450 ft lbs and 240 hp - enough??

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jandyman

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Joined
Feb 19, 2013
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16
Hi,

I'm shopping for a tow vehicle for a 23 foot travel trailer (4600 lbs empty). A possibility I hadn't previously considered is one of the Mercedes SUVs with the Bluetec diesel engine. I am a big fan of diesels, and the torque figure for this motor (455 ft lbs) is more than sufficient, but I'm a little bit nervous about the horsepower (240 hp). I'm used to seeing engines with this kind of torque be in the 350 hp range - even diesels. I'm having trouble understanding the implications for towing. I'm hoping that someone here can help me gain more understanding how this would translate to pulling power in my situation.

Thanks for any help!

- Andy
 
With a trailer that light, the engine will have ample power to pull it.  The question is, what is the tow rating for that SUV?  Disregard dry weight and look at gross weight of the trailer.  Ensure that it is under the SUV's rating. 
 
My concern would not be the engine but more the actual tow ratings, the transmission, etc.
There are many powerful engines in SUV's that never see continuous output in the real world. They are not hooked up to heavy duty transmissions and differentials and don't really need to be, until you hook them to a heavy load.
Now you have a situation where you get to find the weakest component.
 
The tow rating is 7500 for the GL and 7200 for the ML. The GL is bigger and generally more desirable, but more expensive and apparently very hard to find a used diesel. So we are thinking the ML. Is 7200 enough?

- Andy
 
The whole vehicle matters as others have said here. If the tow rating is 7200 as you indicated I see NP's as I do not believe you could put more than the 2600 hundred pounds in that unit to get it up to 7200.
As far as HP it means nothing, the torque is what matters as HP is only a calculation of torque and RPM, a diesel will always show low HP because of the low RPM's they turn.
 
jandyman said:
The tow rating is 7500 for the GL and 7200 for the ML. The GL is bigger and generally more desirable, but more expensive and apparently very hard to find a used diesel. So we are thinking the ML. Is 7200 enough?

- Andy
Click to expand...

If the engine is a turbo charged diesel, it should be enough for that trailer.

 
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