Wasteful to have upgraded the stock hitch?

[GTOchris]

I bought the 4runner initially to tow my 19' boat, it did a great job as that load was only about 3500lbs. I've since moved up to a much heavier boat- roughly 4500-5K area loaded. I've always been local with it but considering adding a transmission cooler and going further in the next year.

I've never been comfortable for some reason with the factory hitch- the newer boat only made me think that is the weak link due to attachment and looking less substantial. I also found myself pulling a 6K trailer local last month which had me on edge waiting for the bumper bar to fall off or bend so last week I ordered a frame mounted receiver.

After pulling the bumper cover off and removing the 6 bolts- it was an easy install however now I'm questioning if I just wasted $150 for no real justification? Granted the frame hitch is not as discrete but the factory bumper bar is substantial it appears. Should I have left this alone?

 

[ARunner]

Did you order a hitch that is akin to the factory hitch found on most V8s? If so, money well spent as it is rated to tow more as it has attachments that are further forward on the frame to help distribute the load.

 

[GTOchris]

Did you order a hitch that is akin to the factory hitch found on most V8s? If so, money well spent as it is rated to tow more as it has attachments that are further forward on the frame to help distribute the load.

Yes- I bought he Curt- All my previous tow vehicles had factory frame mounted hitches. I just am thinking though that the 5th gen has no choices and other vehicles like the Tahoe/ Expedition rely upon "bumper" mounted hitches essentially so perhaps I should have skipped the swap and maybe this is overkill.

 

[TechWrench]

If you read the owners manual carefully, the oem V6 hitch in addition to being only rated for 5k max tow weight, is specifically not rated for use with weight distribution systems. This is because the rear cross member that it is attached to is not as strong as having the frame mounted hitch, and more likely to twist under loads heavier than it is rated for. I would suspect that the hitches on the Tahoe/Expedition are mounted on a more substantial cross member than the one on the 4Runner