Is my truck's hitch mount OEM or aftermarket?

[Ben Brewcat]

I'm shopping for tie-downs to put a slide-in camper on my 92 GMC 2500 shortbed, and the ones I'm considering (Torklift) have different models depending on your hitch mount. I haven't crawled underneath yet (freezing and snowy), but is there an easy way to tell if I don't see an obvious brand label? I'm not knowledgeable on hitch mounting at all...

P.S. if anyone has a set of Torklift tiedowns they'd part with that match my truck, please let me know!

[Ruben]

Call your local dealership parts dept. and giving them the VIN number in the lower left corner of the windshield, they may be able to tell you if the hitch was installed as part of a tow package when it was a new truck, if not they will be able to tell you what to look for to determine if it is OEM.

[bluegrass]

You could take the hitch off, throw it away and put an aftermarket on it. In all reality the aftermarkets mount the same way that the OEM do so I don't see why it would matter.

[bluegrass]

I just went to the Torklift site to see what type of set up it is. You are going to have to unbolt your hitch anyway to install this system so you might as well change it out and go new all the way around. If its been on the truck since 1992 you will need impact wrenches and a cutting torch to get it off. Chances are that bolts will break and or threads strip out and the old hitch will not be worth saving anyhow.

[Ben Brewcat]

Hey now, that's an interesting point. Some cat here in CO was telling me (he's selling a used set) that his required "minor drilling", but I recall the site saying they're no-drill. On the hitch front, what would be worn-out about a hitch that I'd want to replace it?

[chemistbert]

Drilling frame steel is tough. Make sure you have a nice big drill and a sharp bit. I made my hitch and that made it a "custom" fit. Took almost 5 minutes per hole and there are six of them. It wasn't too bad though.

[bluegrass]

Ben
Nothing on the hitch itself should be worn out. But when unbolting it to add this tie down system you will probably either:
1. Break at least one bolt off in the old hitch requiring a bolt extractor.
2. break one of the welds on the nuts on the hitch and/or strip them out requiring replacement of the nuts and a welder to tack them back in place.
3. need to heat the nuts and bolts with cutting torch to get them to loosen up, and in doing so you can transfer heat to the hitch changing the tinsle strenght of the steel which could lead to failure in the future. The reason this system is "no drill" is that you are just unbolting the old hitch, adding this tie down to the frame mount and rebolting it up.
Just giving you a heads up of the type of issues you may run into if you recycle the old hitch.

[size="1"][ January 31, 2007, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: bluegrass ][/size]