I'd buy a light kit from eTrailer, it has adapters that plug into the factory harness at the taillights, no cutting or soldering wires. Hookup to the power outlet is a good idea.
Buggered Benzmail via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> writes: > 163s are good to go with towing with no nanny issues. Put on the hitch (I > just swapped a 5000lb Drawtite it off the 99ML320 with some tranny limp mode > gremlin Onto the 05ML500) and the light kit, you need a powered adapter, > whole kit is like $25 or so, per Mitch’s suggestion I pulled power off the > rear outlet, easy peasy. That took longer than the hitch kit to swap over as > I soldered all the wire joints and had to verify wires. > > The 164s have the trailer nanny, keeps brakes and stability controls happy. > $2k kit If it was not built with it. The 164 is also uniframe unlike the > body-on-frame 163s. I’m thinking to do a lift on this 99E320 when I get the > trans issue sorted (I think at this point it must be a bad wire in the > harness somewhere as a new CP and TCM did not resolve the limp issue). I got > some 18” wheels from a 220 (I think) that will fit with like 8 or 10mm > spacers, could get some big tars on them. > > 164 is nice, bought a 11ML350 dizzel for the former spousal unit, total hot > rod. When she gets tired of it I might try to acquire it. I put a hitch on it > for a bike rack but did not do the nanny. From what I recall of driving it > the ride was a bit softer than my 163 500 but it had all the same drivetrain > features, low range and such. Nice vehicle, it was fast as hell, the dizzel > was a torque monster. > > All in all the 163 is likely a better choice for self-maintenance. Its > pretty basic aside from a few nannies. 722.6 is a good trans, not sure > what’s in the 164, probably a 722.9 which is more problematic. Upgrade the > sound/nav unit and you’re all good. I’d go for a later model, the 05 is > likely more sorted as it was the last year. > > --FT > Sent from iPhone > >> On Jun 5, 2021, at 11:35 AM, Dan Penoff via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> >> wrote: >> >> True. Up to 2003 or possibly later you can do the towing thing with some >> aftermarket bits that are relatively inexpensive - I did it with the 2002 I >> had, and it’s easy, took me all of maybe 20 minutes to install everything. >> >> I like the trailer idea, too. Thanks! >> >> -D >> >>>> On Jun 5, 2021, at 11:31 AM, Rick Knoble via Mercedes >>>> <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> Other than the gremlins, it was a good car/truck. Mileage sucked, but it’s >>>> a truck, so that wasn’t unexpected. >>> >>> I have gotten 30 mpg consistently on the highway with a rwd E320. That's >>> probably not going to happen with any ML. >>> >>> IIRC, Floyd (and Mitch) have said later models have nanny issues if the >>> truck is not set up for towing from Ma Benz. I have a friend that buys >>> these things new (multi millionaire) and he gets them with the tow package, >>> not for towing, but for all the stuff that comes with the tow package, i.e. >>> brakes, cooling system, trans cooler, etc. That is a consideration. Also, a >>> small 5X9 trailer can do nearly as much as the small pickup you were in the >>> market for. >>> >>> >>> Rick >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -- Allan Streib Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Digital Science Center | Intelligent Systems Engineering | FutureSystems _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
