I used a tow dolly once when I towed my Dune Buggy to the beach. I pulled the front wheels on the dolly. The Buggy has a very short wheelbase but most of the weight was in the rear, off the dolly. I towed it with my '91 Subaru Legacy Wagon. I reached speeds up to 70mph while towing and had no sway whatsoever.

I inquired about towing home a 300SD a few years ago. I didn't want to tow it with a dolly because if I had the rears on the ground I would have burned the trans. I was informed not to put the rears on the dolly as it would cause weight dist. problems. (see picture above)
The only choice was a trailer with the brakes. I towed it home with the wife's Ford Expy and had no problems whatsoever.

The right tools for the job.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

Ouch.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Well, first, glad there were no serious injuries. Roll overs can really jump up and bite you.
Second, thank goodness the dime-a-dozen GM suv took the damage and not the MB. Heck, nobody can sell those things these days anyways. You might have found the solution to that.
Those are smaller/midsize suv's, so I bet the weight was close and not the 750lb over. And like others have said, I bet the weight distribution allowed the MB to get it's waggle on, and over you went.
Sure was nice to see that MB sitting there in good shape......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I have tried this. Back when I bought a 300TD parts car I was attempting to pull it home on a dolly with a 96 crown vic. I put the rear on the dolly to avoid having to remove the rear driveshaft. I started out on the freeway, and when the speed got to about 50 mph the thing would start to sway all over the place, Very scary. I slowed way down and made it to the next exit. I then turned the car around with the front end on the dolly. Swaying problems fixed. I still didn't exceed 55 because of low braking power, but the swaying stopped, and I was able to pull it about 300 miles home.

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For Sale: 1982 MB 300TD
1995 Chevrolet Suburban 6.5TD

Sold: 1980 IH Scout Traveler- Nissan SD33T Diesel

Wow.. another "Official West Virgina Citizen"! I will be sending out your certificate soon!

I am glad to know that you are not hurt. Looks like there was a lot of damage to the Chevy though. Any idea from the insurance yet?

I have towed my CJ5 sitting backwards on a flatbed with the snow about 6 inches from the rear end of the trailer. I never had any problems at speeds up to 70mph. I guess the short wheelbase of the jeep kept the engine weight towards the front of the trailer. I also guess that Iwas lucky!

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

That's the difference. He was using a dolly.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Towing backwards is a problem, has nothing to do with weight distribution or you couldn't tow a bug forward. A tow dolly doesn't care about weight distribution.

I towed my 350SDL backward just fine, but differently than you did it. I towed it behind my 6000lb 135"wheelbase E-150, and locked down the steer wheels on the SDL.

When the steer wheels are on the ground, and have ANY play in the steering lock, especially since they're designed to self-center going forward, you've got a problem.

When you do it behind a minivan/mini-suv with a short wheelbase, lightweight, and tall, that slop in the steering will probably take you out.

Backward or forward is fine on a dolly it's done thousands of miles per day, but the tow vehicle has to be up to the task and the steering MUST BE LOCKED DOWN TIGHT.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

The root problem is the steering geometry.

When the car is towed backwards, you are backwards from the intended direction, and and forces are applied to the suspension/steering it is not designed to cope with.

You will have tow out, not toe in. even with the steering locked, a toe out condition is inherently unstable, and will cause the car to dart to the left or right while underway.

Your castor angle angle is now backwards, so any play in the steering will also magnify the unstable nature.

Never, ever tow at speed if you run the car on backwards.

Once the oscillation starts, it is very hard to control. Unlike a car trailer, you cannot use the rear brake set to pull it straight.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

My mom drives the same "van" as the one the OP flipped... It's a Chevy Equinox

http://www.chevrolet.com/trailering/

I totally disagree. Having towed with the heavy van you alleviated most of the problem. I got away with it on the Subaru/Buggy trip because the Buggy was so damn light. (1200lbs) Plus the wheelbase is so short and the motor maybe weighs 300lbs.

Weight distribution is important to combat trailer sway. Have you ever loaded a semi-truck trailer for transport? Weight distribution must favor the front of the trailer so it is over the drive wheels of the tractor.

When a heavy tail of a trailer does start to wag the heavier the weight the more centrifugal force making it "wag" more.

__________________
'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

X2.

I have a flatbed car trailer and maybe 10K miles of actual seat time towing cars around. I vividly remember towing a car that I loaded backwards and the resulting sway almost caused me to crash - and this was with NO wheels of the towed vehicle on the road. Weight distribution and proper tongue weight are critical variables that must be properly set for safe towing operations.

Towing is not for the faint of heart, there are lots of ways to screw up and the consequences of failure can be very high. Its also worth pointing out that the dangers not only extend to you and your load but also to other traffic on the road can be effected by a trailer mishap.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

The "right" way in my book is using a minimum of a 3/4 ton pickup truck or SUV (2500 Suburban, etc) and a tandem axle trailer with brakes. As someone just learned, you can't be too safe when towing a load. This applies to towing a boat, camper, or a car. That's why there is no such thing as a Chevy Equinox Tow Truck.

I guarantee that if the original poster had been towing with a 3/4 ton Pickup and a tandem axle trailer with brakes, it would have been a much less eventful trip. Remember - Shiny side up, greasy side down.

My 2 cents.

SteveM.

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'93 190E/D 2.5 Turbodiesel 5-speed (daily driver)
'87 190D 2.5 Turbo rustbucket - parts car
'84 Dodge Rampage diesel - Land Speed Record Holder
'13 Ram 2500 Diesel
'05 Toyota 4Runner

Equinox tow spec is 3500lb. The W123 exceeded that with the weight of the trailer. http://www.chevrolet.com/trailering/

The SWB and weight of the Equinox make it a very poor choice of tow vehicle for anything over 1000-1500lbs IMO.

Speed and expirience are major factors when towing.

Having driven a tow truck for a few years as a kid I'll respectfully disagree that rear wheels up is inherently dangerous. That said, in this instance because of the very SWB and the trailer probably outweighting the tow vehicle, I'd have put the front of the W123 on the dolly and keep the speed way down.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

As I said in the other thread... the tow vehicle was inadequate for the job. No way around it.

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

Yes, we have put many, many miles on this dolly with the front wheels on it and never had a problem at even 70MPH. It was purely due to the direction we loaded it. We did it that way to avoid disconnecting the driveshaft. The front wheels were secure and the Benz was as one with the dolly. Even after it jerked it around the tire straps were still tight. Needless to say, I wil be disconnecting the driveshaft before next weekend. Paul

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http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5...andbenzqj3.jpg1979 W123 300D Silver with Blue interior