Lessons learned - Mercedes GL450 to RAM 2500

[BayouBiker]

The underlying physics of towing demonstrate that combinations of relatively light short wheelbase vehicles and large trailers with significant yaw inertia and aerodynamic cross sections such as yours become unstable at modest speeds and require significant sway control support along with measures to avoid oversteer and sway. A Hensley type hitch can be just the ticket to raise stability well above common speeds limits and achieve worry free stable travel. Hitches with strong sway support combined with active sway control through asymmetric breaking as part of the traction and stability programming will also limit sway amplitude so it is barely noticed most of the time. However in rare and unusual variable crosswinds on winding highways where the curves are such that you need not slow down much, a situation most people will never encounter, folks with configurations like yours need to be very cautious.

[gator.bigfoot]

I never notice sway. This combo has been all over NA. Well over 50k miles.

[sj9809]

It’s an older threat but I thought if somebody read to here…

I relocated from Europe to the U.S. I towed a large (for European standard) travel trailer thousands of miles through Eirope including over high mountains (for Europe) the Alps, on is the Gotthardpass, there is a run el but you can also take the pass road which is a beautiful drive.
I read post from this bono and it just shows that he has absolutely no idea about Europe.
I had a two axle travel trailer wohingegen is rare for Europe, about 3300 lbs weight INCLUDING payload, 24ft in overall length, yes these are accurate dimensions!
This was an older trailer, newer trailers are one-axle and go up to 3800 lbs with the same length!

In Germany you with your standard license you can only drive a car with trailer with overall weight of 7000lbs that means Trailer full weight (not actual or empty but what the manufacturer says) and full weight of car (not actual or empty).
If you spend about 800-1000$ you can make a special license that allows you 8400lbs complete weight, an additional license for 1000-1500$ allow you to drive 15000lbs. Again this is for trailer full plus car full.

The speed limit for any car with trailer in Europe is 80km/h (50mph), with type c rated tires and newer than 1995 and car weight is more than trailer weight) you can update your trailer to 100kmh (60mph) but that is ONLY valid for Germany, no other European country. In Germany you can go 20kmh over without to much consequences, so the highest speed you see a trailer in Germany is 7.5.
Have you seen European trailers?
They have handles on the edge so you can push/pull them by hand at the campground. You ever tried this with a travel trailer in the U.S.?
Does anybody saw the trailer hitches they use in Europe, including Mercedes Ml, BMW X5, MB Gl?
Totally different design the allowable hitch weight is between 160lbs to 250lbs max!
Electric trailer brakes are not allowed in Germany, trailers have surge brakes. Weight distribution hitches are not allowed since they wouldn’t work with surge brakes anyway. Also the axle of German travel trailers is always in the center tongue weight is rarely over 200lbs.

Why do I write all these things?
How many BMW/MB advertisements in the U.S. have you seen where they promote Heavy towing?
Why until this day they don’t even offer the option of a trailer brake?
Because they have no interest to get into the Towing vehicle market in the U.S.!
So how much development/testing time and money do you thing these manufacturers spend into looking into the US towing performance of their cars? The fact that they don’t even offer a electric brake controller gives you a hint on how much actual towing testing they do!


Any American truck manufacturer does extensive towing testing in Colorado, you always see test rigs out there. Ike gauntlet and Loveland pass etc.. Tjese trucks are built for towing they are built for extensive towing on a daily basis more than only 2-3 vacations a year!
The argument that exhaust brakes are their because the normal brakes are crap tells you the knowledge of the guy however said this. The exhaust brake is to reduce the wear on the car and especially the trailer since these trailer brakes are crappy indeed!
However brakes on an X5 are good to make up for missing engine/exhaust brakes since Germany has no speed limits and these brakes are good enough for 160+ mph speeds!
Last but not least a car with 200k km (125k miles) in Germany is considered an old car and mostly gets exported to Africa since it has no more value in Germany in the U.S. a half ton or 1 ton truck often changes first time owner with 200k miles (320k km)!!!
What this tells you about the lifetime!

German V6 Diesel are great powerhouses but they haven’t really made it to the US because of Emissions. Diesel emissions are a real problem and always reduce the lifetime of the engine substantially, wonder why so many Americans „delete/bulletproof“ their Diesel?
Why did VW failed with their Diesel? Why even the US manufacturers tried and failed with their 3.0 Diesel? Why did the MB Bluetec had extensive recalls in the U.S.? We don’t have to talk about Volkswagen.
Why do these Diesel work in Europe? Because the Autolobby pays a lot of money every year. In the European Union the Diesel emission control system has to only operate efficiently under certain temperature conditions which is similar to US rules BUT the European law has an additional exception and that is if the emission control pose any harm to the engine it can be electronically turned off temporarily! And German car manufacturers pay a lot of money to government officials t make sure it stays like that. The amount of money car manufacturers spend for the autolobby is public available and the majority of that money is spend in Brussels (which is the headquarter of the European Union) wonder why?

Iam sure you can tow a travel trailer in the U.S. and no doubt the V6 diesels are great (if the car is not in the shop) but be aware of the background and that these cars were never tested nor build for that, but most likely for the occasional vacation trip it’s probably fine. But hitting a bad pothole or any other sever incident (that is rare and since only a handful in the U.S. people tow heavy with German diesels there are no documented cases) but these rare incidents could have fatal consequences and show which car was built for the 7500+ towing and which not! Saying that these cars are build for towing and trucks are not (somebody said this in this post) is absolute ridiculous and laughable and unfortunately with such statement a person makes any of his/her arguments (that are maybe valid and reasonable) ridiculous.

Btw my towing vehicle in Germany was a 2010 Chrysler town & country limited with a 2.8l DIESEL!
My brother lives in Germany and has a Lancia Voyager with the same engine, I bet none of the readers here has ever heard this ��… but it should be a good proof that Iam actually from Europe because that’s insider knowledge.

[Andy543]

The German SUVs were great tow vehicles, better in many ways than a half ton pickup. Among other things, they had greater weight, higher axle ratings, better brakes, independent rear suspensions, lower center of gravity, a short distance from the hitch ball to the rear axle, and of course the 3 liter diesel power plants. Unfortunately, after the EPA killed off the diesel engine, they lost most of their glow.