GMC 2500HD Owners Beware.

[boatdoc]

Hi folks;
I own a 2006 GMC Sierra 2500 HD with 6500 miles, of which about 1600 miles is towing loads below 5000 Lbs. Truck is eqipped with factory HD hitch. During return trip from camping I felt as something was not right with the hook up. Upon close inspection I have discovered that the two bolts holding the hitch to the bumper have backed out most of the way and were ready to fall out. While those two bolts do not carry much of the load, they do balance the spread of the load along the hitch front to back. By being backed out more than 1/2" the trailer weight was carried by bolts which attach the hitch to the frame. I feel that this may not have been an issue but, the ball is two feet back from those bolts. The two foot distance acts as a cantilever and I wonder how much stress the remaining bolts have received during towing. The two back bolts have only flat washer, no lock washer and I am not sure if there are nuts inside the bumper. I will be returning the truck to the dealer with this issue,
and I will report on it next week. For now check your hitch attaching bolts to the bumper. Thanks, "Boatdoc"

[Pick]

I have a 2003 with 56K on it and no hitch problems yet. Will have had the truck 4 years in September. I did notice that the pin hole in the receiver on the passenger side is starting to wear or elongate. Not sure why it is doing this on one side only. I tow a boat, horse trailer and flatbed carry-all, as well as the Airstream with this truck.

[moosetags]

The GM factory receivers through 2006 are junk. They are not up to the job of towing a heavy trailer with a WD hitch. I pull an '05 25FB with a 2005 GMC Yukon XL 2500. The welds cracked on the OEM receiver, and it scarred the crap out of me. I replaced it with an aftermarket Class IV receiver. When I took the factory receiver off, I realized that it was pretty light duty. It weighs about 20# and the bracing bars are about 12" long. The Class IV replacement weighs 65# and the bars go about 30" under the frame.

I recently purchased a 2004 Suburban 2500. The first thing I did was replace the crappy factory receiver.

Brian

[Silvertwinkie]

I've had a similar exp as Pick has with the elongated pin hole which they replaced my hitch under warranty with the same type of hitch. Next round, when this one acts up, I will be going with a Reese replacement.

[markdoane]

You should replace the factory hitch with an aftermarket receiver.

Here's another warning. Some of the aftermarket receivers mount only to the frame and don't have the bolts that attach to the bumper. Some of them do. You can't tell fom the websites because they usually have pictures of "generic" hitch receivers.

However, if the website says "requires factory bumper" that's a good indication that its the style with the bumper bolts.

[moosetags]

All Class IV/V receivers that I have seen attach with heavy bolts to the frame rails and do not attach to the bumper at all.

Here's a photo of the OEM receiver that was on my '05 Yuk XL 2500. You can see how the welds were cracking and beginning to separate. When this happened, I took it to the GMC dealer. They offered to replace the receiver with a new one of the same type. I decided that replacing a junk receiver with the same junk receiver was foolish. Our Lucy is much too valuable to be trusted a junk receiver.

Brian

[markdoane]

Maybe the Quadrasteers are different? All the late model Sierra, Yukon, Tahoe have a couple of bolts that attach to the bumper, in addition to the four bolts to the frame rails.

[Journalist]

I'm a member of a Chevy truck forum as well. The OEM hitch failures are very well documented there. When buying any Chevy/GMC truck, I'd advise making sure the truck has the towing package, but ditch that receiver first thing for one that is actually made to pull more than the occasional Jet Ski.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by markdoane

Maybe the Quadrasteers are different? All the late model Sierra, Yukon, Tahoe have a couple of bolts that attach to the bumper, in addition to the four bolts to the frame rails.

No, the Quadrasteers are the same as the others. It's the OEM junk receivers that bolt to the bumper. Most of the aftermarket Class IV's and V's attach to the frame only with 6 heavy duty bolts.

Brian

[davidz71]

My previous post must not have made the trip. I have a '01 Chevy 2500hd with no problems with cracks on welds, no rust and no backing out of bolts and no elongation of receiver tube locking holes. I wonder if it isn't a case of substandard receivers from the manufacturer?

[Journalist]

Originally Posted by davidz71

My previous post must not have made the trip. I have a '01 Chevy 2500hd with no problems with cracks on welds, no rust and no backing out of bolts and no elongation of receiver tube locking holes. I wonder if it isn't a case of substandard receivers from the manufacturer?

Yet.
I'd keep a close eye on it, especially if you are using any sort of weight distribution hitch on a regular basis.

[davidz71]

Originally Posted by Journalist

Yet.
I'd keep a close eye on it, especially if you are using any sort of weight distribution hitch on a regular basis.

Based on other posts, that would be the smart thing for me to do. Thanks.

[2dabeach]

Originally Posted by moosetags

The GM factory receivers through 2006 are junk. They are not up to the job of towing a heavy trailer with a WD hitch. I pull an '05 25FB with a 2005 GMC Yukon XL 2500. The welds cracked on the OEM receiver, and it scarred the crap out of me. I replaced it with an aftermarket Class IV receiver. When I took the factory receiver off, I realized that it was pretty light duty. It weighs about 20# and the bracing bars are about 12" long. The Class IV replacement weighs 65# and the bars go about 30" under the frame.

I recently purchased a 2004 Suburban 2500. The first thing I did was replace the crappy factory receiver.

Brian

Brian

What after market Class IV receiver did you replace the OEM with?

[hookedonclassic]

I was just on-line looking and Putnam has a nice Class 5 that looks like a good replacement. I know Jack C has one on his GMC van to go with his 30' slide. For my TV it looks like a model #25182 at about $159.