I’m used to pulling with my class 3 5000 lb / 500 lbs tongue weight frame-mounted 2” received hitch on my Honda Ridgeline. I installed one on my wife’s Honda Pilot too. I think trucks with real metal bumpers often have a class 2, 2” ball mount hole which can do about 3500 lbs. The thread holes are smaller (3/4” I think) for these 2” balls, to assure people don’t put 2 5/16” balls with 1” shanks on them.

My friend recently bought a 1984 300sd with a receiver on it, but it’s not a 2” receiver. So you can’t get any mounts that will allow a ball any bigger than a 2” ball. With a Dolly (2”), single axle utility trailer (2”), a dual axle scrapping trailer (2 5/16”) a car dual axle car hauler (2 5/16”) and a dual axle travel trailer (2 5/16”), there’s plenty of reason to assure we’ve got a class 3 hitch. People put 2 5/16” ball trailers on 2” balls, but it’s not really safe. Bad idea (even though I’ve done it at slow speeds or short distances).

I doubt that there are class 3 setups available for sale for a w126... if you’ve find anything at all. I’ve heard of weak setups that have you drill into the sheet metal, but that’s got to be lightweight stuff, like class 1 or something. Personally, I think that anything mounted on a w126 bumper is going to be just as weak if not weaker.

By the time you buy what you need to really pull a trailer, you may find a beater with a hitch would have been better. I do a lot of hose work and have been glad to ALWAYS had a pickup “truck”. I don’t think I will ever again live without one.

But if you don’t mind going to get the trailer before you ever want to carry something, it will save on insurance costs.



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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl,