How to deal with grease on ball of receiver

Bedlam wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
More seriously, you don't need to grease your balls. Never wore my balls or ball holders out in a lot of days trailering all kinds of trailers.

I tow about 10k miles a year and definitely see ball and coupler wear even when greased. I cannot image how much more I would see if it was dry metal on metal contact. The 2-5/8" ball I bought in 2005 was replaced due to wear in 2013 when I also replaced the hitch head. It had about 70,000 miles on it pulling 11,500 lbs and an additional 10,000 lbs pulling 7000 lbs. My current ball gets about the same mileage annually but only pulls 6000-8000 lbs, so it may last longer than eight years.

I wipe down the the large 2-5/8" ball if it is unhitched, but have rubber ball covers for multiple the 2" balls I own mounted on various receiver sizes and heights.