towing, biggest load you have towed?
 

What are your real world experiences with towing? What are the biggest loads you have pulled with your MB diesel? I'm not looking for "owner's manual" ratings or such.

Can the engines and transmissions handle #3000+, assuming you have a good solid hitch. 60 mph is certainly acceptable to me.

I have towed about #1500-2000 with my 1982 300TD. Custom made frame mounted hitch. The load was a 5x8 utility trailer and motorcycle.

I suppose I could hook up my Lesharo and try pulling it. That's about #4000. I had to tow it home with my Jeep once at about 45mph. Jeep is only rated for #1500.

I wouldn't try towing anything over a snowmobile or motorcycle. 1000 lb or so tops. If it were to start swaying bad going down a hill you would be Fd. Even if the load pulled ok, stopping it would be another thing. The jeep would probably do ok if you put a trans cooler on it but short wheel bases aren't the greatest for towing.
my .02

Buy a truck you will beat the crap out of the driveline towing 3k pounds.

+4000# give or take a hundred
 

Last fall, I pulled one of my parts cars about 200 miles. 240D (3600lbs) + tow dolly (350lbs) = 4thousandsomething lbs.

Marlene the wonder wagon handled it in grand style...no wobbles with the towed car, tracked great at 65mph, the superior Benz brakes dealt with everything just fine. Of course, you must drive defensively and plan waaay ahead and I took great care to make sure that I didn't lug the engine. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again either...

Read all about it here: Tow job

I pulled a 1000 lb uhaul with about 700 lbs of stuff in it from Florida to DC in a 1982 300SD. We drove 60 all the way and it did beautifully. Averaged about 17 mpg if I remember. There was reasonable power and the brakes are awesome. The temp gauge was up by about 7 degrees (this was in the winter). The biggest problem was the rear-end sag. Maybe air shocks are in order.
I've also pulled about 2500 lbs (firewood) for about 3 miles. That's too much in my opinion.

FWIW, our car had a new MB rebuilt trans put in it before we bought it.

Speaking of towing...

Odie, have you thought any more about offering your hitch as a kit, or even a set of drawings? I'm interested in a hitch for my wagon, I don't have 400$, and I've got a machinist friend who owes me a favor and would be happy to help with welding, but I'm not sure what the mount points are, and would hate to spend a lot of time duplicating someone elses good work. ;)

Let me know if you had any ideas. Heck, I'd probably be willing to pay you a few bucks for a set of drawings. We could even do them up in autocad and make them available on ebay. ;) Or just make them available to the forum.

Anyway, think about it and let me know, like I said, there's no sense in me duplicating your fine work if you've got a good way to share it. :)

peace,
sam

Proper tongue weight is critical for towing...

example...The Jeep ain't too good for towing. Short wheel base has a big negative impact. The jeep tows my #2000 motorcycle & trailer just fine. But it had swaying problems with my 22ft sailboat of the same weight. But the sailboat had almost no tongue weight. When I pulled the #4000 Lesharo it had swayed above 45mph. but I used a tow bar so there was no tongue weight there either.

I could tow my porshce 914 and Geo Metro at high speeds with the short wheel base Jeep with no tongue weight either. But I think it the load being much lighter than the tow vehicle helped out with the lack of tongue weight.

Consider all the commercials for trucks towing twice their weight...but those loads have the correct tongue weight ratio.

Thus, I would think the Benz chassis is capable of towing loads at least equal to it's own weight safely provided you maintain 10% tongue weight and use a solid hitch. The issue of the engine and trans being overloaded is a seperate issue, but no less important factor.

My hitch has made 2 high speed runs to New Orleans and back with the #2000 rig. If I have a chance this weekend I'm going to try flat towing the #4000 RV with a tow bar. No tongue weight so it's more a test of pulling ability of the Benz and strength of the hitch and not a speed check.


I keep thinking about producing my wagon hitch. Probably as a kit for shipping and production ease. The real issue is time to do it. Plus I'm going to Iraq in a couple months. Too many other projects and such to wrap up before I go. I really wish I made templates and all the first time around.

I have lots of time towing with pickups but not MB's. Judging by how solidly they are made I would think 2K wouldn't be a problem with the correct tongue weight. Short trailers tend to sway more than long ones that are the same weight. Trailer attitude has a lot to do with how the trailer tracks. the trailer/tongue should be level when hitched. If the tongue is sloping up or down it may track strangely and it will give you trouble when you start braking really hard like in panic situations. If you needed to tow heavy on a fairly regular basis some simple mods would be in order. Air shocks might not be a bad idea but the wagons probably would be the best to tow with since the self-leveling suspension will compensate for the tongue load. A bigger transmission cooler would be a good idea. Since the 4spd MB auto trans has no lockup torque converter it will generate lots of heat when towing. An auxilliary cooler mounted inline would keep the trans alive. If you had to tow 3K+ a brake controller and a trailer with brakes would be the best option. MB brakes will seem plenty until you have to do a loaded panic stop. RT

I have pulled our 83SD home from where its alternator died (seized it), was about 7 miles or so, did it at night and I did between 15-20mph or so, I did it in "L" gear :D Sounded like a tractor.... :D Worst mileage I have ever gotten......20mph at 2800ish rpm is not very efficient.....I think I got 7-8mpg, but it hauled it no problem, even up a real steep hill, which I had to start off on from a standstill....it hauled it like nothing :D I haven't pulled a trailer however, if I ever use this one to pull a trailer its going to be no bigger than a small boat or Jet-Ski type trailer.....

I've had some pulling experience with 3 different diesels. Granted it wasn't very far, about a mile each time, and only using a heavy duty tow strap on the tow hooks at the front and rear of the vehicles, but it is uphill half of the way and it is VERY steep, the angle increases the closer you get to the top. The first time was with my 240D, my friends '80 240D wouldnt start so we pulled it to my house to fix it. I wasnt sure if it was going to make it up the hill, but it slowed to about 10-15mph and steadily pulled it up without any sign of stopping. Granted the car had about a month old new trans in it but the engine had about 200K on it at the time. 2nd time was with the 82 300CD, with a newly rebuilt trans, pulling the same car, the same distance. 3rd time was with the 124 300D, same car, same distance, but only after my friend had run his car into a telephone pole so it was getting its engine pulled this time. The 124 was the most effortless of the three, it was almost as if it wasn't pulling anything, no struggle at all.

Also I was impressed with the 124 603 another time last year, a group of three mechanics including myself were transferring from one dealership to another and we had to get our toolboxes out of the shop, one level down- another steep incline. Mine and my friend's small boxes were no sweat for it, but the third guy, had one of those large as-tall-as-i-am toolboxes that weights 1600lbs when empty! the 603 handled that no problem. definitly impressed with its short term towing capabilities. :D

no lock up torque converter? are you sure? i thought 4th was over drive on the automatics with a locking converter.

You would have to be a certified nut case to tow 3,000 lbs with a 300TD. Mercedes published max towing limits for a reason!! Anyone will thinks that the thin non-vented brakes on a W123 will safely stop 7,000 lbs is delusional. Some posters may have gotten away with it but think of the legal ramifications if your overloaded rig rearends a minivan filled with kids.....no thanks. Uhaul or Ryder will rent you a truck and trailer for heavy loads.

There is no locking clutch. But the torque converter can be up to 98% efficient in that respect, anyway(E-Class Owner's Bible).

OMG, the sky is falling!
 

Yes I am certifiable (I can't speak for Odie); I still have scars from the shock therapy to prove it too.

Anyway, this is Texas. Around these parts you're expected to overload your vehicle's towing capacity, exceed the speed limit and tail-gate minivans full of pre-teen soccer players. Jeez, life any other way would be dull and uninteresting. And, you better start clearing the streets up there because I'm contemplating a W126 parts car in Goshenville and I'll definitely be towing it home with my wagon. BTW-I really hope your house isn't at the bottom of a steep hill.

I'm nucking futs :eek: