It can be done. I was not happy with a hitch that was mounted to my impact bumper. I talked to several hitch sales people and they agreed with me that they would not like to pull a load with part of it on a impact bumper. There are several hitches that mount on the bumper and the spare tire well that do the job as advertised but I wanted a chassis mounted hitch. I used the Curt 11805 hitch and modified it to fit my 126 chassis 300SD. It took some time but I think that it turned out well and I will be towing my motorcycle to the mountains in the coming weeks with it.
The Curt hitch is one inch too narrow, mounting holes do not match and it is too close to the body to clear. With that known I filled the holes, cut the bar and added .5 to each side. The trick is to take the right and left bumper hanger and swap sides so the cross bar will clear the spare tire well. The only parts that I needed were the two pieces of tubing to fill in the .5 on each side. The hitch comes with all the material needed other than those two pieces. Re drill the hangers, weld it together and bend the forward supports another 9 degrees on each bend and you are done.

It was a lot of work but I am happy with it but would not recommend anyone doing it this way unless they are good at fabricating things up.

Good luck
Robert

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84 300SD 84 300CD 85 300SD 85 300CD 98.5 Dodge 2500 Cummins 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 90 Jeep for the sand Wilmington, NC

I think that it will do fine. I saved the numbers that I used to drill the supports if anyone is interested, Get it soon I am going on vacation for a while.

Good luck
Robert

I just put up a drawing of the end piece hole pattern. If I were making this from scratch I would use a three inch hole on center line with the single hole instead of the notch. I also cut 4.25 off the bar that has the welded nuts on them. I used this piece to reinforce the two bolts that come from the bumper mount on the outside. The next one that I make I will have a jig to speed assembly up.

The picture is on the right but it is dimm. The numbers are - up 1.355 and down 1.393 and 4.62 across

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84 300SD 84 300CD 85 300SD 85 300CD 98.5 Dodge 2500 Cummins 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 90 Jeep for the sand Wilmington, NC

Very nice. Is that the wagon hitch? Can you add those numbers to this thread so that there's a record for future readers to draw upon?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Custom towing hitch for W126:
W126 Trailer hitch

Hitch in use:
Towing an SEC with and SDL

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Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

Kerry
I will try to post a drawing today for the end brackets and it is the wagon hitch.

GregMN
I started to fab one from scratch like yours but I did not have the time so I used the wagon hitch for basic construction. The two inch cross beam must be on the rear of the hangers, opposite the original wagon design. The beam also needed to be about one inch wider. I used the Curt forward supports like their design but added another nine degrees of bend to both bends to clear the muffler hanger and to fit the 126 chassis. Looks like the cost was the same but I have more time in mine.

Good Luck
Robert

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84 300SD 84 300CD 85 300SD 85 300CD 98.5 Dodge 2500 Cummins 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 90 Jeep for the sand Wilmington, NC

Thanks. I think I remember asking on GregMN's thread whether a wagon hitch could be converted to the 126. Thanks for the answer.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I got to admit that although the hitch turned out nice the problem is that the 126 suspension is not robust enough to handle the load. After I packed the car with five weeks of toys and clothes (beer also) and loaded the BMW K75 on the trailer there was NO suspension travel left. To work I will need to find some air assisted shocks or suspension bags. The original hitch was made for a 300TD with hydro suspension and it works great. The TD I had would Carry nine bags + of cement without sitting down, The hitch would fit all 123 cars with the same results as the 126.

Oh well it will pull my bike trailers around and I will use it - just not like I wanted.

Robert

Dodge Cummins to the rescue

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84 300SD 84 300CD 85 300SD 85 300CD 98.5 Dodge 2500 Cummins 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 90 Jeep for the sand Wilmington, NC