Bob wrote:
Good morning all you scary people. Let's talk about Towing for a minute. I'm thinking about installing a hitch and brake system on either my 98 300 diesel or my 05 E320 to tow a 3500 pound, single axle ultralight camper trailer. I talked to my Indy last week and he thought using the diesel might be a better choice.
Towing tends to load the engine more (Duh!) and so its more likely the engine will be running at or near peak power for more than a few seconds. Traditionally, the diesel engines handle this better. I can't really comment on the '98 and it's ability to run at peak power for hours. The OM61x actually like it.
Our peers across the pond routinely tow with these vehicles. What I've read says they're able to tow up to 4100 pounds, braked. Does anyone have any experience in this Realm?
Not on these cars. But with a good brake controller, I would not think twice about "only" 3500#. A good brake controller is one that has an accelerometer in it, not a timer.
Am I an idiot to think I can tow a trailer with a well-maintained almost 20 year old car that has three hundred thousand miles on it?
Heh. You may be an idiot - but not for that reason! I would sure try to get a weight distributing hitch setup on it. They are not common for such light weight trailers, and I don't know if the hitch on the car could use it. But if it can, the tow process is so much nicer with weight distribution setup. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
