Tongue of 1972 Shasta very difficult to get off ball.

This ball is new, bought for our new teardrop last winter. It is the right size. The ball was greased and is now working much better. Another RV person stopped by and worked it up and down and said next time to just pull the van forward a tad to get it to release. But thanks to everyone.

Your ball socket may be slightly bent if the size checks out and the grease doesn't do much good. Two years ago I had a small utility trailer which came unhitched from the RV bouncing up and down on the frost heaves up in Canada. Got it welded in a remote village, but the welder wasn't too careful and go weld metal part way into the ball socket on the trailer hitch. We had fun everytime we wanted to take the trailer off the hitch, had to bounce it up and down to jar it loose from the RV, so bought a file and did some work on it to make the socket a little easier to remove from the hitch ball. Ended up buying a new trailer tongue hitch coupler at Canadian Tire which solved my problems, so carefully check your hitch coupler for any bends, new ones don't cost much.

Is the tongue of the Shasta for a 2" ball? Could it be you have a 2-5/16" ball on your hitch?

Many of the lighter TT's of that vintage used 2" balls.

I had a pound of leftover disk brake grease with a high temperature rating, and it will not run off quickly in the rain. It was also fairly cheap, only about $10 for the pound can.

I put a little grease on the top of the ball when towing. You may need to remove as much rust as possible, then coat the insides with thick grease (only a thin layer, but grease thick enough to not drip off like thin motor oil might). Anything that moves should have grease coating it.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

I'd try this: Coat the mechanism with penetrating oil then scrape off as much rust as you can from the jaws and any other moving parts. Always be sure you lube the ball before use. Any lube will be better than nothing but I use a Reese ball grease which is simply a "white lithium' grease. It can be purchased at most any auto parts store and many other places. After the season is over OR after driving through a bery dusty/dirty area clean the coupler and ball with a degrease agent but wouldn't bother until it's working smoothly again.