ashnic
Fairborn, Ohio
Full Member
Joined: 07/20/2003
View Profile
 Offline
|
I have a older (98) Silverado with the factory 2" hitch. I keep hearing horror story's about the factory GM hitches here on the forum. Is this just the new style bar hitches or the older ones as well? I have a equalizer 4 point on mine and these story's have me a little concerned...
2004 Silverado 2500HD w/tow package
2005 29BHS Hornet 5th wheel
16K Reese slider
|
BenK
SF BayArea
Senior Member
Joined: 04/18/2002
View Profile
|
Older (OBS) has traditional receiver that does ___NOT___ need supplimental support from the bumper (no bolts to the bumper). It's strong enough and designed to take the whole load from the WD hitch system.
Newer (NBS) has el cheapo which needs supplimental strength, so it's bolted to the bumper.
Do a search on this site using: +Burbman +hitch +failure +OEM and you'll see the pictures posted there.
I've copied lots of those pictures, but they weren't taken by me. Russell and Burbman took them, but their site won't link directly and you will have to go to those threads and make the jump.
You should read those threads anyway to see what this is all about.
Believe your 98 is OBS (Old body style), which has the traditional receiver and should be fine. Just look to see if there are two bolts holding it to the bumper. This is the "supplimental" needed because it's too weak by itself thing.
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
|
luvlabs
Frederick, MD
Senior Member
Joined: 10/31/2002
View Profile
Offline
|
ashnic,
With your rig, you wouldn't have a problem with the new style hitch either. The new style is rated 1000/10,000 or 1200/12,000 (I can't remember which) but it is not suitable for the heavier end of it's rating. With my trailer, I'll be replacing the factory setup with a class V (1400/14,000) hitch.
Carriage Cameo 33CKQ | 08 GMC 3500HD CC LB Duramax Dually | Sam the Cat and the Labs | Best wife going
|
Jinma seller
PA
Senior Member
Joined: 05/18/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
You should be OK with what you have. I had a 97 and I put a Reese Titan on it because I like the fact that the aftermarket hitches use more of the frame rail than the factory ones do. I think your hitch has three bolts per side. One goes into the extension that the bumper bolts to, the other two, go into the frame.
I would have been OK but was towing around 7,000lb without WD and it was rated for 6,000 I think.
I don't like to play with these things and I take the time to read the ratings. Some guys just hook up and go and usually, they get away with it.
I know a guy with a 99 Silverado that was towing an enclosed race car hauler with the factory hitch. Not sure if it was WD or not but the thing was too much for the truck even if the hitch could handle it!
2006 Chevy 3500 dually crew cab D/A
1997 SunnyBrook 30RKF
|
BenK
SF BayArea
Senior Member
Joined: 04/18/2002
View Profile
|
Personally if had one of these:
I'd spend the $150 bucks for below and 1 hours labor to remove above and install one of these:
Peace of mind and not have to worry about whether pinched the penny too hard (penny wise, pound foolish) each towing trip.
|
|
|
BurbMan
Long Island, NY
Senior Member
Joined: 09/20/2001
View Profile
|
Ben,
Feel free to link to my pix anytime! Let's get the word out and make the roads a little safer!
Don
|
BenK
SF BayArea
Senior Member
Joined: 04/18/2002
View Profile
|
Don (Burbman), thanks and think we are in the wild west and anything goes...
Other thread kinda sorta got mad, but needed to say it.
Wild west and barb wire about to be strung and really mean this too.
Just spent last week and these two days with planning department. Engineering and building permits. They also have been trained like me (design/plan for the idiot, gorrilla and Murphy) and we talked a bit and one of the older guys used the "wild west" and "barb wire" anology. Laundry list of things must adjust to before they will issue a building permitt (oldest building in town and lots of stuff needed to be addressed) and they all have basis from past accidents.
Another analogy they commented on:
Just about everyone knows why public places all have exterior doors and doors to large rooms swing OUT WARDS because of the history of too many dieing while piling up bodies against an inward swing door. Not nice stuff to think about, but happened. Or bedroom must have 2nd escape, like window or door, but that window has to be larger than certain size (aka 250 lb person to pass through it). 24/7 lighting in stair well with no windows. Tons of stuff like this that took accidents and lives lost to get the regulators to enact laws.
This is going to happen to RV'ing and fast. Fast because of the lack of concern or knowledge or attention to this potential. Polly Anna type of thinking. Fast because of the numbers of newbies, the sizes of their TT's and the false sense of "you can do it" comments...well meaning, but misguided in many cases. Even comments from those in the insurance community saying they will pay regardless...okay, yes true for now...but give it a bit of time and let the numbers do their work.
Sadly, this topic will take accidents and maiming/dieing to get folks to understand...even then...guessing too many still won't understand, or accept and will take NTSB to enact recall. Have tried to file complaint, but requires VIN number, which don't have as mine is OBS.
Again, thanks!
|
KRK
BROOKINGS SD
New Member
Joined: 07/05/2004
View Profile
|
I know this has been discussed at length on this board, but I just bought a 2002 K2500LD with a factory 500/5000 pound reciever and was contemplating whether to put on an aftermarket 10,000# hitch. My experiences with the factory ones arond here (South Dakota) was that I had only heard of guys bending their recievers and bumpers clear back to when the NBS started. Then I recently had to work on a 99 k1500 straight from a dealer auction that had the bumper and frame pulled WAY down from a heavy trailer. The frame had bent right at the end of the reciever's side supports. Next, my cousin had his truck repaired at a body shop that forgot to install the 2 bolts going to the bumper on a factory hitch. He hooked up to his skidsteer trailer and also buckled his frame in the same places as the other. To me these are weak frame issues, which is why I've been going back and forth on the new hitch issue, since none of them attach to the bumper. I'll be pulling a 2500# car trailer with various size rigs on it. Any comments?
|
IJRoorda
Pella, IA, USA
Full Member
Joined: 07/06/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
KRK, The reason for problems with the frame bending, I assume, is that the factory hitch relies on the bumper for part of its support and doesn't go far enough forward on the frame for adequate support - it only bolts to the frame itself at two points on each side. By comparison, good aftermarket hitches will bolt to the frame in at least three places, have supports which extend much farther forward, and not rely on the bumper for any support at all. I'd go with the aftermarket hitch after reading about these incidents with the cheap NBS OEM hitch. It's a small price to pay for safety and peace-of-mind.
HTH,
Isaac
'97 Ford E-350 Club Wagon XLT, 6.8L V10
'87 Ford F-150 Custom, 4.9L I6
'89 Starcraft Starstream 12' PU
|
KRK
BROOKINGS SD
New Member
Joined: 07/05/2004
View Profile
|
Thanks. I work next to a car lot, and the NBS hitches look so flimsy compared to every other Full size truck I look at. I've also discussed the NBS hitch with a guy that works at the car lot and we wonder if the bumper bolt support is the reason the GM's squat so bad with any type of trailer on them.
Regardless, The local farm and fleet store sells the ACME 10k hitch for $109 plus tax. It's very well built and very heavy. For that, and an hour under the truck I think the peace of mind would be worth it. I've lost a trailer before about 10 years ago, and it tought me that going overboard is worth it. I also think that if I had an accident stemming from the factory hitch, I would be fully liable because of the 5000/500 weight rating. The only difference I see with the 2500HD's is the little plate welded inside and a #7500/750 Max rating. I'm still trying to figure how the fore mentioned member's Suburban had a 15K rating!?
|
|
|
