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ya i agree when towing heavy loads for mile after mile, they get slop in them which only makes them worse with more bouncing comes more stress. it is a compounding problem. my dad's is fine, but my uncle bent one. i think he was hauling a 450 deere though......probably double the maximum GCVWR.
I think the problem with the GM hitch is the guy/committee that rated it for 15k.
It's a 10k hitch, max. From looking at the pictures and reading the discussion somebody messed up when the rating got bumped up. They probably figured "Ford can do it, so can we". But Ford has a better Class IV hitch.
Interesting thing about hitch ratings; I've got a 1999 SuperDuty hitch in the barn rated at 10k pounds and a 2003 SuperDuty hitch in the barn rated at 12.5k pounds. Same exact hitch with the 2003 model using bigger bolts to fasten to the frame. Mounting bolt size is the only diifference.
The only failures I've heard of are a handful of people on rv.net. I'm wondering how tongue weight factors into this- there's a max on that too, so load distribution is critical as well as total weight.
You'd think so, but I bet if we dig a bit we'll find a common thread. I'm thinking of the D-Max overheat condition addressed on another board- it's quite rare, but pretty consistent when you isolate the geographical area, climate, and topography where the overheat occurred.
i have only seen one on my buddies truck it was egg shaped. he decoded to take it to a independent metallurgest. it was discovered there is a very high level of impurities in the metal (slag) so the stell was made either wrong or cheaply. the metal was not heated in the correct manner to bring all the impurities to the surface . instead they remained suspended in the metal when poured and formed bubbles.so the metal is very porous. it was also noted the welds on the rest of the hitch were to hot and caused the metal to loose tension. i thought it was very interesting. but until now i thought he was the only person to have this happen.
i owe a auto body collision repair shop and trust me the chevy hitches bend like taco's in a rear end collision. i have 5 or 6 laying out in the scrape pill to prove it. oh and there is no ford hitches in that pill. i would'nt tow anything more then a ski boat or something like that with out getting some thing beefier.