Curt Hitch In 2011 Silverado 2500hd

mljenkins · March 21, 2011

This Saturday I installed a Curt double-lock gooseneck hitch in my 2011 Silverado 2500HD crew cab standard bed WT with the Vortec. My last truck, a 2006 Silverado 1500 ext cab WT 8' bed 5.3L 4.10gears, I had installed a B&W turnover hitch.

The Curt part #s were 60607 (hitch) and 60604 (rails):

http://www.curtmfg.com/index.cfm?event=pro...p;categoryid=37

I had considered the quick goose hitch but decided against it for two reasons: First, it would not take an offset ball, and in the event that I needed it, that would be a big limitation. Second, if you use the rubber cap, you have to get in the bed anyway, so I might as well get in the bed and flip the ball.

Installation was the same difficulty of the B&W I installed years ago. Actually it was made a bit easier because it did not require notching the fender well area above the tires to get the rails under the truck.

A high level view of the steps:

* Run a 1/2 bolt through all threaded holes in rails (I used an air impact wrench to spend this up)

* Drop spare tire and get it out of the way

* Remove heat shield that existed between the space between the bed crossmember directly above the axle and then the next bed cross member to the front of that. This was the most difficult part for me. I unbolted the heat shield over the axle and then on cut it near the cross member in front of that. Then I cut it where I removed it, and rebolted it to the bed.

* Install rails. This was a bit tricky because they did not want to rotate under the bed. I inserted two 4"-5" bolts in the threaded holes a few turns and then used them as handles to pull (with all my might) to get the rails to flip. This was very difficult. I almost got my finger pinned between one of the rails and the bolts when the other rail did flip up. The front rail was notched because the fuel tank is slightly higher in the convenient spot where the rail goes. Nice GM.

* Installed side panels - Very easy, the only trick was pulling the bolts through the frame holes using the supplied bolt leader. Luckily they supplied two leaders, because I destroyed the first one learning how to do this. Luckily I didn't lose the bolt in the frame. My suggestion is leave about 1/2" of bolt not threaded into the leader.

* Install template that is used to drill the pilot hole for the 4" hole. The template would only bolt to one rail at a time. It was about 1/2" off for the other bolt hole. This was very disappointing and nerve wrecking since it dictated where the 4" hole in the bed would go. I went ahead and drilled the hole with the template attached to one rail.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hPvZg...feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7vMLg...feat=directlink

* Drill pilot hole, easy. Remove template.

* Drill 4" hole, easy with 4" metal hole saw and good sized drill. I bought the hole saw bit and drill when I installed my B&W back in 2007. That was a large initial expense if you don't already have it. About $40 bucks for the saw and $80 for the drill at Lowes and Sears, neither on sale, bought in haste to just get things done at the time years ago.

* Install rubber gasket around hole. This came with the kit.

* Install center section. Had to drop exhaust down a bit in the back by popping it out of rubber holder at the very back. Had to do this so I could finagle the center section up under the truck. You must have two people for this. My wife was in the truck pulling up on a rope I tied to the hitch while I moved it in place.

* Bolt down center section. A couple of the holes were difficult to line up. At one point I used a jack to jack a board up under the hitch to help lift it just a 1/16" or so more to get a bolt in, and at one point pried against the bed and center section with a long screwdriver to get another one in. Once they were in not bad.

* Torque all the bolts down. Had to buy torque wrench (picked up at TSC for $40, yeah cheap, but this is the only job I need it for). Required 75lb on 1/2" bolts (most of them) and 150lb on 5/8" bolts (2 on each sideplate bolting sideplate to frame).

* Drill holes for u-bolts. The instructions say to drill up from bottom. Yeah, well, you can only get one of them. Luckily that's enough the measure all the others. I got one slightly off on the left and bad to widen the hole a little with the bit. The other 3 I measured with a ruler from the end of the bed to get the first hole, and the second hole I measured off the u-bolt.

* Install u-bolts. Easy. Springs were a bit of a pain because I was pretty tired at this point.

* Install latch. Needed wife's help on this to push latch in against the spring.

* Put sticker under wheel well about how to use hitch.

* Admire work.

It took me from about 11am to 6pm to get all this done. Mind you that about 2 hours was prep work getting all the tools outside, unboxing things, reading directions about 3 times to make sure I understood where everything went, etc. 1 hour lunch, 30 minutes in break, so all in all about 5 hours probably.

I have pics of the entire process at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/matt.mljenkins...feat=directlink

Overall I like the look of the Curt hitch much better. I do like the B&W hitch because of the accessories and such you can get with it. However, the Curt I liked better for several reasons:

* No notch required in fender well since rails were rectangular

* All parts were painted black which made it look stock

* Handle was easier to operate than the B&W I had years ago (I have heard this has been corrected in the newer B&W)

* Rubber cap to cover ball while it is not being used.

* Chrome cap around where ball goes in truck

Cons:

* There is a slight gap where hitch protrudes from bed between the hitch and bed. It isn't noticeable unless you are real close, but I noticed it. I blame this on that template being off and the hole getting drilled ever so slightly (like 1/8") too far back in the bed. However, it is possible my hole saw bit jumped a bit and caused this.

* The washer that bolts the center section to the front rail directly above the gas tank needs to be modified to be flat on the bottom. Then you have to make sure it doesn't move so the washer is flat above the gas tank. This is critical otherwise you could puncture your gas tank. The hitch and center section are modified on the Curt parts for the 2011 Silverado 2500/3500HD trucks because of the gas tank. However, I think someone forgot about that washer. I am going to have to write them and make them aware. One of the washers had a slightly flat spot on it but it almost looked like a defect. That slight flat spot, however, was nowhere near enough to be keep it aware from the top of the fuel tank.

If I had to do over again, I would go with the Curt again. The reason is the look. I hope it holds up as well as my B&W did years ago. I expect it will because all the welds looked good, the hardware was all grade 5, and nothing looked like it could have any play once it was torqued down. I still, in the back of my mind, trust the B&W more because of experience with it, and friends' experiences with it in the past. Perhaps a lot of that is their advertising in the past at trade shows, etc. that I have been to.

I really liked the stock look, chrome top, and rubber cap. My last B&W hitch flaked a lot of gray paint off in a year, and by 3 years had flaked almost all of it off. This left a big rusty piece of metal on both sides of my truck up under the fender well.

So, anyhow there is my take. Hope this helps anyone else deciding what hitch to install.