Draw-Tite Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class V - 2-1/2"

by: James10/25/2022

etrailer was a great place to buy from and I would do it again if needed. This is a very well built trailer hitch I received. I will never have to worry when pulling a 9000lb trailer behind my 2004 YukonXL2500 with the 8.1ltr engine.1456324

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by: James 08/22/2022

Chevrolet Suburban

Way better than the rusted week stock ones. Mounts farther up the frame and thus makes for a more stronger connection and better transfer of weight.

It would have been nice if the wiring bracket would have just worked with my stock wiring plug but the adapter was not expensive, simple to install and is nice that it has a 7 and a 4 pin plug built in.

One thing to note is that this does not have the drop the stock one has so it raises your reviver a few inches and this you will need to adjust your hitches for that. This helped in my case as my trailer is higher than my Suburban.1369851

Absolutely dwarfs the wimpy stock reciever from my 2003 yukon xl 2500. The wings go about a foot and a half further back into the frame to give much better weight distribution. They even go past the spring shackle and second cross member. I have no doubt this reciever is way overkill for what I'll use it for but I like to be safe rather than sorry when it comes to towing. The only real issues I had was that annoying tab for the light connector is in a really bad spot so I just cut it off and relocated the connector into the bumper (which gm should've just done at the factory). I noticed that the paint chips off very easily. Just from the short 1 hour install, there were about 6 corners that had dime size chunks of paint missing that I had to touch up. The install was fairly easy, even doing it by myself. If you can get a second person to help I suggest doing so. It would've made it much easier to jack it up while balancing it and trying to guide it into position. Like I said though, very easily doable solo with a floor jack. The two weld nuts on the frame from the factory gave me alot of grief trying to put in the new M14 bolts. Somehow they got cross threaded while removing the old reciever. Not really sure how but I had to screw around with that for about 20 minutes. Make sure to clean the inside of the frame rail before installing the locking plates for the carriage bolts. Mine had all sorts of dirt and rocks tucked up in there which were preventing the plate from sitting flush on the frame. My only other gripe is that only two of the new bolts are 10.9 grade. Everything else is only grade 5 steel which made me kind of nervous on a heavy duty hitch like this. I thought about running to the hardware store and swapping everything out for grade 8 but I decided to trust the engineers at draw-tite since they have a pretty good reputation for quality products. I will be pulling a skidloader on a pintle hitch this weekend and inspecting everything after the tow. Will update if any issues arise. All in all, this thing is a beast and I'm glad to have that kind of capability bolted to the back of my truck.995856

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I haven’t had a chance to install it yet, but shipping was fast and order was accurate1481108

Product is good. Have used many of these 45515 hitches on 2500 Suburbans/Yukon XLs. Shipping care and customer support leave room for improvement. Hitch arrived without the box, and fairly banged up. My only choices were a "$xx paint credit" or 2+ weeks on the exchange department. $xx is not worth my time to properly repaint the hitch but unable to wait an additional 2+ weeks on an exchange.1172350

I like this thing a lot.

Criticisms: It is so big that it looks a bit cartoonish. And the 2.5 inch receiver is a little silly, because a two inch unit could realistically do everything this one can. But, there wasn't a 2" version that had the same capacity, so I went with this one.

Things I like: The hitch reaches forward past the rear spring shackle and distributes the tongue load to the areas of the truck frame that can better handle it.

The 2.5" receiver is more versatile because it can fit all the same shanks as the new Fords, and some other trucks that use 2.5" stuff, and can be adapted down to 2" (though I would still rather have a 2" model with the same capacity).

The factory hitch on my '02 Suburban 2500 was junk, and GM really did a bad job making a hitch that would work with the frame of the truck. If you look, at the frame of a 2500 from that year, there is a cross member just behind the spare tire. That cross member ties into the frame with a forward facing tab that catches the same rivets that hold the rear spring shackle. Then the frame is bent abruptly to a slightly smaller cross-section, and tapers back to the back of the truck where the hitch bolts up to it. The factory hitch has very short mounting brackets, and when placed under a tongue load, it goes into torsion concentrating a tremendous amount of stress along its forward edge. If that wasn't bad enough, the cross-member, which is tied into the shackle and stiffens up the frame just forward of the hitch mounts, creates a stress-riser because it doesn't allow the forward portion of the frame to flex and absorb any of the load as the truck travels over bumps. And if all that wasn't enough, the abrupt change in cross-section in the same small, un-reinforced area at the forward edge of the hitch further concentrates the stress there.

This is the reason that GM rates gross towing of the chassis at 12,000lb., but has a ridiculously low tongue weight of 300lb. without a weight distributing hitch. This situation is just stupid: the payload of the truck is about 3,000, and the gross tow weight is 12,000, but my fat buddy shouldn't even be stepping on my hitch to climb into the back of the truck, because his 350 pound body puts it over capacity. It is also the reason that GM put those two stupid, little bolts on the factory hitch to tie it to the bumper, the idea being that by tying into the bumper they could shift the fulcrum of the torsional load back to the very end of the hitch, and reduce the very high leverage that a downward force on the hitch-ball puts on the forward edge of the factory hitch.

It's a case of GM factory junk, and I am sure the new add campaign about how tough their frames are is in response to the horrible reputation they deservedly got from trucks of this era having weak, tweakable frames that couldn't hold tongue weight, or survive a minor incident like backing into something solid with a drop hitch in the receiver.

But this hitch goes a long way towards fixing that bad design. The mounting flanges catch the two rear bolts that the factory hitch uses, and also reach forward of the rear spring-shackle and catch the larger area of the frame. This spreads out the load much better, drastically reduces the amount of leverage that is exerted on the frame by the torsional forces acting on the hitch, relieves the compressive forces that stack up on the bottom of the frame just in front of where the factory hitch mounts, and generally makes a much better show of hooking a trailer to the truck in a way that won't wreck your frame in the real world.

The question with the new hitch is "what's the new tongue weight?" The right answer is that it is still 300lb. without a weight distributing hitch. The manufacturer is very clear that the new hitch shouldn't be considered to increase the tongue weight of the truck. But that said, in a pinch I would probably trust this thing up around 1,000lb. And even though everyone agrees that it shouldn't increase the tongue weight, the factory hitch design was obviously the weak point considering the 3,000lb. payload of the truck and the 12,000lb. gross trailer weight. So I believe that if the truck were evaluated by a qualified engineer and tested appropriately, it probably would have gotten a tongue weight rating close to the 1,200lb. advertised by draw-tight.
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Really well. After putting the thing on, I have just about forgotten it. It has been loaded with something like seven or eight hundred lbs of tongue weight pretty regularly, and everything has been fine. I did well in some re-inforcements to the frame of the truck when I installed it though. My only complaints are very minor. Its a little hard to get smaller safety chains hooked up. The tab that holds the plug sticks out too far I cut it off and put the plug in the bumper. All in all, it has been a really good hitch and I would buy it again.

Michael A - 01/25/2019

48909

This hitch is an awesome beast! I really like the design. It spreads the load out evenly over the frame. I was on the fence about a class 4 or 5 hitch. I'm glad I decided to go big.1175583

Hitch arrived quickly and undamaged. I did have an issue with missing hardware and etrailer Customer Service was absolutely fantastic at getting me the missing components asap. Installation was very simple, I do recommed someone to help since this hitch is heavy. One important note is make sure you don't have dual exhaust installed because this will hit a rear exit system. I was replacing mine anyways so it wasn't a big deal. I will get more photos and upload once I get my new exhaust ran.526474

by: Claire S.07/08/2019

The hitch made a big difference in towing and made me feel so much better knowing how much more secure our load we would be hauling would be. The service from etrailer is just amazing. Would definitely recommend and buy from again. 667572

Fit great. Very happy with it so far. Had a hard time finding a hitch that was heavy duty and fit right on a 2500 suburban. Really like how far down the frame it mounts. 365929

Unbelievably fast service. Fitment was perfect best service ever 831336

Still doing great! Best upgrade ever

Michael - 07/11/2021

117109

Finally someone able to deliver. I've tried ordering from three other places, all back ordered. Etrailer delivered, and I finally got it installed.922126

by: Jarrell02/21/2021

Very strong! 962950

by: Louis G02/23/2020

This is best product I ever bought. 757479

Great price great product. Fit perfectly, easy install.717666

by: Douglas08/25/2018

2001 Chevrolet Suburban

well made easy to install 557881

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