Trailer Hitch W115?
 

Car: 1971 Mercedes 220D

I am looking to see if there is one out there and if anyone has a picture of how it mounts. I am also curious what the towing capacity is. I know it's not much, just getting an idea.

I read long ago that they can tow, just not much and not very fast . I think the numbers were 800 lbs unbraked, 1350 pounds braked.
The tranny is robust but may have overheating issues

I have a Manual Trans in mine. I am thinking a little tear drop trailer.

On the euro W123, the bumper hitch mounts on the studs that hold the rear bumper.

For a lightweight application, the W114/W115, a good hitch place could make one that fit your car. Two flat mounting plates, a cross bar and the tongue. Plus two loops for the safety chain.

Or, modify an existing hitch, by cutting off unneeded mounts and adding the two plates.

Jim

I was going to say that you are nuts until you wrote what you intend to tow. Now I like the idea very much.

On my 69 220, I have two holes that go from interior floor of the trunk, right through to the exterior. These two holes are at the very rear of the floor, about an inch from the rear wall, and are about 8" apart, parallel to the rear wall, right under the latch, making them centered in relation to the width of the trunk. Something was bolted to mine, but has been removed. The bolt holes are about 1/2" to 5/8" in diameter . . . I'm wondering if this could be a light weight hitch mount? I would like to know what this was for regardless.

Chris

This looks like it would work, but you might want to add some flat pieces of steel that run the length of the trunk to cut down on the flex.

Mercedes 230, 240D, 280, 280C, 300D, 300E Trailer Hitch, 74-76 - Class I - By Curt Mfg

I had that brand hitch on my 85 300TD and thought the quality was excellent.

I see those Curt hitches and think "seriously?" I'd be afraid that the weight of the trailer would smoosh the rear crumple zone of the car, and I don't like how they attach to the bumper and make the shocks useless.

I like the really old hitches they had on the fintails where they mounted behind the bumper, then ran forward to the other end of the trunk. The bumper shocks (springs back then) and crumple zones would still work if the bolts sheared.

I want to design a custom trailer hitch for my W116 someday; one that is built like the Oris hitches on the fintails, but with a receiver so I can add a cargo tray or bicycle rack.

I don't think a 1971 W115 has bumper shocks... It bolts to the cross member in addition to the bumper. I don't much like the idea of it bolting to the bumper. But it's only rated for 150 pounds of tongue weight. FWIW the CURT hitch that was designed for W123 wagons was MUCH beefier and part of the installation was inside the frame rails... and it didn't attach to the bumper.
I know someone who _might_ still have a custom hitch that he used on his Fintail sedan... Let me know if you are interested in it...

The CURT hitch for a W116 is _really_ dreadful...

Bumper shocks were phased in starting in the 1974 model year. I use the term phased in since Mercedes played rather loose with the year on the titles back then. But then so did a lot of german brands.

But the bumper on the 1971, while a good bumper, is really nothing to pin a hitch to. I have a 109 bumper in my shop which has a steel brace running down the length of it. Without the brace the rear bumper is a bit on the thinnish side.

The installation instructions have you bolting part of the hitch to the cross member and part of the hitch to the bumper beam inside the bumper... I didn't know there was a beam inside the bumper... Or is that something that comes with the hitch...

I would call it more of an insert but it is in there. I don't know about the bumpers of the 115 since I have never had one of those apart.

And it could be it was only on the 109. The only one I have is from a 6.3 which came from the factory with a weight of 6,000 pounds, so maybe this was an upgrade?

Sure, let me know. I might want to install it on my fintail wagon. My roommate has an original Oris hitch on his that we had powdercoated and it looks really pretty now.

For a 108/109...
mercedes trailer hitch - City of Toronto Other Parts, Accessories For Sale - Kijiji City of Toronto Canada.