hitch grease

Technically the ball could act as a backup ground if the ground wire/pin failed but that’s a poor reason for not greasing the ball. ;). Plus when I’ve had a bad ground wire before, the lights were intermittent at best using the ball as ground on an ungreased small utility trailer.

SoundGuy wrote:

big_jeff wrote:
I never grease the hitch.. I read somewhere that the ball and trailer hitch act as a ground and greasing it would defeat that purpose. The newer brake controllers use that ground and you may get an error using grease.

Incorrect ... ground is provided via Pin 1 on the Bargman connector so there's absolutely no reason to not grease both the ball and coupler.

Ditto on SoundGuy.

GrandpaKip wrote:
I got rid of the grease when I got an Andersen hitch. My wife appreciates it.

Those hitches still move up and down working the latch hard, apply grease to minimize the damage.

big_jeff wrote:
I never grease the hitch.. I read somewhere that the ball and trailer hitch act as a ground and greasing it would defeat that purpose. The newer brake controllers use that ground and you may get an error using grease.

Incorrect ... ground is provided via Pin 1 on the Bargman connector so there's absolutely no reason to not grease both the ball and coupler.

I never grease the hitch.. I read somewhere that the ball and trailer hitch act as a ground and greasing it would defeat that purpose. The newer brake controllers use that ground and you may get an error using grease.

I keep the coupler of my trailer greased with black axle grease. But when I hitch up, my hitch ball is clean. I give it a squirt of WD40 and hitch.

When I unhitch, I use a paper towel (and always) wipe off the ball, which usually has black grease on it now, and clean it so I can shove it in my trailer pass through. I've been doing it this way for 20 years or more.

I use just simple old style black axle grease.

I use Moly or wheel grease. I got grease on every pair of pants and shorts I own anyway, own a farm.

I use wheel bearing grease and wrap a Wally World bag around it after I unhitch.

I got rid of the grease when I got an Andersen hitch. My wife appreciates it.

Are you saying that using an Andersen hitch means that you no longer need to lubricate the hitch ball?

and, wax paper works great for wrapping sandwiches, not so much for the kind of forces that are on the ball.

Just my opinion and experience - yours is probably different. Different opinions and experiences are all good.

Waxed paper. Used to pull a Harley with a homemade trailer to haul our camping stuff. Don't have to worry about bumping or rubbing against the ball and getting grease all over you.