Replacement Shank for Gen-Y Adjustable Ball Mount - 2" Hitch - 7-1/2" Drop/Rise - 16K

Video Transcript for Manufacturer Discussion - Gen-Y Hitch

Hello, neighbors, it's Brad here from Etrailer, and today I'm with Rachel from Gen-Y, and we're gonna be taking a look at some of the Gen-Y products in their lineup, and kind of break it down and see if it's gonna be a fit for your vehicle. So first thing, Rachel, we have the Mega-Duty. So what do we have as the Mega-Duty, and what is it Why would someone want that So the Mega-Duty is a drop hitch and it has many attachments, but basically it's the only hitch you'll ever need. You have a two inch, 2 5/16 ball. You can turn it sideways and do an inch and 7/8. Hammer strap, hay wagon, D-ring.

The little saddle here is meant for like a lunette ring so you can tow pintle with it. When you're not towing pintle, this stores on the inside. When you're not towing with the ball, you can stow it in the back side when you're not towing. And then there's multiple attachments, which is the beauty of the Gen-Y. So you could have your ball and your trailer hooked up, and then you could have for example, like a step like this in the top slot so you never have to take your hitch out or anything.

You basically have the step and a bumper built in without having to remove the hitch. Brad Yeah, that really nice to have all of it all in one because you know, as you swap to different trailers or different ball sizes, to have all that in your vehicle, it's cumbersome, it's one more thing to store. Having it all in one, that's great. Yep, and you could even use 'em in the rise position too. So if you have like a bike rack or something, yeah, drop or rise, and then drops up to 22 1/2 inches.

So obviously that's, we have a lot of options. And we go from 10 all the way up to 32,000 pounds in towing for the Mega-Duty. Okay, so that'll be, you guys have the two-inch shank as well as 2 1/2 I would assume Yep, and a three inch as well. Awesome. Yep.

Yeah, and a 22 inch variance in size there, I've seen a lot of lifted trucks, and more than likely they have a Gen-Y on there probably because of that massive drop that you can offer, which is really cool. Yep. Yeah, and lifetime warranty on the product, 100% American-made, right there in Nappanee, Indiana. So the Mega-Duty kind of has a little bit of everything. It's gonna be for a lot of different towing applications, and you're able to do that all with one. Now, if I'm just an occasional tower, I tow the same trailer over and over. What other options are there that I might wanna look at So we have a more entry-level hitch, 5K and 7K rating. The Phantom series is definitely a good option for that. We still get all the adjustability. You can use it in the drop or the rise position. So that would be like your 5K product. Then we also have the 16K Phantom here with the 2 1/2 inch solid shank. And so pricing is a little bit lower on these pieces just 'cause there's a little less labor involved with welding, et cetera, so yeah. And then as far as capacities on just the standard Phantom, that's gonna be a hollow shank, so it'll be a little bit lighter weight than the other ball mounts. What kind of capacities can we get with that We have a 5,000 and a 7,000 pound. Okay. Yep. And then as far as different rise drops available with that configuration, what does it offer Not quite as many drops as the Mega-Duty, I think. Goes up to, like, nine inches of drop. So more like two or three drop options per series. Okay. And while we have the Phantom X here, something that I really like about the Gen-Y products is gonna be the pin and clips. Which seems, you know, kind of small in the grand scheme of things, but this is what you're touching every single time that you're gonna be using your hitch. And that's the difference is, I mean, these are really nice. You got the Gen-Y logo in here, and it's got a nice little notch here that you can actually get grip on it. And that's where the pin and clip, quite a bit different than a normal one. How does this work Rachel They're, yeah, they're actually pretty difficult to get off if you don't know the trick. You tend to wanna pull it off this way, but if you turn it sideways, it pops off that way. Now going along with the Phantom series, we have this very large step here. Why would someone get this, and what kind of applications do you normally see it in So initially, the Overland van, like the Sprinter van market was kind of the customer that requested it. It pretty much, like, gives you a bumper all the way across the back end of your vehicle by just putting something into your receiver that you already have. But we've also been seeing a lot of interest in the work truck market. So you know, basically, again, a bumper just by putting something into your receiver. So been a really big hit. We'll see where it goes. 42 inches, 600 pound rating. Oh wow, okay. So two 300-pound people could be standing on it. So it's pretty sturdy as well. Which is nice for, you know, we see a lot of Pro Masters, we see a lot of Sprinters that are all work vehicles, and so as you're grabbing, you know, whatever products that are heavy and carrying them out, it's nice to have that extra step. And also just feeling this, I don't worry too much that you're gonna slip on it. Nope. Boot scraper, you can use it as a boot scraper. We talk about that, yeah. Now, there's a smaller option of this as well, is that correct Yep. So we have the smaller, more like standard size steps. There's a few options depending on if you're getting the Mega-Duty or the Phantom. But that's a really popular combo, having a step the top receiver and then having your trailer hooked up. Same idea. And that's nice too, 'cause you know, traditionally you put a ball mount in, you can tow, but if when you have different open slots here, that really opens it up. As you mentioned earlier, bike racks, but even a step. And we've also seen in flat tow applications- Yes. You can use your receivers in a flat tow, which normally you can't really find. So what do you see people doing with that flat tow setup sometimes We just sell a lot of the Mega-Duties just specifically for flat towing. You're right, I think it's one of the only options out there. So I smile when you say that, 'cause it's something we're proud of that our hitch is strong enough for that. And that's where a lot of times you're left with a high-low adapter, which is gonna be a fixed, you know, height. And sometimes you can get those dual receivers, but when you're first setting up a flat tow setup and you're trying to get that tow bar aligned, to have something that has adjustability to really get it perfectly dialed in is awesome. So that way you don't have to pick up a high-low adapter and worry that it's gonna work, you'll have that adjustability to be able to get that perfect. Now, a name that's specific with Gen-Y is gonna be the Torsion-Flex. What is Torsion-Flex So Torsion-Flex is basically a torsion axle, if you're familiar with torsion axles, built into a hitch, so it cushions the ride, takes away about 90% of the chucking. And so because it's isolating your two, the way it works is your isolating your two axles. So everything's riding on rubber. Therefore they're not fighting each other, and that's how you get that shock absorption. This is just a cutaway of how we put the rubber in there. We use liquid nitrogen to shrink it, and basically freeze it to get it in there, and then it expands as it heats back up. And then there's different ratings based on how much rubber we put in there is how we get the different pin weight ratings. And we have up here on the screen some of our most popular torsion products. By far the executive fifth wheel gooseneck, if you imagine towing a big fifth wheel and you know, not feeling that chucking behind you, it really makes a big difference. We've even had wives say, like, they refuse to tow the fifth wheel but once they install the Gen-Y, they're willing to, you know, do the towing now. So it makes huge difference. Fuel savings, we've had a lot of the hot shotters that take RVs, like, coast-to-coast. They tell us that they're saving three miles a gallon of fuel, they're changing their tires once a year versus a few times a year. And we believe it's due to the RPMs being stabilized. So if you think about it, if you're not, when you're going over the expansion joints and stuff and you're getting that movement, if it's all being absorbed by the rubber, the truck's RPMs are more stable, therefore fuel savings. So many benefits to the Torsion. It's maintenance-free also. Brad That's nice. Rachel Which is huge. You don't have to have an air tank with you, maintain the airbag, it's just once you install it, it's always there. And it comes with a five-year warranty, and then you can buy a lifetime warranty for 99 bucks. And this isn't just so as we have, you know, pin boxes and goosenecks here, you also have it in other products as well, correct Yeah, so we have bumper hitches as well. We basically took the Mega-Duty and added Torsion-Flex to it. We don't have it pictured here, but this is actually the back end of it cut in half. So if you could picture the torsion added to the back there. Okay. That's how we achieve it with the bumper hitch. And it works really well with weight distribution, so we have, like, an attachment that you can use your Blue Ox or Equalizer, whatever with the Gen-Y. They work really well together, so. And that's the point too is a lot of times when you're towing, people think, "Well, I'm just hooking up to the trailer and that's it." But if you can add suspension points to any, you know, connection, and it absorbs it, that doesn't translate to your trailer or your truck. I can see why it does save gas mileage and tires, because if you've ever been out and about and you hit some bumps and truck and trailer can't quite settle down, a lot of times you're gonna notice the shifting on your vehicle, so kind of struggling to figure out what it's doing. So if it keeps it planted 'cause it's absorbed, it does make a massive difference. So I'm sure this product, once people buy it, they're a believer, there's no going back to the days of you know, just standard connections. You're 100% correct. And typically they might start with a bumper hitch, and then they'll end up adding it to all their other towing applications, or vice versa. But you're right, definitely. Once you tow with it, you're sold. Yep, and going along with goosenecks, what do we have here This has been a huge hit for us, the five-inch offset. So it's OEM-specific. It's the only OEM-specific five-inch offset ball out there. So this basically would go where your ball normally would go in your truck bed. And as you can see, it moves your ball back five inches. So with all the new people coming into the RV market and the short beds coming out with the puck systems already built in, there was a huge demand for an offset ball for all these customers that need additional turning clearance radius. And so we developed this, and now it's been selling to horse trailer market, all kinds of markets, including fifth wheels. But yeah, and then these are just anchors basically to keep the whole plate from rotating in the truck bed. We are coming out with some safety chain anchors as well for it at some point. But currently those would be a separate attachment. Well, that's nice to see, 'cause as we see newer trucks coming out, the OEM prep packages are just becoming more and more prevalent, which is great, but the fact that you can still get them on a regular bed or short bed truck, it does make you wonder, are people thinking about that cab clearance And that's one of those things, the potential for not being able to make the turn or doing it without damage is pretty bad. So if you can set this back and gain that clearance every time, that's really nice. So a Glyder is another offering that you guys have. What is the Glyder The Glyder is our lightest torsion product in the bumper pull series. So versus like the Boss that has the dual torsion axle, it just has a single torsion bar in there, and it's rated for 7,000 pounds. So like your marine market, somebody with a really nice wake boarding boat, doesn't want their boat to get beat up, one-inch ball stem, so you can do like a two-inch or 2 5/16, inch and 7/8, whatever ball size you need. And then there's a six-inch drop option as well. Now can you drop this into one of your guys' adjustable receivers to gain height differences Great question. We would not recommend that just due to the connection, moving the connection point out too far. That makes sense. So this curves up, and I would assume once you put that weight, it kind of starts to settle down. But I can just flip this over, right, for rise or drop, I would assume Actually we would, with the Glyder, you cannot use that in the drop or rise position. It is only recommended to use in the standard position that it's in. And we also, sometimes the question comes up whether you can unbolt this plate on the front and flip it upside down and bolt it on that way. We do not recommend that either. So the Glyder is meant to be used strictly in this position versus, like, the drop or rise, like your Mega-Duty and Boss. Makes sense. Now with goosenecks and fifth wheels, a lot of times getting them in place, sometimes handles are, you know, maybe subjective, whether or not it's fully secure, but you guys have a way to really give you a quick indication that it's gonna be latched properly. What is that So we just released the new SnapLatch that you see pictured in here. So it's a cone-shaped coupler. You can be up to an inch and a half away from your ball and drop onto. It's gonna latch automatically. So when the lever opens, basically it stays open as well. So you know, you're not having to remember to put a lever down on a bumper pull version or reopen, it'll just stay open when you go to reconnect. There's a pin, or a hole right above for a pin, so you can actually lock the mechanism so it can't turn, so then obviously that's how you would lock it up. Everything's stainless steel and 100% American-made. Again, it's Gen-Y. And so yeah, it's a self-latching design. So like you said, a safety feature. Yeah. That guarantees that, you know, if you're dropped onto that ball it's guaranteed to latch. So we do have it in the, so you'll see it pictured here on the gooseneck products. That's kind of what it looks like at an overview. The executive will have a pull cable now, so you can actually pull the lever from outside your truck bed, and then the Spartan will come with that pull rod so you don't have to get into the bed to basically unlatch it. And then we will be coming out with a bumper pull version as well. So that one I think will be where the safety thing is a really big deal of remembering to put a latch down, et cetera. So we're excited for that too. Awesome. Yeah, and that's something, you know, a lot of times, you should know that it's latched down, but I've even had it to where I thought it was latched, start moving, and that's not the case. And that's having a quick visual reminder right away is really cool. Plus it looks really neat using the Gen-Y logo. So it's pretty ingenious there. And again, just trying to make towing safer overall, and that's a great way to do it. So not only does Gen-Y have a lot of different towing applications, also, if you need to get, as you can see, some heavy equipment or an ATV or something in the back of a truck or trailer, you guys offer ramps as well. Yep, so we have an aluminum division, and we do our ramps there. We're known for kind of heavy-duty ramps, but we go up to 14,000 pounds in capacity but they're super lightweight. I could even, you know, lift an eight-foot ramp easily because it's aluminum. So for anyone that's slinging ramps all day, that can be really helpful. And the dual end is another feature with the Gen-Y. So that curved end would be for, like, your tailgate application. And then obviously you have the hook end as well. So that's been a really nice feature. And then we do, we have a folding ramp available as well, not pictured here, but yeah. Yeah, aluminum. That's a huge game changer, 'cause yeah, until you're lifting heavy ramps on a trailer and then you swap to something like that and it's just feather light comparatively, it makes a huge difference, especially if you're going to job site to job site, you know, it's just gonna save you from having to heave those heavy ramps around. So definitely a cool option. And plus up to up to 14,000, that's pretty heavy duty. So pretty much anything you throw at it should be able to handle it. Yep, and they don't rust. That's also a huge point. So if you're leaving in the back of your trailer or in your truck, that is a nice feature is, you know, pretty much every towing product that's not aluminum, you know, powder coat finish, they do a good job, but if you leave it outside long enough, it will have corrosion. Aluminum's not really the case there. Yeah. Hopefully this video helped you kind of get an insight into the Gen-Y products and maybe decide if some of these might be right for your application. So huge thanks to Rachel from Gen-Y for taking the time to break this down. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. Of course. Yeah. Appreciate it.