A while back I had changed my hitch on my truck (See spec below in sig).
I had always used my dads dually for heavy towing (my tractor, my 34' boat, etc) but finally decided to just change my hitch... it really aggraved me that from the factory they build a truck that can pull all kinds of weight but put a lousy class III hitch on it that can only handle 5,000/500 straight pulling...

Anyway, I put on a Curt Class V hitch rated for 10,000/1,000 and have a Putnam drawbar that says its rated for 15,000/1,000.
When I put the hitch on I bolted it to the specs they suggested; 65 lb/ft... and that was it. That seems kinda light to me... so now I am a little nervous on heavy pulling with that hitch being held on by 6 bolts at 65 lb/ft/// anywoane have any feedback on this... ? Next month I have to go pick up my Mach 1 and it is 34' and weighs 9600 lbs dry... with the trailer and fuel I am around 11,500-almost 12k pounds... how concerned should I be and what kind of advice, tips, feedback can you all provide for me?
Thank you in advance fellas.

 

I really can't comment on the adequacy of 65 ft-lb torque without some information on the bolt size, thread pitch and grade.

Rusty

 

Yeah, sorry bout that... I used the bolts that came in the set but cant recall what they were... aprobably the same size as the factory bolts... I can go look at them again if I need to... Thanks RustyJC

 

65 ftlb would probaly be a 1/2-13 grade 5. Any bigger bolt would require more torqe.

 

Ok, so does that really seem like enough to be holding the hitch while pulling some serious weight?

 

If that is the size bolt your using, yes. Any more torque would stress the bolt.
http://raskcycle.com/techtip/webdoc14.html

 

I looked up a Putnam class V and it said torque all 1/2" to 75ft-lbs and all 7/16" to 50ft-lbs, so your instructions sound about right.

 

excellent - Thanks fellas!

 

I just use a good-n-tight wrench and make sure all of my lockwashers are flatened appropriately