My X5d- A reliable daily driven tow rig

[Spyro235]

I wanted to start this thread, more for myself, just so I have something to keep track of things in. For reference, this is my fuelly page, and it tracks every single thing I've done to the vehicle since purchasing it on 12/30/18.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/bmw/x5/2010/spyro/881426

As the title states, I bought my X5d to be a reliable and comfortable daily, that is capable of easily towing my Big Tex 18' car hauler with my '01 330i drift car, tons of drift spares, and tools on it. Trailer's max limit is 7000 total, and the X5 is USA rated at 6000. When all loaded up, I'm normally between 5500 and 6000, with 550-600 on the ball.


My requirements for the car were primarily daily drivability, as I commute 100 miles a day. I wanted more comfort than my stage 2 335i gave me, and more practicality. I didn't wan't to lose MUCH mpg if I lost any at all, and I certainly didn't want to be crazy underpowered. MPG while towing was a thought in my mind too, as I couldn't afford the fuel to daily drive OR tow with a v8 pickup. At this point I had been driving my drift car, loaded to the gills with stuff, to events and back, after torturing the car all weekend at events. This was ok, because my tracks were only 1.25 hours away. what about going farther? I needed a towing setup.

I got my head thinking about an X5. I had driven one, and it wasnt crazy wallowy and awful to drive like most SUV I've driven. Seemed like the i6's were slow as mollases, but the V8's had enough. But the mpg's were AWFUL. So then I learned about the diesel option. Rated at 26mpg highway, which is about what my 335i got, and earthmoving torque. Read all about emissions stuff, and how when it goes, the best route is to delete, and then you have one of the best motors BMW has ever made. Ok, sweet! How much now?


Oh.... $15k for a half decent one, and 10-13k for a super high mileage one... Dang. Maybe in a few years.

I spent months looking for deals, figuring one day I'd find one for a steal with emissions issues. After about a month of checking every selling site, I found one... for $5500. I was an hour too late by the time I had gotten home from work that day. I just about gave up my search, figuring it's definitely something I'd buy, just in a year or two. Then, around 2 months later, out of pure boredom while waiting for my buddy to come to my girlfriend's house, I found mine on facebook marketplace. Listed an hour ago at $4500, with 203.5k miles. Body in great shape, and a seller that's fairly well known in the northeast for his history with all sorts of cool cars. I contacted him, we talked about all the issues it had: code for tank sensor, triggering the CEL, a semi shot wheel bearing, a cracked windshield, and a broken rear wiper. It had also been heavily smoked in.... sigh. Seller was in VT, and offered it to me at $4300 without the JBD, because he offered someone that already. I put a $150 deposit down through paypal, which seemed super risky, but after talking to the guy on the phone and creeping on his facebook, I decided I had a good feeling about this. I'm ready to drive my and my buddy's butts to VT, when he offers to MEET ME IN ALBANY! Cuts the trip in half for me, 3 hours instead of 6 each way. I thank him, and we meet.

Of course I buy it, and immediately go to crackerbarrel for a long overdue first meal of the day. I treated my buddy that I dragged up to albany with me.

After I got home, I was totally in love. Super comfortable, pretty good steering feel, and 28.6 calculated mpg on the way home! Not too shabby. I gave it a nice wash, and tried to clean the interior surfaces to get the gross smokey covering off everything. Worked out, and with lots of driving around, the interior didn't smell much. The vents were still an issue, to be addressed later.



I addressed the wheel bearing first, then fixed the wiper. To the tune of $500 to have a mechanic to the bearing, and the wiper arm was like $20 on amazon.

Next, I played with the grill. Some of the only damage to this thing is matching rubs on both front corners, this one had knocked the sensor out, making it go haywire anytime the car had PDC on.


Then, I addressed the vents. I figured doing the air filters and the cabin recirc filter would just about do away with the smell. The itnake filters were honestly fine, but due for replacement anyway. The Reciculation filter in the cabin was absolutely disgusting. Caked in cigarette tar.... Found the source! Oh yea... My blower motor was on the fritz. What an easy swap out, kudos to the engineers!

[Spyro235]

I bought a roof rack, but don't really have a picture of it. Needed to transport ladders, so I grabbed the rack locally for around $120 bucks. BMW oem, lockable, both keys, and the little torque hex. Looks good, but makes noise, so I take it off when I'm not using it for at least a week.

Next I was on the hunt for some wheels. I knew I wanted a cheap summer set, and I preferred 19 to have a little more wheel in the big wells. I absolutely 100% wanted a square setup, and 255's are fine for me right now. I drive so many miles that I want to be able to rotate, and smaller tires are always cheaper. Found these very dirty style 211's for sale for $350, locally, and with half tread Conti DWS's on them. 211's aren't my favorite, but they fit the bill and they are the right price. They grew on me.

These things were disgusting when I got them, not cleaned for years. The finish is definitely stained in places, but for $350 wheels and tires, they cleaned up fine. A little Sonax takes the grime right off!



I also installed carplay. I bought it from the same company as the group buy in the classifieds, for like $400 shipped, it was well worth it. Carplay functions flawlessly, and for the amount I drive, not having to be touching my phone all the time is wonderful. Worth every penny. Except for the part when I locked myself out of my car and while prying open the door, I put my first dent on the car... on the pillar. Hate myself....




Finally, it was time for a delete and tune. Had it done at Highline Motors outside of Albany, NY. Long drive, but they saved me countless hours of cursing, plus they tuned DUDMD stage 2 on site. For the $2000 all said and done, it was WELL worth it. I was deleted mid march, if you want to compare my gas mileage on fuelly. I immediately tuned my trans with Rod Sutphin's tune after the delete.



At this point, I bought my trailer. Literally, I got deleted in albany on saturday, and picked this up on that sunday. Finally... my long time dream of a tow rig and a trailer is coming true!! Bought this baby down in virginia, spent a cool 14 hours on the road on a beautiful sunday. It's a 2017 Big Tex 18' car hauler, 2' dovetail on the back. I'm the third owner, and the guy I bought it from didn't actually ever tow with it. Tires are original, and look to have 5k miles on them. Beautiful trailer in great shape, braked on both axles. I use the tekonsha RF controller, and it works great. Obligatory Cracker barrel pic... Of course I stopped while travelling for some chicken fried chicken.

[Spyro235]

Then was my first time towing my car. Everything went super well!


That leads me to much more recent times- I've really just put 22k miles on it in 6 months, with very few repairs of any kind. I think I forgot to mention right when I got it the thermostat failed, which along with the bearing is the only thing I've really HAD to fix.

Recently, because I'm an idiot and had the wrong ball on my hitch, and then, for the first time, DIDN'T double check the trailer attachment to the ball by jacking it up and lifting the rear end of the X5 up, I threw my trailer into my tailgate. That was a real "I'm an idiot" moment.


I took it off, determined to make it look at least a little better. I've only tried to hammer out a dent on my drift car one, so that's the extent of my PDR experience. I basically heated it up, and used a 2x4 below it with a towel between to use a rubber mallet to try to straighten it out. at least a bit....
I couldnt reach the top part of the dent, so I actually cut a square out of the cabin side sheet metal to have access to the exterior sheet metal. I'm by no means a professional but it looks WAY less bad. Still bugs me, so I'm casually on the hunt for a BSM lower tailgate. LOTS of heat from a good heat gun, and none of the paint cracked, and it just overall looks way less like I threw my trailer into the back of my car.




Then just this past weekend, I finally installed my sport wheel. Huge difference, I like it way better. Whole cockpit feels more modern.

[Spyro235]

So, that's pretty much where I am now. I'm at 227k miles. Average 26.5 mpg over the last 22k miles. That's including all the towing miles, which greatly reduce the mpg's. Normal commuting tanks easily hit 29.5 when I'm driving semi patiently with crusie set at 70-72mph on the highway. Aggressive commuting drops that to around 27.5. I've had a CEL for my glow plug controller for ages, and I have the new controller. I'm hoping to get that installed within the next few days. I've got another thread about my vibration issue at highway speeds, which I have the tension struts in the front end to hopefully take care of. After that I want to do the big trans service, including replacing all the solenoids in there. While towing, I noticed that if I'm full boost, accelerating at low rpm in 4th, and go to 5th, my trans misses 5th and slams back into 4th. Some of my shifts flare a bit too. I've talked at length with Rod Sutphin about it, and he agrees with my plan of action- new pan, fluid, all mechatronics seals, and new solenoids. The trans behaves 95% of the time even while towing, so while I'm not REALLY worried about it, I'd like to minimize signs of wear before the end of august. At the end of august I'm going to be towing my drift car 1000 miles each way up to Wisconsin and back for a big event, and I'd rather have the peace of mine knowing my trans is in as good shape as possible before I put that many towing miles on it. I've towed my car around 2000 miles intermittently so far, but never more than 150 miles in a day. I suspect I'll be putting some strain on the trans, and the car as a whole, by towing that far.

I've also got rear "airlift" helper bags that will go inside the coil springs in my rear. I don't have the air suspension in the rear, so helper bags could really help me. I don't squat much as long as I don't really have anything in my trunk while towing, but if I fill my trunk with more wheels/ tools, she squats really bad. I'm hooping to have nearly no weight in the car for the long tow, and be able to put all of it on the trailer. Might make up a wheel rack for the front of my trailer just so I can keep my trunk empty. I should install the airbags sometimne soon too, and I want to polish my idrive screen too. Anti glare is all scratched up.


Let me know if anyone has any questions! Again, these postings are mostly aimed toward me keeping track of things, just like my drift build thread on the drifting section of bimforums.

[Spyro235]

A breath of fresh air- got the glow plug controller swapped out, using 335stoner's video.
No more CEL! Woo!!!!

[Ryan5034]

Glad your X5 has been working out for you. I use my V8TT to tow a 20' car hauler with ATV's around. It's been working pretty good. Total weight loaded is around 5000#. I use a Redarc brake controller that has been great.

Couple questions for you.

1. What part number is that steering wheel? I have a heated wheel as well and I couldn't figure out the right number.
2. What airbags did you use for the rear?

[Spyro235]

1) I'm pretty sure the heated sport wheel is 32306797910. That's what I see on Realoem. It's a no paddle, sport, heated wheel. They all operate the same, but the paddles have nuances between what works, what needs rewiring, and what needs to be wired all the way down to the trans plug.

2) I bought red Air lift 60909 1000 universal air spring kit. Haven't installed them yet, and to my knowledge, noone has done supplementary bags before. I'm hoping to install them before my 2000 mile tow, which is in about 5 weeks. First though, hopefully this week, I'm going to be replacing my tension struts, and doing the big trans service I have planned. X5 has been towing fine without the bags in the rear as long as the hitch/ trunk isn't overloaded when combined. I'm hoping the bags help level out the ride/ prevent some squat, as I'm mostly concerned with ride quality and tire wear on the long tow.

[Ryan5034]

Cool thanks for the info. I'm interested to know how those air bags work for you.

Also if you haven't installed a locking hitch pin you should get one, it gets rid of a lot of the racket that gets transmitted through to vehicle.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Spyro235]

I'll be sure to update when I install them.

I use a simpler approach- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works wonderfully with 6k lbs behind me.

[Spyro235]

Well, last week I replaced my tension struts. Was pretty easy to do, but my vibration hasn't changed at all. I'm not debating whether to tackle the Guibo+Center support bearing, or doing the upper arms in the rear suspension. At this point it's kind of hard to figure out exactly what the vibration is, I really think it's driveline related, happens in neutral, and changes frequency with weight on the hitch.

I also noticed a "Hisssss" happening when my motor is building boost. I assume I've sprung a small boost leak, and have no codes for it at the moment. Even romping on it, not underboost codes. A little weird, but I guess I've got some intercooler connections to check on.

[Spyro235]

So, I had sprung a leak. Fixed that a while ago.

This weekend I did the entire trans job. Solenoids and all the seals. I should be re-adapting the trans later today. Safelite also replaced my windshield, and now my wipers don't work. Pretty sure it's just the adhesive pad, but they still need to fix it. I leave Thursday at the crack of dawn on the big tow. They messed up the address so now it's looking like it'll be a late night of loading up!

I installed the airbags in my rear yesterday. Drilled through the top spring seat and plumbed it into the trunk's under compartment. I T'd them together and then ran the single fill valve to the compartment on the drivers side of the trunk. Left it long enough to be pulled out and reach the ground in case I'm stuck using a bicycle pump to change pressures.... which I believe I will be.

I've got a brand new set of Michelin Defender LTX M/S's on now. they ride really nicely, and were great off road when I went in some dirt and sand. Looking forward to see how they tow!

[RL18]

Just read this. Really nice know this has been a reliable tow rig for you, especially with the mileage you're at. Just pick up an x5d with 87k on it so I'm looking forward to hopefully lots of good miles. Been enjoying it stock though with the trans tune and the xdelete driving in rwd mostly while the weather is nice.

Hoping to get mine deleted before winter rolls in. Want to get a stealth hitch installed so it can haul my 335d and track and drag it! Please do update with how your airbags work for you might be something I should look at doing too.

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by RL18

Just read this. Really nice know this has been a reliable tow rig for you, especially with the mileage you're at. Just pick up an x5d with 87k on it so I'm looking forward to hopefully lots of good miles. Been enjoying it stock though with the trans tune and the xdelete driving in rwd mostly while the weather is nice.

Hoping to get mine deleted before winter rolls in. Want to get a stealth hitch installed so it can haul my 335d and track and drag it! Please do update with how your airbags work for you might be something I should look at doing too.

Honestly, the thing towed perfectly fine without the airbags. I've just been measuring the tongue weight every single time, and making sure it's right at 550lbs. Annoying to have another step in the loading process, but not the end of the world. I'll still be measuring it each time, since teh hitch weight is only 600lbs max.

I've wanted to try Xdelete but just cant rationalize it, since my X5 does see dirt, and I stress the entire car with towing. Wouldn't want to stress the rear diff with all the towing propulsion on it. I'll definitely be updating with any information about the change in handling!

[RL18]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Honestly, the thing towed perfectly fine without the airbags. I've just been measuring the tongue weight every single time, and making sure it's right at 550lbs. Annoying to have another step in the loading process, but not the end of the world. I'll still be measuring it each time, since teh hitch weight is only 600lbs max.

I've wanted to try Xdelete but just cant rationalize it, since my X5 does see dirt, and I stress the entire car with towing. Wouldn't want to stress the rear diff with all the towing propulsion on it. I'll definitely be updating with any information about the change in handling!

Awesome that's good to know. Do keep updating! Definitely want a light trailer though, something aluminum. I'm sure being deleted it tows pretty effortlessly.

As far as xdelete goes I have had mixed feelings about it and how it would affect the rear diff and transfer case but you can monitor the transfer case within the app to be sure nothing is being overstressed and these have the same diffs as rwd models (which would be the 5-series). Also remember that my 335d is rwd and my differential has been taking the torque no problem deleted and I do a lot of hooning with it lol, but I would think the x5 has a beefier rear diff than my 335d so I wouldn't worry about blowing up the rear differential with or without a trailer. But still doesn't mean you should push the limits too. My thought is in rwd mode while towing I'll put less stress on the front drivetrain/ transfer case and handle better or be about the same.

[Spyro235]

I just towed 30 miles home, at night, 1/3 through hilly windy county roads(35-45 mph limits) and 2/3 on a particularly hilly section of interstate (fr 80- 65mph). I was towing at 70 mph for the interstate. Rear bags are at 32-33 psi.

WOW! You can feel the weight, but there is much less “pushing” around from the trailer. The most noticeable difference is that the up-down bobbing over bumps from the trailer is entirely dampened out. Gone is the slightly wallow-y underdamped feeling of the rear end letting the trailer tongue pull it up and down, even over railroad tracks on local roads.

I currently have about 530 lbs of tongue weight, and I believe my trailer is likely right around 6300. That’s estimating on the very generous side, and I’m nearly certain that I’d be right around 6-6.1k on a scale. I’m going to up that tongue weight to right at 600 on my scale, which I measure at the tongue jack, which is about a foot and half back from the actual ball. This gives me a slight margin of safety on overloading the ball itself as per bmw’s recommended 600lbs max. I’m probably going to bring the bags up to 40psi. The car definitely squats a bit less, but it does still squat a bit. I’m hoping that a little more pressure evens it out with the slightly heavier tongue weight that I’ll be going with. I want a bit more stability for the long highway miles I’ll be doing come Thursday.



Overall, tomorrow I have to get my windshield sensor fixed by safelite first thing in the morning, and then go have the tire place mount 14 fresh tires on all my wheels. That’ll total to about 70 miles of towing, but will be a very busy day around that. Then, Thursday, I’ll leave on my 2200 mile journey. I’m not much of a man of god, but I’m beginning to pray for no issues! It’s a long way to be stuck from home...

[Spyro235]

My X5 made it! I towed from NJ, to mid WI, and back, with 6000 lbs behind me (truthfully, might've been a bit more, but I was definitely under the trailer's 7k rating.) The X5 towed wonderfully, it was as comfortable as it normally is, and the bags in the rear end REALLY helped the ride out. The truck no longer squats with tongue weight, and just rode exquisitely for the entire 2300 miles. Right in the middle, I even did a light brake boost launch with the trailer unhitched for Jdeckin.

Long story short, my X5 started this trip at 231700, and I rolled over 234k just as I got home. What a ride. The towing was all done in 4 days, and they were some LONG days. My brake controller was perfectly set, and I didn't have any sway issues at all. Trans did great, and held pretty normal temps on the highway, even uphill. Highest I saw was 94C, but I wasn't watching the temp around town because I was just trying to get around. Block and coolant temps regularly went to 205*, but that's not high enough to worry. Saw coolant get to 211 once, but again I wasn't watching every second or anything.

Over the entire trip, I averaged 18.9 mpg, going through 119ish gallons of fuel. Not bad, for hauling 6000+ lbs behind me. The mileage was worse in PA, since it gets hilly, but once in ohio and the midwest, mpg was regularly above 19. I saw 19.9 on a full 410 mile tank of towing, and I'm bitter that I didn't see the big 20. Most of the time the speed limit was 70, and I was doing anywhere form 72-75, with relentless blasting up the hills. to catch up to my bdudies I booked 80 for an hour once, and that was on a 19.5 mpg tank.

Overall, I love my X5 as my tow rig. It was insanely quiet and comfortable. Relatively easy to do 10+ hour days in it. Brakes are honestly pretty darn good, and with my trailer setup and braking setup, the brakes were very well balanced. Had more than enough panic braking power, which was tested out once because of semi driver who merged into my lane while I was passing him. Surprisingly shed AMPLE speed very quickly. MPG isn't as good as I had hoped, but I supposed I could slow down a bit and get better mpg. I was truly hoping for 21-22, but now I guess that was wishful thinking.

[Ryan5034]

Great information glad it worked out for you. Destination must have been Road America. What a great race track! Fuel economy is pretty unbelievable.

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by Ryan5034

Great information glad it worked out for you. Destination must have been Road America. What a great race track! Fuel economy is pretty unbelievable.

Actually, I was at USAIR raceway in Shawano- The rollercoaster of love! Seriously an outstanding track, built on an old amusement park ground, with crazy elevation change.

[Karff]

Originally Posted by Spyro235

Actually, I was at USAIR raceway in Shawano- The rollercoaster of love! Seriously an outstanding track, built on an old amusement park ground, with crazy elevation change.

I have a question about the Car Play. What company did you use? I have been looking but not found anything I would pull the trigger on.

[Spyro235]

Originally Posted by Karff

I have a question about the Car Play. What company did you use? I have been looking but not found anything I would pull the trigger on.

I have one from here: http://www.unichip-tec.com/

This is the company that did the group buy in the classifieds a while back. Company seems fine, and I haven't had a single issue with the carplay box. I chatted with them on their site and just asked them for a discount, and they gave me a discount that ended up making is about $400 shipped. Worth every penny, and was here in 2-3 days via DHL. Packaged well, and came quick. Installation was straighforward, and the microphone seems to be decent quality. Everyone can hear me and stuff, but they get background noise if my sunroof is on "vent". As far as functino, the box is great. Certain idrive controller buttons do things- Nav doesnt seem to do anything for me, but I assume it shortcuts to apple maps. Tel goes right to the telephone app, and if you have music playing and you push the dial left or right, it changes songs. Cords were of high quality, and the directions were pretty straightforward.

[Spyro235]

On sunday I did some pretty hefty offraoding in a bunch of sand and duirt- a lot of sand hillclimbs, lots of technical wheel lifts and such.

Well, yesterday I started getting crazy shuddering while turning, I knew immediately my transfercase gears must have taken a beating. I've been looking for an excuse to purchase Xdelete, so I bought the licesne to hold me over for this week of commuting. I was also getting a really jerky shift from 2->1, and I'm getting a nice whining gear noise from what seems to be my front end. Sounds like gear noise from a solidly mounted differential in a race car, or the trans whine from clapped out old beater car, but way quieter.

I flashed rwd only in Xdelete to smooth out the ride for now. I ordered new gears yesterday on Prime, so they'll be here Thursday. I'm also going to put in an order for fluids and drain plugs for the Transfer case and diffs today.

Here are the pics I took on my phone, I didn't get much because, well, I was too busy driving! No wheel lift pictures that I got, but maybe my friends got some.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AdSqvHLn4B963G8o6


Other than that, I realize I haven't posted her eina bit. Mostly because the only thing it's needed to stay running is fuel! I'm about to roll over 242k, and with the whining making me nervous, I'm all the sudden nervous about it making it to 300k for some reason. Needing a trans would be a big monetary hit right now, and I don't have another reliable vehicle to daily drive to work at the moment, since the drift car is still broken.

[Spyro235]

So, I fixed my transfercase gear, which was stripped out, and flashed back to stock level awd. I also did the Tcase fluid, and reset the adaptaions on it.

I changed my fuel filter, too. I have no clue when it was last done, and I'm approaching 40k miles of my ownership. I'm going to continue doing it at 30k intervals.

Yesterday I drove down to virginia and back to pick up my COMFORT SEATS! I'm tackling that retrofit on saturday, and I'm going to take the opportunity to clean the heck out of my interior while the front seats are out. Can't wait to feel the comfort seats, they should be a big improvement over my base seats. I'll Make sure to take photos while working, since I'm bad at keeping track of things!

IF the seats go smoothly, I do have a small list of other things to do to the X5. I have a new hot side charge pipe to install, since mine is covered in oil. I want to remove the front bumper, so that I can fix the finicky wiring to one of teh PDC sensors which keeps giving me a warning in the cold- very annoying when I'm backing up! I also have the fluid and drain plugs to change the front and rear diff, since I'm getting some whining. If the whining persists, I will go ahead and order the 50i diffs from a yard, and try the taller gearing in the 35d.