It just seems intuitive to me that you would put grease on the ball, and inside the coupler. That fact that anyone has towed trailers for decades with no lube speaks more to his good fortune, and is proof that "God takes care of dingbats" as Archie Bunker (All In The Family) used to day to Edith. Use grease!
And, by the way, I almost always get grease on my pants when hitching up my Jeep to the motorhome...LOL!
I own three trailers, and have never greased the ball.
My pop up is in its 12th season. I have owned it for 9 years. Mostly small trips, but one 2500 mile round trip.
My snowmobile trailer is in at least its 10th season (not exactly sure). I don't use it all that much, and no long trips.
My PWC trailer is in it's 10th season, I have owned it for 7 years. Mostly short trips.
All 3 trailers pivot and turn just fine, with no squeaks, moans or groans.
Should you grease? I will leave that up to you. I suppose it can't hurt (not counting greasy pants).
chipj29 wrote: I own three trailers, and have never greased the ball.
My pop up is in its 12th season. I have owned it for 9 years. Mostly small trips, but one 2500 mile round trip.
My snowmobile trailer is in at least its 10th season (not exactly sure). I don't use it all that much, and no long trips.
My PWC trailer is in it's 10th season, I have owned it for 7 years. Mostly short trips.
All 3 trailers pivot and turn just fine, with no squeaks, moans or groans.
Should you grease? I will leave that up to you. I suppose it can't hurt (not counting greasy pants).
And non of the trailers you mention have near the tongue weight or tow weight of many travel trailers. My grandfather towed his boats forever without lube. Guess what? His hitch ball was always rusting and had the chrome scraped from them. I have had three TT's, used grease on each and have the same ball. When I wipe the grease off, the ball looks almost new. My TT manufacturer recommends grease as does Reese and all it's subsidiaries. Do the people who make the stuff not know what they are talking about?
This seems to be a hot topic, so let me add my, uh, experience. I'm talking about the big rigs here. If the 5th wheel plate becomes dry with a 25 ton load on the trailer the rig will 'grab' and lurch when in a turn. Just before that is when the shop should have lubed the 5th wheel. And, yes, they have grease fittings. We always called it 'galled', rather than 'spalled' Do those 2 words mean the same thing?
Soren, I'm glad to see you have such admiration for truck drivers. Some of us are a little smarter than fenceposts.
Sonney,old ,retired Roadway driver.
Donna, too young to retire, she quit.
I got some spray grease stuff, WD-40 type stuff. Just shot some up into the coupler after it's hitched up. Wipe it off when done, just started this as after 3 90 minute or less (one way) trips there is a strip of chrome on the top half that's gone now.
mobeewan wrote: I prefere my balls clean and dry. I have 4 trailers and I never grease my balls. Never had any problem. I loaned my utility trailer to a friend. He greased the ball after I told him it didn't need it. He hit a bad bump on the interstate and the trailer popped off the ball and almost ground away the safety chain before he got it stopped. He was hauling his new Harley. IMO it was because the ball was greasy and the latch didn't hold because it was greasy. I have had the trailer several years now and hit bad bumps before that and never had the coupler pop off the ball. After I got it back and used it I got my pants greasy because the coupler was greasy. I also busted my ass and shin the next two times I stepped out of the back of the truck and stepped on the greasy ball because the coupler was greasy.
Are you for real?? The coupler "popped" off your friends ball due to 1 of about 3 reasons. None being because he greased it.
Reason 1: He did not latch or pin the lock and thus never locked it down on the ball properly.
Reason 2: He had the wrong sized ball, too small.
Reason 3: Your coupler is not working properly.
The coupler has a beveled and concave shaped wedge that locks under the ball when the handle is locked down. If anything your lack of greasing wore the coupler out of limits and it was a problem waiting to happen. It just happened to your friend and not you.
I know what a coupler looks like and how they work and all my 4 of my trailer couplers will pass any inspection. I have been towing trailers for the last 10 years with no incidents.
Yes, I'm for real.
1. He used the Master Lock I gave him to lock the hitch lever. Even when locked down properly couplers can still be pulled loose when enough force is applied. When lubricated with grease it takes even less force. If it couldn't happen we would not need safety chains on a properly latched coupler now would we?
2. He had the correct size ball. I know so because I hitched it to his ball when I dropped it off the night before he left on his trip. We had to hitch it so we would not flip the trailer when I helped him load the Harley using my ramps I also loaned him.
3. The coupler worked fine with both my TV's for 5 years before he ever towed the trailer and then for 3 more after I got it back.
The coupler was tight when I checked it when I hitched to his TV. He has borrowed it 5 more times using the same drawbar and ball, so the ball is not an issue. I have hit some bad bumps while using it and never lost the couple off the ball.
I did wind up replacing the straight part of the tongue last year, but only because I bent it a tiny bit while backing up. I used it for another year as it was since it was structurally sound. It only tracked a little off center (less than 6 inches) when I used it and he used it like that to tow his Harley to Florida again. When I did get it fixed the shop that I took it to had originally built the trailer for me. They asked if I wanted to reuse the existing coupler since it was still good. I only had them replace the coupler because it was welded to the part of the tongue they replaced. It would have cost more to remove it and clean up the existing weld area for reuse than to install a new one.
We are not the idiots you infer we are. I am a Sr. Designer at the local shipyard. He used to be a one too. Now he is a gunsmith and world class level competative shooter, makes more money and has a much happier life now. We understand how things fit together.
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A fairly common occurance is for the coupler to not set fully on the ball, but still lock with the keeper above the ball center. this means the coupler will come off the ball at the first good jounce.
The cure is to after locking down the coupler to jack up the tongue jack until the rear of the TV starts to rise and you can tell if the coupler/ball connection is correct.
BTW if grease caused the coupler to open, then it should be replaced. It's worn out. They are designed with an over center operation that grease would have no effect on with unworn, in tolerance parts connected correctly.
mike4947 wrote: A fairly common occurance is for the coupler to not set fully on the ball, but still lock with the keeper above the ball center. this means the coupler will come off the ball at the first good jounce.
The cure is to after locking down the coupler to jack up the tongue jack until the rear of the TV starts to rise and you can tell if the coupler/ball connection is correct.
BTW if grease caused the coupler to open, then it should be replaced. It's worn out. They are designed with an over center operation that grease would have no effect on with unworn, in tolerance parts connected correctly.
The coupler did not open. It pulled off the ball. He had to remove the coupler lock on the latch and flip the latch open in order to rehitch to the TV.
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Think about it.
