GMT900 Suburban - Custom Receiver Hitch

BenK wrote:


Then they can cost reduce their bumper's cross tube to become just a bumper
cross tube

It probably costs GM less than a $5 to turn a tubular crossmember into a receiver.

Most full size SUV owners do seem to use their hitch receivers occasionally, even if only for a bike rack or cargo rack.

BenK wrote:
That is one of their decisions that is baffling to me...

Yes, 99.9% of the buyers want a half ton and of them who tow...a very small percentage

Then why are they putting receivers on when a huge percentage of their buyers
don't care nor will ever use their receivers

The need some place to put the drawbar that never gets used for anything other than a reverse ram.

That is one of their decisions that is baffling to me...

Yes, 99.9% of the buyers want a half ton and of them who tow...a very small percentage

Then why are they putting receivers on when a huge percentage of their buyers
don't care nor will ever use their receivers

Then for those few who do want a receiver...do the market survey to find out
if they will pay a couple hundred bucks for that option.

Then they can cost reduce their bumper's cross tube to become just a bumper
cross tube

I assumption is that the OEM receiver ratings was perfect for the half ton, 95% of GMT900 SUV sales. If someone wanted more capability for the 3/4 tons for example, the aftermarket could come up with a solution. Since every SUV sold had a receiver, the aftermarket companies didn't bother with such a limited market.

It has to do with 'their' system

Each thinks they are in touch and correctly so...as that is their direction from
management

The real one to make sure this happens correctly is the Program Manager and their
Project Managers down the food chain...but...this is a Western based Corporations
(plural). This is something cultural and is in flux trying to adopt JIT and now
'Lean'...what they miss is that it is a whole cultural thing, not any one of
the components thereof.

ISO9000 is supposed to address this, but since it is a one time certification
it gets lost over time. Hate this kind of self re-cert

But think about it...this is dealing with hundreds to thousands of folks spread
all over a multi-billion buck corp. It can be done, as my design teams all had
a tech pubs person there and on all of the sub teams. My watch dog was service
as they were always the last on the food chain....I made them up front members...

Thanks, I didn't realize the receiver itself had a sticker with a lower rating than what is in the owner's manual...agree that the weakest link determines max capacity.

Sounds like somebody was out of step on the tech pubs team...

Didn't know that specification was so low and agree that it should be higher, but
even higher than Andy says

Think about it

Take, say a 10,000 lb trailer. It can have tongue weights ranging from 1,000 lbs
to 1,500 lbs

Then the moment all the way out to the ball. Than can be many inches to more than
a foot and half.

WD factors this

All that is static

Now toss in dynamic loads of...say a Whoop-Dee-Do that dynamically increases
that 1K to 1.5K static force into a dynamic force several times that.

That doesn't just happen once either

I got a response from Can-Am. I'm not sure if he actually knows about the GMT900 receiver specifically from the response. The pictures are not from this vehicle, but the more traditional bolt on below the bumper receivers.



Your suspicions regarding “the weak link” are correct.

We have reinforced more than 1000 receivers on full-size domestic pick-ups and SUVs over the years here. I’ve attached a few pictures of a GM factory receiver that split, as well as a broken weld and our reinforcement.

Sae standards for torsional receiver strength (twisting back-to-front) is 1000 pounds. Andy feels that number should be closer to 4000 pounds. We reinforce the tube itself, and add angled steel to spread the load out over a greater area. Many factory receivers are merely attached with 6 bolts at the end of the chassis frame rails. Our process will remove most of the flex in the receiver. We can modify and strength welded receivers as well.

Cost of the reinforcement is $395 and takes 3.5 hours. Call Ron or Peggy at 866.226.2678 to schedule an appointment. When things start to ramp up around the first of April, hitchwork needs to be booked 4-6 weeks ahead.

Regards,

Philip Tipler
Can-Am RV Centre

Forgot to touch on the documentation...

All major corporations have a 'Tech Pubs' group. The more varied the corp product
mix, the more varied the Tech Pubs groupings are

Fine print abounds and is very, very circular. Meaning one place will say to
check another place...that other place will tell to check another...that another
place will tell to check with a dealer...the dealer will say to check the manual...

The big Tech Pubs team will be for the shop manual. Next biggest will be the
team that does the glove box and most likely a sub team of the big one

The receiver label Tech Pubs team most likely will be one person and will or
should have worked closer to the receiver design team than the bigger teams
ever get to the design team

Meaning...that I'd go by the receiver label as the most accurate

Best to talk to a lawyer if that is in question to you...

GMT900's receiver label, picture of the stress raiser bracket between
bumper/receiver cross tube to frame rail

Weak link in the GMT900 SUV's food chain is the receiver and that is
limited by those stress raisers on the cross tube to frame rails

Stress raiser and will NOT break instantly with an over load to the
1K WD tongue rating...but over time to tin can the bracket at those
stress raisers...pivot point is the first weld on the main section of
the bracket...the other stress raisers provide crumple duties

A cascading series of events after that first weld at the main bracket
will be the first to fatigue and fracture...then continued flexing will
then either/or compromise the next weld and/or the reduced section
of that bracket will fatigue from flexing under +1K lbs of static load
during dynamic cycles



GMT900receiverlabel


GMT900receiver

From this thread: do I have the dreaded weak GM OEM hitch?