our latest camping trip to PA

Finally got some pics of the ball. Have a new one on the way

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/4/9aqp.jpg/

LOL Pathwalker, you are correct. I just purchased a 6 gals jug from Wallyworld to fill the fresh water. The grey well..... lets just think trickle trickle if I can but will not admit it.
I will try to get pics this weekend of the ball. Lube will be a priority next trip. I agree some are lucky.
Fireman, Kettle creek was on our list of next top spots. DW is from the area and knows all the good central PA spots. Love them!

Y. State park camping is water jug Olympics and 200lportable gray tank strong man ccompetitions

Can not imagine what would do damage like that to your ball but it would worry me about the condition of the receiver parts. Please give it a good inspection before hitting the road again. Also I would be very interested in a picture or resolution you find.

Glad to here you had a good weekend over all. If you ever get back this way again I highly recommend kettel creek state park its just a few more miles down the road. And the lower camp ground is great its right next to the river I could catch a fish and cook it over the fire and never leave my seat.
By the way how full was the damn the week before we had real bad flooding up here so it might have been pretty full yet.

Atlee, the electric heater i was talking about is the hot water tank. It has dual mode capability. Gas heats quicker but i was having an issue with it.
I do suspect now i had a misaligned coupling but had no indications when i hitched it. So i am replacing ball but have to use same cup as that replacement would require welding.

Why would an electric heater and AC be on at the same time?

ZeeLet50 wrote:
Doug, this is a TT and yes we had electric but only 30amp and if you have electric heater on and AC, you will trip the box breaker!

ZeeLet50 wrote:
Braking on trailer is fine. I have a MaxBrake controller and it has adjust ability of 0 to 100. I have it at 16 and it does very well. If I go to 20 the trailer will outbrake the TV.

Great choice on the controller, other than factory units, no other will control the brakes using your foot pressure as a reference.

Always lube the ball. The "I never had a problem" statements should read "I have been lucky so far." A metal to metal contact can develop galling without lube. A good chrome surface mated to a soft steel surface may indeed operate for some time with no ill effects, but it could fail at any time.

In your case, I suspect that the latch was not engaged around the ball correctly. When hitching, keep the ball slightly forward forcing the trailer to move towards the truck as it drops into position. This will give clearance for the latch to move into position.

You should check the fit of the ball with it off the hitch parts. It should latch easily and have very little play. Some are adjustable.

Braking on trailer is fine. I have a MaxBrake controller and it has adjust ability of 0 to 100. I have it at 16 and it does very well. If I go to 20 the trailer will outbrake the TV.

Another possibility is if your braking was insufficient on the trailer, especially in the terrain you mention.

When you hit the manual override switch on your brake controller, you should feel a very strong tug from your trailer. If not, it needs adjusted.

Also make sure your trailer's brakes are in good operating condition.

If they weren't working properly, or weren't aggressive enough in your brake controller settings, there could have been a very significant lateral loading on your ball, and combined with sharp turns....