Receiver question on HD2500

[Crawdad]

I have a chevy silverado HD2500 with the Duramax Allison combo, and tow a 1998 30 foot classic limited. Do I need to consider replacing the receiver that came on the truck or is it OK like it is. I also have a Hensley Arrow that came with the trailer. It seems to be working fine, but someone told me that it might be inadequate and could actually fail.

[chaimemet]

i have a GMC 2007.5 2500 crew 6.6 bed duramax and a hensley hitch. The receiver is a 2 1/2" with an adapter for 2" hitches. There is no problem that I can see and I have towed 2x in the last 3 months total of 1600 miles. The AS is an 08 31 Classic.

[Sky]

I believe your receiver is fine. I think they beefed the 2007 hitches up from what I have on my 2006 Silverado. I tow 30' classic no problems, but I do inspect it regularly.

Why would someone tell you the Hensley may be inadequate and could actually fail? Its the best hitch on the market, especially for your size of trailer. Is there something wrong with it? 1400 lbs Weight distribution bars?

Post some good pictures of it. There are many here that can help if something is wrong with it, and Hensley is very helpful also if you have a problem.

Good Luck and Enjoy
Dale

[Crawdad]

I was unclear with what I said. Its not the Hensley that they said might fail. It was the receiver that they were referring to. Some have said I need to replace it with a Class V receiver.

[moosetags]

The OEM 2" receiver on my 2005 GMC Yukon XL 2500 did fail. The weld broke next to the receiver box. I replaced it with an aftermarket Class V receiver. I just purchased a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban 2500 as a backup tow vehicle. I plan to replace the OEM receiver with a new Class V.

[2airishuman]

hi crawdad...

here is a the thread on this issue with the older ge'ems...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...les-34603.html

the haha does put more stress on the receiver box in the rotational and side2side planes...

so IF the receiver box shows any signs of sloppiness after towing some, replace it.

cheers
2air'

[jcanavera]

If you deal with hitch weights in excess of 1,000 lbs., not all GM trucks are equipped with receivers to carry that weight. On my GMC van, I had to pull the factory receiver and upgrade to a class V receiver to deal with the 1,200+ hitch weight on my 30' Classic Slide Out.

If in doubt check the sticker on the receiver and your hitch weight on the trailer.

Jack

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by Crawdad

I have a chevy silverado HD2500 with the Duramax Allison combo, and tow a 1998 30 foot classic limited. Do I need to consider replacing the receiver that came on the truck or is it OK like it is. I also have a Hensley Arrow that came with the trailer. It seems to be working fine, but someone told me that it might be inadequate and could actually fail.

Is it round or square?

[Foiled Again]

What year is your 2500 HD? They did upgrade the hitch receiver, but I'm not sure whether it was on the 2007 or 2008 models. Mine, a 2008 does have the 2 1/2 inch receiver, which was advertised as a major upgrade in strength. My 2003 Suburban's receiver on the other hand needed to be replaced.

Paula

[dwightdi]

Your profile says the truck is a 2007 HD2500. The hitch weight rating should be stamped on the receiver or be found in the owner's manual. My old 2001 model had an engineering Bulletin issued for it to warn of the dangers. DOT had a number of complaints. If in doubt, buy an aftermarket class 5 receiver.

[gowyn]

when I had my haha installed the dealer beefed up the stock hitch, couple pieces of angle iron welded on and good to go. I think the problem is the tubing is round so the square reciever rotates up and down thereby creating unusual stresses on the welds. With the extra bits welded on I'm good to go.

[Crawdad]

I checked and the sticker on the receiver says it is good for 1500 lbs hitch weight and up to 12000 for the trailer weight, so I am probably safe for what I am towing now. My truck is a 2007 classic which means it is the old body style, purchased in November of 2006. I suppose I will just check it fairly often for signs of failure, and if I ever go to a 34 footer, I will definitely change out for a Class V. Thanks to all for your support.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Just took this off our "new" 06 Burb today.

Hard to believe it's rated for 12000lbs. If yours looks like this, round bar,

I highly recommend replacement. I still put time in at a Chevy Store and

we have replaced at least six in the last year.

[Crawdad]

Robert,
That is exactly what mine looks like. Did the six units that you replaced in the last year fail...or did the owner replace them for fear that they would fail? Either way, I will probably replace mine.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Crawdad

Robert,
That is exactly what mine looks like. Did the six units that you replaced in the last year fail...or did the owner replace them for fear that they would fail? Either way, I will probably replace mine.

Three customers who used theirs as TV replaced with after market, one had an elongated pin hole, and two for cracked welds.
One customer who didn't tow had his replaced under warranty, with OEM for excess rust.
Two 2500 work trucks had new OEM receivers replaced for bent hitch box under warranty. Big trlrs, with no wd, but still within weight limits..

Check out the thread 2air referenced above for more info.

[AllenPom]

Originally Posted by gowyn

when I had my haha installed the dealer beefed up the stock hitch, couple pieces of angle iron welded on and good to go. I think the problem is the tubing is round so the square reciever rotates up and down thereby creating unusual stresses on the welds. With the extra bits welded on I'm good to go.

Regardless of its possible design or quality control issues, I would guess there is no single part of the hitch that is over sized and no part that is under sized. By welding strengtheners on the hitch, the dealer may have done 2 bad things - (1) the welding ruined the metal structure of the round tube in places that were designed to be uniform and absorb linear and and torsion loading, and (2) over stiffened the center section, reducing strength of the overall system - which should lead to earlier, not prevented failure. I suggest you have ruined your unit by allowing your dealer to weld strengtheners on it and it should be considered unsafe, more prone to catastrophic rather than safer progressive failure modes at its attachment points or outer sections. Please consider replacing it.