Towing 3,000 Pounds

Caddywhompus wrote:
Drink more Kool-Aid and buy what the commercials tell you.

I thought accusations of "Kool-aid drinking" are supposed to be limited to trailer tire discussions here...;)

That aside:
I see you didn't bother to look at the link- it's not a commercial, it's a thread posted on a user Forum very much like this one.

Caddywhompus wrote:

Tongue weight limits are SPECIFICALLY a function of the hitch. As long as the tongue weight you are carrying doesn't overload the GVWR or GAWRs, nothing else matters besides the hitch and it's attachment to the frame/chassis.

I s'pose it won't do YOU any good if I point out that you contradicted yourself there, but for the sake of others viewing I think it useful to do so. AS YOU NOTE (and as I said before): There are other considerations that dictate hitch weight limits, not just the capacity of the hitch itself.

Caddywhompus wrote:

The aftermarket hitch on my Forester was made of much better steel, attached in 4 places with huge bolts and backer plates to protect the chassis, and had it's mounting points spread out far enough to support a WD hitch.

Yeah- I've seen that setup. Four bolts through sheet metal. And you added W/D too, despite Subaru's cautions against it. I can see why you got rid of the Forester at only a little over 100,000 miles. I'm just glad I wasn't the person that wound up getting stuck with it!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

Caddywhompus wrote:
In Australia, you can get a Class III hitch on a Subie from the factory.

This is my favorite, because it exactly proves the point I made earlier. The Australian hitch is installed in almost EXACTLY the same way as the Subie factory hitch sold here in the U.S.A.: It has multiple connection points, and utilizing the internal frame channels etc.

Link to Australian Subaru H/D hitch install.

Here's a couple of pics showing the part that slides inside the right-side channel, before and after insertion: