Help! Hitch stuck in ball mount.
Just bought a new (used) travel trailer and a brand new weight distribution hitch and towed it home. After getting it home and parking in driveway, I had a hell of a time getting the hitch off. The dr...
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1988Resort wrote:
Wow, thank you everyone. I have never used a forum like this and had no idea so many people would reply with suggestions. To the person who asked, no, I'm not in Texas, but thanks so much for offering to help; I wish you could come help me! Thank you also to the person who posted the vocab list. To try and clarify the situation: 1) The truck is no longer attached; I drove it away after removing the hitch pin. 2) The torsion bars/sway bars/spring bars (can these terms all be used interchangeably?) have been removed. 3) The ball and ball mount are dangling from the trailer's coupler.
My main objective at this point is to get that ball mount out of that coupler without damaging anything. I will check again to see that I properly opened the coupler latch. The trailer is old and the latch did not open so easily like the demos I watch on youtube! I will get some WD-40 to spray up in there. Several people suggested hitting the coupler with a hammer or mallet. This is also what my boss suggested to me today. I will review the comments again, and if anyone has suggestions w/ the more clear description, please let me know. I will try again tomorrow morning. I don't know how to post a photo to the forum; first time forum user here.
Can you rotate the ball at all if you grab the shank or is it just completely immobile?
If you can rotate it and shift it around, it's probably the latch. It might be as simple as apply 40-50lb of upward pressure so the latch can operate. Just be careful as it's pretty heavy if it falls out.
If the ball is trapped and completely immobile, you have a bit more of a challenge. (be very careful and triple check that the trailer can't roll of drop)
- If you can get it back into the receiver on the truck, you can use the truck and the trailer jack to try and free it but that will be difficult to get perfectly lined up.
- You could try chocking the tires very well and then use a jack to try and push the ball up. Be very careful not to lift the front of the trailer off the ground. That might pop it free.
