Bingo. A few weeks ago this almost happened to me trying to pull a Dodge Durango backwards with a 1-ton Ford church van. Even with the steering wheel was locked very tight, it was VERY unstable above 60MPG.

Think about the distance between the center of the vehicles' masses and the pivot point (the hitch). If this this distance is large enough, it may hit a resonant mode at highway speeds and will rotate (yaw) around the pivot. Tires (single, normal aspect ratio) have poor resistance to this yawing/rolling motion, which also lowers the frequency.

Robert
engineering student

That weight to front only works to a point. You can exceed the tongue weight of the towing vehicle and some point making the steering of the tow vehicle dangerous and then also get sway from that. You cannot simply state that it should go one way or another. In truth it should be balanced. In truth that Tow vehicle probably has a very low tongue weight rating and I bet lower than the Cars front on a tow dolly. I imagine that Van's rating is no greater than 100 pounds. And more likely 50. In truth, a situation that is out of spec, can always be dealt with better with a heavier tow vehicle. Or proper tow device. In this case a larger tow vehicle would have been able to deal with the situation better. And its always better to put almost ALL the towed cars weight on something else's axles.

Another rule of thumb is that any thing weighing more than 1500 pounds should probably have brakes on its tow devices axles. And for sure when that gets to 3000 pounds and above it must have brakes on those. Those brakes then are, and can be used, to bring a swaying trailer into line. Not just help stop the whole mass.

I just, ironically, got back from towing a VW thing on a flat bed car trailer. And because I have a Dually 1 ton truck I could put the thing on backwards. (Engine to front) and push it all the way back on the trailer too. This put too much on the tongue but I had the truck to do it, and I had Brakes on both axles of the trailer and a brake controller to deal with the issues. But, I wouldn't recommend it.

Any damage to the Mercedes?

This is why MB specifies that towing MUST be done via flatbed.

I towed a VW bug ass-first with my 300D on a u-haul dolly. 600 miles roughly. No probs. even when I rode the dolly wheel up onto a concrete jersey barrier briefly. I kept it mostly around 70 mph, it had a constant propensity to pull to my pass side, which may or may not have negated any harmonic that was developing due to pivot lengths and force vectors that were not parallel to the vector of the towing vehicle. Definitely would have felt uncomfortable towing anything heavier, as much out of concern for the longevity of my transmission as anything else.

Same here
 

I had the same experience with mine a couple of years ago, and had to turn it around and unhook the drive shaft from the diff. It towed just fine then, even at highway speeds. I assumed it was because of play in the steering...:confused:

I towed a 1985 300TD with the rear wheels on the dolly without to much issues, I towed at a maximum speed of 45 mph, and slowed down if it ever began to fishtail. I towed it with my landcruiser, which weighs about 500lbs more than the mercedes.

I dont think its fair to make a blanket statment about never towing with the front wheels on the ground, if your cautious it can be done safely.

OK fair enough - let me refine my blanket statement.

Towing a car with the front wheels on the ground (and the engine all the way at the rear of the trailer) is an inherently unstable configuration. It WILL decrease the margin of safety in a situation where it is important to have as big a safety margin as possible.

Have you ever had to make a sudden or quick maneuver with a loaded car/trailer combination? I'm always very cautious when I'm towing but the actions of your fellow motorists are not under your control.

Wow...glad no one was injured! That equinox seems to have actually held up pretty well for a rollover....however, its a very poor vehicle for towing like that.....its probably the same weight as the MB (or less even!)....+ trailer = bad weight combination. Its also tall, so it will roll easily.

I agree on always flatbedding it....and use a BIG tow vehicle...(heavy!)

That seems inherently unstable to me.

The Benz is fine and the shiny hubcaps too. Paul

is the chevy totaled?

Ditto. 3 essentials

1) Towing with something heavier than the load
2) Locking the steering down
3) Keeping it under 45

Thankfully everyone came out of it OK. Any word from the insurance company yet?

progun, I feel your pain, man.

I once tried to tow a '71 dart with a '72 Scout II, with the dart's front wheels on the ground. Unstable above 45 mph, unbelievably scary.. thought I was going to roll it on the Throg's Neck Bridge coming off Long Island. I had to stop and turn the car around after that.

Nothing beats a beefy tow vehicle. My 3/4 ton dodge diesel could drag a 2 ton tricycle up and down pike's peak without batting an eye.

OMG, I just realized where this pic came from.


Someone forwarded me this pic because they know that I LOVE MBs and they remarked that the car looked just like mine (though they can't tell the diff between hubbies and 15 hole rims, or gray and green paint for that matter, ;)).

http://i26.tinypic.com/2zt96ba.jpg