Is Premature Wear An Issue with the Curt Q20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch

Question:

I have a 2012 Cedar Creek Silverback, GVWR of 15500 lbs, Dry weight 12500 lbs, Tongue weight approximately 2000lbs, actual cargo weight 900lbs. This trailer is equipped with a Trailair Pinbox. Tow vehicle is a 2019 Ford F350 4X4. Hitch is a Curt Q25K Sliding hitch. I have towed with this setup 4 times for a total of 4000km. On my latest inspection I found a broken bolt which holds one of the slider wheels in place, numerous other loose bolts, and significant wear within the hitch head assembly. I have attached two pics for reference. Pic number 1 has 2 bolt heads circled, pic 2 has an arrow pointing to the area of contact between the upper head assembly saddle and the bolts from pic 1. I have now way of adjusting this to prevent contact. Wear appeared at this point within the first 500km of towing. Curt is stating that this wear and damage is due to a significant overweight issue, which I simply cannot believe. I have stopped at scales on my travels and I have yet to exceed 15000lbs. Have you experienced or heard of similar issues? Any ideas on how to rectify this issue?

asked by: Brian

Expert Reply:

I have personally not heard of anyone having the same issues you are with the Curt Q20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch after such a short amount of time. I even searched though some of our reviews and also was not able to find any other instances of said issue. That said, if you purchased this hitch from us then I will see what we can do to go about getting you a warranty replacement. If Curt stated they would not warranty the hitch due to what they said was caused by overloading then options are a bit limited.

If you like, you can simply replace the head/center section with the Replacement Head Unit for Curt Q20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch part # C16530 but I think a better option would be to upgrade to the Replacement Head Unit for Curt A20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch part # C16540 which will work with the base you already have now. The Curt A20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch Head has an entirely different design than the Curt Q20 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch Head so you won't have the same issues with this unit.

expert reply by: Conner L