Probably a stupid questions (balls)

Grease tends to encapsulate grit which grids away at the ball. Try a dry lube like motorcycle chain wax. Unlike grease it's designed to repel dirt. It's also repels water so it doesn't wash away easily.

It's a ball joint. Any lube is better than no lube. I give ours a couple of drops of Mobil-1 or a light coat of bearing grease every trip. It gets wiped down and stored in the basement storage when not in use.

Nothing and I have 1800 lbs of tongue weight and 90K miles. Click on how I tow below.

Never used ball grease...... On trailers, lol.
And in going on 30 years of towing or being around probably 50-100 different bumper pull trailers I've rarely seen it used.
Although when I was a kid turning wrenches there was one guy who would grease the hitch balls on all the trucks (or trailers). Never fail, I'd grab the hitch pulling myself out from under a truck and have a nice dirty splotch of gritty grease on my hand.
Not sure how,long it takes to wear out a hitch or coupler, but it's definitely a long time. Never seen one wore out or appreciable wear.

It certainly can't do any harm though.

I have used molly grease, marine grease, water pump grease and Vaseline. They all pick up dirt but so do the greased torsion bar mounts.

It is not hard to wipe the ball after each trip but the socket is a real pain. Eventually I just covered the ball with a can an leaned to avoid it when hitched.

Some folks run their ball with no lube but that never seemed right to me. Lubed or no lube you will wear the chrome off the ball in spots eventually.

Used to kept it mostly to the front since that was the load and it kept the rear clean for the pants problem. I now have an Andersen hitch and try to keep the ball clean so it is locked to the hitch. It does seem to wear on the ball a bit but lub would negate the units ability to reduce sway. Guessing wear is 2-4/1000ths over the 10,000 miles of use, about 15% not straight highway.

Seems you do what you feel is best for you... No one technique or use of grease or not using grease is right or wrong... Just what works best for you..

In my case, I squirt some grease on the ball and the WD bars when it looks like they are getting dry.. I've never wiped off the old grease..

I pull the hitch head and put it in the tongue and lock it in when in camp. I pull the hitch head and put it in the garage when I'm home.

When I tow my little utility trailer, I don't grease the ball at all.. It's only a little #2500 trailer, so no big deal, and no mess on the ball, since I store it in the truck..

Again, whatever works for you..

Good luck!

Mitch

Always. I live mine at the beginning of the year. Wipe off the old grease in the middle of the season and regrease. I also grease the WD pivots so those don't wear.

Preventative maint!

Attending offroad races in the SoCal desert (where the wind seems to blow ALL THE TIME!), I would take a quart size baggie, put it over the ball, and put a zip-tie around the small area of the ball. Kept dirt and sand off the ball, so it's half of the problem. A large trash bag over the hitch solved the rest of the situation.

I lube mine about every trip. I wipe the ball off and put new lube on and when I get to where we are camping I slit a tennis ball 2 inches on one side and slip it over the ball. Keeps it clean. I have been doing it this way for over 55 yrs towing and very little wear on any of the different balls that I have used