I'm in the process of getting ready to take possession of a heavier trailer than I used to tow. The new trailer has a GVWR of 10,800 lbs and the brochure says the dry tounge weight is 1,020 lbs. I used a 10,000 lb Equal-i-zer hitch with the old trailer, and I'm going to upgrade to at least the 12,000 lb model and probably the 14,000 lb model to give myself more margin. My truck is a 2002 GMC Sierra 2500HD crew cab duramax. It has the GM OEM class IV hitch receiver, as near as I can tell. I am well aware that the only correct way to verify weld integrity is with die penetrant or ultra sound testing, NOT visual inspection. So it doesn't do much for me at all to say I could not detect any obvious indications of failure from just looking at it, but I couldn't; for whatever that's worth. I have no reason, therefore, to suspect that I HAVE TO replace the hitch receiver, but I've read some very helpful threads recently on the rv.net forum that have suggested I SHOULD replace my GMC OEM hitch receiver with a Putnam XDR or equal. Several folks who have done this suggested it's a DIY task for someone reasonably handy with reasonable tools. Several messages I've read on the rv.net board said the task took a half an hour or so. I just crawled under my truck and looked around down there, and I was very surprised at what I found. It did not match the details I've read in anyone else's description of what they did. I found a J-shaped piece of steel at both ends of the OEM hitch receiver, about 6-8" tall and about 4-6" wide horizontally. At the top, it is bolted to the frame of the truck. At the bottom, it is bolted to another oddly shaped piece which is then bolted THRU the hitch receiver into the same part of the frame the hitch receiver is bolted to! All totaled, there are six bolts holding the hitch reciever (and this other combination) to the frame on each end. And what makes it worse is that the back end of each side's leaf spring is secured to the J-shaped piece! The J-shaped piece is intended to be the rear end support for the leaf spring, in other words. So it looks to me like it's a whole lot harder to replace the hitch receiver with a new one than many messages suggested to me that it was for others. What am I missing here?
My truck is in the shop so I can't take a look but from the reading I've done if you plan to tow anything with a little weight change that POS stock hitch. Search around thedieselplace.com and there are horror stories of the stock hitch failing. One guy destroyed his camper trailer on an interstate highway. They seem to fail when running weight distributing hitches.
I have heard of problems too...but...I have overloaded my OEM GM hitch on my wifes 1/2 ton Tahoe MANY times and have not seen any reason to be concerned. Your hitch is rated for 12k WD IIRC so I wouldnt worry about it with only 10k behind you. Not to mention that you probably will only be running about 9k normally loaded. I personally wouldnt even waste money on getting a new WD setup. What are your bars rated for?? If they are only 1000lb spring bars then stepping up to 1200lbers might be a good idea.
the J shaped peice you are talking about is your rear shackle hanger. it has absolutely nothing to do with your hitch. it will stay in place when you remove the hitch. it should look something like this. the picture is from a servicebody truck but the hitch and hanger are the same.
