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Re: Kodiak 242RESL with Mercedes GL450
The Anderson works well and solved my major issue with finding the right travel trailer for us. Though the GL450 has a 7500 pound towing capacity and sufficent capacity for GVWR, the factory ORIS German hitch has a maximum hitch weight limit of 600 pounds. Most all the travel trailers we looked at, in the rear entertainment or rear living style had dry hitch weights that were too high. The Kodiak 242RESL and a comparable Rockwood/Surveyor/Flagstaff also had low hitch weights. However, I knew we needed a Weight Distribution Hitch and the weight of some portions of the WDH get added to the Tongue Weight. The Equal-i-zer brings about 120 pounds to the equation. With the Anderson, the Receiver, Ball and Tension plate only weigh 29 pounds. The standard Mercedes hitch/ball weighs 12 pounds, meaning I only needed to accomodate 17 pounds within my 600 pound limit. The other Anderson parts of their WDH are the Chains, Nuts and Compressors that collectively weigh only 7 pounds. These items also have to be accomodated in the 600 pound max. So for me, the Anderson only took 24 pounds off the 600, leaving 576 free for the Trailer. The Kodiak 242RESL has a dry hitch of 452. The gap between 452 and 576 is sufficient to allow for my 'Stuff' in the bear cave storage. Since getting the new trailer and hitch, I have done multiple weighs at a local CAT scale both on the way out and way back from camping. I am on the money and the most I weighed as Tongue Weight has been exactly 600 pounds. Of course, with WD engaged, the scales see less on the Tongue (usuall I see 480) that's why I usually do my first weighing with WD engaged and then a second pass with it disengaged. As for Sway control, I haven't hit any bad days so, so far it's been great.
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Very nice set up!
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