Lynnmor wrote:
If you take the receiver off and have it sandblasted, you will get the very best results. It may be no more trouble than working around things to sand and paint it.
Lol. How many times have you removed a rusty trailer hitch or any trailer hitch receiver?
To touch up a little rust?
OP, don't over complicate this. If you want to make it look better and possibly last longer, hit it with a wire brush or wire wheel. Blow it off, shoot some por15 or any other rust repellant on it or simply spray bomb a couple coats of black spray paint and save the rest of the hour you set aside for this to do something else.
Note, if you're in the salt belt and rust is an issue trailer receiveer tubes can and do rust more inside where you can't reach than outside where visible sometimes, so touch it up and move along. Save un bolting it from the truck until you need to replace it.