Grease for hitch balls

[Fallon]

Or you could put them on properly, with an impact wrench, and they'll never loosen up.

Ever.

Your choice.

Impact guns put out 200-500ft lbs of force. The aforementioned 200lbs of dude on a 3-5' breaker bar 600-1000ft lbs of force. A couple hundred lbs of force times a 20' long trailer is way more than that. Personally I dont want my trailer to get that good of a grip on my balls to unscrew them.

As far as an amount of motion, weight & surface area, my hitch balls are about the same as the pins on my loader. Most manufacturers recomend greasing them every 8 hours. I've seen a few worn trailer hitch latches over the years, I dont want to have the potential for mine to become a statistic. Or even just deal with the squeeking.

I'd use silicon or teflon, but mine are mostly hitched & a bit dirty already. A bit of grease wont make them that much more disgusting.

 

[nikerret]

I use marine grease for hinges, it never dries up, and it's impervious to water/rain..

How badly does dust stick in it?

 

[nikerret]

If you get a GenY, there is no way for the ball to come loose with the 2 5/16” or 2”.

 

[TMGT]

I think it still has a lot to do with application, I pull a trailer weekly and prior to that pulled a gooseneck about 70-80+k miles a year loaded about 90% of the time.

A good grease made a load of difference, sprays didn't last long and since the trailer stayed hooked up for weeks at a time it wasn't practical. I also live on gravel roads and havent had any issues with the grease collecting grit.

I've ran balls both greased and dry, and I'll say, once you get into the higher capacity couplers/balls, lubrication is a necessity.
I actually started greasing because of how much wear I was seeing.

 

[nikerret]

A large percentage of the population has never driven with a trailer. Of those, most are pulling small single axles with no brakes and all of their towing equipment is the lowest priced items they could find.

 

[RBLapham]

Stainless Steel balls - worth the money!

 

[fried1765]

Never used grease in almost 40 years. Ridiculous. Some city-slicker guys in my Dad's RV club talked him into trying it once, years ago. Yeah, that lasted about 2 trips and then he was done doing it too. Urban myth that's faded into legend. Only things that got grease were semi and rv 5th wheel plates, but that's due to the huge bearing surface of the 2 mating surfaces of the hitch. Now they have these "lube plates" you can put on, and don't even have to grease those anymore.

Don't grease pintle hitches either, and they carry more weight than any ball hitch.

You guys go ahead and keep on greasing them balls. We'll keep on laughing at you.

Yup.....keep on laughing!
I will keep on greasing "them balls".

 

[fried1765]

I think it still has a lot to do with application, I pull a trailer weekly and prior to that pulled a gooseneck about 70-80+k miles a year loaded about 90% of the time.

A good grease made a load of difference, sprays didn't last long and since the trailer stayed hooked up for weeks at a time it wasn't practical. I also live on gravel roads and havent had any issues with the grease collecting grit.

I've ran balls both greased and dry, and I'll say, once you get into the higher capacity couplers/balls, lubrication is a necessity.
I actually started greasing because of how much wear I was seeing.

You are 100% correct!
As repeatedly described above,..... the less informed will not believe you.

 

[CobyRupert]

Well think about it. .....
..
That said, the tightness I can generate on the hitch ball totally pales and can be easily broken loose by say a 20' long traler which is effectively a 20' long lever to loosen (I had only 5' of lever to tighten) and the trailer has several thousand pounds of mass (compared to my 250 lbs of mass) which will easily loosen the said ball if the trailer coupler grips the ball instead of glidling on turns. Rust on either or both make metal surprisingly grippy on each other.
.

Thank you for the reply. You make some good points.
...but this being the internet :devil::

I think you're saying that when you make a right hand turn (or are straightening up from a left hand turn), the friction of the trailer's latch on top of the ball will rotate the ball and loosen the nut? That's hard to image. I guess if the tongue weight was really, really heavy, and the surfaces were really rough. -We only know our own experiences, so it's hard to imagine having that much tongue weight, or surfaces that rough, to create that much friction between top of ball and latch's underside.

Say that happens, seems the ball would only get loose to the point where both the ball and nut rotated.

On many receivers this can't happen because the ball sits within a 6 sided "well" on the receiver that mates with a 6 side flange on the ball and prevents it from spinning. When I tighten up the ball, I only need 1 wrench for the nut, because the receiver holds the ball from spinning.

 

[two_bit_score]

Thank you for the reply. You make some good points.
...but this being the internet :devil::

I think you're saying that when you make a right hand turn (or are straightening up from a left hand turn), the friction of the trailer's latch on top of the ball will rotate the ball and loosen the nut? That's hard to image. I guess if the tongue weight was really, really heavy, and the surfaces were really rough. -We only know our own experiences, so it's hard to imagine having that much tongue weight, or surfaces that rough, to create that much friction between top of ball and latch's underside.

Say that happens, seems the ball would only get loose to the point where both the ball and nut rotated.

On many receivers this can't happen because the ball sits within a 6 sided "well" on the receiver that mates with a 6 side flange on the ball and prevents it from spinning. When I tighten up the ball, I only need 1 wrench for the nut, because the receiver holds the ball from spinning.

And why wouldn't it tend to tighten up the hitch ball/nut on opposite turns?



I don't use city slicker grease.


TBS

 

[stuckmotor]

Someone once asked TBN members for advice in manual or hydrostatic transmissions. My favorite reply came from the person who cautioned him that " IT'S A RELIGION ". I had no idea things would be the same with greasing hitch balls. ☺
Thanks to everyone for your replies.

 

[fried1765]

And why wouldn't it tend to tighten up the hitch ball/nut on opposite turns?



I don't use city slicker grease.


TBS

" I don't use city slicker grease".
You probably do not tow for thousands of miles each year either.

 

[ovrszd]

" I don't use city slicker grease".
You probably do not tow for thousands of miles each year either.

He probly does not.

 

[hosspuller]

I started greasing the ball when I noticed gall marks on the ball. It's a GN with about 9,000 pounds of trailer. Before greasing the ball, I wipe it clean of collected grit & dirt. Then the GN coupler keeps it covered, until unhitched.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Just stoping the squeaking gooseneck and ball is worth the grease. Minor effort. Amazing how some think its a lot of work and hassle. Personally pull a gooseneck loaded close to max (at least) on most days. Rest of the time the 2 inch bumper maybe, the 2 5/16 bumper usually. A bit of grease is easy and cheap and sure not notable as a issue when working. Not wearing Sunday clothes at work.
Interesting on the 5th wheel remarks about grease is ok because of the large surface. That just translates to less pounds per square inch. Most people still seem to grease them or install the teflon plates or whatever.
Stoped the occasional gooseneck ball loosing up years ago when I switched to the peg type gooseneck balls that insets into the cross member mount.
If your not having problems then yahoo, no issues. For those that are it can be nice to have the info.
Many people do not seem to even pay attention to the weights stamped on the balls and hitches when purchasing or hooking up.

 

[ovrszd]

Just stoping the squeaking gooseneck and ball is worth the grease. Minor effort. Amazing how some think its a lot of work and hassle. Personally pull a gooseneck loaded close to max (at least) on most days. Rest of the time the 2 inch bumper maybe, the 2 5/16 bumper usually. A bit of grease is easy and cheap and sure not notable as a issue when working. Not wearing Sunday clothes at work.
Interesting on the 5th wheel remarks about grease is ok because of the large surface. That just translates to less pounds per square inch. Most people still seem to grease them or install the teflon plates or whatever.
Stoped the occasional gooseneck ball loosing up years ago when I switched to the peg type gooseneck balls that insets into the cross member mount.
If your not having problems then yahoo, no issues. For those that are it can be nice to have the info.
Many people do not seem to even pay attention to the weights stamped on the balls and hitches when purchasing or hooking up.

Good post!!! Especially the last part!!!

 

[David_Kb7uns]

The Reese Ball Grease made a big difference in the wear on the 15K forged ball towing a 13k plus toy hauler. Also cleaning the coupler with a paper towel with WD40 to get the grit out helped a lot. Oregon Coast Dunes have sand blowing everywhere.

David

 

[Diggin It]

My favorite reply came from the person who cautioned him that " IT'S A RELIGION ". I had no idea things would be the same with greasing hitch balls.

I keep thinking of the diner scene in Funny Farm.

 

[lucky llama]

If you don't want to use grease, but, still want to lube your balls. Try wax. I've been using it on a grading chain for 30 years and its holding up well.

 

[stuckmotor]

If you don't want to use grease, but, still want to lube your balls. Try wax. I've been using it on a grading chain for 30 years and its holding up well.

I like that idea. Is this a special kind of wax?