3x3" receiver hitch!

New ford super duty trucks with brake controller come with the adapters as standard equipment.

3” receivers use a 5/8 pin too.
What needs to change?

With shear on a 5/8 Gr 8 bolt/pin being about 27,000 lbs and hitch pins being in double shear, even with a 100% or a 2:1 factor of safety, a 5/8” pin is still good for 27klbs, or 54k ultimate strength.
Short of being stopped and a semi truck rear ending your trailer at highway speeds, you can’t put 54,000lbs on a pickup truck hitch pin, even towing at the upper limits of what the truck will do.
So I’m not sure why it would need to change.
Now, for all the fools who use the adapters and tow heavy, that is not good.
As soon as you slide in one of those adapters, you weaken the hitch pin considerably as it is now also in bending.
Aside from the occasional light duty use, don’t use adapters.
Get the right size hitch shank.

blt2ski wrote:
Not surprised at this frankly. When I bought my dump truck moons ago, bed hitch maker mentioned, the 1/2" pin used in most 2" hitch applications was only strong enough for a 10-12k trailer. You needed a 5/8" to get to 15-20k, and 3-4' or larger for over this amount. Hence why most tow rigs towing REALLY heavy ball or pintle hitch trailers have the hitch bolted to s frame.
One would need to up the bar size to fit s bolt that was strong enough to handle s given size trailer one might pull in this manner.

Marty

I have been using 2" receivers since 1969 and everyone used a 5/8" pin. The 2 1/2 receivers that I have seen do too. I am sure that they will have to change as some point though.

Try using my truck to haul a bike rack on my dually - a 3" to 2.5" to 2" to 1.25" adapter... looks comical to be honest!

After I posted that I started thinking that maybe it was a 2.5 with a 2 inch sleeve. So I think you are right. But I've never seen a 2.5 inch hitch to go in that receiver. But I never really looked there are plenty on Amazon.

agesilaus wrote:

Boomerweps wrote:
Wow! I thought a 2x2" hitch was pretty stout in my younger days and then they had the 2.5x2.5" on the 3/4 & 1 ton pickups. I see on the F250 Tremor test videos, it comes with a 3x3" hitch! I guess they are going to need a LOT of adapters to tow smaller trailers.

My 2012 F350 has a 3 inch hitch with a 2.5 inch insert. So nothing new there. It is mainly a PITB to get the insert lined up so you can slide the locking pin thru it.

If your hitch is stock, it is 2.5" hitch with a 2" adapter. Ford started using a 3" hitch on the 2017 models. Mine came with a 2.5" adapter and then a 2" sleeve. Here is a 2012 brochure where it shows the specs on 2nd page.

Great. A bigger adapter to dodge on the road when they forget to remove them.

Boomerweps wrote:
Wow! I thought a 2x2" hitch was pretty stout in my younger days and then they had the 2.5x2.5" on the 3/4 & 1 ton pickups. I see on the F250 Tremor test videos, it comes with a 3x3" hitch! I guess they are going to need a LOT of adapters to tow smaller trailers.

My 2012 F350 has a 3 inch hitch with a 2.5 inch insert. So nothing new there. It is mainly a PITB to get the insert lined up so you can slide the locking pin thru it.

Also impressive is the 21,200 lb towing/2120 lb tongue weight rating on the hitch, the full capacity of the truck, without requiring WD. A far cry from the stock hitches of 15-20 years ago that only had a 5,000 lb weight carrying rating.

Don’t adapters lower max trailer weight?