How over engineered are receivers?

One can find hitches that are rated for more than a given rig is rated to tow! I had a 96 CC GM, I was pulling a 6500 TT with WD bars, and an equipment trailer with a pintle hitch that was dead wt attached! at around 9000 and 1000 lbs of hw. Went to Tork Lift which is down the road from me, told them the trailers I was pulling, put a hitch on it that will handle said loads! Oh yeah, the truck was only rated to 7500 lbs or some such goof ball thing! so any way, hitch did fine for 10 yrs and 200K miles, even when I added another piece of equipment ont he trailer that took me to 12K and 1500 hw!

I would also NOT weld to your trucks frame, many of the LDT trucks frames are not able to be welded on and retain structure. If you had an mdt or larger, then many of them are weldable. Going to a stronger larger diam bolt would be your best bet for some of what you need. The other is to figure out if the steel is thick enough or the proper type for what you want to do. Along with, it is what, 20 yrs old?!?!? it may be fried from use! I could be wrong on that one too.

I personally would not worry about what you are doing.

Along with, the insurance WILL pay out if something happens, just as it does with a DUI or equal!

marty

rerod wrote:
What ever.. show me a receiver rated more than mine and I'd consider it.

Some people are just about insulting me, and no one shows me the alternative. You think a receiver under rated 250 lbs is the most dangerous thing which will be blowing by you on the interstate?

Run along arm chair engineers

Well you just need to find a Class V receiver for your 1995 E350. rated for 15,000# and 1,500#. Most likely not to be found as the E350 likely was not rated to tow more than 10,000#.

I may be missing something here, but it doesn't sound to me like the receiver is underrated.

I would say it was overloaded. ;)

What ever.. show me a receiver rated more than mine and I'd consider it.

Some people are just about insulting me, and no one shows me the alternative. You think a receiver under rated 250 lbs is the most dangerous thing which will be blowing by you on the interstate?

Run along arm chair engineers

Here is just one example of the NHTSA investigation and this one was double, triple and quadruple checked to make sure everything was within specs, before any towing was done.....

Receiver failure.....

The Texan wrote:

Road Ruler wrote:

rerod wrote:


I know receivers must be over engineered

No. Many are under engineered. Proceed with caution.

Absolutely correct answer.......Just ask the GM owners from a few yeas back what happened to them and their receivers, NOT a pretty picture.

X3

There are a lot of limits I take with a grain of salt, but hitch ratings are not among them. As far as I am concerned, the receiver is the one key component holding the trailer to the vehicle. Lose that, and no other ratings matter.

I have even gone so far as to special order class III hitches for some of my vehicles. Before I overloaded an OEM receiver, I would replace it with a quality aftermarket one.

Like Clint said... "Did he fire six shots or only five?... Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya,?"

I am a retired engineer. Yes, most products are designed with a "safety margin". But, it is just that, a "safety margin". It is not intended to be used up in normal usage. It is intended to extend the useful life of the product and to provide for unforeseen/emergency situations. You may get by for years exceeding a products ratings, but when an emergency does arise,it may well fail from the abuse. If your insurance company learns you were using a hitch beyond its limit, and it fails in an accident, you can bet they are not going to pay. Myself, I am a firm believer in the 80% rule.

Chuck&Gail wrote:
I prefer to think NOTHING is over engineered, and hope to never meet anyone along side the road who HAS made such a decision.

Is your insurance paid up? If the company reads this, and you had an accident because you ighnored safety ratings, do they cover it anyway?

Agree, but 'we' are in the minority here and most other forums when
it comes to 'specifications', 'ratings', 'limits', etc

As a retired computer R&D (labs for 11 years) and ex designer of industrial
stuff...know well the specifications our department, design team and
each individual signed for on each project

That was 'our' specification to design to...then the product team's
tech writers wrote up the published specification of our end product

Tech Writers were only one component of the team and really the summation
of all the design, testing, re-design, re-testing and finally certification
testing in house, then external certification at whichever agencies
(note plural) and of course the 'sometimes' re-design and re-certification
testing at those agencies

All that the OP is referring to is also known as 'design margin' at
the engineering/designer level. Outside it is normally known as 'safety margin'

Because there is an entity called "Mr Murphy" out there that crosses
many folks path 'some day' and many times often. Most folks think that
only happens to the other guy...

As for the 'sure you can' and 'have been for decades or thousands of
miles with no problems'...yes, but they are both lucky and still lucky
to have design margins left for whatever they are doing

My 1980 C10 Silverado's frame is still bent from the time I towed a
utility trailer from The SF Bayarea down to S Ca wind park to do
insurance work on busted windgenerators. Borrowed that C10 from dad
as it was his grocery store truck and I was a partner in a small startup
with no money

It did well and turned out that trailer was north of 14,000 pounds.
Also, that C10 long bed also had tools and metal stuff that must have
had the C10 weigh over 7,000 lbs (think really over 8K) when it's
GVWR was and still is 6,200 pounds

That would be a total of around 21,000 pounds for a 6,200 pound GVWR
'heavy half ton' truck...the frame is still bent from that trip

OBTW...this is a good thread on this topic of 'margin' and those using
all to over and those advising to do so with no ill effects...

Topic or subject line: Arrogant

I prefer to think NOTHING is over engineered, and hope to never meet anyone along side the road who HAS made such a decision.

Is your insurance paid up? If the company reads this, and you had an accident because you ighnored safety ratings, do they cover it anyway?