I've had a Valley reciever hitch on my two previous F-150s, and I'm needing to put one on my 2005 F-150 now. I want to still be able to have the vibration dampener installed if I need it down the road and NOT have to replace the hitch, so, I was looking at Class III Reciever Hitches .

Is there any benefit to the round tube design compared to the square tube design? What about the brand? Any difference? I'm wanting this hitch for all purpose, but mostly flatbed tandem axle towing.

 

I've always liked CURT aftermarket hitches.
CURT Mfg.

 

I put my Curt class 4 hitch on without help in less than 30 minutes. Just 6 carriage bolts and 6 carriage bolt washers to attach to the factory chassi holes! Plus Curt hitches have a nice quality powder coating on them.

 

OK, so far the consensus is Curt Hitches....

What about round vs. square tubing? Any benefits of one over the other? Anyone got pictures of how each looks on a 04-06?

Again, thanks guys!

 

CURT is great if you like oversees manufactured products. The CURT ballmounts are made in the USA...the hitches are not. Nor are the ***** themselves...I have peeled many a "Made in Taiwan" sticker of of CURT trailer ***** while putting them on the shelves. People will never second guess it when the ballmount clearly says Made in the USA on it bright and colorful. One more reason why I do not reccomend a CURT hitch.

Second, the CURT hitches are engineered differently than some other brands. This is not so evident in Ford hitches but the difference is night and day on a GM vehicle hitch.

I would reccomend either a Draw-Tite or Reese hitch. Basicly the same hitch, both made by Cequent Towing Products.

All of the hitches for the 04-up F-150s will be round tubing. Most of them now will also require the spring vibration dampener to be taken off and reinstalled over the hitch. It is located on the rear of the leaf spring of the driver's side. This is not a fun or easy task and will take some time, especialy on the ground. Hope any of this helps.

BTW, my biased opinion comes from two years of installing all kinds of hitches, mainly Draw-Tite or Reese. We switched to CURT for about a month, and the customer response was so negative we switched back to Draw-Tite. Enough said.

 

I install hitches too for a living and the top selling hitches in the country are Draw-Tite and Reese. Either is a coin flip.

I've heard of customer issues with the Curt too.

Good luck..................

 

Check U-Haul too, if you look under their sticker you'll find Draw Tight or Reese underneath it, and cheaper$

 

I have a Hidden-Hitch P/N 82595 which is a class IV on my 04. I love it! VERY little shows and the install was very easy (I recommend dropping the spare). A extra set of hands would have helped on the install. I bought it from a local shop and they matched ETrailers price. Good luck.

 

I had a Draw-tite roundtube hitch on my Mountaineer, and it was probably what kept the rear bumper from getting pulled off when I was driving through a couple of ditches and holes. I definitely recommend them if you didn't get the factory hitch with the truck.