Any tried and true suggestions (makes and models) on one of these receivers? Any cautions or need to know if you use one?

 

I went to the Forest River website and checked out all the specs and have serious doubts as it being a good match for your GLE. I have been RV’ing for a number of years and while the towing capacity is 7700 lbs., the weight of the FR 22FBS, is over 5000 lbs. dry weight. By the time the TT is loaded with food, bedding, propane, camping gear, etc., it will be much closer to the 7700 lbs. capacity. Plus, the overall length of the 22FBS will be about 27-28’ plus which would likely be very unwieldy. My previous RV was a Dutchmen Kodiak 263 RLSL which weighed about 5100 lbs. dry and my tow vehicle was a Ford Expedition (Bigboy) that had a towing capacity of over
9200 lbs. which sounds like plenty. It wasn’t. Even with a weight distribution hitch and twin stabilizer bars, it was a handful. And steep grades proved to be very difficult both up and down. A reputable RV dealer should be able to help you find the best match for your vehicle but dealers are sometimes clueless or just wanting to make a sale. Best of luck!

 

Bigboy11, thanks for your thoughts. You may have been looking at vthe wrong camper. The UVW of the Flagstaff Micro-Lite 22FBS is right at 5000 lbs. (5004) and is only 23'10"".

 

Correct; that’s exactly the trailer I was checking out. The 5004 lbs. is dry weight without water, propane, food, camping equipment, tools, etc. which will all go in the cargo area. The length of the trailer is somewhat deceptive as the 23’10” is the length of the actual camper body but I promise if you run a tape from the hitch on the tongue to the back of the rear bumper, it will be at least 3-4’ longer. If you are comfortable with it, you might enjoy it but I would not personally do it based on past experience.

 

Try looking at this first. It gives a lot of information on how to set up the height.
If you want Andy Thompson is very knowledgeable on setting up GLE and will give advice and answer any questions by email even if you are not able to go to his shop.

 

Just ignore the dry weight of any published trailer specs. You will never have it that light - look at the GVW of the trailer. If you are careful about what you load, you MAY be able to stay under the trailer's GVW, but few are able to do that. As an example, our Lance 2285 is listed as 4,200 dry weight, but at the scales it's 5,850#, just shy of the 6,000# GVW. I'm over with full water tanks, which is the way we travel on most trips, whether cross-country or boon-docking. We load the rig so our tongue weight is @700# +/- 40#.

Your Payload is the limiting factor. Just assume that you can stay under the gross weight, then do some calculations. You will want 12% of the GVW on the tongue to avoid sway. That number, plus the weight of the WDHitch itself, will subtract from your payload, or cargo capacity, posted on your driver's door post. Work backwards with the calculations - That should drive your trailer choice.

Also, trailer length has nothing to do with its "towability." From a physics point of view, the trailer is seen as a mass - it's length or wheelbase is irrelevant.

 

I'm glad this thread has come back to life. The towing capacity on the GLE is very respectable but it doesn't seem that many actually take advantage of it. A few issues I have come across... curious on others' thoughts:

• A "normal" hitch inserted into the GLE's receiver seems to leave the tow ball VERY close to the rear bumper of the GLE. I have the 53, so maybe the more aggressive rear bumper/splitter sticks out a bit farther? I was hooking up a boat trailer the other day and it was way too close for comfort. I ended up using a different vehicle to do the job just because of how close the hitch ball was to my bumper. Has anyone noticed this? Is anyone using a longer than normal hitch or an extender to get the ball a bit further from the rear bumper?
• When backing up to the boat trailer, the GLE would NOT let me reverse without pressing the gas pedal (the parking brake was not on). I guess this is a good thing under most circumstances, but very unsettling backing up to a trailer when you generally want to just roll off the brake pedal. Is there a way to disable all of the sensors and collision avoidance type features so you can back up to a trailer without this happening?
• Not an issue for boat trailers with surge brakes, but if I wanted to tow a camper or car trailer with electric brakes, a trailer brake controller seems to be necessary. I am not interested in having a hard-wired brake controller in the GLE... I just don't tow often enough to need it. Some have had mixed reviews on wireless/bluetooth brake controllers. Has anyone actually used them on the V167 GLE that can give some real world feedback? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all and happy towing.

 

It is best to have the ball as close to the bumper as possible . This minimizes the torsion on the hitch due to tongue weight. The surge brakes stop you from backing up not the GLE brakes . On surge brakes you need to manuially release them before backing up so they don't activate. They activate when you have the coupler pushed toward the tow vehicle i.e when braking or backing up. . I suggest you read the manual for the trailer to determine exactly how this works. for a brake controller that does not require wiring look at the Tekonsha Prodigy RF. Many on this forum like that one. I prefer a hard wired one Prodigy P2..
There are several threads on towing experiences on this forum and the GLS forum just do a search. Happy towing!

 

Thanks for the quick response. I am familiar with surge brakes and how they work. The problem I am describing is Mercedes' collision sensors stopping me from backing up to the trailer when trying to hook up to it. Trailer not actually attached yet. Could you attach a photo of how close your hitch ball is to your bumper for reference?

 

I have a GLE 53 and mine backs up fine but I’ve never really tried coasting back. The Camera is so good I can get it exactly lined up the first try. I do keep one foot on the gas and one on the brake as I’ve done with other vehicles
I bought a longer piece on Amazon and moved it back through the receiver and drilled new holes for that very reason. I don’t tow more than a 3000 lb trailer so not concerned about moving it back. My utility trailer has V braces and could hit the bumper but I really did this to reduce hitch rattle. My ball is about 4-5” out from before.
Both my 2020 GLE 450 & GLE 53 had the hitch pin hole distorted a little so I had to grind around the inside of the hitch pin hole for clearance. Apparently punching the hole created a slight lip on both sides. The 53 has fins that are close to the hole so you need an angle drill or a Dremel to do part of the grinding.

 

I have seen those reviews that talked about difficulty pairing wireless Controllers, but I never had that experience. It may be a problem with trailer lights if they are LED, so some folks report that adding a resister to the circuit will help pairing.
I used a Tekonsha RF on our former tow vehicles - 2010 and 2014 ML Bluetec's. Haven't tried towing with the 53 because it's still being broken in. Sometime this summer we'll hook up and report.
One thing about the RF controller is that even if the connection with the control unit is lost (never happened to us), the unit is still active at the last setting. The inside unit only changes those settings, or adds manual braking override if you want it.

Hardwiring isn't that big a deal. Although I haven't looked under the driver's floor mat, others on the forum have reported that the connectors are the same for W164, W166 and X167. I attached the W166 instructions. I used it with a Tekonsha P2, no mods to the interior, but I felt that the RF was better, especially at low speeds.

Regarding the short ball mount, the shorter the better! It's a matter of leverage - the longer the "lever," (ball mount stinger) the more control the trailer has over your tow vehicle. Long stingers de-rate the tow capacity by simple geometry. Just carefully check how far you can jacknife without contact.

 

Nice and level ready for ther road.

I use a weight distribution hitch. The top pic is my current GLS but I don't think yo van see the hitch too closely. The second one of my old ML shows a little better. Did you look at the video in the previous thread Mar. 29 on how to set up a hitch. It may be worth looking at the part at the beginning where he shows you how close to get.

 

Couldn't you just disable the sensors before you hook up? Then, once you plug in the trailer to the Merc, it should disable the trailer-related sensors.

 

What is the hitch rating on the 2021 GLE350's also is there a flat four or round 7 pin connector as I can't find either on mine but has a hitch.
Robert

 

I believe the factory hitch has a 7-pin. It is located to the right of the receiver (I believe), and is tucked up under the bumper so it is hidden from view. You’ll have to look under the bumper to see the cover.

 

The length and wheelbase may not have anything to do with “towability” but they have a lot to do with maneuverability. The longer trailer also has a lot more side surface which can make towing in high winds more difficult even with sway bars.

 

Lots of good advice to consider. Thanks to all who contributed. We decided to buy the Forest River Flagstaff 22FBS to pull with our 2020 GLE 450. We had no problems pulling it, however, I had quite the journey getting the brake controller hooked up. I dropped the panel under the steering wheel and couldn't find the pigtail, so I asked my dealer for help in finding it. They were awful...everyone I talked with had the same response "WE DON'T DEAL WITH AFTERMARKET STUFF". My response was the same to every one of them to no avail "I DON'T WANT YOU TO HOOKUP MY BRAKE CONTROLLER, JUST HELP ME FIND THE PIGTAIL". I left there angry and swore to never buy another vehicle from that dealer again!
. My next attempt was to call a big MB dealer in Houston and ask them where to find the pigtail. They told me that MB didn't put one in the 2020 GLE 450 with a trailer package. Unbelievable! Being frustrated I told my wife that we would just pull it with our 2006 Land Rover LR3 and suffer the poorer gas mileage.
. The next morning, another MB dealer's shop foreman in Austin, TX called me back.. I told him what the other dealers said and he said, " It's true that some of these cars didn't get the pigtail, but some did. He punched in my VIN # and said that mine DID have one and told me where to look.
. I still couldn't find it and called him back. He told me to bring it in and he would find it for me.. mind you, he knew I had not bought it from his dealership.
When I got there, we went out to the parking lot, he looked and couldn't find it either. He then took the kick panel off, and after some probing with a flashlight found it. He wouldn't even let me pay him!
. Now that is what I call SERVICE! I will definitely go to that dealership when my lease is up. It's 45 minutes further than my dealer, but this guy sold me on their dealership.
. What I am still needing is a diagram of the rear fuse panel that tells what each fuse is for and where it is. The brake controller fuse is back there. It works now, but would like to know which one it is in case the brake controller goes out. The manual says the diagram is on the back of the cover,, but it isn't. Again, when I asked my dealer for this, all he gave me was a list of the fuses, not a diagram of where they are. Anyone here have a diagram?

 

I remember in some thread a few months ago that people talked about this diagram. Apparently there is a folded paper somewhere in the compartment but well hidden and not obvious at all. I also recall someone scanned it and posted it here, hopefully it can be found without too much searching.

 

Found it here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/gle-class...503-fuses.html

and here:
https://mbworld.org/forums/gle-class...e-diagram.html

 

Just took delivery of our ’23 GLE 450 planning to tow an Airstream 23CB (5,000# dry, 675 tongue wt).

The ’23 GLE Operators Manual says it is important not to exceed max tongue weight. And it has “blanks” for Max Tongue Weight value in the towing technical data. The Dealer called MB Tech Support who sent a ~2019 GLE 400 technical data table showing 617# Max Tongue Wt. and said 617# is the max for my GLE. The 2022 GLE Operators Manual also had blanks for max tongue wt. GLE 450 max tow is 7,700#.

Not too happy! I have plenty of gross vehicle weight and rear axle weight capacity. Is MB concerned their factory installed, $600 receiver is weak?
I wonder if MB Tech Support gave the correct answer. Maybe the absence of the Max Tongue Weight is there answer – none specified, good luck.
Tribal wisdom suggests that 10-15% of max tow weight is the estimate for max tongue weight. 10% of 7,700# = 770# max tongue weight. That would support the Airstream’s 700-730# loaded tongue weight.

What would you do?

 

Did you check the door sticker? That will tell you your vehicle’s max tongue weight. The manuals don’t list it because it’s so dependent on what options your vehicle is equipped with.

 

First, it's good to understand how Europeans rate the towing capacity of their trailers, and hitch weight.
They test the Tow Vehicle (TV) ability up a specified grade (20%?) to a certain speed within a certain time, from a stop.
Your hitch's 7,716# equals 3499.919 kg, so there's probably a disincentive to register a 3,500 kg (7,717#) car. It's a common limit on Euro SUV's.

Then they (the Europeans) just take 10% of that and "assign" the tongue capacity. It's not an indication of hitch strength - just math.
A few years back the "assigned" number was 8%, which is what the 616# number you found is based on.

The Payload posted on your driver's doorpost is the key number, together with gross axle weight ratings F &R (GAWR's). The payload includes everything you have in your GLE Plus the hitch and tongue weight.

I was over my payload at the scales, but still had a couple hundred pounds each end of my GLE with the Weight Distribution Hitch adjusted and hooked up. Don't even think about towing without a WDH.

I recommend that you estimate your loading by assuming your Airstream will be at full GVWR, which I think is 6,000#. Take 10 - 12% of that as tongue weight. (Most are surprised at how quickly your trailer gains weight.)

Example: My Lance has a dry weight of 4,450#, a GVWR of 6,000#. My travelling weight is 5,850#, no genny, and we load so the tongue is 720-740#. That and a 75# hitch sure ate up my 1,170# payload. (Plus as noted, an axle cheating factor.)

You'll be close. I recommend you get a Sherline scale while you do your initial setup. Here's their website. You can probably find one cheaper, but snoop around on that site and there is an excellent guide to towing. https://www.sherline.com/product/she...e/#description

You can do it. It's a great tow vehicle, lots better than a half ton pickup. Modern suspension, big brakes, sturdy chassis.

 

I tow with my Ram 2500 Diesel truck with antisway bars. My thought is these vehicle may sag and that is not good. Also, I am not sure how the transmissions over time will like the tow weights. I too got the tow package, but I will only tow a small 1000lb trailer to pick up items. I don't know if you ever experienced a large truck passing you with the air displacement, will wake you up for sure. Just my opinion.

 

Mikapen and BigPren – thanks for the replies. I used a WDH on the last trailer and am a big believer. Door sticker, shown below.


I started my journey at the door sticker. It has less info than on earlier models: no max tow wt, no “payload”, no tongue wt. It does show something called: “Combined Weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed 950#”. But I think this is not payload. I think the 950# is inside the car, but I am not sure.

GVWR is 6614#, Curb weight [I weighed it, full gas] is 5060#. 6614-5060 = 1554# = payload?

950# vs 1554# is a huge difference! What is my payload?

MB is so unclear on this, I almost think it is intentional – lawyer driven.

 

ZeroAGL
No argument legally driven but, my reading is that your payload of 950 is "legally" correct. Not going to tow much more than a utility trailer. How about a One ton diesel Dodge, Ford or GMC for that trailer. Speaking of "legal" I do tow quite a bit with a larger car trailer and a one ton diesel truck. I have been stopped by DOT a few times for random checks and I've seen how simply they determine your legality and of course your tires legality.
Robert