Other Check your balls !! (hitch balls that is)

jetpilot808

jetpilot808

Location
USA
Wife just brought our camp trailer from grandparents (200miles), and complained about the trailer beeing squirly. Right, ignored. Going to the lake, ready to hook up my ski trailer and the receiver bumped the ball from the side and it went sideways, oh? The nut made its way about an inch down the tread. Wow, scary! And I put that thing on with a breaker bar like 5 years ego. I'm buying a stainless ball and using two nuts from now on, two nuts is better than one, right?
 
OCD Solutions

OCD Solutions

Original, Clean and Dependable Solutions
Location
Rentz, GA
Where do you live that your nuts don't rust the second they are installed? I use the silver antisieze on mine and they still lock on within a couple months. The Stainless one has been much better and I will never own another steel one again.

I currently have a different hitch for each trailer just because I have zero luck ever getting the balls off to swap them.
 
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Fro Diesel

Fro Diesel

creative control
Location
Kzoo
jetpilot808 said:
Wife just brought our camp trailer from grandparents (200miles), and complained about the trailer beeing squirly. Right, ignored. Going to the lake, ready to hook up my ski trailer and the receiver bumped the ball from the side and it went sideways, oh? The nut made its way about an inch down the tread. Wow, scary! And I put that thing on with a breaker bar like 5 years ego. I'm buying a stainless ball and using two nuts from now on, two nuts is better than one, right?
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You'll hopefully never know. Even with zero salt here our nutz are rusted on. There must ne zero humidity where u ride. Lock washer ftw
 
jetpilot808

jetpilot808

Location
USA
Zero humidity is right, Reno NV. Plus my middle name is WD40. Lock washer was in place, the threads had a little rust, or maybe dirt and grime. Just couldn't imagine loosing a trailer on a highway. I do a pretrip walkaround of my trailer every time we take it out. But never in a million years I would have thouht to look at the ball. I'm so anal, I take a wrench to every bolt on my trailer every spring.
 
jetpilot808

jetpilot808

Location
USA
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These are pretty cool, weld on, no nutz. Not that I would need it, but the weld on ones have less load capacity. Something to think about. Walmart has them, so does Amazon for about $25.
 
blaster800

blaster800

Location
sunbury ,ohio
You also have to size the threaded shaft on the ball to fit the receiver hole correctly ''no slop'',then it wont move sideways or front and backwards in the hole allowing it to loosen , if sized correctly and using a not ' made in china '' ball it wont loosen when towing . Edit : and yes its reccomended to check your ballz monthly to make sure there all good ..and tight
 
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OCD Solutions

OCD Solutions

Original, Clean and Dependable Solutions
Location
Rentz, GA
I'm actually just fine with a standard and simple stainless 2" drop hitch. I've sold off all my big trucks and trailers and am loving the simple life.
 
jetpilot808

jetpilot808

Location
USA
blaster800 said:
You also have to size the threaded shaft on the ball to fit the receiver hole correctly ''no slop'',then it wont move sideways or front and backwards in the hole allowing it to loosen , if sized correctly and using a not ' made in china '' ball it wont loosen when towing . Edit : and yes its reccomended to check your ballz monthly to make sure there all good ..and tight
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I know, what you mean, don't know how many friends had 3/4" shaft in a 1" hole. Ok, that came out wrong...insert joke here. And, yes my hitch ball came from Walmart, so pretty sure it's made in Pitsburgh China :) I'm not gonna get into the ball checking onec a month, not my department, I'm married. :Banane26:
 
norcalcasey

norcalcasey

Location
Lake Hogan
I was going over a good size bridge on the way home from a week long camping trip with my double ski trailer a few years back and had a couch and my superjet on it and halfway across the single lane narrow bridge the nut fell off and the ball still attached to the tongue popped off the truck and from then turned into a complete out of control sway left to right just hanging by the safety chains and almost made us wreck and the trailer was coming off the ground about 3 feet with each sway almost sending it off the bridge (100 + foot drop) once we were able to get off the bridge the only thing left was the ball and maybe 1/2 left of thread... Definatly super sketchy since then that's something I always check!
 
mattyboy89

mattyboy89

The countdown is on
Location
Kamloops BC Canada
OCD Solutions said:
Where do you live that your nuts don't rust the second they are installed? I use the silver antisieze on mine and they still lock on within a couple months. The Stainless one has been much better and I will never own another steel one again.

I currently have a different hitch for each trailer just because I have zero luck ever getting the balls off to swap them.
Click to expand...

for $20-30 a hitch its easier just to buy one for each trailer and vehicle. you would probably end up paying that much for just one stainless ball
 
Kaup_921

Kaup_921

Location
Lakewood, CA
I completely lost the nut on my stainless ball one time. Don't know when it fell off but I think it was off for a while. Thankfully I have a ski on the front of the trailer sideways and I think the weight kept the trailer from coming off. I put red lock tight on mine now.
 
OCD Solutions

OCD Solutions

Original, Clean and Dependable Solutions
Location
Rentz, GA
mattyboy89 said:
for $20-30 a hitch its easier just to buy one for each trailer and vehicle. you would probably end up paying that much for just one stainless ball
Click to expand...

Precisely why I could never justify dropping the coin on an adjustable unit. Why spend $250 when $35 gets the job done.

Someone swiped a $75 12" drop hitch out of my dually one night and I was livid. That was 7 years ago and I am still pissed when I think back on it. needless to say, I run a locking pin now, even on the cheap hitch.
 
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