Traditionally a class III receiver hitch is good for trailers up to 5000 pounds and 500 pounds tongue weight. There are a few different variances from that, well show you that here in a second. Again were going to start with the stickers and show you the differences, as you can see here the max gross trailer weight is 5000 pounds as we discussed. The tongue weight looks to be 500 pounds, again about 10percent of your trailer weight. On the other side of the class III you will see a sticker for weight distribution. That is a specification when you use a device that goes in between the truck and the trailer that takes up the tongue weight. What it does is distributes the weight between the truck and the trailer and allows you to carry a heavier weight. As far as a class III hitch is concerned, that increases the rating the hitch can handle.
This one goes up to 6000 pounds and 600 pounds in tongue capacity. On different vehicles, that can change. Some can be 7500 pounds, 8000, even 10000 pounds on a class III hitch. Those will all vary in a class III hitch. As you notice the weight distributions capacities do vary again that is going to vary which is going to be dependent on the vehicle. The heavier the vehicle, the heavier the weight distribution capacity. Traditionally speaking though the class III will always be 5000 max weight. To cover some of the aspects of a class III receiver hitch, again it has a 2 inch receiver which is an industry standard. Basically they are going to be made out of a thicker material than the previous two classes. Another thing is you will see variances in the cross tube. In this example here we have a round cross tube, while other examples will be a square tube. When looking at a hitch you may hear things about one being stronger than the other. Up to a certain capacity, yes the round tube is a bit weaker than its square counterpart. However thats an application that does not involve towing, those are structural applications and stress going in different directions. You can up to 10000 pounds with a round tube hitch, after that traditionally square tubes take over. As long as you know the basics of the weight capacities of the hitch you can figure out exactly what you need for your application. These rules will apply to all three classes even the fours and fives which are reserved for heavy duty towing.
Questions and Comments about this Video
I have a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan,6 cylinder, W/Stow
comment by: Mary F - 12/9/2012
If you are looking for a hitch for your Grand Caravan, I would recommend a 2 inch hitch as there are more accessories available for 2 inch hitches. You have a few options, from Hidden Hitch, Draw-Tite and Curt.
Patrick B - 12/11/2012i cant find a type 3 for my 96 buick rdmstr wagon. my boat dry wieght is approx 3500 fuel
comment by: Bill H - 1/18/2013
Draw-Tite offers a Class III, part 75146. Please check the owners manual as with a 3500 pound you would be at the max of the hitch, and often times vehicles have a lesser capacity than the hitches built for them.
Patrick B - 2/1/2013FAQ Trailer Hitch Exhaust Rattle
Today on our 2010 Lincoln MKX were going to address the exhaust rattle issue. There are a couple of reasons for occasional contact between hitch and exhaust. One, the manufacturers have loose tolerances from mounting the hangers that suspend exhaust systems. Final placement of the exhaust can vary slightly from vehicle to vehicle. The flexibility of rubber isolator connecting exhaust hanger to the vehicle frame allows for more movement of the exhaust system relative to other vehicle components. An isolator can also stretch over time.
Weld Nut Removal and Replacement Review
So you are in the middle of doing your hitch installation and you are in the process of taking out one of your existing factory bolts. In the process you find that the bolt is not coming out due to the fact that the weld nut inside the frame has broken. We are just going to go ahead and show you a couple of things you can do to not only get the bolt out of the way but to also go ahead and continue on to be able to put your hitch in position without the weld nut welded inside the frame. The first thing that we obviously need to do is go ahead and get the bolt out of here. There are a couple of different ways you can do this. You can take a chisel, is you have one large and strong enough to do so, and possible grind the head of the bolt off. Or you can actually take a torch and torch it off. And that is actually what we are going to do on this application here. I am going to try to get most or as much of the head of the bolt off as I can. And we will take and push the remaining section of the bolt-weld nut combination up inside the frame. 0:49
A common problem that we run into with a lot of our vehicles that have existing weld nuts in the bottom of the frame is that when you go to try to put a bolt in them you have an excessive amount of road grime or rust built up in there and when you go to put your bolt inside the weld nuts you find not only does it not want to thread but it also appears that the bolt is too big for the weld nut. The first thing that typically comes to mind is that the bolts that I received are too big and 99.9 percent of the time this is not the case. What we have actually got here is an excessive amount of rust and debris built up in the weld nuts that are preventing the bolt from starting. We are going to show you how to get those thoroughly cleaned out so that we can not only get our bolt started but to get it threaded completely into the weld nut. 00:41
Today we are going to show you a cheat. In some cases you are going to have a hitch that uses threaded holes in the bottom of the frame. Those holes are going to be probably corroded up within a few years of the vehicle being on the road with dirt, grime, salt corrosion, you name it is probably in there inside the fine thread. What you want to do is clean out the threads probably with an existing hitch bolt if it is lightly corroded and you can probably work it in and out a few times and do that. 00:20
Today we are going to review the components needed to pull a trailer. Basically, this video is designed for somebody who just decided they have a need for a trailer, so we will cover all the components in the most basic form, so you know exactly how to update your vehicle. What we are going to do is start from the truck and work our way back to the trailer. First off, we are going to show you the hitch itself. All vehicles require a hitch to pull a trailer. What this device does is makes an attaching point on the frame of the vehicle, or body components, and transmits the forces from the trailer to this one point here. This point here is the receiver part. Consequently this hitch is called a receiver hitch because this hitch can receive a draw bar, or also called a ball mount. It is held in place by this pin which we just ed, and this clip holds it in place. There are more fancier pins, like locking pins, but that is the basic thing you need right there to get the job done. 1:12
Cleaning Weld Nuts for Trailer Hitch Installation
Okay as you can see here on the drivers side, our weld nut has a lot of corrosion built up in there. And when we try to install our 10 millimeter bolt is not wanting to start at all, in fact it almost seems like the bolt is too big for the weld nut. It is a common misconception, again when the weld nuts got a lot of build up in there.
