1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

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johnsculp
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Hello all in G Wagon Association, 

I am looking for a towing vehicle to tow a 1400kg trailer and two heavy Shire horses at 900kg each, up and down local hills. My current car a Merc 270ml auto really struggles with this trailer with any load in it, it slips out of gear after a while and gets very hot, leaving me coasting along or having to stop.

I came acroos a 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4 manual advertized at approx £9k and was thinking of looking at it.
So I am going to change the vehicle and wanted to know if the members here think a 300GD is really up to towing that weight safely, other alternatives I was considering were a Landcruiser amazon or the Landrover Discovery. Not interested in speed just in getting there.

I have no time/interest in doing any car repairs myself and so loose an avg £3k per annum on my car, whether a brand new via depreciation or an  old car (through repair bills). So resigned to shelling out on whatever I buy. I just want something to do this towing job.

This was how the G wagon was advertised:
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1988 Mercedes-Benz G300 Diesel with only 94,800 miles. The bodywork is in superb condition throughout and the underside is completely Waxoyled. Alloys are unmarked and the BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres are virtually new. The interio is excellent too with a lcouple of tears in the driver's seat. The front seats are Recaros. This is probably one of the tidiest Classic G Wagons around, few as there are.

There are 2 keys with it and it starts first time with only a little smoke on start up.
Car has a full 'hand-written' service history too, having been recently serviced by a Mercedes Specialist a few thousand miles ago.
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So Is this G wagon a contender for my towing  requirements? any other comments welcome too.

mark
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

 3200kg is above the legal towing weight for a 300 GD if that concerns you. Will be very slow with that amount of weight as well.
Does the ML have a low ratio?

johnsculp
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Hello mark,

ohh dear - I assumed that the 300GD would be able to tow the 3500kg legally, knocks it out of choice straight away. In G wagon range then which one can?

Ref ML Its a Tiptronic one, so can drop into manual, but its legal limit is only 3300 on the very edge of what I now require but in all other ways not a bad car but for the heating/slippage when under tow stress, so I need to get a bigger tow vehicle and preferably a heavier kerbweight one.

axel
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

 towing horses with a vehicle that is gutless is just unsafe, you really ought to be using a lorry an 814 merc maybe??
we breed oldenburgs and they weigh in at about 600 kg each for the bigger ones they travel in the biggest ifor williams and we tow with a lwb 460 g wagen but it has 200bhp and 350nm of torque ,hence no problems.
the 617 n/a diesel is a liability towing with high load you will be down in low box at every hill attracting unwanted attention and abuse from other drivers ,not to mention the shires will get v ticked off being towed by it .
the lc is a better bet i am afraid unless you buy a high power g ,all the g engines in 460's are pretty hopeless for towing at weight (sorry but it is a fact)

mark
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

The late 90's G Wagens can tow 3500 kg in LWB form, ie the G 300 td's and the G500, and later the G270CDI and G 400, again in LWB. For some reason they dropped towing weight down to 3300 kg ( i think) in about 2007. I'll have a look in a bit.

Mercedes seem to have never played the "max towing weight" game, unlike say Land Rover.

Colmmcrory
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Hi there, I bought an 1989 460 G-Wagon with retro-fit turbo conversion to tow an Ifor Williams HB510 and my horses. It is not capable of towing anything. I finished up buying a land cruiser for towing and the G-wagon sits in the shed because I cannot get rid of it for more than half of what I paid for it. It is an utterly useless vehicle. The one you are looking at has no turbo so will be worse than useless for towing a horsebox. You would be better with a fiat 500 or something..

Colm

johnsculp
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Hello Axel, thanks for comments.
OK yes the trailer I have is the biggest horse box one HB610, quite a heavy bulky thing indeed.
I had considered a lorry but another vehicle to insure/maintain parked here and only used say 4 - 5 times a month made me decide on a trailer and tow vehicle setup, so can use the tow vehicle for normal travel for personal/business use and although more epensive just more straightforward and the trailer horsebox for other business use aswell. 

tony.bruegger
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Back on the forum for a few days...the above comments all have merit although I did take cattle 15 miles to market in a 460 +  617 na for 15 years probably at 3800kg gtw...it were slow !
With my transport managers hat on the G can be uprated at Swansea to 3500kg in some cases ,more if powered brakes are fitted to trailer.
Those of you who know my 461 van [uprated 662 ,c.160bhp] has often run long mway distances with a tidy loaded trailer at 6000kg+ gtw
PS just dont get vosa'd

panzer
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Lateral thinking needed here.

Smaller horses - say - Welsh cob section D. Saves 800Kg in horses and a smaller trailer saves say another 400kg.

So less 1200 kg means you can get a G.

johnsculp
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Re: 1988 MERCEDES 300 GD M4

Cant do that Panzer - have to keep the big horses, they're family.
Looks like its going to be a rethink on this, maybe a horse lorry after all.
Thanks for all the comments so far.