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Weight limit on the 2500HD Hitch

Now we are getting some where. I'm going to have to check my hitch ad see what it is rated for.

I find it hard to believe that Chevy would make an HD truck then slap a piece of steel for a hitch that isn't going to do the job. Wouldn't they be worried about legal action being brought against them?
 
Quite honestly, I have been waiting for a class action suit. When I took my last 2500 into the hitch shop, they had pictures of failed hitches under the glass on the counter. A very well known flaw - and dangerous.
 
I've seen the factory hitch bent like a pretzel where someone with a slide-in camper used a hitch extension to pull a boat. It may be my imagination, but my hitch appears to be bent down a tad just from where I back up into the parking garage wall with the ball mount every day.
 
Sparky8370 said:
From what you said in this thread, it seemed like you were saying there was not much tongue weight. Like it appears here in this post as well. In another thread you said that it was a water tank trailer. If it's not a homebrew I'm sure it's designed properly. You should have 10-15% of the weight on the tongue. So if it's 16k, then you should have about 1600-2400lbs of tongue weight.
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IIRC, it is technically designed to be pulled behind a tractor, so that un does everything. I question the legality of pulling the damn thing, but i've passed cops b4, and no issues to date, so IDK. The tank sits directly over the wheels on the trailer, so IDK what the tongue weight.
 
If you didn't have enough tongue weight, you'd know it. At least if it was way too little.You'd have a very annoying tugging feeling left to right. It would also feel like it was surging.
 
According to the label on my 2006 OEM hitch, the hitch rated for:

- - - - - - - - - Max Trailer Wt - Max Tongue Wt
Weight Carrying:- - - 7,500 lb- - -- 1,000 lb

Weight Distributing:-12,000 lb- -- - 1,500 lb

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I have read stories where people claim that their hitch failed, but I've never been able to get enough information to determine if or how much the hitch was abused prior to the alleged failure. I have never experience a trailer hitch failure myself.
 

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The strongest hitch receiver I've found is the TorkLift SuperHitch. It uses a double 2" square receiver system that allows for hitch extensions up to 48 inches. the receiver is rated for up to 17,000 lb with a weight distributing hitch, when used without the extension (15,000 lb / 1,500 lb tongue dead weight rating)

It bolts up with no drilling required on 2001-2008 Chevy/GMC 2500/3500 trucks.

The receiver will cost you around $500 and the SuperTruss Extension will cost another $400.

This hitch is MASSIVE. :)
http://www.torklift.com/p.php?w_page=superhitch
http://store.towshop.com/store/products.asp?page=2&Category_ID=138
 
RayMich said:
I have read stories where people claim that their hitch failed, but I've never been able to get enough information to determine if or how much the hitch was abused prior to the alleged failure. I have never experience a trailer hitch failure myself.
Click to expand...

And this is my thing. I cannot believe Chevy would place a hitch on the HD that would not live up to what they designed the truck to do. Knowing you did something like this would be very stupid and you are asking to get sued.
 
...all you have to do is go into a quality hitch outfit and ask...they'll probably show you pictures like they did me. This is not the time to be complacent about safety thinking the manufacturer can do no wrong.
Common sense tells you just by the design of the stock hitch - an oval tube with not much support. Then look at an aftermarket that has some real beef to it and compare the two. I can assure you mine was well within specs when it went south.
 
I believe that the OEM hitch will generally work for "OCCASIONAL" towing. It was NOT designed for everyday towing at maximum GVW. It is NOT a Class V hitch.

It is a bare minimum design by the lowest bidder. :(

If you plan to do any serious towing, I would recommend getting one of the aftermarket Class V hitches mentioned above. The added safety margin and peace of mind are definitely worth the added cost.

I, like others here, believe that GM is doing its customers (and stockholders) a huge disservice by not installing a legitimate Class V OEM hitch on 2500 and 3500 trucks. At the very least, they should give the customer the option of getting a hitch upgrade if desired.
 
I towed for hire using the factory hitch without problems. I started hearing about the hitch issues so to be on the safe side I replaced it with 14K rated hitch.

Every factory hitch has the label like was posted above.

Words of wisdom to live by....DO NOT EXCEED THE LIMITS ON THAT DATA PLATE WHETHER YOU ARE HAULING FOR HIRE OR NOT.

If you have an accident and a law suit is filed you are in big trouble. That will be one of the first things that is check....were you hitched properly and did you exceed the hitch limits.

BTW....did you know that safety chains are required in all states and that the chains must be crossed under the trailer tongue? Also that the chains must be rated sufficiently to contain the wt of the trailer should it come unconnected from the hitch.
 
That's how I always do my chains. It will catch the trailer hitch if it falls, and allows you jack-knife it all the way. I never even looked at that tag. I'm gonna check mine out. If that's the same as my hitch, then I've gone over by about 3,000lbs almost every weekend last summer.
 
In MN, if your chains touch the ground, and a state trooper sees it, they will give you a fix it ticket, and you have to send in a receipt that you had chains properly welded to the trailer, by a welding shop, or something similar, because if you drag a chain long enough, it will break.
 
SFC Cobb said:
I towed for hire using the factory hitch without problems. I started hearing about the hitch issues so to be on the safe side I replaced it with 14K rated hitch.

Every factory hitch has the label like was posted above.

Words of wisdom to live by....DO NOT EXCEED THE LIMITS ON THAT DATA PLATE WHETHER YOU ARE HAULING FOR HIRE OR NOT.

If you have an accident and a law suit is filed you are in big trouble. That will be one of the first things that is check....were you hitched properly and did you exceed the hitch limits.

BTW....did you know that safety chains are required in all states and that the chains must be crossed under the trailer tongue? Also that the chains must be rated sufficiently to contain the wt of the trailer should it come unconnected from the hitch.
Click to expand...

Words of wisdom. I see a lot of people towing that don't even come close to this. I seen a truck just this weekend that didn't have any chains at all. :eek:ut:
 
I saw a guy in a jacked up 3/4 dodge yesterday on the highway. He didn't have a drop hitch and he was pulling a pop up. First of all, everybody knows that those dodges when jacked up can't maintain a straight course as it is. This jackass had his pop up doing a moon shot. He was all over the place. He had the balls to pull out and pass people like that. I approached him slowly, then got on it by him because I didn't want to be in his vicinity for very long. I was watching in my rear view, and at one point he went half way into the breakdown lane. That is a great example of the tail wagging the dog, or should I say the tail wagging the dodge.
 
I think if we are going to haul this much water, we have to do something else, this is gonna kill someone, i hate doing it, but it is either do it, or have 5000 pigs die. i just wish there was a good way to haul water and not worry about overloading the thing.
 
Or you could take your 12k capacity, -1500lbs for trailer = 10,500lbs
10,500/8.35 (lbs per gallon of water)= 1257.48 gallons of water in your tank. That's about 63% of the total capacity of the tank.
 
Problem! It is not a baffled tank, that would be over half, that would be more dangerous than driving full, due to waves in the tank. We do need to figure out another rig for this, i keep telling my dad, but he hasn't done anything about it.
 
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