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Old 04-12-2014, 04:30 PM   #1
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Chevy/GMC receiver weak point?

This morning I went to an RV maintenance clinic put on by the dealership where we have bought both of our trailers. During a discussion on towing and maintaining your WD hitch, the discussion included comments on all of the torque that is exerted on the receiver when attaching the bars on an Equal-i-zer hitch. The dealership owner mentioned that he has seen GMC/Chevy receivers crack where the square 2" receiver tube is welded to the round cross piece that bolts to the truck frame. In fact, his dealership was a defendant (along with Chevrolet, Airstream, and Equal-i-zer) in a lawsuit when a Chevy's receiver cracked at that point, the Airstream trailer disconnected from the truck, still attached by the safety chains, and the entire unit flipped over. The dealership owner says he still loves Chevy trucks - he, himself, has a brand new 3500 - but won't have the Chevrolet factory receiver hitch on his truck.

Has anyone ever heard of this problem on a Chevrolet or GMC with a 2" (or, now, 2.5" with a sleeve insert) receiver?
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Old 04-12-2014, 05:33 PM   #2
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First I've heard.

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Old 04-12-2014, 09:53 PM   #3
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Nope. Never seen one do that. After working at several GM dealers in collision facilities, ive seen bent recievers, buckled frames, sheared bolts on recievers, tore out frame rails and bent inserts (that the ball mounts to) but have yet to see a reciever crack at the square-to-tube area. But hey, there isn't anything that is perfect every time, so it could, or I guess has happened.


Fyi we won't ever repair one, too much liability. Ive even scrapped them due to the wiring plug bracket getting dammaged.

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Old 04-12-2014, 09:57 PM   #4
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Honestly where did the case go, or what was the end result?
Im gonna bet that the weight was probably over the rating for the hitch, even if it was "right" acording to trailer manuf. dry weight.
And or brakes weren't used properly.
Thats my speculation on a scenario I know nothing about though!
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Old 04-12-2014, 10:32 PM   #5
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If you look on any of the GM truck forums, especially the Duramax forum, you find lots owners having problems with that hitch. I changed mine to a Reese. Don't get me wrong, but GM has done owners such a disservice with that hitch. It has a label right on that states it is only rated for 7500 lbs. The Reese I replaced it with is rated for something like 14,000 ( I don't recall exactly) and has a 2" receive so I don't have to mess around with the adapter sleeve. I didn't find any obvious cracks in mine, but I could tell difference between the two hitches. The Reese is rock solid while the original always felt limber or "loose".
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Old 04-12-2014, 10:43 PM   #6
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IMO and lots of people on the forums, it is a crappy hitch. But I always use the WD hitch, would think 7500 is way too low
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Old 04-12-2014, 11:07 PM   #7
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I don't care what some other forum guys think they have heard.
No one here has any first hand experience with the op's mentioned area. And I would say the thousands (yes really 2-10 a week for 12 years) that I have actuall working knowledge of and seen, have never seen this issue, and I do warranty and wreck related repairs.

I think this is an abuse type situation, that if real, is self inflicted because someone drives like an idiot.
The first law of inertia, if your moving and then suddenly stop, the mass is gonna want to keep moving. If your trailer doesn't have brakes it gets really bad.
You would be surprised the idiots that think they have trailer brakes, just because they have a "tow or trailer" package. One guy told me he had trailer brakes when he wanted to borrow a car trailer. When I told him to turn it down when it was empty, he was like "turn what down" . I then informed him with out a controller, the trailer wasn't doing anything to help stop.

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Old 04-13-2014, 08:44 AM   #8
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I don't care what some other forum guys think they have heard.

So, if it has not happened here it has never happened?? And if you have not seen it, it has neither happened?? You care not what other forum guys think but post here, and give and take the info presented. I dont understand ???
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Old 04-13-2014, 08:48 AM   #9
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Does this include the 2 1/2 hitch on 3/4 tons?? Not sure but I had thought the cracking was only on the 2" hitch. I did notice while at the chevy dealer a few days ago that 2013 and 2014 have a different hitch now, at least on 3/4 tons..
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Old 04-13-2014, 08:56 AM   #10
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So, if it has not happened here it has never happened?? And if you have not seen it, it has neither happened?? You care not what other forum guys think but post here, and give and take the info presented. I dont understand ???
This is talking about info taken from another forum and thus at least 2nd hand if not more away from a given issue.
You arent gonna listen to anything I say anyhow since im not a hot rod Tuner type.

Bash away guys, but this is not a common issue in the south.
Maybe you guys in rust country have a rust issue if you think its common.

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Old 04-13-2014, 09:11 AM   #11
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Had a friend of mine who had a Chevy 3500 in the mid 90's. Not sure what brand hitch he had on it but, he did a lot of towing pulling a 28' cargo trailer to various go-kart tracks (he was a parts dealer). One day he arrived at our local track and when he went to disconnect his WD bars, the hitch bent down until the trailer tongue almost touched the ground. We found that metal fatigue had taken its' toll on the hitch and cracks and broken welds caused the hitch to fail.
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Old 04-13-2014, 09:23 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by rracer5 View Post
Had a friend of mine who had a Chevy 3500 in the mid 90's. Not sure what brand hitch he had on it but, he did a lot of towing pulling a 28' cargo trailer to various go-kart tracks (he was a parts dealer). One day he arrived at our local track and when he went to disconnect his WD bars, the hitch bent down until the trailer tongue almost touched the ground. We found that metal fatigue had taken its' toll on the hitch and cracks and broken welds caused the hitch to fail.
Just an fyi-fwiw
Gm didnt start putting recievers in from the factory in large numbers untill the new body in '99. There were a few out there but almost every 88-98 truck used some form of aftermarket hitch, from what ive seen.


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Old 04-13-2014, 10:18 AM   #13
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So, if it has not happened here it has never happened?? And if you have not seen it, it has neither happened?? You care not what other forum guys think but post here, and give and take the info presented. I dont understand ???

He has direct, hands on experience with numerous vehicles equipped with the hitch. It is strange that I have never heard of a recall from the NHTSA! Must be a well kept secret from the fed's that the hitch is inferior? Highly doubt that this hitch condition exists. If it does, the vehicle owner probably mis-used the hitch and caused the issue! I have owned GM trucks with factory hitches for numerous years and never experienced a hitch failure! I must be doing something "wrong"?
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Old 04-13-2014, 10:55 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by l001952119 View Post
He has direct, hands on experience with numerous vehicles equipped with the hitch. It is strange that I have never heard of a recall from the NHTSA! Must be a well kept secret from the fed's that the hitch is inferior? Highly doubt that this hitch condition exists. If it does, the vehicle owner probably mis-used the hitch and caused the issue! I have owned GM trucks with factory hitches for numerous years and never experienced a hitch failure! I must be doing something "wrong"?
I'm the OP. I don't know if this condition is real or not, and if real, how widespread it is. I related one story that I heard yesterday from the owner of our RV dealership. He said that he (along with other parties including GC, Airstream and Equali-i-zer) had been sued as the result of an accident which was alleged to have occurred when a Chevrolet facory-installed hitch failed. It was a 2" receiver on a 3/4 ton pickup, and this happened several years ago. He said his insurance company ended up paying the claimant some type of settlement, but did not ever say if there had been a trial, if anyone was found negligent, or any other details. He just said that he was not a fan of GM hitches - that they are made by the same company that makes the seat belt anchors for GM, and he did not think they were of the same quality as Reese or Curt receivers. I just asked the forum members if anyone had heard anything like this, b/c I hadn't. I'm not saying that it is true or not, or that the claimant hadn't abused the hitch, or anything else. We all know...when there is an accident, sue the hell out of EVERYBODY and let the courts figure it out. Whoever has the deepest pockets will pay something just to make the issue go away.
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Old 04-13-2014, 11:12 AM   #15
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Mike,
I've just spent about an hour looking around the internet trying to find info on this issue, and get educated.
Here is what ive found,
-There are 4 cases that were reported to OID? Dont know what that is, obviously not the same as nhtsa as I cant find info from googling "oid"
-about 1-3 dozen people have said they had a crack, or their friend said they did
- there is 1-2 groups of pics that have been shared across a bunch of forums and on Google images, looks like a hand full (less than 5, give or take)of failed hitch pic photos. And honestly the hitches looked like they were used to pull tree stumps out of the ground with a chain.

Looks like gm has sold well over 10 million Silverado/sierras since '99.....
So im gonna stick with, not a widespread issue by any means.


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Old 04-13-2014, 01:55 PM   #16
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here is a thread from one of the duramax sites
plenty of other threads about this also over their..

Hitch rating?? - Chevy and GMC Duramax Diesel Forum

when I hauled my boat at 9k I could not use a Wd hitch because it was surge brake equipped, I did it anyway and only had to tow it 12 miles so it was not on my mind. But lots of people tow heaver then 7500 with out the WD on the classic body hitches because they also cannot use the WD hitch. I would think a 3/4 ton should be able to tow heaver on the ball as long as the tongue weight is not exceeded
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Old 04-13-2014, 03:05 PM   #17
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I'm going to agree with Millertime, as a long term GM tech I never saw a hitch failure and I know of a few farmers that haul loads on a receiver hitch that put our big rigs to shame. Around here they haul hay in the bed then use a bumper pull hitch with dual wheel tandem trailers on a GI ring. I'd guess 15K or more, no WD.

Now, that's not excluding random failures, a bad production run, etc. It could happen, in fact I'll guarantee it has happened. It was built by men after all. Just look at the ignition switch issue GM is facing.

But on a large scale? No, it would have made the news. What's more newsworthy than a failed part allowing a runaway trailer to potentially careen through a daycare or something?
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Old 04-13-2014, 03:44 PM   #18
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First heard about this four tears ago when we were getting our avalanche set up to our hensley, we were told that there had been a few failures due to the receiver weld cracking, we did nothing to it but kept an eye on the receiver.
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Old 04-13-2014, 06:37 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MillerTime View Post
Mike,
I've just spent about an hour looking around the internet trying to find info on this issue, and get educated.
Here is what ive found,
-There are 4 cases that were reported to OID? Dont know what that is, obviously not the same as nhtsa as I cant find info from googling "oid"
-about 1-3 dozen people have said they had a crack, or their friend said they did
- there is 1-2 groups of pics that have been shared across a bunch of forums and on Google images, looks like a hand full (less than 5, give or take)of failed hitch pic photos. And honestly the hitches looked like they were used to pull tree stumps out of the ground with a chain.

Looks like gm has sold well over 10 million Silverado/sierras since '99.....
So im gonna stick with, not a widespread issue by any means.


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Thanks, Miller Time. I have to concur...bears looking at the receiver from time to time, but not enough of a problem to go out and have the factory hitch replaced with a Curt.

BTW, we've bought two travel trailers from this dealership. They set up the Equal-I-zer hitch on my truck for both trailers. First one was a 2011 Silverado 1500 with a 2" receiver. Latest one is is 2013 Silverado 2500 HD with a 2.5" receiver. In neither deal did they say anything about a potential problem with the Chevy receiver. Wonder why that subject came up for the first time at their dealership yesterday?

I'm gonna' go camping with my current setup!

Mike
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Old 04-13-2014, 06:50 PM   #20
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I broke one on a 97 F350 once. Noticed it when I stopped for a traffic light and was looking at the front of the trailer in the mirror. I was completely stopped and the front of the trailer was still bouncing up and down. I might've tested the rating a time or 2.
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