vegamark
Active member
just wondering what should i use to lube my trailer ball with,cant seem to find anything, the hitch house said to use lard? thanks
trailer ball
- Thread starter vegamark
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mountainman611
Active VIP Member
There really isnt a good reason to grease them except for keeping the ball housing from rusting.If you use grease or anything sticky you will only attract dirt which will really cause premature wear to the hitch assembly.While you're paying attention to the hitch ball/coupler, it's a good time to check the latch adjustment. When the trailer is latched to the tow vehicle, and free to move, there should be no 'clunk' or slop in the coupler/ball connection. If so, there's a nut up under the coupler that can be tightened, need a socket and extension. It's good to keep a tight fit.....
S
sldgy
Guest
If your ball to hitch is the trailers grounding source, grease may prevent the lights from functioning properly
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vegamark
Active member
thats what i thought but the guy at the rv place looked at my ball and said i should grease it? thank you all for the info.
I usually only grease the shaft, never the ball??? I do not see the purpose in greasing the ball. And to boot LARD? this is a kid friendly site man.
2003Summit
Active VIP Member
I just use a bit of regular extreme pressure grease (common grease gun grease). I never put that much on though, and I don't worry about keeping it greased very well. I also don't like bumping into a well greased ball with my clothing, not nice. Mostly the small amount of grease keeps the rust down in the coupler. I usually grease the coupler not the ball, just pump some on to my finger and wipe it into the coupler, I don't even worry about spreading it out. I probably don't even grease my couplers once a year. I also can't stand the squeaky noise of a totally dry ball, but it really has to be dry to squeak.
It depends how much use you have. If it's just occasional I wouldn't worry about it too much more than I mentioned. If it's very frequent (like it's a work truck and you are using it daily) I would keep it clean and well greased quite often as that would be heavy duty use and you would get wear in the coupler. You should see what happens to heavy duty tractors and trailers if the 5th wheels are not well greased.
Also, your trailer is supposed to have a dedicated ground wire in the lighting plug, the ball is not a good ground.
Just my opinion.
It depends how much use you have. If it's just occasional I wouldn't worry about it too much more than I mentioned. If it's very frequent (like it's a work truck and you are using it daily) I would keep it clean and well greased quite often as that would be heavy duty use and you would get wear in the coupler. You should see what happens to heavy duty tractors and trailers if the 5th wheels are not well greased.
Also, your trailer is supposed to have a dedicated ground wire in the lighting plug, the ball is not a good ground.
Just my opinion.
firecatab
Active VIP Member
I bought a jar of "Trailer Ball Grease" from Princess Auto for 88 cents and applied it to all of my hitches thinking that it would save the ball and inside the hitch fro wearing out but then ended up taking it off. Everytime you removed the hitch from the truck you would either hit your leg on it or some part of your body would come in contact with it and you would have grease on everything and second with it on it would not make a consistent ground through the hitch.
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sldgy
Guest
All you say is true but there are a lot of pig tail, tail lamp hook-ups out there who use the hitch as the ground and with grease it is even less of a good ground.
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