Reciever weight rating.

Hornet....lots of the old world design/engineering metrics are lost in the computer based designs today

All if us scientists coined them (the summer interns from the likes of Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cal, Purdue, etc, etc...fav's were from small/no-name colleges). "Green Light/Red Light" designers....they just run the simulation and then address the vectors their computer says to...

'Some' knew what the tensile strength of their CAD recommended/choices materials...ask them how does that attain 140,000 PSI...most didn't know. Worst was their lack of understanding that their super computer recommendation has many GB's of data and that buried in there is a heat treatment cycle(s) required to attain that 140,000 PSI

Lost was the old: "design it for the idiot and gorilla, for if they can misuse it...they will" point of view...factored by writing the fine print (must be reviewed, modified and approved by lawyers) underneath all specifications...CYA for the OEM

Buried in there is the legal position of 'recommended'...that many here say is worthless. Yup...to them, but to the lawyers a positioning word

Also lost to the public, as the CAD systems does dial in safety margin. The Green Light and Red Light designers many times don't know....that management some times dial back the level of safety margin(s)

Nephew is in college studying to become a ME. His materials classes does NOT cover the levels of detail mine did +50 years ago. Asked why and stated that the CAD/supercomputer will deal with it...

Fatigue analysis of their designs are no longer done by the designer. It is buried in their simulations and output vectors...

I've been lucky with my oem hitches as well.

mkirsch wrote:

hornet28 wrote:
Believe what you want. Just remember the hitches are produce by the lowest bidder to minimum specs. I personally still wouldn't trust their design nor the way method of attachment. Just my $.02

Overvalued advice if you ask me, because you can say that about ANYTHING. Where do you draw the line? In this specific example, what makes Curt, or Reese, or Draw-Tite any less likely to be doing the EXACT SAME THING?

X2 as every one of those you mention shops out their material to the lowest irresponsible bidder. The guys cutting the parts and welding them together are essentially low bidders as they agreed to do it at the lowest wage the manufacturer can get away with.

I often scratch my head and wonder after reading this thread how I got away with using the OEM hitches pulling heavy equipment trailers loaded down, and I'm sure overloaded down at times, with concrete construction gear for years. All while being driven by non caring Gorillas who beat things to death, yet never twisted an OEM hitch up like the pictures in this thread or sent a trailer off into the woods or oncoming traffic.

Luck I guess.

mkirsch wrote:

hornet28 wrote:
Believe what you want. Just remember the hitches are produce by the lowest bidder to minimum specs. I personally still wouldn't trust their design nor the way method of attachment. Just my $.02

Overvalued advice if you ask me, because you can say that about ANYTHING. Where do you draw the line? In this specific example, what makes Curt, or Reese, or Draw-Tite any less likely to be doing the EXACT SAME THING?

Overvalued? Did you receive a bill? As I said believe what you want.

hornet28 wrote:
Believe what you want. Just remember the hitches are produce by the lowest bidder to minimum specs. I personally still wouldn't trust their design nor the way method of attachment. Just my $.02

Overvalued advice if you ask me, because you can say that about ANYTHING. Where do you draw the line? In this specific example, what makes Curt, or Reese, or Draw-Tite any less likely to be doing the EXACT SAME THING?

Totally...and X2

Lost to non-engineering/technology folks is that product design teams input or requirement contract comes from Marketing/Sales (approved by management)

GM was the first, now most other OEMs place #1 on looks for marketing purposes...and rightly so, they are in the business to make money and the huge majority of buyers do NOT tow.

Maybe 1% to maybe 5% tow...and even less tow heavy

So, now we have hidden receivers. GM decided to have engineering make it part of the bumper...therefore part of the crash crumple zone. That is they why a Suburban's receiver is only rated for 1,000 lbs in WD.

The gusset from the receiver cross tube to frame has stress raiser notches to make it weaker at those points...so they will 'crumple' during a rear ender

IMHO...it is a tow vehicle and the receiver is the only thing between the TV and trailer.

Finally...all things designed/engineered is NOT for the good days out there, but for the day Mr Murphy cross your path. Plus, the specification limits how high a bar the designers were told to design to...plus some design margin (that we, on the outside, will NEVER know)

hornet28 wrote:
Believe what you want. Just remember the hitches are produce by the lowest bidder to minimum specs. I personally still wouldn't trust their design nor the way method of attachment. Just my $.02

Believe what you want. Just remember the hitches are produce by the lowest bidder to minimum specs. I personally still wouldn't trust their design nor the way method of attachment. Just my $.02

George3037 wrote:
This discussion has been here before but I couldn't find the thread on it.
The OEM hitch on my 2016 2500HD is a V5 2 1/2" Factory rated at 1300 tongue and 13000 max trlr. There were some others that had a higher rated which I believe was either 1700/17000 or 2000/20000. They may have been on a 2WD truck. Mine is 4WD CC short bed. The sticker is on the bottom so you have to lay on your back to see it. If yours isn't there then it fell off.

2015 GMC 2500HD SLE 4WD Double cab with 8' bed

20K lb rated, 2K lb weight carrying.





The GM hitch issues were prior to 2007 and for the most part were 1500's, but some of those hitches made it onto 2007 classic and prior year 2500's depending on configuration. It's easy enough to tell as those hitches had two bolts attaching them to the bottom of the bumper.

Beentherefixedthat wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

hornet28 wrote:
A hitch does not have to be 2 1/2" to be a class 5. They make 2" class 5's. As far as the stock GM hitch do yourself a favor and buy a good hitch instead of the OE junk

The OEM hitch on a 16 GM 2500 is junk?

I have had a 2013 with the same hitch, have a 2015, and was responsible for a small fleet for a while with the same, and none were junk to my knowledge despite a lot of abuse on the fleet vehicles. It's one of the few OEM hitches I know of rated @ 2K lbs weight carrying.

This is from the standards for Class V hitches which I copied to my post:

"A Class V hitch has a 2-1/2" square receiver opening."

I cant verify your experience or what was actually on a **1997** Chevy but I do know what the specs say.

And while there may have been a change since that time today to the best of my knowledge a class V has a 2 1/2 Opening.

Just one example of a class 5 with a 2" receiver
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/15460

This discussion has been here before but I couldn't find the thread on it.
The OEM hitch on my 2016 2500HD is a V5 2 1/2" Factory rated at 1300 tongue and 13000 max trlr. There were some others that had a higher rated which I believe was either 1700/17000 or 2000/20000. They may have been on a 2WD truck. Mine is 4WD CC short bed. The sticker is on the bottom so you have to lay on your back to see it. If yours isn't there then it fell off.