You would think Mother Dodge would put a ten cent sticker on the receiver hitch like everyone else telling you exactly what its ratings are, but no! All I have been able to determine from official Dodge sources such as the owner's manual, is that it is Class IV and rated for 12000# gross trailer weight / 1200# tongue weight. Presumably that is best case, meaning with a Weight Distributing (WD) hitch. What then are the ratings with a simple Weight Carrying (WC) setup? I checked the websites of a few hitch manufacturers and all but one give 12000/1200# WD and 10000/1000# WC as the ratings for their Class IV hitches. Are the class designations an industry standard with uniform ratings? I just want to understand this better. Thanks, but not to Dudge!

 

Normally the capacity without the WD hitch is half as much as with. So with your 12000/1200 you would be 6000/600 with simple WC set up. Not sure if that is industry standard but every hitch that I've sold for dodges that's how they have read.

Travist

 

On my hitch, which I am 95% sure is stock from delivery. The rating is stamped into the metal. Look CLOSE.

 

Mine has a sticker.

 

mine has a sticker that says 12,500/1,500. Only thing is, I dont think I can tow 12,500.

 

I double-checked tonight, and there's no sticker or stamping or anything anywhere on my factory installed receiver hitch! Staarma, is your hitch factory original or a Mopar accessory installed afterwards?

 

Ya got me. I bought my truck from the local dealer but it was a Dave Smith truck that was dealer traded. It didn't have the hitch on it when it came in so I had to order the "tow package" from the dealer and I put it on myself. The cross tube frame connector was there already though. I just had to mount the receiver and wire the harness in from the plug in the bumper up to the front of the truck. Here are a couple of pics if anyone is interested.




I believe all of our trucks come with a class IV hitch from the factory though.

 

I checked with a dealer for a hitch and IIRC it was like the one that was 12,000 with weight distribution and 5,000 without. I didn't like that so I looked around and found the Putnam XDR which is rated for 15,000 lbs without weight distribution and 16,000 with. Then purchased a Putnam solid ball mount that is also rated for 15,000 lbs. Generally I pull a 5er but have had to pull a car trailer on my bumper. Hated that as it dinged the bumper and now it has a rust spot. I wanted the biggest, heaviest receiver hitch I could get and the Putnam XDR with a 2 inch receiver beats out Reese Tow Beast with the 2 1/2 inch receiver.