leftfield6

Hello all, new member here with a question, thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

I have a 2010 GLK350 I purchased about 90 days ago. Love it! It's a 4Matic with very low miles, darn near perfect condition.

I would like to add a little more "U" to this SUV, by adding a tow hitch. I purchased and installed an aftermarket hitch, but was not happy with it from a visual perspective. I have removed the hitch, and if anyone in the Atlanta area would like it, let me know.. I am now in the process of researching and maybe installing a factory OEM hitch. I've seen the posts and the youtube of what has to be done to install a factory hitch, and I'm okay doing everything I have seen.

Getting a factory hitch is also not a barrier, as used ones are for sale on ebay and on other online used parts websites.

But, here (at last) is my question. A number of the hitches for sale I'm looking at have what appears to be about 4 feet or so of wiring harness attached. That wire harness terminates in a rectangular Mercedes OEM electrical plug, with what looks to be about 16 pins. I have found a few posts about Mercedes ML series vehicles all having the mate to this connector inside the rear quarter panels. Here is a pic of what is inside the qtr panel of an ML series..




Now, to be clear, the GLK harness looks a little bit different. (the below is the part of the harness that is attached to the hitch itself. I'm hoping the "mate" to this is inside my quarter panel.



But I haven't found any evidence that the GLK does or does not have this feature.

Does anyone know if all GLKs were pre-wied in this way?

leftfield6

Seems like no one has any advice/experience to offer on this. I decided to purchase the hitch/harness combo that was for sale on eBay. Even if I don't get the harness to work, I still prefer the OEM hitch to any of the aftermarket hitch options.

Once I get the rear bumper off and the rear interior panels pulled, I'll hopefully find the harness pre-wire. I'll come back to this thread and document what I find.

Rascally Wabbit

There has been a lot written about this a couple of years ago & I was involved in the discussion. There are two pieces to the OEM wiring harness & it will plug into the OEM harness but I have been told the ECU has to be flashed to make it all work. I recently acquired the last two pieces for the OEM hitch, the arms which reinforce the bumper. That means sometime after the new year if life slows down I will be back into tearing apart & installing the mentioned braces. Before I get to this, I have house projects to complete & work to do on the Z3. Thank goodness the ol' Cherokee just keeps going! Retirement is a lot of work!

leftfield6

Thanks for the reply. I've seen pics of the OEM hitch with the extensions that go inside the frame rails. I'm not 100% why it seems some have those included and some don't. Not sure if they are required or not. I hope not, since the hitch I purchased does not include those.

Do you have any more info on the additional parts are that are required for the harness? What I have is item 10 in this picture, and also the harness that terminates in what is labelled as connector 906.

I am missing the component identified as item number 300, as well as the two frame rails (150 and 160) Any idea what item #300 is?

Rascally Wabbit

#150 & #160 are the side member rails, p/n 2046101525 & 20461016525. I watched for them on EBay for almost four years before I found a set a couple of months ago. For whatever reason, the sellers remove the bumper reinforcement which has the hitch but leave the rails on the car- go figure. Personally I would not utilise the hitch without them. #300 is a controller or something. When I purchased my wiring harness, MB of Atlanta requested my VIN number & told me I did not need it. Evidently some do & others do not. Our 2010 is an early production, build date of August 2010. The two wiring harnesses are A2045403413 & 2045400533 & currently are good numbers. One of the two harnesses is available on EBay. https://www.ebay.com/i/231350619632?chn=ps
I have a six page print out on how to retrofit the harness but the address is not longer active. If you will send me a personal message with your email address, I will try to get a copy of this to you but uncertain if I can. Gotta figure out how to scan it & save it as a jpeg file. Mrs. Computer whiz aka wife might know how.

PVBDLM

Check out this thread, particularly starting at post #31.
https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...ml#post7154391

Utilizing the factory wiring is doable (and worth the effort in my opinion) but DEFINITELY not plug-and-play !!!!

sables2

[QUOTE=Rascally Wabbit;7613297]#150 & #160 are the side member rails, p/n 2046101525 & 20461016525. I watched for them on EBay for almost four years before I found a set a couple of months ago. For whatever reason, the sellers remove the bumper reinforcement which has the hitch but leave the rails on the car- go figure. Personally I would not utilise the hitch without them. #300 is a controller or something. When I purchased my wiring harness, MB of Atlanta requested my VIN number & told me I did not need it. Evidently some do & others do not. Our 2010 is an early production, build date of August 2010. The two wiring harnesses are A2045403413 & 2045400533 & currently are good numbers. One of the two harnesses is available on EBay. https://www.ebay.com/i/231350619632?chn=ps
I have a six page print out on how to retrofit the harness but the address is not longer active. If you will send me a personal message with your email address, I will try to get a copy of this to you but uncertain if I can. Gotta figure out how to scan it & save it as a jpeg file. Mrs. Computer whiz aka wife might know how.[/QUOTE

Anyone can send me the mentioned el.harness instruction for 2010 350glk. Have tow hitch and pig tail harness already. Francis,Motrtechni@aol.com

Schneb

I have a factory hitch in perfect condition I am willing to sell. The reinforcement side rails are necessary and most of the ones on ebay are missing those components. Let me know if anyone is interested. The hitch I have is made by Westfalia and was bought through the MB dealer for $1400. I am looking to sell the entire hitch mechanicals including hardware for $600.

vinglk

I am tempted . How much would it cost to ship it to 06377 (Connecticut) ...I am in Canada but I can pick it up there. Thank-you

Schneb

Shipping is ~$50 USD

vinglk

Thank-you , do you have the model number , receipt ,for the hitch ? Does it have all the parts and was it installed before?

,

Schneb

Part number OEM MB 204-310-00-00

Comes with all parts minus electrical harnessing.

i have the paper work and it was installed briefly before trading in the suv.

vinglk

are you missing anything in this picture , if so can you tell what it is. Thank-you

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Schneb

Has everything in the picture minus the electronics/wiring.

100% all mechanical parts are included.