Infro. on OEM General Mortors Trailer Hitch

[Builder]

My opinion is that GM has done truck owners two wrongs here. First, they don't provide a hitch rated for the trucks towing capacity, this is true even on my Silverado 1500. Second, the real trouble, they don't tell you in the owners manual or anywhere else that they've done this. I've heard of some cases you can find a rating on the hitch itself, but I haven't found one. My manual clearly states I can tow 8000lbs, my hitch I believe is rated for 4500 to 5500 based on what I've found on the internet. I'm really glad I learned about this before anything bad happened. I think this lawsuit has some merit.
Sounds like this is larger than GM though.

Are you sure your hitch isn't also supposed to be equipped with a weight distribution system to acheive its' max rating? You'll find most are like that. You'll see something like this:

"Rating: *8,000 lbs"

*when properly equipped with weight distributing hitch"

 

[JCByrd24]

All, sorry to go silient on the thread after my post, I was away on a business trip. I do stand corrected, the factory hitch appears to be rated at 5000lbs/600 tongue or 12000lbs/1200 tongue (or somewhere in that neighborhood depending on the source) with WDH. In addition, the manual does state to use a weight distributing hitch over 5000lbs. However, I do believe that this hitch is grossly overated compared to a normal aftermarket hitch, and there are numerous documented failures out there, most of which I have seen involving the use of heavy (not necessarily overloaded) trailer and WDHs. So I do change my argument from false advertising to faulty product design, either way, I believe GM tough case on their hands. Looking at the factory design compared to any aftermarket has me worried if I go to tow a 6000lb load or so with the factory hitch. That and the fact that they double the "rating" of the hitch when using a WDH is also in my mind a little suspect when you look at the reality of what is going on there. Some pretty mean loads being transfered through the hitch to transfer the weight to the front of the truck.