had our BMW dealer install the brake controller and wiring harness for the 7 way connector. The BMW control module and wiring harness ensures that your X5's computer incorporates all the trailer towing functionality. Obviously the BMW installation of the brake controller and wiring harness is not cheap but probably necessary if you want to get it right.

[m.hony]

There ya go.
A real world testimonial of your x5 pulling my trailer - Classic 30 - better than my Tundra...
If an x5 will pull a 30 it will pull a 25.
Get CanAm to reinforce your hitch and get a ProPride.


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[jcl]

Originally Posted by rostam

A modern 25' Airstream has a tongue weight of over 1000#. When the tongue weight of the trailer exceeds the payload of the TV, I think its fair to say "you don't have enough TV".

X5's hitch is rated at 600#. What is the rating of the hitch after its reinforced?

The tongue weight matters for the strength of the receiver. What matters for tow vehicle payload is the net weight applied to the tow vehicle, not the tongue weight itself.

The receiver is rated at 600 lbs by the manufacturer. They don't change that rating when it is reinforced, as you know. How could they, as they don't have control over that process? And of course, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. You don't need a new rating, you need a sufficiently strong receiver for the loads it will see. Fortunately, there are service providers with the experience and skills to do that reinforcing.

[benjisgal]

Originally Posted by spreadmywing

OK, I consider myself a diligent learner so I have been buried myself in reading and watching YouTube his past weekend to understand my options. Still I am in a fog because I have very little experience in cars (other than driving) and towing.

My TV is 2008 BMW X5 4.8. My AS is 2013 flying cloud 25 twin.

Andy and Evan from CAN AM have been very generous in advising me. I would have gone over there to get all the help if it hadn't been so far. I did send more emails to them but I don't want to burden their generosity too much. My X5 is in Dallas, my AS is in Gulfport dealer. And I am in Hawaii, to make things complicated.

So Andy/Evan suggested ez lift 1000 or 1200lbs for my x5 and fc25.

My dealer suggested blue ox 1000#.

I watched YouTube videos on both. It seems to my untrained eyes they do the same job (?). But blue ox seems to be easier to handle for a female newbie AS owner?

I cannot tell the difference and therefore cannot make decision.

I do plan to visit Andy next spring to reinforce my x5 but before that I want to be safe for my coming 4000 mile trip.

Another big thing is that I haven't found anyone to install the hitch receiver and brake controller in Dallas yet. The dealers are not very helpful. I got a quote of $3200 then reduced to $1000 for installation (without part). Money aside, I heard Bmw dealer is not expert on hitch installation (or they are just fine?)

With the excitement of new AS adventure, I do need to take care of these things first.

Please help! And I thank all the people who already offered lots of help to this point! Thank you!

Joy

I am a single female traveling with a 2010 23' Flying Cloud. I use the Blue Ox 1000. I love it andd it is easy to hitch and unhitch. I got it initially when I purchased my first RV, a 32' Jayco JayFlight trailer. So, the hitch is very capable of towing my 23' Flying Cloud.

[benjisgal]

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

I have the blue ox. It is very nice system and works well for my Chevy Silverado 1500 and 27 ft FC. Much nicer than our old hitch on our old white box trailer. Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with any modern WD hitch system. But the blue ox works very well.

Mike

PS on edit: my father in law also got a new SOB trailer that weighs around 7k lbs. he got the Anderson hitch. He now wishes he had purchased the blue ox, after watching me hook up one morning.

I am a single female traveling with a 2008 Chevy Avalanche (TV) and a 23' 2010 Flying Cloud. The Blue Ox 1000 is the hitch I use. I love it. It takes a few times to get use to it, but it takes me less than two or three minutes to hitch and unhitch. I learned all the nuances of the Blue Ox so it takes me no time to hitch up. I first got the hitch when I purchased a 32' Jayco Jayflight trailer…so my unit is more than adequate for my trailer.

[rostam]

Originally Posted by m.hony

There ya go.
A real world testimonial of your x5 pulling my trailer - Classic 30 - better than my Tundra...
If an x5 will pull a 30 it will pull a 25.
Get CanAm to reinforce your hitch and get a ProPride.


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I have serious doubts about the wisdom of using an X5, that is exceeding its tow rating, hitch rating, GVWR, and most probably rear axle rating, to tow a 30 Classic.

I cringe when members encourage a newbie to go over stated capacities of a vehicle. As jcl stated, the after market shop does not even uprate the hitch.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by rostam

I have serious doubts about the wisdom of using an X5, that is exceeding its tow rating, hitch rating, GVWR, and most probably rear axle rating, to tow a 30 Classic.

I cringe when members encourage a newbie to go over stated capacities of a vehicle. As jcl stated, the after market shop does not even uprate the hitch.

Who said it is exceeding the GVWR or the rear axle rating?

Also, I didn't state that the aftermarket shop does not uprate the hitch. I stated that the hitch manufacturer, who rated it in the unreinforced state, does not re rate it. I personally never designed a hitch modification and certified it as a licensed professional engineer, as I didn't see the point. But having designed guards and such for mobile heavy equipment, it was common to design a falling object protection (FOPS) or roll over protection (ROPS) and be required to certify it as an engineer. I suppose a fabrication could be certified by an engineer if that was important to a user.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

Please be clear that I am not calling any poster ignorant.

Jeff

[m.hony]

I was referring to the post before mine.
The guy says the x5 does a better job than my Tundra pulling a trailer similar to mine- same model but newer- based upon him owning a Tundra then an x5.
I'm not about to trade my Tundra for an x5.
Some say my Tundra is inadequate and a need a 3/4 ton, but I have been towing with the Tundra just fine for 6 years.
The OP already owns an x5 and doesn't want to get rid of it.
What can we do?


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[doctorlewis]

Over the past forty years, I have had an Argosy and three different Airstreams. The best hitch that I have ever used is the ProPride. Yes, it is expensive but worth every penny when driving down the road. You almost forget that the trailer is behind you. In July this year coming across Kansas, I got caught in a storm (tornado) with 70-90 mile crosswinds and the trailer did fine. Also, I would consider getting a different tow vehicle with a higher rating.