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Hitch Condition/Refurbishing

btfarm

btfarm

America First!
Messages
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Location
Sandwich, Illinois
We've all seen how crappy the hitches can get back there where all the road crap beats them up and especially us salt belt guys. It's not only unsightly but it can be dangerous. Many of us just did not trust the factory hitch and bought replacements. So I'll start this discussion with a partial look at how nasty my Putnam has become. I'm due to pull the whole hitch assembly down for a total strip, inspect, prime and paint. I'll bet there's several opinions out there as we really get into the heavy towing season. What's the condition of your hitch?

The rest is just as nasty as this:eek:
5 years of northern, salty winters.:nonod:
PYOs 004.jpg
 
After I got my Putnam Receiver Hitch and installed it, I could not put my spare tire back up underneath. I rode around for a few months with my spare tire in the bed of the truck. I couldn't take it anymore, so I took the hitch off and took it to a close friend and had him cut the hitch, and install about 3 inches of metal stock on each side to extend the hitch out so I could stick my spare tire back up in the correct spot. He then welded the 3 inch piece in, and took more stock and sandwiched the piece inside and out and welded the entire hitch up. I believe it is stronger than when it was new. After the welding, the finish was just about gone, so I ground off the rest with a disk grinder, and then rolled on a Herculean type bed liner type finish on the receiver hitch. It came out real nice. Nobody sees it anyway, but I know it is there and feel better about it. It is lasting pretty well. Upon the original install, I upgraded all the hardware (nuts and bolts) to the good stuff!
 
FYI, my dad put a new Putnam on his '03 Chevy 3500 back in '04 when he bought the truck. Used it but didn't abuse it. When he went to sell the truck, I happened to be crawling around underneath the truck and found the hitch had broken at the attach point to the frame on the driver side closest to the front of the truck. Bolt was still tight so we couldn't figure it out. He was hotshotting and made dang sure he was always within weights.
Putnam is out of business now but I think I would probably put a Curt on it if I had to do it again.
 
That's some good info to know about. I'll be hauling the loader this Sat and will be sure to check that out ahead of time.
 
IIRC Curt had a Class V with the bump out for the spare too. I have a totally worn out 265 spare in front of the Putnam and when I do a trip I put a real matching spare (285) in the bed.
 
I personally pull receiver stingers (what I call the ball mount) whenever they arent in use, not only to prevent rust damage, but to keep my shins happy, as well as not ever getting them stuck in the receiver hitch itself. I might make a bump bar in case I ever get rear ended, but for now, empty ass when no trailer is attached.

I like the factory GMT400 receiver for car trailer sized trailers, but on a bigger truck (my 99) I feel I should get something beefy when I get a flatbed for it (has a reese 2.5" half bolted to the truck, and the bed, and is also welded. half-assed, but strong, still hate it badly) and I plan on getting a B&W (same company as the turnover ball) receiver hitch, which they apparently have started making within the past year or two, as I never remember seeing it advertised.

Anyways, I am pleased, as they not only make it for GMT400 pickups, but they also make it for the GMT400 chassis cabs ( GMT400 chassis cab with rear fuel tank is same app as 73-87 with deep bumper, w/o tank is same as 73-87 with standard bumper, all 34 inch rails, all stated in the application chart)

I believe it is the only 2 inch receiver on the market over 15K (I believe it is 16K trailer, 1600 tounge, havent seen a stinger rated that high, except for B&W's complimentary line of stingers rated for use with the big hitch! so as I earn some $, my plan is my 2500s will get OEM, and 3500 and 3500HD will get B&W as far a receivers, and the 2500s will get B&W turnover balls. have to home-make frame mounted goosenecks for chassis cabs, gonna copy the one off of dad's 1990 chassis cab chevy.

also, since I am ranting, I want to share my theory on the receiver pin. I like to have the bent part on the drivers side, and the hairpin on the passenger, as if road debirs (truck gator, etc) or off road debris, (brush, beefy weeds, etc) catch the hairpin and take it off, you are lesss likely to loose the pin, as road crown and road vibration make stuff shift to the right, so theoretically the pin would never fall out.

anyways, thought I would share that potentially useless fact! :)
 
Pulled thousands of tobacco trailers out of tobacco fields and down the road to the tobacco curing barn and have lost several trailers due to the R pin getting knocked or drug out by field debris or gravel farm roads. The easy fix is to put the R pin in all the way so it dangles from the rounded end and we never lost anymore trailers like that. If the R pin is put in to the lil hump only and is held rigidly u will get it knocked out. Another thing is if u never take ur hitch ball mount out u can gradually eat into the big pin and shear it off! Have seen two bumper pull horse trailers do this, one I bought after the owner lost it and it totalled against a tree, turned it into a utility trailer. The second was a riding buddy of mine was pulling to the League of Maryland Horsemen ride and his three horse slant load sheared the pin on the Susquehanna River bridge on Interstate 95 and rode the guardrail to a stop! Horses were ok and we rehitched with a spare pin, always pull to campouts with a group, serious cosmetic damage to one side only and wore the foot on the jack down some.
 
btfarm said:
IIRC Curt had a Class V with the bump out for the spare too. I have a totally worn out 265 spare in front of the Putnam and when I do a trip I put a real matching spare (285) in the bed.
Click to expand...

I ordered the Curt V5 18k hitch (model 15602)with the bump out today...$158 shipped

Hopefully my 265/70/17 spare will fit...

the putnam with the mag hytec diff cover wouldn't even fit the factory pizza cutter...

My factory hitch used to fit a 285/75/16...I can't recall if I had the mag hytec on or not at the time but with the 265/70 being a little more than an inch smaller than the 285/75 it might just fit...

also had to order an adapter made for my DT adjustable aluminum hitch from 2" to 2 1/2" with the new hitch ($27)

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Great thread! (and very timely, as I check my hitch and pins every day, these days....)

FWIW, gents, I use one of these to pin the hitch stinger into the receiver on my truck and motorhome:

Hitch-Pin-Lock.jpg

I use a smaller version on the clasp that locks the trailer to the ball. Both are cylinder locks (with the round keys)
 
image-schuck.jpg

Schuck Shock hitch was on my gasser for 6-7 years, then I put it on my '95 I have today about 8-9 years ago. It's the #720 and has been wire brushed and painted with Rustoleum more than once. If/when I do it again, I'll coat it several times with a rust killer product or POR-15 and then give it a coat of base/clear and use a flattening agent so it doesn't turn out glossy. All the rust I see on mine is always external. I have no idea what the hitch portion is actually made of, but it acts like stainless steel and will hardly rust, as long as I keep a coat of wax on it (I know, who the heck waxes their hitch??:nonod:)

Same with the support arms that attach from the frame (not shown). They take as much beating as the rest of it. Spare tire sits in the bed due to this hitch, though, and that won't work for some.
 
btfarm said:
Once you get that in Paul, take some pics of how the tire clears. Is the Curt painted or powdercoat?
Click to expand...

No pics yet...but just installed it today...my 265/70/17 (31.7") spare clears by an inch...WITH the mag hytech diff cover...

the finish is sort of textured black paint or powder coat...maybe the Curts website has the info on that you are looking for...
 
We got the Torklift Superhitch a few years ago and it's already starting to get surface rust, just the nature of the beast. I'm gonna have to scuff it down and re-coat it, we don't need any problems from it...
 
So I went to take my ball mount out and it is frozen solid into the hitch. While I was pounding on it, huge sheets of powder coated rust came dropping onto the shop floor. Looks like a rainy (or snowy :eek:) weekend job to pull it down and replace the whole shooting match. Pepp, can you take a pic of the Curt unit? I'd be interested in your Plug setup because the bracket for mine is a rusted mess also. I think I'm going to strip and paint the Putnum and sell it to somebody that only needs a class IV. AFTER I get my 30k ball and mount out of it...:mad2:
 
This is the hitch...

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the curved part almost comes out to the edge of the step pad...and the receiver is flush with the step pad...


I cut the plug mount off of the OEM hitch and cut it square across the top...

on the putnam...which was a square tube... I screwed straight through it to the hitch face...

for the curt(because it is round) I used the same holes in the oem plug mount and screwed it to a piece of angle aluminum and then screwed that to the underside of the bumper...

If you can't picture/imagine this, I'd be glad to take some pics tomorrow for you...

I
 
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