GMC 2500HD Owners Beware.

[biggoofball]

Thanks fr the photos Robert. That's what my Yukon set up looks like, you saved me taking some photos in the rain. I'm feeling very comfortable with that set up. Very strong. My ball ended up being at 20". A smidge high but better than the 23" you mention.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Steve,
Your absolutely right, it's not the strength of the bumper mount bolts that are in question, it's the fact that the welds are failing at the hitch box, poor design and inadequate material strength.

The change in design can be seen in the thru bumper design on the new Suburbans. You can see here that the hitch box is mounted completely thru the square crossmember, and is 360 welded both sides. This hitch also has the two support bolts on either side of the reciever. The hitch itself is bolted directly into the ends of the frame rails. The issue with these has been hitch height. Which can be as high as 23 inches on the Z71.

Robert,

OK, I heard quite a while back the GM hitches were haveing trouble at the welds. I went out and looked at the welds on mine at that time, saw they did not look adequate, so I got out my welder and set about reinforceing the welds. The three welds that hold the receiver to the attachement piece that goes to the bumper crossmember are the ones that I rewelded. I've not had any trouble. The whole job took me less than an hour. However, I think I will retorque the bolts also.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by thatismytruc

Thanks fr the photos Robert. That's what my Yukon set up looks like, you saved me taking some photos in the rain. I'm feeling very comfortable with that set up. Very strong. My ball ended up being at 20". A smidge high but better than the 23" you mention.

Yep, the thru bumper design was a big improvement, it is a much more substantial unit.

[mustang]

What is proper hight for Airstream. I was told 19 1/2 is that correct?

[LI Pets]

yes that's what I was told, but may different for certain model years

[mustang]

I checked my buddy truck and it was fine class V and all

[boatdoc]

Originally Posted by thatismytruc

The shape has no bearing on the strength as long as the proper calculations were performed by the GM Engineers, and proper materials were used. I just referred to the round bar as a description, a form of differentiation between the factory and after market hitch.

Hi thatismytruc; I have a slightly used Factory GMC hitch for sale. Do you want it? Just joking. Perhaps I have no problem with 1/8" wall by 2" dia. round tube, but when you look at the splattered on welds that have not penetrated the material, all the proper calculations by GMC just flew out of the window. I was told that GMC pays $19.00 for that hitch, so what would expect? The welds at best, are superficial and very short. This hitch is only worth as much as the South of the Border welds. Why would anyone install a hitch which torques up and down on the bumper cross member without use of Locktite or lock washer? If the installer misses the torque process, bolts fall out as mine did. The ULTRA FRAME hitch which I have installed which is supposedly made by Draw Tite has a 3" square tube with 1/4" wall. Welds are solid all the way around. Frame mounting plates are also 1/4" thick and very deep. This hitch however had no provision to bolt it to the bumper cross member. I have cut a 7" X 4" x 1.3/8 steel plate and duplicated a bolt spread in the bumper cross member. Holes were drilled in the top plate of the hitch, drilled and tapped to 9/16" thread in the 1 3/8" adopter plate. One set of bolts retains the adopter plate to the bumper cross member, the second set retains the hitch plate to the adopter plate. Hitch installation itself took only half hour, one and half hour for making and painting the plate. It is overkill but the secure feeling on the road is priceless. Thanks "Boatdoc"

[ROBERT CROSS]

Our last TV (95 Burb) was a year round driver so I got in the habit of removing the receiver every winter.

Never even occured to me to check this before.

This started after seeing an sob's reciever bolts fail while backing into a campsite in Up-state NY. Really it was a simple operation, just six bolts on the Reese class 4. Every Spring re-install and inspect the grade 8 stainless bolts that I had used.
Pulled down the zip-lock bag filled with grease that I had tucked above the bumper last Fall. Guess what, no wiring corrosion to fix and the piece of mind knowing that the receiver was secure for another season.

CHECK THOSE RECEIVER BOLTS ONCE A YEAR, may be surprised what you find!!

Stream Safe