Do you grease your hitch ball

[fried1765]

Have you ever seen a trailerball worn to the point of being unsafe?
I have trailer balls older then most of the people here and they are still servicable.
If anything wears out, it's the threads or the nut.

Nope....I have never seen a worn out trailer ball, but I have seen one that is somewhat worn.

A more important issue is the trailer coupler.
When/if that gets worn down (you cannot see under it easily), your coupler will fail, and the ball condition will not matter a bit.
Absolutely! You SHOULD grease your trailer ball....to protect the coupler!

And....what about the safety chains?
A VERY high percentage that I see are NOT crossed.
There is a very good reason for crossing them, but apparently MANY do not know!

 

[Alan W.]

Your choice until your significant other ruins a $200 piece of clothing walking past it

Personally I have tried it and it doesn't seem to make any difference just a bigger mess. When pulling the trailer the rust wears off quickly, but I am only pulling loads of <6000LBs.

Now Im sure we are po folks. I dont think my wife has a complete outfit that cost that much.
And ifn she did I know she wouldnt be anywhere near my old truck

 

[4570Man]

Maybe if you wanted to clean it off when you’re done. Otherwise it’s a big mess that collects dirt.

 

[bcp]

Quote Originally Posted by fried1765
And....what about the safety chains?
A VERY high percentage that I see are NOT crossed.
There is a very good reason for crossing them, but apparently MANY do not know!

Should I grease my chains where they cross, to prevent wear?



Bruce

 

[bcp]

And....what about the safety chains?
A VERY high percentage that I see are NOT crossed.
There is a very good reason for crossing them, but apparently MANY do not know!

Most of the chains I see are crossed, but almost dragging the road. No way they could catch a fallen tongue.

Bruce

 

[CMV]

Of course they will if crossed. If the trailer separates that will take that slack out.

Oh...and I do both....grease the ball and inside the coupler. Gojo hand cleaner as a laundry pretreat does great getting the grease stripe off the knee of your pants

 

[4570Man]

I had a boat trailer with cable “chains” and a big sticker that said do not cross safety chains.

 

[hslogger]

A friend and work associate of mine pulls a commercial chipper with an Isuzu arborist truck. We hitched and unhitched and pulled the chipper around constantly day in and day out. One day the chipper jumped the ball. Why? After many years of extended use the ball had shrunk and needed to be replaced. True story. After that, the precaution was to keep that ball and socket lubed up. It never happened again.

 

[fried1765]

Should I grease my chains where they cross, to prevent wear?



Bruce

Nope Bruce!
You COULD grease your brake linings though.
They would last longer.

 

[fried1765]

Most of the chains I see are crossed, but almost dragging the road. No way they could catch a fallen tongue.

Bruce

Having the chains dragging is yet another often observed unstatisfactory trailer towing condition!