Problem with Curt tow package - super low

blazedj420

New member
I have a 2013 MB Sprinter 2500, 170 wheel base, crew van. We tow an enclosed trailer full of band gear. Got it about two years ago and added a Curt Class III 2-inch trailer hitch receiver. Right away we noticed that it was super low to the ground and any standard hitch would have our trailer nose way too close to the ground. So we got a hitch that raises up a few inches. It still had our trailer kinda pointing down, and over the last two years it seems to have gotten worse. Not sure what is bending or where. Then when we took our Sprinter to MB dealer recently for something else they said our tow package is cracked. So we need to replace it, but we don't want to just put the same thing back on and run into the same problem again. Anyone have a similar problem with their tow package? What are our other options? We did install this first one ourselves, but it's just 4 bolts on both sides into spots that are already in the frame for the rear step-up, so I don't see how we possibly could've done it wrong to where it sits in a spot that it wasn't designed to sit... Thanks for any help! Pics attached.
 

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Psbuckley

Member
I recently purchased a Curt tow pkg for my 2003 3500 and it DOES NOT tilt downward like yours seems to. In addition to the 4 bolts each side, there is a fifth bolt that I had to drill a hole for and install a special plate washer in the frame. This bolt installs vertically up to the bottom of the frame.
Initial assessment is that yours is not installed correctly.
Maybe some pics of the attachment location would help?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

220629

Well-known member
Have you verified the loaded trailer tongue weight as being less than 500#... assuming you have the standard 5000/500# rating.

The angle of the drawbar suggests that the hitch assembly is cracked or otherwise damaged. It looks to me like you have more than just a hitch problem. The aluminum diamond plate stress and the possible angle of the trailer A-frame looks like it should be inspected for problems.

Are you certain that is a Curt hitch? The Curt design most often has loops for the safety chains. The Cequent design (branded Reese, Hidden Hitch, etc.) uses a lower plate for safety chain attachment.

Of course repair/replace the damaged hitch, but also have the trailer inspected and check the tongue weight.

:2cents: vic
 
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Düsseldorfer

New member
Blazed,

There are two options for NCV3 rear bumpers: plain, and the step bumper like you have.

With the step bumper, you are limited to hitch setups like your Curt that hang down below the step. Maybe someone backed the receiver into something at one point, causing the bend/breakage -- in any case, you want to make sure that the relevant part of the truck is not also damaged, as the dealer might not have looked at it that closely.

Assuming the van's bumper mounts are not tweaked, you can swap to the other style of bumper pretty easily. If you remove the step bumper and fit the plain style, you can fit the other kind of factory receiver, which is somewhat higher. If you google around, you can probably find pics of a non-step bumper Sprinter with the factory hitch.

But whatever you do, you do not want to go another mile towing with the current setup. That is really, really bad -- someone could get hurt, or worse.

HTH,
D
 
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blazedj420

New member
Thanks for the input, all. It definitely is a Curt. It is the 500/5000. This may seem like a silly question, but how would one measure the tongue weight? Can't exactly put the bathroom scale under it. Truck stops maybe? Trailer shop?
Best I can tell, the damage to the trailer is just aesthetic. An automatic gate to a community closed on us and the driver didn't notice so he was still pulling forward.
I attached a few more pics, including the mounting point. It's mounted on the same bolts as the step up bumper which seems to be fine and level.


 

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4wheeldog

2018 144" Tall Revel
Hard tl believe that you could damage the hitch itself and bend hell out of the "Stinger" with a 500lb tongue weight.
I am betting you find the tongue weight is somewhere near double that.
 

Cheyenne

UK 2004 T1N 313CDi
... This may seem like a silly question, but how would one measure the tongue weight? Can't exactly put the bathroom scale under it. Truck stops maybe? Trailer shop?
Measure the exact height of the hitch off the ground when on level ground and set an axle stand or jack stand to the same height.

Go to a weigh scale and park the trailer with the wheels off the scale but the hitch on the scale. Unhitch the Sprinter and set the hitch onto the axle/jack stand. You are now measuring the tongue weight.

Keith.
 

220629

Well-known member
Thanks for the input, all. It definitely is a Curt. It is the 500/5000.
Sure is. :thumbup:
I thought that the couple Curt T1N hitches I saw had metal loops for safety chains.

What Cheyenne said for tongue weight.

This may seem like a silly question, but how would one measure the tongue weight? Can't exactly put the bathroom scale under it. Truck stops maybe? Trailer shop?
...
But calling a trailer shop to see if they can do it. That may be an easier route. They can probably also better inspect your truck and trailer situation for you.

:cheers: vic
 

Old Crows

Calypso 2014 View Profile
:wtf::wtf:

Definitely.... no more towing till that is sorted out. Please let everyone know your findings....
 

Moto Vita

Active member
Based on the frame size of the trailer tongue it's a pretty heavy trailer. An easy way to check tongue weight is to drive onto a scale (loaded of course) with just the trailer axles and tongue over the scale, then record the scale weight, next screw the jack down just enough to lift the coupler slightly off the ball, the difference is your tongue weight and now you know your trailer weight as well. Your max tongue weight is probably 500lbs, you must subtract from that any load you have in the rear of the van. Your van looks to be either overloaded or to have sagging, possibly broken, rear suspension components. You need to get this figured out before you take any more trips!
It's also possible that there could be a compatability issue with your hitch and bumper.
 
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220629

Well-known member
I’ve got the same Curt hitch, so does my friend. They both tilt down a few degrees. They have done so since new.
Good to know.

Does the hitch on ball orientation look like this though? The ball looks quite out of position to me.

NCV3CurtHitchSag.jpg

:cheers: vic
 

hein

Van Guru
Agree that there is a problem with the drooping hitch that needs to be addressed. Looks like the bolts are loose and the whole thing has shifted which may well have been caused by too much tongue weight. It's not a great design the way that the hitch attaches to the frame in the rear.

For those who want to raise the receiver, We have hitch arms available which will let you consolidate the OEM step support with an aftermarket receiver. It tucks the receiver right up under the step to maintain a better approach angle and increase ground clearance. You will have to find a qualified welder/fabricator to do the work.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/132655912904

All the best,
Hein
 

jbrownmxr

Member
Looks to me like you’ve a few degrees attributed by the curt hitch, and the tongue at the ball is bent. This is surely compounding the matter.
 

sailquik

Well-known member
blazedj420,
From the look of the coupler on the front of the trailer, it's looks heavy duty enough that you might be needing a 2 5/16" trailer ball.
Can we get a photo of the top of the trailer coupler.....it normally will have the size of the ball stamped into the metal of the coupler.
That would very quickly solve the issue as to what size ball your trailer was designed to be towed by.
Can you also take a photo of the capacity plate on the side of the trailer.
What your photos seem to show is that you have far too much trailer on the back of a Sprinter with only 5000 lbs./500 lbs. tongue weight
capacity.
Also it looks like your tow bar is aluminum. Not a good thing with the amount of offset UP you seem to need.
I'd suggest removing the entire Curt Receiver at the 4 bolts on each side and ensure that the 4 tubes that Mercedes Benz installs
at the factory to reinforce the box beams on each side are not bent somehow. Also it would be smart to add the reinforcing plates on the
inside (or outside as it's hard to tell from your photo of the upper mounts). The reinforcing plates are about 1/4-3/8" thick and have the
same exact hole pattern as the tubes welded into your Sprinter at the factory for mounting the through bolts to the receiver hitch.
The ORIS factory hitches all come with reinforcing plates so both ends of the tubes in the box beams are supported.
As others have suggested, please don't tow that trailer with that receiver hitch set up at all until you determine the actual tongue
weight and trailer overall weight.
What you currently have is just plain scary, and probably dangerous.
Some of the bending to the rear could also be attributable to trying to tow your trailer (what size is it or perhaps a photo) over driveways or
through road culverts/ditches that puts too much angle between the Sprinter and the trailer.
When you go up a steep driveway, and the angle becomes more than your hitch setup is designed for, something has to bend or break.
Luckily you may have only bent it, but any more bending and it could break or damage the rear structure in your Sprinter.
Driveways need to be taken at as shallow an angle as possible when towing.
Hope this helps,
Roger
 

sleeper bird

Well-known member
my curt does pitch down a bit as well,i have noticed that the bolts need to be tightened on occasion the bolt holes on the frame of the van are slotted for some reason and allow downward movement.never have figured out why they are slotted but they are
 

sailquik

Well-known member
sleeper bird;
I've looked at many new Sprinter cab/chassis and plenty of new cargo vans and I'm certain that the towing cross member mounting tubes are round.
What size (diameter) bolts and what head marking (grade 8 heat treated with a minimum tensile strength of 150 KSI) were provided with your Curt hitch kit?
The bolts should be a snug (tap in lightly) fit in the chassis/frame reinforcing tubes.
The Curt hitch I installed in my 2006 3500 was provided with cheap grade 5 bolts in an SAE size that were sloppy/loose in the OEM MB reinforcing tubes and they did not provide the outside the frame 4 hole backup plates to stabilize the bolt heads at the outside of the frame tubes.
If Curt provided under size and under spec (Gr 8 SAE or Metric Gr 10.8 are the correct specifications needed for this application) bolts the
use of the wrong bolts and no outer reinforcement plates may have elongated the original frame reinforcement tubes.
Without the outer reinforcement plates you cannot properly torque the 4 bolts (4 each side) without risking crushing the frame tubes and
the actual entire box beam in the area where the cross menber mounts.
That's why I ALWAYS order the full factory tow package with the fully engineered and tested ORIS MB factory cross member with the necessary
M 10.8 grade hardware and outer reinforcement plates.
I bet Hein can make up steel outer reinforcement plates with the correct diameter holes and an accurate (to the OEM assembly jig) hole
spacing with his CNC tools.
Might be time to upgrade your towing cross member hardware ( might add Grade 8/M 10.8 prevailing torque self locking nuts) and add the
outer reinforcement plates to fully stabilize your hitch installation.
Hope this helps,
Roger
 

sailquik

Well-known member
All,
OK, too much dialogue, so a photo is worth 1000 words!
Here's a photo of the ORIS Factory installed Tow Cross member showing
the outer reinforcement plates and the 8 M 10.8 series bolts to attach it
to the 4 tubular reinforced mounting points on your Sprinter.
Could not find a USA receiver hitch version photo, but the outer plates
are the focus of this photo.
Enjoy!
 

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blazedj420

New member
All,
OK, too much dialogue, so a photo is worth 1000 words!
Here's a photo of the ORIS Factory installed Tow Cross member showing
the outer reinforcement plates and the 8 M 10.8 series bolts to attach it
to the 4 tubular reinforced mounting points on your Sprinter.
Could not find a USA receiver hitch version photo, but the outer plates
are the focus of this photo.
Enjoy!
Thanks for all the info! I'm still working on the pics you requested... We definitely don't have the outer reinforcement plates on ours. That looks like you would need the factory bumper that does not include the step up, correct? It's also hard to tell in the pic, but does that thing have the ball hitch connected as part of the hitch? Doesn't look like it has the normal receiver for exchanging different hitches. But it might just be the pic.
I've talked to several dealerships and several van customizing shops and am still having a difficult time getting a straight answer on how to swap out the step up bumper for a non step bumper. One dealership close to me said he's pretty sure he found the part using the VIN number of a van that has the factory installed bumper without the step, but he's not 100% on the swapability and the bumper is over $800. Has anyone made the swap? Was there any difficulty in the swap or is it just pull one off and put the other on? How much difference did it make in where the ball hitch receiver sits above the ground?
Thanks!
 

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