GL Fahrer

Greetings,
I am thinking about getting an M-B installed trailer hitch, if for no other reason than that I might have something to tow in the future.
In your experience, what sort of things are you towing with your GL (if so equipped)?

Stumblefoot

We'll be towing our Coleman camper in the summer.

We also have the bike rack that attaches to the hitch as well for 3 bikes. Very cool!

canvasback13

I tow my boat all winter long. My wife is extrememly embarrassed when this fine vessle is in our driveway, she is horrified of waht the neighbors think. I have a pic of it in tow behind the GL at home. I will post it later. My boat is the one in front. This boat is only 17 feet, you don't even know your towing it. The GL tows well.

lkchris

Not this motorcycle but this trailer

infamily

here is my post on our towing experience. checkout my post titled our towing experience with GL320CDI

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ghlight=towing

canvasback13

cjh.

5000 pound Chaparral boat. GL handles it with no problems at all.

EWT

Is the 5000 lbs. for the boat alone, or boat + trailer?

Blk04cobra1

Im sure you all know, but towing capacity for the GL is 7500lbs...what's unique about the MB hitch and the GL is it integrates the traction system. In the event the trailer starts to sway a little, but GL automatically compensates and straightens out without any driver input.

oknish

So you don't know you are towing it because it's camouflaged?

JimBarnhart

Haven't pulled it yet, but intent is to put a couple of these into this trailer. Total weight should be about 6,000 pounds.

gordongl450

About 4,500 pounds of potoon boat, trailer and gear with a 2007 GL450 (pictured).

This year I have the 2008 GL320 and I am interested to see how the increased torque feels when I tow for the first time.

oinick

I have towed my golf cart on a trailer (I really don't know how much they weighed together). Also I have towed my 4800 lb. ski boat on a trailer. No problem.

dmfick

Last weekend I towed my World Cat 250 DC boat with the '07 320 GL. The boat alone is about 5,900 pounds dry. It had 120 gallons of fuel (around 850 pounds), and a dual axle galvanized Load Rite trailer, which weighs around 1,700 pounds. All in, with electronics that aren't specified in the boat's dry weight, probably 8,500 pounds. I pulled the boat out of the water fine, and trailered it from Harborton, VA to Fenwick Island, DE, about 90 miles. I had three passengers, probably 700 pounds total passenger weight. So I was running heavy. To top it off, the boat is 14 feet tall on the trailer, with a full width hard top and various antennaes and lights on top of that. Bottom line: Absolutely NO issue pulling it, accelerating, maintaining speed, etc. However, the trailer did push the GL around noticeably and made my passengers (and me) a bit uncomfortable, especially on turns. It ran fine on the straights at 55-60 mph, got 10 mpg (I usually get 25 - 26 on the same run with no trailer). I babied it, but clearly would not want to make this a regular practice. My Ford F-250 King Ranch, on the other, hand, tows the same rig without breathing hard - you never know the boat is there. I will be picking the boat up the same way next weekend and will try to take a picture for the forum. Pretty funny to see a 32 foot long trailer rig behind the GL. Looks like a mis-matched toy.

Danno4x4

GL320CDI without trailer: 5800 Lbs on the dot (with my 230 lb butt in the driver's seat)

Total Trailer Weight: 6340 lbs.

Total weight of the trailer and the GL: 12140 lbs.

Tongue weight of the loaded trailer: 650 lbs

Conclusion: IT PULLS LIKE A CHAMP! Not once did I feel that the engine did not have enough power. It pulled just fine up and down hills, and the trailer tracked nice and true. The Prodigy brake controller did its job well and worked quite nicely with the GL.

A few statistics:

Fuel mileage with cruise control set at 65 MPH: 17.1
Fuel mileage with cruise control set at 75 MPH: 13.4

One other observation: One of the trailer tail lights decided to burn out along the way. When this happened, the GL recognized the drop in voltage and displayed 2 messages in the driver's speedo console indicating that the trailer brake light was out and that the trailer right turn signal lamp was out. In addition the flasher flashed at double rate when using the right turn signal... I was able to swap the bulb immediately and get right back on the road. I was not expecting this feature!

GL Fahrer

We have our eyes on an Airstream Safari which weighs-in at 7300 GVWR. I'm sure it'll top 7500 with provisions. What I'm seeing on this thread is that this should be no problem...just worried about going too far with a max wt and sttep grades.

gordongl450

Gl Fahrer,

What truck are you using to tow? What model year?

GL320
GL450
GL550

What do you think about torque of the GL320 and towing? I noticed that you did not chime in on the recent "torque vs HP" thread.

neodoc

I tow my motorcycle trailer. Total weight with the bike inside is about 2000 pounds. Avg 18 mpg on highway trips.

scottybdiving

It all depends on how and where you drive. Most vehicle will handle their rated loads and then some on flat straight roadways. I live west of Austin near Lake Travis, just off of a major route for weekend boaters. It is a 4 lane with a 65 MPH limit, with steep hills and sharp curves. Almost every weekend there is at least one case where a SUV with a large boat looses control and ends up in a ravine or worse. I have driven beside these types and they think they can drive 65+ while towing the maximum load their vehicle is rated for.

IMO, hilly or mountainous terrain reduces the vehicles towing capacity by 25% or more, and that is if you drive sensibly.

scottybdiving

Now that is one sweet motorcycle trailer. I don't think I have ever seen one around here. Who is the manufacturer?

GL Fahrer

For towing, I would be using the GL550. No argument here for torque vs HP....styling won-out over practicality.

GL Fahrer

That is great advice. Perhaps a 7300 trailer is cutting the safety margin too close.
Would loading up the GL with more weight make it more or less stable for safety-sake? Or would it just be reducing the safety margin even further for the two together?

scottybdiving

The key is to know your limitations and adjust accordingly with the conditions. Airstreams have a long history of being the best towing rigs out there. I assume your new deal would incorporate a load levelling system and a sway bar?

neodoc

Hey, Scotty:

The trailer is made by Phoenix and is sold by local distributors. I found mine here:http://www.customcyclecarrier.com/. The bike fits perfectly and is held down by a "wheeldock" http://www.wheeldock.com/ that I had installed instead of the standard BikePro. I simply ride up the ramp, lock the front wheel in the docking system and just tie down in the back. The bike doesn't budge. Even though I check it every 100 miles or so, in my 1000-plus-mile trips it hasn't moved. It's a great investment to keep the bike safe and dry. Carries luggage well too .

neodoc

I'm used to towing smaller, lighter loads, as you can see from my post above, so I can't speak from my own personal experience. However, my concern with the description above is that the load is quite heavy and despite the manner in which this obviously experienced driver "babied" the truck, the transmission and diffs did suffer. One tow might not do it in, but repeated strains like this beyond the limits may result in a trip to the MB shop. Case in point: one of my cousins tried to tow a heavy boat with his Silverado Z71 4x4. On the hilly roads, the truck was strained. By the time he got close to home, he lost his transmission. It's not exactly a GL, but just food for thought.