Hello,
We have E350 Wagon 4M 2016, bought in 2018. Currently it has 40k miles.

We have had class 1 hitch installed back then and have been successfully towing pop-up campers for a while now. Specifically 1996 or 1994 (I forgot) roomy Mustang Palomino has been out camping dwelling, which we’d load up with camping stuff and set up 5 bikes on top of the folded camper.

Recently, I learned of Stealth Hitch that is Class 2 with 2” receiver (3500 lbs towing and 350 lbs tongue weight). I started looking at hybrid campers that are hard shell but have pop-up beds. Specifically I found KZ Escape E160RBT, dry weight 2700lbs gross weight 350 lbs, about 19ft long tops. Per my calculations I should be able to tow it. I was also going to by e2 hitch for weight distribution and sway control. I assume I’d need to definitely install trailer breaks? We’ve never needed them for our pop-up but I guess it’d be safer if breaks are installed given the weight of the hybrid camper. I also read that one could buy a monitoring system of some sort that can read transmission pressure etc when you tow smithing but I’m struggling to find a monitor like this. Open to recommendations if you know of/used something like this.

Has anyone had success safely towing this or similar hybrid camper? Any thoughts on the potential setup? Is it a really bad idea to go with it or should be doable?

I can’t find the answer anywhere since technically in the US E350 MB wagon 2016 isn’t even rated for any towing officially…

I really don’t want to give up on my dream to tow the hybrid trailer as we love our wagon and wouldn’t want to sell it just to have the ability to tow something bigger from what we have been successfully towing.

Thank you!

P.S.
inspiration towing posts: @AngryScotsman
https://mbworld.org/forums/w212-amg/...usly-good.html

& this one: https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...w-ratings.html

 

Just beware that frontal area is what makes trailer hard to tow.
US models have towing capacity derated, so pulling bigger trailer with wagon will raise the brown and might be red flag for the police, so make sure everything is legal.
I would avoid WD bars. MB are excellent Tow Vehicles, when WD bars are design for pickup, who are build for grocery getting and need help with weight distribution when put to work.
I just bought 3000lb trailer for my UTV. Surprisingly the expensive, aluminum trailer come with no brakes, but I bought the set for $211 and actually installing new cable took me longer than brake drums conversion.
You will also need controller inside the car. I pulled lot of trailers in my life and it is not low HP, but lack of good brakes what makes for "white knuckles driving"
There are lot of trailer-related accidents, but created by ignorant.
Take it from a guy who was pulling no-brakes 4000 cargo trailers with 44 HP VW Rabbit pickup.
And my favorite video for the subject

 

a 3500 lb GWR trailer is only 350 lb tongue weight if its perfectly balanced. IIRC, a US model E350 4matic wagon has about 1100 lbs payload, so that 350 lb tongue weight comes off this, leaving you just 750 lbs for driver/passenger and cargo.

I would not tow a 3500 lb trailer with a vehicle that has a 3500 lb max trailer unless its only very ocasionally or for very short distances. I towed my 3500 lb Casita camper with a Toyota Tacoma 4x4 that had a 6500 lb trailer rating, I tow my 4500 lb Escape 21 with a E250 diesel that has a 12000 lb trailer rating (ok, this is total overkill, however in 20000 or so miles of towing, we've had a couple incidents when I was /very/ happy to be in that big heavy truck, it totally prevented disaster).

 

Thanks @kajtek1 Got - brakes are a must-have for sure. Now can having the (a hitch with both sway control & weight distribution) make things worse if I use it? It sounds like you don't recommend using it at all.

P.S. A pretty funny video

 

weight distribution hitches are normally used on /heavy/ trailers on full sized trucks and truck-based SUVs which have sturdy frames. Few unibody vehicles recommend or permit them, as the unibody chassis just isn't designed for the reverse torque the WDH applies to the chassis. A WDH is a spring that takes the tongue weight of the trailer and pushes some of it forward to the front axles of the towing vehicle while taking that much weight off the tow vehicle rear wheels. Most WDH's are setup for 5000+ lb trailers, all the way up to 12000 lbs

 

another way to look at it, the trailer hitch acts as a hinge between the vehicle and the trailer frames... normally the tongue weigh is pushing this hinge 'down', and since that hinge is behind the rear axle that tends to lift the front axle of the tow vehicle 'up'. the WDH is a spring on this hinge that pushes the hinge UP by pushing the tow vehicle and trailer frames down. this decreases the weight on the tow vehicle rear axle while increasing it on both the trailer axle and the vehicle's front axle. BTW, that Casita 17 in the above diagram, thats a 3500 lb GVW trailer. They tend to be a little front heavy, eg, more like 15% rather than 10% tongue weight.

 

Thanks for responding Left Coast Geek.

When you refer to "max trailer" and/or trailer rating are you talking about the towing capacity?

In the US, MB Wagon is not even rated to tow anything officially and those who end using it for towing this refer to ~4100 lbs towing capacity as it's what they rate them in Europe...I don't know how accurate this is - there is no way to really know for sure. Here are some sources on this: e.g., here, here and here and there are other sources like this. If this is the towing capacity (which we don't know if it is but assume it is) would you change your opinion of towing a 3500 lbs gross weight trailer (*assuming the empty weight is 2700-2900 lbs it's possible to also not "overload" the trailer to reduce the total gross weight as an option).

Also, I assume based on your note you haven't had an experience towing with a class 2 hitch since your vehicles are rated higher for towing and I assume you've only been towing with a class 3 hitch.

 

3500 lb Casita behind a Tacoma rated to tow 6500 lbs, using a WDH to reduce 'porpoising' of the truck cab on bumps/dips, which this combination was notorious for due to the TRD Off Road tall soft offroad optimized suspension.

 

@Left Coast Geek The WDH that I was going to get is the (sway control & weight distribution).

The reason I was considering it as even with our pop-up camper that we are pulling w/Class 1 hitch we do experience sway sometimes. And since I was thinking of getting a 3500 GW trailer (to pull it with a Class 2 hitch) I also read here that a weight distribution hitch is "needed" if what you are towing starts to outweigh your vehicle's weight by one-half. My car's curb weight is ~
4,431 lbs. that'd be pulling 3500 lbs. And thanks for posting the diagram!

 

that E2 is WAY overkill for a 3500 lb trailer on a Mercedes E class wagon, the spring bars are rated for a 6000 lb trailer with 600 lb tongue weight.

I can't find ANY WDH for 1.25" receivers or class II, they are all class III 2" or bigger.

I thought you could find a sway-bar only ball mount for 1.25" but I can't seem to find any now, just 2".

these are typical class II 3500 lb ball mounts,
https://www.curtmfg.com/towing-acces...5-inch/class-2

you (or a welder) can weld on the sway control ball mount tab supplied with this kit
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/17200
the black ball is bolted or welded onto the trailer frame, then the friction sway bar goes between that and the silver ball on said welded-on tab next to your main tow ball.

 

@Left Coast Geek this is the class 2 we’ll be installing next week - https://stealthhitches.com/products/..._e-class-wagon. From what I gather even it’s rated as class 2 at 3500 lbs it’ll come with the 2” ball (I attached the screenshots from the product description)

Stealth hitch Mercedes

Stealth hitch Mercedes

 

"RACK RECEIVERS ARE NOT FOR TOWING!" (from https://stealthhitches.com/products/...receiver-hitch which is one part of that rack+tow combo)

you can use their gooseneck tow ball for towing, but NOT the 2" reciever. So no WDH or sway control at all.

that 2" receiver is only for bike racks and such. and MAN, thats going to be low under the bumper/skirt of one of those cars, especially the 'sport'. I expect a lot of hard scrapes going over driveway ramps and such.

 

OMG, Good catch on the receiver! I even started panicking!

But I checked it out further I’m getting a tow combo so it’ll come with some harness/wiring to convert receivers so you can tow. They sell it separately but it should come in my combo. So I think I’m in the clear there 😅 I think…

https://stealthhitches.com/products/...n-kit-sht25002

So now I’m getting suspicious if the website descriptions for the receivers for my car model and year are accurate. I actually sent a question to Stealth Hitch earlier.
​​​​​​
For 2016 e350 wagon 2” setup is rated at 3500lbs so it’s class 2 hitch but for 2017 e400 wagon visually the same 2” setup (hitch and all) is rated at 6000lbs so it’s class 3! At least from the looks of it they seem to use very similar hitches for both but the rating is quite different between the cars that are 1 year apart.

Maybe I’m too optimistic but what if the hitch I get is in fact Class 3… 👀 would class 3 hitch make it a more proper setup to tow a 3500 lbs trailer ?

 

I hope that wiring is a 7 blade RV connector.... if its a 4 pin flat connector, thats only good for lights on a light utility trailers with no brakes and no rv battery... absolutely important on a camper trailer that you have a brake controller reachable by the driver to emergency apply the trailer brakes when the unexpected happens... On a pickup truck, you usually mount these under the dash on either side of the steering wheel, so you can reach down and grab the slider-knob that overrides the trailer braking. The 4 pin flat connector is just for running lights and turn signal/brake lights. the 7 blade has those plus charging power, electric proportional brake power, and (rarely used) reverse lighting.

anyway, I think you're applying wishful thinking here. the 2017+ cars are W213 and have significant differences in their structure. I don't think adding trailer wiring makes any change to the fact that those receiver adapters are NOT designed for towing, they are for RACKS only. That trailer hitch mount assembly is certainly not suitable for the twisting force applied by a WDH

any more than very light very occasional towing will put massive wear on Mercedes rear suspension (5 way multilink with 20 bushings), rear drive train (half shafts, differential), and transmissions, and will cause expensive vehicle failure sooner rather than later.

 

by comparison, my preferred tow vehicle, the classic pickup truck, there's 4 total bushings at the leaf springs, and even if those bushings totally disintegrate, you'll just get some klunking til you can fix it, it will still drive just fine. the forward pulling force is applied by a solid axle rear so no half shafts and fragile CV joints. the 2" class III/IV receiver is bolted very securely directly to a chassis frame that runs the whole length of the vehicle.

A few years ago we were on the last leg of an exttended Southern Utah trailer trip, heading south out of Utah into Arizona on a 2 lane country highway when my hitch ball came loose from my tow bar. the 4500 lb trailer was flailing around, swaying violently back and forth until I grabbed the manual trailer brake override, whihc brought it under control, and I could then slow down and pull onto the rather narrow gravel shoulder. major heart attacks averted. quick google on my phone, and there was a OReilly car parts store about an hour away that closed in about 75 minutes. I quickly chocked and unhitched the trailer, and dashed off to OReely and brought back a new tow-bar with 2" ball, arrived back at the trailer about 100 minutes later (ok, I sped like a lunatic), my wife had just aobut picked up the worst of the trashed stuff inside the trailer and got it all back in the cabinets, we hitched back up and were on our way.

If we had been towing with some marginal vehicle (I know folks who use Highlanders and such to those these 4500 lb Escape 21 ft trailers), we probably would have been tossed off the road and totaled the tow vehicle. The 8000 lb F250 diesel was a tank and took it all in stride with minimal drama. but without that manual trailer brake overridel, getting it stopped would have really sucked.

 

I don't see stealth hitches listing DOT approval, what should be crucial here.
Measure distance from rear axle to approx. ball placement on your wagon, That will help you to determinate if you will need to band-aid the set with WD bars.

 

• OK. Sounds like I don't need WD so I'll be scratching it out.
• I'll definitely need to have breaks. Any recommendations what types of breaks?
• What about sway control? Sounds like I may not need it either.

I also sent a question to Stealth Hitch regarding their "towing package" vs "rack alone". Here is the response: "We actually do not use a square tube receiver for towing as the square tube connection creates movement which is not good for towing. We use a direct connect, zero play ball mount that eliminates the hammering effect you get with a square tube connection for towing. "

Anyway, I've been digging back on how we started on this towing journey with our E350 Wagon and actually found the first pop-up camper specs we rented and successfully and safely towed with no issues from Chicago to Wisconsin (4-5 hour drive each way).

This was our "trial" pop-up camper before we purchased our 1994 Palomino Mustang DD model that we've been towing with Class I hitch a few times a year.

So the specs of the first pop-up we rented and towed with no issues:
2012 Coachmen Clipper Classic (Expandable) 1285 SST
Length 24.42 ft.
Length (closed) 18.42 ft.
Dry Weight 2,685 lbs.
Payload Capacity 800 lbs.
GVWR 3,502 lbs.
Hitch Weight 282 lbs.
Rear Brake Type: Electric Drum

And we towed it with Class I with no issues w/our 2016 E350 Wagon. Yep, we should have not towed it...but we had no issues at all. In fact, from what I recall for some reason I felt towing that heavier camper was easier than towing our current much lighter camper (which has dry weight ~1500lbs but we do load it up with 4-5 bikes+a bunch of camping stuff).

So if we could tow 3500lb GVWR pop-up with Class I hitch so maybe it'd be doable to safely pull a hybrid camper w/3500lbs GVWR with an upgraded hitch -- Class II hitch...?

The hybrid camper I was considering:
Escape E160RBT
UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight)* 2,880
Dry Hitch Weight* 340
Dry Axle Weight* 2,540
CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity) 620
GVWR 3,500

 

Is you new trailer single axle, or dual axle? Leaf axle, or torsion axle.
Single axle with leaf is most prone to sway. Torsion is much better. My new cargo trailer with high UTV on it has single torsion axle. Last time I drove it on desert in strong side gusts, I was observing it slightly fishtailing when the gust hit, but it was so subtle, that I did not feel it on Sprinter's steering wheel.
I bought my brakes here. Just beware that measuring bolt spacing require rocket science degree

 

Thank you @kajtek1 @Left Coast Geek

I confirmed with the Stealth Hitch that there is no way they can offer an alternative hitch for 2016 E wagon like the Class 3 hitch they sell for 2017 E wagon (which rates up to 6000 lbs).

Since the stealth hitch that will be installed tomorrow on my car would rate as Class 2 (up to 3500 towing w/350 tongue weight) based on what I researched on etrailer and other towing sites I can't use WD bars. WD bars are meant to be used for class 3 and higher hitches...

@Left Coast Geek @kajtek1 I also confirmed with the installer today that I'd be getting 7 pin wiring and at an extra cost the installer would also install the brake controller at the same time. So it sounds like I'd be good on that front.

The question mark is whether anyone with Class 2 hitch ever towed a hybrid trailer like the one I'm interested in (EZ Escape 160). I continue to do my research further.

 

@Left Coast Geek @kajtek1 What are your thought whether I could pull this trailer with Class 2 hitch with my Wagon? This one has considerably lower hitch weight and the empty weight is also lower than the EZ camper...I'll have brakes with brake controller. Would I need sway control bars - that I don't know.

www.jayco.com/rvs/travel-trailers/2018-hummingbird/16fd/
Dry Hitch Weight (lbs) 270
Unloaded Vehicle Weight (lbs) 2,535
Cargo Carrying Capacity (lbs) 965
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (lbs) 3,500
exterior length: 18' 10"

 

you can't use a sway control bar with a gooseneck style hitch. period.

 

How confident are you in taking the risk?
As I already mentioned, I did not hesitate to overload the ratings, when pulling cargo trailer. But that was for the job (meaning I was getting paid for doing so) and it was short drive, so I could take my time and roll on slow lane. Will you do that?
On other hand, it is really amazing how those light travel trailers with 900lb cargo are getting overloaded out of proportion.
You have some things to think over.

 

just a full water tank will add 260 lbs to that trailer, subtraced from that 965 cargo capacity. and *any* optional accessories factory or dealer installed have to be added to teh curb weight and subtraced from the trailer load capacity.

on that trailer, looks like options include.. The Customer Value Package, a TV, a mandatory air conditioner, the Baja Package, an electric tongue jack, a spare tire, a bike rack, an exterior grill holder.

if you get that trailer, I highly recommend filling the water tank, packing the basic stuff you'll need to travel (cooking gear, silverware, plates, cups, bedding, towels), and take the trailer to a truck scale. then unhitch the trailer, and weight the tow vehicle without the trailer, this way you get a full and accurate idea of the trailer weight. With the trailer, the truck scale shoudl give you a A) front axle weight, B) a front+rear axle weight, and C) a total combined weight.'

subtract B from your vehicles GVWR to determine your available/remaining vehicle payload including passengers that aren't with you when you weighed...
subtract the unhitched vehicle weight from C to get the total trailer weight as-is, 3500 minus this is how much additional stuff you can pack (food, clothing, more gear).
subtract C-B to get the trailer axle weight, subtract that from the trailer total weight above to get the hitch weight.
subtract B-A to get the rear axle weight, compare this with the axle rating on the sticker in the car.

a few 1000 miles of towing that trailer with the Mercedes will be equivalent to a few 10000 miles of driving normally in terms of wear to your rear suspension and transmission. I average around 5000 miles/year with my trailer, and I've had it since 2016, so that's about 35000 miles so far.

 

Thanks for all the replies, considerations and suggestions. I'm taking it all in and reading all your recommendations.

I'm getting the Class 2 Stealth hitch installed today with 7-pin. The installer will also install Red Arc brake controller. Expecting the car to be ready tomorrow and then...I'll be continuing to find a way to do a "test run" with one of these light-weight hybrid campers before buying one.

I first thought once Class 2 is installed I'd be able to rent a light-weight hybrid camper but it looks like no one would rent one without Class 3 hitch even though Class 2 should "technically" suffice for gross trailer weight and tongue weight for some of those etc. I'll continue searching if someone would let me rent one. If not, maybe I should try going to RV dealer (I've never been to one, just did private sales) and see if they would consider selling me one knowing that I only have Class 2 hitch, or maybe it'd just get a hard "no" from them.

I know that I could buy a used hybrid camper privately but then also wouldn't want to be stuck with something I can't safely/properly tow. I may be left without choice though and will have to buy one privately and then "experiment" with pulling an empty first and then with some load, etc. before putting my family in the car and before we can go on camping trips.

It is still a mystery to me until someone actually tries this. It looks like no one tried this setup of E350 Wagon '16 towing vehicle and a light-weight hybrid camper yet. But just because no one did it doesn't mean it's not possible to do it safely. We get "funny" looks even when we're pulling our pop-up with our wagon - compared to pro-campers who have big trucks & SUVs as tow vehicles of course it looks awkward I don't mind the looks - we just wave and smile and get smiles back

P.S. Regarding police, uh that I wouldn't know but good point. We never had issues with pulling pop-up passing by state and city police cars but yeah don't know if pulling a hybrid with a wagon would draw unnecessary attention.

 

Why is that Jayco Hummingbird trailer a 'hybrid' ? it looks like a smallish conventional stick-sided camper to me.