W210 Trailer Hitch - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

GregMN · #1 03-03-2013, 04:32 PM

The hitch I made for my W126 served me well. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/288463-w126-trailer-hitch.html
But now I have my wife's old W210 and I needed a hitch for it if I am going to haul enough fuel for a 4000 mile trip.
I did not like the looks of the Curt Hitch. It mounts with one pad on the body and another bolts to the bottom of the spare tire well.
So I designed a hitch and my son-in-law welded it up for me.

It has 2 pads that bolt to the body. The square tube sits behind a 1" seam where the back and bottom of the body are joined.
There is a 2"x 8" backing plate for the bolts on the inside of the trunk for each pad. I used grade 8 - 7/16" fasteners.

The hitch is built with a notch so the tube slides up behind the seam at the bottom. I put a jack under it to push it up into place and drilled the holes in the body though the holes in the pad.

The bumper has a styrofoam filler piece. I used a fine tooth hacksaw blade on my sawsall to notch it out over the pads.
I notched out the bumper cover. (I may make a trim piece for the hack job on the bumper cover notch.)

If anyone wants a hitch like this built, I can put you in touch with my son-in-law.
I have included a PDF of the plans.

Use at your own risk.

GregMN · #2 03-03-2013, 07:20 PM

By the way... This hitch will fit a W124 too. I have a W124 sitting out in the woods with the bumper already removed so I tried it for fit on that one before I installed it on the W210.

Skid Row Joe · #3 03-03-2013, 09:36 PM

Good stuff, Greg!

I might take you up on the offer for my W211/W212 - whichever I end up purchasing. Can your SIL get powdercoating done??

I had an indy trailer hitch shop in Council Bluffs, Iowa fashion one heck of a nice hitch for my W126 in December of 1992. Considering they did one impromtu/on-the-spot for my car that worked well pulling a U-Haul half way across the country successfully, it can be done - and in short order by real hitch entreprenuer people.

I like your Son in law's build/design, frankly a lot better than anything I've seen.

GregMN · #4 03-03-2013, 11:22 PM

Having installed it on my car, I am going to revise the plan a little for the one I will put on my wife's car. The revised one will not require cutting the bumper cover, just the very bottom black trim piece.

KarTek · #5 03-03-2013, 11:32 PM

Looks well made. Are there any bolts that run upward into the chassis or are the only bolts the 4 across the back?

GregMN · #6 03-04-2013, 03:01 AM

Only the 4 across the back.

The lower tube sits behind the body seam, so it's entire length is pulling against the seam. I was going to drill 2 holes at the bottom of each pad and bolt through that seam, but having the entire tube behind it seemed like a better idea. Drilling holes in it would weaken it.

Between the bottom seam and the holes at the top of the pads, the body is "boxed". To bolt into the box area would require cutting hole on the back side big enough for access with a socket. This would weaken the "box" member. (That is what the Curt hitch requires you to do.)

GregMN · #7 03-04-2013, 12:34 PM

Attached is the revised plan.

It addresses the following issues:

It moves the tongue down below the bumper cover. Only the bottom trim piece needs to be notched, not the bumper cover itself.

It shortens the tongue as much as possible for a nicer look and, more importantly, less possibility of whacking your shin on it.

KarTek · #8 03-04-2013, 07:05 PM

Nice improvements. It's an excellent idea to back up the bolts with a plate as you have rather than just use washers.

Trailers tug relentlessly on the hitch and any flex will fatigue the metal and tear it.

runnysucklehose · #9 03-13-2013, 01:41 PM

I really want to replicate this design for my euro w124, as the Curt is pretty expensive, however I wonder if you could explain the load distribution qualities of the hitch a little better?

Am I missing something here?

It seems like the 4 bolts would not evenly distribute the pulling force of the trailer. It's like they are just too far above the receiver tube.

Thanks!

GregMN · #10 03-13-2013, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runnysucklehose

It seems like the 4 bolts would not evenly distribute the pulling force of the trailer. It's like they are just too far above the receiver tube.

Crawl under the car's rear bumper. Notice that there is a 1" vertical seam that runs along the entire rear of the body. This metal seam is twice as thick as the metal that the curt hitch bolts through with only washers to back it.

Look at the photo of the hitch installed on the car without the bumper in place.

Notice that the top 1" of the square tube is up behind the seam for it's entire length. The pulling forces are against that 2' section of the 1" seam. So that's about 24 square inches of backing at the bottom and 32 square inches of backing behind the 4 bolts at the top compared to maybe 8" on the curt hitch.

Does that answer your question ?

I think it is over built for the class 1 type loads I intend to haul. "Your mileage may vary". Do your own assessment of it's ability to meet your needs and use at your own risk.

GregMN · #11 12-21-2013, 05:56 PM

I just installed a revised design hitch on my wife's car.
Photo 1: the hitch
Photo 2: installed
Photo 3: the inner Styrofoam piece set in place and marked for the hitch pad cut out. I used a sawsall to cut a 3/8" of an inch deep notch to clear the hitch pads.
Photo 4: done. With this design, I only had to cut a notch in the bottom trim piece of the bumper, not the bumper cover itself.

Next... wash the car.

In the plans I have the 2 backing plates as 2" x 8". I think that 1 3/4" x 8" would be better.

jw2k_fr · #12 12-16-2021, 07:55 PM

Hey there... old thread!

I'm looking for a hitch for my 96 E300D

Is your SiL still making these?

If so, what would the price be, and how much would shipping be to 10034 please?

Thank you!