DIY: W212S Trailer Hitch Install
04-13-2014, 10:28 AM
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2014 E350 Wagon
DIY: W212S Trailer Hitch Install
Well it happened: my E-wagon is finally hitched! Took me a while but with my youngest one getting her first real bike there was no way around it, I had to have it done!
I had a 1 1/4" Class I receiver on my BMW E90 to carry a bike rack and pull some dirt bikes on a trailer but it had a limit of 2,000 lbs towing capacity and no bike carrier for 4 bikes, only 2. So it looked quite funny when all 4 of us were going for a bike ride:
With the Benz I was planning on doing the same thing. I did the install on the BMW myself but this time I was going to take the lazy way out and ordered a hitch at U-haul and paid $50 for the install. The hitch was a Curt Class I 1 1/4" hitch but it did not work out, the mounting was off on the bumper by 1/2" so U-haul could not mount it.
Now that I have looked at the parts catalog, I know why: the 2014 got a redesigned rear bumper and even though the chassis is the same the bumper is different. Note that I'm talking about the metal bumper not the plastic bumper cover.
So with the simple "drill two holes and bolt on by U-haul" was a no-go I put the project on the back burner. I started researching trailer hitch options for Europe and found that there are a handful of manufacturers selling hitches including the factory option, Code 550 which is fully retractable.
The problem with the factory option, and pretty much all Euro hitches is that they're not receiver hitches but just a big ball already attacked, ISO standard 50mm diameter. It does absolutely no good for us here in North America where receiver hitches are the norm. The other issue with the retracting hitches is that they're not compatible with the Keyless-GO trunk opening because the system has the antenna loop mounted at the bottom lip of the bumper and you can't feed the hitch in and out of it all the time.
Here is what the Euro Ball looks like:
So I found a couple E-wagon hitches in various countries but nobody was willing to ship to the US. I finally found a site, http://www.rameder.de who were willing to ship one to the US. Cost was 130 Euros for the hitch, 125 Euros for shipping. It arrived in 3 days via UPS and looked just like any other dumb iron piece would.
I also purchased a Curt 2" receiver tube in 6" length from Amazon for $14 and I was planning on having the ball attachment mounting flanges cut off and the receiver tube welded on in its place. The only trick was deciding where to cut and where to weld.
The optimal place was 1" above the center line of the existing holes where the original ball hitch was going to be bolted on and 1" forward from the mounting plane of the bumper. Note that the hitch itself replaced the entire rear bumper and comes with two long shafts that go deep into the sides of the trunk for torsional support.
A friend of mine did the cutting and the welding and I did the install and mounting. It turned out fantastic, very stealth looking as the only thing protruding is the 2" hole. Once I put a Mercedes star emblem cover in it it will look very classy. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and as you can tell, my youngest rider is also super stoked!
I'll do a write-up on the install in a little bit.
I had a 1 1/4" Class I receiver on my BMW E90 to carry a bike rack and pull some dirt bikes on a trailer but it had a limit of 2,000 lbs towing capacity and no bike carrier for 4 bikes, only 2. So it looked quite funny when all 4 of us were going for a bike ride:
With the Benz I was planning on doing the same thing. I did the install on the BMW myself but this time I was going to take the lazy way out and ordered a hitch at U-haul and paid $50 for the install. The hitch was a Curt Class I 1 1/4" hitch but it did not work out, the mounting was off on the bumper by 1/2" so U-haul could not mount it.
Now that I have looked at the parts catalog, I know why: the 2014 got a redesigned rear bumper and even though the chassis is the same the bumper is different. Note that I'm talking about the metal bumper not the plastic bumper cover.
So with the simple "drill two holes and bolt on by U-haul" was a no-go I put the project on the back burner. I started researching trailer hitch options for Europe and found that there are a handful of manufacturers selling hitches including the factory option, Code 550 which is fully retractable.
The problem with the factory option, and pretty much all Euro hitches is that they're not receiver hitches but just a big ball already attacked, ISO standard 50mm diameter. It does absolutely no good for us here in North America where receiver hitches are the norm. The other issue with the retracting hitches is that they're not compatible with the Keyless-GO trunk opening because the system has the antenna loop mounted at the bottom lip of the bumper and you can't feed the hitch in and out of it all the time.
Here is what the Euro Ball looks like:
So I found a couple E-wagon hitches in various countries but nobody was willing to ship to the US. I finally found a site, http://www.rameder.de who were willing to ship one to the US. Cost was 130 Euros for the hitch, 125 Euros for shipping. It arrived in 3 days via UPS and looked just like any other dumb iron piece would.
I also purchased a Curt 2" receiver tube in 6" length from Amazon for $14 and I was planning on having the ball attachment mounting flanges cut off and the receiver tube welded on in its place. The only trick was deciding where to cut and where to weld.
The optimal place was 1" above the center line of the existing holes where the original ball hitch was going to be bolted on and 1" forward from the mounting plane of the bumper. Note that the hitch itself replaced the entire rear bumper and comes with two long shafts that go deep into the sides of the trunk for torsional support.
A friend of mine did the cutting and the welding and I did the install and mounting. It turned out fantastic, very stealth looking as the only thing protruding is the 2" hole. Once I put a Mercedes star emblem cover in it it will look very classy. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and as you can tell, my youngest rider is also super stoked!
I'll do a write-up on the install in a little bit.
04-13-2014, 02:43 PM
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now go for the badge delete to complete the look 
04-13-2014, 11:23 PM
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Final product looks good. It's always weird to me how common it is to see MB and BMW sedans with hitches overseas (well I noticed most in Africa), but not available here at all..
04-14-2014, 03:46 PM
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2013 E350 Sport Wagon - 4Matic
Greg, that looks great...nice work! I've been looking to do the same on my 2013 wagon and was simply planning on buying the European hitch. However, based on your comments, it doesn't seem like that will work.
Do you know if the Uhaul kit you originally purchased would work on a 2013 wagon?
Thanks.
Do you know if the Uhaul kit you originally purchased would work on a 2013 wagon?
Thanks.
04-14-2014, 04:13 PM
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MY17 E43 Matte Selenite/Macchiato Beige, MY16 GLE350d Tenorite/Crystal Grey, MY17 B250
Impact beam is different in NA vs Europe due to the bumper laws here. This was the reason you couldn't get PARKTRONIC on the W212 pre-FL - they only designed one impact beam variant for NA and it didn't work with PARKTRONIC.
Unlikely the euro hitch would work on a NA-spec 2013 either without similar modifications.
Unlikely the euro hitch would work on a NA-spec 2013 either without similar modifications.
04-25-2016, 08:02 PM
#6
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Thanks for sharing - that's a great finished look. How has it held up? Do you by chance have a picture of the finished hitch before installation?I may go the similar route for my E550 4M sedan.
-Adam
-Adam
Well it happened: my E-wagon is finally hitched! Took me a while but with my youngest one getting her first real bike there was no way around it, I had to have it done!
I had a 1 1/4" Class I receiver on my BMW E90 to carry a bike rack and pull some dirt bikes on a trailer but it had a limit of 2,000 lbs towing capacity and no bike carrier for 4 bikes, only 2. So it looked quite funny when all 4 of us were going for a bike ride:
With the Benz I was planning on doing the same thing. I did the install on the BMW myself but this time I was going to take the lazy way out and ordered a hitch at U-haul and paid $50 for the install. The hitch was a Curt Class I 1 1/4" hitch but it did not work out, the mounting was off on the bumper by 1/2" so U-haul could not mount it.
Now that I have looked at the parts catalog, I know why: the 2014 got a redesigned rear bumper and even though the chassis is the same the bumper is different. Note that I'm talking about the metal bumper not the plastic bumper cover.
So with the simple "drill two holes and bolt on by U-haul" was a no-go I put the project on the back burner. I started researching trailer hitch options for Europe and found that there are a handful of manufacturers selling hitches including the factory option, Code 550 which is fully retractable.
The problem with the factory option, and pretty much all Euro hitches is that they're not receiver hitches but just a big ball already attacked, ISO standard 50mm diameter. It does absolutely no good for us here in North America where receiver hitches are the norm. The other issue with the retracting hitches is that they're not compatible with the Keyless-GO trunk opening because the system has the antenna loop mounted at the bottom lip of the bumper and you can't feed the hitch in and out of it all the time.
Here is what the Euro Ball looks like:
So I found a couple E-wagon hitches in various countries but nobody was willing to ship to the US. I finally found a site, http://www.rameder.de who were willing to ship one to the US. Cost was 130 Euros for the hitch, 125 Euros for shipping. It arrived in 3 days via UPS and looked just like any other dumb iron piece would.
I also purchased a Curt 2" receiver tube in 6" length from Amazon for $14 and I was planning on having the ball attachment mounting flanges cut off and the receiver tube welded on in its place. The only trick was deciding where to cut and where to weld.
The optimal place was 1" above the center line of the existing holes where the original ball hitch was going to be bolted on and 1" forward from the mounting plane of the bumper. Note that the hitch itself replaced the entire rear bumper and comes with two long shafts that go deep into the sides of the trunk for torsional support.
A friend of mine did the cutting and the welding and I did the install and mounting. It turned out fantastic, very stealth looking as the only thing protruding is the 2" hole. Once I put a Mercedes star emblem cover in it it will look very classy. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and as you can tell, my youngest rider is also super stoked!
I'll do a write-up on the install in a little bit.
I had a 1 1/4" Class I receiver on my BMW E90 to carry a bike rack and pull some dirt bikes on a trailer but it had a limit of 2,000 lbs towing capacity and no bike carrier for 4 bikes, only 2. So it looked quite funny when all 4 of us were going for a bike ride:
With the Benz I was planning on doing the same thing. I did the install on the BMW myself but this time I was going to take the lazy way out and ordered a hitch at U-haul and paid $50 for the install. The hitch was a Curt Class I 1 1/4" hitch but it did not work out, the mounting was off on the bumper by 1/2" so U-haul could not mount it.
Now that I have looked at the parts catalog, I know why: the 2014 got a redesigned rear bumper and even though the chassis is the same the bumper is different. Note that I'm talking about the metal bumper not the plastic bumper cover.
So with the simple "drill two holes and bolt on by U-haul" was a no-go I put the project on the back burner. I started researching trailer hitch options for Europe and found that there are a handful of manufacturers selling hitches including the factory option, Code 550 which is fully retractable.
The problem with the factory option, and pretty much all Euro hitches is that they're not receiver hitches but just a big ball already attacked, ISO standard 50mm diameter. It does absolutely no good for us here in North America where receiver hitches are the norm. The other issue with the retracting hitches is that they're not compatible with the Keyless-GO trunk opening because the system has the antenna loop mounted at the bottom lip of the bumper and you can't feed the hitch in and out of it all the time.
Here is what the Euro Ball looks like:
So I found a couple E-wagon hitches in various countries but nobody was willing to ship to the US. I finally found a site, http://www.rameder.de who were willing to ship one to the US. Cost was 130 Euros for the hitch, 125 Euros for shipping. It arrived in 3 days via UPS and looked just like any other dumb iron piece would.
I also purchased a Curt 2" receiver tube in 6" length from Amazon for $14 and I was planning on having the ball attachment mounting flanges cut off and the receiver tube welded on in its place. The only trick was deciding where to cut and where to weld.
The optimal place was 1" above the center line of the existing holes where the original ball hitch was going to be bolted on and 1" forward from the mounting plane of the bumper. Note that the hitch itself replaced the entire rear bumper and comes with two long shafts that go deep into the sides of the trunk for torsional support.
A friend of mine did the cutting and the welding and I did the install and mounting. It turned out fantastic, very stealth looking as the only thing protruding is the 2" hole. Once I put a Mercedes star emblem cover in it it will look very classy. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and as you can tell, my youngest rider is also super stoked!
I'll do a write-up on the install in a little bit.
04-26-2016, 07:20 AM
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2014 E350 Wagon
IT's been going strong for the last 2+ years, looks as good as it did day 1. I'm really glad I did this install and got the 2" receiver. It was more costly and complicated than a straight bolt-on 1.25" receiver but it was well worth it.
The following 2 users liked this post by GregTR:
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02-26-2020, 03:44 PM
#11
Junior Member
I installed this one from e-Trailer .com
E Wagon Hitch Link
Be aware that German steel is tough stuff. Yes the 40 minute install time can be done, but I needed a bigger drill to get through the rear bumper.
E Wagon Hitch Link
Be aware that German steel is tough stuff. Yes the 40 minute install time can be done, but I needed a bigger drill to get through the rear bumper.
01-11-2021, 04:24 PM
#13
Can someone can clarify the comment in the OP:
Does this mean the trunk will not open if you pull the handle/"kick feature" release and the doors are locked? Is there no way around this while using the retracting euro hitch?
The problem with the factory option, and pretty much all Euro hitches is that they're not receiver hitches but just a big ball already attacked, ISO standard 50mm diameter. It does absolutely no good for us here in North America where receiver hitches are the norm. The other issue with the retracting hitches is that they're not compatible with the Keyless-GO trunk opening because the system has the antenna loop mounted at the bottom lip of the bumper and you can't feed the hitch in and out of it all the time.
