Hull #200 in service

[ScubaRx]

... here in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee by the old mill...

 

Reed, you and Karen should not miss the corn chowder that is served in the Old Mill Restaurant.

[KarenLukens]

KarenLukens wrote:

… here in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee by the old mill…

Reed, you and Karen should not miss the corn chowder that is served in the Old Mill Restaurant.

We will be heading that way tomorrow now, we can walk there from here.

[KarenLukens]

We hit up the Old Mill Restaurant for lunch today and the Corn Chowder was great. On to North Carolina in the morning :)

 

[KarenLukens]

And the photo -

 

[topgun2]

Reed and Karen,

 

OK, I'll bite - where in North Carolina are you?  Enjoying the relatively warm temps?  If you are near Brevard, NC drop me a PM and I'll see if we can get together.

 

Bill

[KarenLukens]

Reed and Karen, OK, I’ll bite – where in North Carolina are you? Enjoying the relatively warm temps? If you are near Brevard, NC drop me a PM and I’ll see if we can get together. Bill

 

We're in Morganton tonight off I40 heading towards Shawsboro up in the North Eastern tip to see a friend for a few days, so we've past you just today but we will be here at Walmart in Morganton until tomorrow afternoon rearranging everything... Then next week, down the coast to Charleston to see another friend,, then back to Cali to get registered... Then back to New Mexico to see friends,.. Then back to Texas to Little House Customs for window awnings and helping Larry take measurements for custom Oliver work so he can add a bunch of mods for Oliver's if possible. Oliver doesn't change the bathroom faucet out for people anymore so we might be doing a shower install there also. He has the fridge buttons, hinges, and a lot of parts already that will fit both the Casita and the Oliver's already. He's never had the chance to really look one over so... Maybe an Oliver mod store will open soon :)

 

Our biggest dip is stopping in the middle to back to Cali to register it, kinda put a damper on things, but it's workable :)

[Try2Relax]

R&K, with all your plans it almost seems easier (and cheaper) to grab all the papers and just hop a quick two day flight back to register it, then just keep driving.

 

The nice part is you can figure out where it would be the cheapest to do it from and just drive there.

 

Do you need to have the trailer physically there for registration? Does California have any sort of inspection process for trailers?

 

Keep the pictures coming, trip looks great so far.

 

(Time to start coloring your signature map)

[KarenLukens]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B25HKU4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=DVETVI1ZF5E8&coliid=I15J168SFYH0DS&psc=1

 

My text keeps disappearing today.... 3rd time writing a response... Lol. Jason said they might be changing over to the back up camera we had them install for us because it's better and costs less. We have to let California DMV see our rig at the closest location, so it's just a quick trip over the state line and then back to Arizona to a friend's house.

 

Every time I set up to paste the link above, all my text and the picture disappeared, so this better work, hehe.

 

 

 

[HighBeam]

That little tow vehicle looks OVERLOADED!

[mountainborn]

Here is the tow rating on a popular web site:

 

http://trailers.com/tow-capacity/2012_Mercedes_Benz_ML350_BlueTEC_11653.html

[KarenLukens]

That little tow vehicle looks OVERLOADED!

Yea it raises up and drives smooth though. We packed camping gear for the trip out, the Honda 2000i is in the back along with the cool box, tools, chairs, sleeping bags, 8 gallons of water, kitchen sink..... A... Well no kitchen sink this time :) Then the box up top is packed tight. Once we get home, half of it is coming out. I didn't know what to expect, so I have a bunch of tools that I've had to use for simple mods, then we have a bunch of empty clothes bags, pillow bags, the car is stuffed. It even has the back cushions for the king bed/ sofa in there that we won't use. At home we have all of the lights, propane fireplace, cook stove, griddle, pizza oven, etc... And everything has its p!ace when we finally get setup at home. It has a 600lb tongue capacity, but I'll probably put on a weight distribution hitch of some kind later for a 4000watt generator to fill the gen box. The Anderson hitch wouldn't fit on this car.

[Try2Relax]

Reed, I'm curious as to why you find that the Andersen wouldn't fit on the MB? Is it a 2" coupler, looking at your picture it looks like you need a rise and they have an up to 4" and an up to 8" model.

[KarenLukens]

Reed, I’m curious as to why you find that the Andersen wouldn’t fit on the MB? Is it a 2″ coupler, looking at your picture it looks like you need a rise and they have an up to 4″ and an up to 8″ model.

 

In order to get the exact 23.5", I put a 10.5" ball lift on it. Jason also called Anderson and was told that they didn't have the right type of hitch by them. I already had the 10.5" x 10,000lb hitch at home, so it worked out perfectly and honestly, it tows like a dream, my head lights are perfect, and with all of the options that it has, the car basically drives itself. It stays in the lane on its own, it changes speed to maintain the distance that I choose from the car ahead of me on its own, it has a camera centered over the tow ball for easy first time hook up... And the camera on the trailer shows everything going on behind us. It's really a comfortable car with all of the options.

[Try2Relax]

Thanks. Wow 10.5" really limits your choices. It really sounds like a nice setup and the nice thing is the Oliver is so well behaved even by itself.

[Overland]

I think also that a lot of unibody vehicles aren't designed to handle the forces of a WD hitch.  Many of them specifically say not to use them - don't know about the Merc.  I also think that the european makes are a bit optimistic with their tow ratings - designed for lighter tongue weights.  Our X5 I think is supposed to tow 7000lbs, but I'd never try to tow an Elite II with it.  It's gotten squirrelly before with just a hitch mounted cargo rack with under 300lbs of gear on it.

[Try2Relax]

HighBeam, if you are still referring to the ML350, as has been stated, it is sufficiently capable of safely towing an Elite II.

 

Curb weight is just over 5000lbs, towing capacity is 7200lbs, 240hp and 455ft/lbs of torque. They have more power and room for safety within their specifications than many towing with a 1/2 ton pickup.

 

While it may not be your type of tow vehicle, and we will all welcome criticism and caution when it is in regard to safety, please do not post just to abuse another in regard to their choice of tow vehicle because you don't like the way it looks.

 

We are a small family, Oliver owners, and choose to keep our forums friendly, civil and informative. If your desire is to be inflammatory and non constructive there are plenty of other places to post.

[KarenLukens]

I think also that a lot of unibody vehicles aren’t designed to handle the forces of a WD hitch. Many of them specifically say not to use them – don’t know about the Merc. I also think that the european makes are a bit optimistic with their tow ratings – designed for lighter tongue weights. Our X5 I think is supposed to tow 7000lbs, but I’d never try to tow an Elite II with it. It’s gotten squirrelly before with just a hitch mounted cargo rack with under 300lbs of gear on it.

 

Our car rides great while pulling our Lil' Nugget. I was thinking that a sway bar like we had on our Casita would be needed, but it's not. The X5 is rated for 6000lbs so it would be tight but do-able depending on your curb weight, our bluetec diesel has a 5300lb curb weight and another 1000lbs of gear and people, so it is controlling the trailer just fine, and not the other way around... It also has a 7300lbs GVW. As far as weight distribution hitches go, many cars can take one but some hitches will need to be either replaced or reinforced. It's not the car, it's the hitch that decides if it has been built for a WD hitch. It would be nice to know the curb weight of your X5 just for a comparison. The ML350 Bluetec is one of the best tow vehicles that money can buy and perfectly suited for towing the Elite II. Are there bigger vehicles out there? Yes, but this is a 5200lb trailer and a bigger vehicle really isn't needed. This is why so many of us buy this trailer, we don't need a full size truck to pull it and it would be a waste of money to do so. I have a Chevy Crew Cab at home along with a Hummer H2, either will pull it but neither comfortably or economically when compared to the bluetec. We're averaging 19.7mpg now when towing and we averaged 27mpg on the way out to get the trailer fully loaded. Then with the 27+ gallon fuel tank, we fill up once a day and relax in comfort when on or now in our Lil' Nugget, when off the road. We are really happy with our Oliver

[HighBeam]

Thanks Randy  Blow beam is just trolling, batting 0 for 2… But thanks for having our backs Randy

Gotta love Ol’ Clint Eastwood, he could definitely put these things into the right perspective.

I truly don't wish you any bad luck, but for your own sake and for the safety of others around you on the road, you should take a second look at the wheel base, that 10.5" rise hitch and the way the car is squatted down on its rear axle bump stops. Overland was smart to point out to you that he would never try to pull the Elite II with his X5 ...which is basically the same car. You can get the Elite II moving and tow with quite a lot of vehicles, but the question becomes can you safely handle and STOP it? I would not feel comfortable trying with either that Mercedes, X5 or Pathfinder.

 

Best of Luck to You Lukens!

[Overland]

You could be right about the X5 tow capacity - I'd have to go check.  I do think that it's considerably lighter, 4500 lbs or so and a 1500 lb cargo capacity.  My experience though is that it can really handle only about half of that and still act like you expect it to.  When we load it up Clampett style for camping, it's 300 lbs on the rear hitch, probably 150 on the roof between the sky box and the roof rack, and then another 300 inside.  Plus us and the barrel of whisky strapped to the front, so 950 lbs or so, and it's a bit much.  It feels sluggish going up grades and the rear end can begin to step out if you're too agressive with the steering or get going too fast.  On the other hand, the sag with that weight is barely noticeable.  Maybe and inch or so - much less than it looks like on yours, which is interesting.

 

One thing about using a hitch rack is that the COG of the load is further back than it would be with a regular hitch.  In our case, it's twice the distance, so the torque on the receiver is actually twice what it would be if we were towing with the same tongue weight.  I'm not a big fan of hitch racks for that reason, even though we use one.

 

On the WD hitches - I know that there are SUVs and even some trucks that say not to use it.  My guess is that on a lot of unibody vehicles, they design for loads in one direction and not both like they'd need to do for a WD hitch.  Like I say, I don't know about the MB, but I'd certainly check on it before you add one.  You said it raises up - does it have a load leveling suspension?  That might be another complication with a WD hitch - don't know.

 

I think I'd be O.K. with the X5 and the smaller Ollie.  With the bigger one, the numbers might work on paper, but I wouldn't feel safe.  I like to have a big margin of error.  Plus I'm just very picky about how cars handle - I don't know how I'm going to deal with this whole pickup thing.