Problems hitching and un hitching

CavemanCharlie wrote:

It is tapered and it's into a material that is not rubber but, I don't know what it is made of. The ball is chrome and I've had mine for several years and I don't see any wear on the ball or hitch.

All I know is that it works very well. I have heard that this hitch only works in trailers with light tongue weight. But, on my TT it works well. I love it.

Might work well, but fair chance that the hardness of the ball compared to the hardness of the ball socket are two complete different beasts. I suspect the ball has a very hard surface (most balls are heat treated to harden the surface for wear resistance) and the socket will be typical softer stamped steal.

Ball may look fine, socket on the other hand will wear on the side to side twist motion that happens as you drive down the road. Picture as you drive down the road how your vehicle changes side angles, your trailer lags behind the vehicle a second or two before the trailer gets on the same angle plane. Basically the trailer socket will rock and twist.

As far as the OP's issue, It is possible to have the trailer sitting at an angle severe enough to make the ball hang in the socket. Have done that personally.

My flatbed utility trailer parking spot is downhill and off to the side of my driveway with a very short distance to get my truck in front of the hitch. Sometimes there is enough angle twist and difference in elevation between trailer and truck the ball doesn't easily fall out.

So, options are to step on the truck bumper, adding my weight to drop the truck some. If that doesn't work, sometimes stepping on bumper and a good jump gets it done. If that doesn't work, hop in truck and backup slightly and it falls right out.

Rarely do I have to do that with my TT as I can back straight in, and trailer and truck sit at the same angles side to side.

If OP has the correct ball size, confirmed by manually inserting ball into the socket (without the hitch attached to the vehicle) which it should easily be inserted and removed by hand I would say their issue is not relaxing the pressure on the coupler and ball. That can be caused by sideways pressure from not chocking both sides or not allowing the vehicle to push back slightly.

The reality is it can be a common problem for some folks depending on where and how they park.

Gdetrailer wrote:

JRscooby wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:

I have a Anderson Weight Distribution Hitch. I'm not sure you are suppose to grease the ball on this type of hitch.

I bet that if you don't tell the ball or coupler, it will never know what type WD you are using.
But no matter what kind of weight distribution used, there is more down pressure on the ball than just tongue weight. I would think lube on the ball would be more important.

I thought the same thing.. However after looking at the Anderson WD manual, it is noted by Anderson that there is no need to grease the ball on the first page and later in the manual that they do not recommend to grease the ball as the grease may alter the effectiveness of the hitch..

See manual HERE

Anderson integrated the ball with the WD attachments on the underside of the ball. The antisway part of Anderson is accomplished via the shank of the ball that goes all the way through to those bottom attachment plates.



The ball and shank of the ball (shank of the ball looks like it is tapered) looks like it is held in some sort of heavy hard rubber material which will resist twisting motion..

Any oil or grease that manages to creep down the ball has the potential of finding its way between the ball and the friction material..

While an ingenious idea, the reality is it is going to present a higher than normal wear on the trailer tongue ball socket and the Anderson ball..

I personally would still use some grease on the Anderson ball since it is still subject to side to side twisting movements and as long as it is not slathered and dripping off to reduce coupler wear. Especially important since most couplers are welded on to the tongue making replacement a costly repair if you had to pay to have a certified welder cut off and then weld a new coupler on..

Anderson seems to make it sound like you can just remove and slap a new coupler on :E

It is tapered and it's into a material that is not rubber but, I don't know what it is made of. The ball is chrome and I've had mine for several years and I don't see any wear on the ball or hitch.

All I know is that it works very well. I have heard that this hitch only works in trailers with light tongue weight. But, on my TT it works well. I love it.

Gdetrailer wrote:

JRscooby wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:

I have a Anderson Weight Distribution Hitch. I'm not sure you are suppose to grease the ball on this type of hitch.

I bet that if you don't tell the ball or coupler, it will never know what type WD you are using.
But no matter what kind of weight distribution used, there is more down pressure on the ball than just tongue weight. I would think lube on the ball would be more important.

I thought the same thing.. However after looking at the Anderson WD manual, it is noted by Anderson that there is no need to grease the ball on the first page and later in the manual that they do not recommend to grease the ball as the grease may alter the effectiveness of the hitch..

See manual HERE

Anderson integrated the ball with the WD attachments on the underside of the ball. The antisway part of Anderson is accomplished via the shank of the ball that goes all the way through to those bottom attachment plates.



The ball and shank of the ball (shank of the ball looks like it is tapered) looks like it is held in some sort of heavy hard rubber material which will resist twisting motion..

Any oil or grease that manages to creep down the ball has the potential of finding its way between the ball and the friction material..

While an ingenious idea, the reality is it is going to present a higher than normal wear on the trailer tongue ball socket and the Anderson ball..

I personally would still use some grease on the Anderson ball since it is still subject to side to side twisting movements and as long as it is not slathered and dripping off to reduce coupler wear. Especially important since most couplers are welded on to the tongue making replacement a costly repair if you had to pay to have a certified welder cut off and then weld a new coupler on..

Anderson seems to make it sound like you can just remove and slap a new coupler on :E

Well I stand corrected.
For the un-hook issue, I would use a little lube on the wedge.
For the top of ball a little hi-temp, hi pressure grease would be part of my routine. That grease would not move to rubber, and if it did, much cheaper to replace that then coupler.

JRscooby wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:

I have a Anderson Weight Distribution Hitch. I'm not sure you are suppose to grease the ball on this type of hitch.

I bet that if you don't tell the ball or coupler, it will never know what type WD you are using.
But no matter what kind of weight distribution used, there is more down pressure on the ball than just tongue weight. I would think lube on the ball would be more important.

I thought the same thing.. However after looking at the Anderson WD manual, it is noted by Anderson that there is no need to grease the ball on the first page and later in the manual that they do not recommend to grease the ball as the grease may alter the effectiveness of the hitch..

See manual HERE

Anderson integrated the ball with the WD attachments on the underside of the ball. The antisway part of Anderson is accomplished via the shank of the ball that goes all the way through to those bottom attachment plates.



The ball and shank of the ball (shank of the ball looks like it is tapered) looks like it is held in some sort of heavy hard rubber material which will resist twisting motion..

Any oil or grease that manages to creep down the ball has the potential of finding its way between the ball and the friction material..

While an ingenious idea, the reality is it is going to present a higher than normal wear on the trailer tongue ball socket and the Anderson ball..

I personally would still use some grease on the Anderson ball since it is still subject to side to side twisting movements and as long as it is not slathered and dripping off to reduce coupler wear. Especially important since most couplers are welded on to the tongue making replacement a costly repair if you had to pay to have a certified welder cut off and then weld a new coupler on..

Anderson seems to make it sound like you can just remove and slap a new coupler on :E

CavemanCharlie wrote:

I have a Anderson Weight Distribution Hitch. I'm not sure you are suppose to grease the ball on this type of hitch.

I bet that if you don't tell the ball or coupler, it will never know what type WD you are using.
But no matter what kind of weight distribution used, there is more down pressure on the ball than just tongue weight. I would think lube on the ball would be more important.

Tvov wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
This thread is as inane as the one above it about a cinder block and a person who is afraid to level his camper up.
Honestly, if you folks are having issues with these types of things, motel rooms are a better choice.

Also, in 30 + years and 100s of different trailers, I can count on zero fingers how many times I’ve had to remove the pin from the “hitch ball shank thingy”, or receiver, in English, to unhook a trailer. That is a dumb idea on most accords and not a great suggestion.

The original poster is asked for help with a problem he is having. And looking at the responses, there are a variety of different ways to solve his problem. This is normal back and forth for an internet forum where people can ask questions with a problem and get a variety of answers.

If helping people with campers annoys you, just stay out of threads where people are asking for help.

I have a Anderson Weight Distribution Hitch. I'm not sure you are suppose to grease the ball on this type of hitch.

pemongillo wrote:
Yes, that is always part of the routine. Just seems like it shouldn't be that hard. The real problems start if I try to hook or unhook at a bit of an angle. I have had this trailer for 15 years and don't remember having these hassles early on. Thanks for your input. I guess it needs to be completely chocked up and I have to move little by little until the ball is right in the middle. And yes, that would be way easier if someone was helping, but not that big a deal to get in and out of the truck. I was beginning to think there was something wrong. Thanks.

You are not "completely" chocking?

As in no chocks or one chock?

There is your problem.

Chocks need to be in place on both side of the trailer wheels before attempting to unhitch even for completely level ground.

Chock completely first then drop the tongue jack to the ground.

Then start lifting the tongue with tongue jack enough to remove WD (if equipped).

Drop the tongue down after WD has been removed then unlatch tongue ball lock latch.

Then lift the tongue with tongue jack, you should see vehicle spring up to unloaded height and ball should now nearly fall right out of the tongue.

If ball does not come out, then try backing up slightly with vehicle as the ball can hang with the groove inside the tongue.

For kicks, take your hitch head with ball, while it is not on your vehicle and insert the ball into the tongue. With the latch open the ball should slide right in easily and you should be able to remove the ball easily.

If you cannot insert or remove the ball by hand, you may have the wrong ball size and you need to identify exactly what ball size is correct in this case.

The problem I suspect you have is typical when both the vehicle and trailer are "tight" together and there is not enough slack for the ball to center in the tongue part of the hitch. The only way to fix that is to make sure your trailer cannot move forwards, backwards or sideways! That means you must chock both sides of the trailer properly before attempting to unhitch.

Grit dog wrote:
This thread is as inane as the one above it about a cinder block and a person who is afraid to level his camper up.
Honestly, if you folks are having issues with these types of things, motel rooms are a better choice.

Also, in 30 + years and 100s of different trailers, I can count on zero fingers how many times I’ve had to remove the pin from the “hitch ball shank thingy”, or receiver, in English, to unhook a trailer. That is a dumb idea on most accords and not a great suggestion.

The original poster is asked for help with a problem he is having. And looking at the responses, there are a variety of different ways to solve his problem. This is normal back and forth for an internet forum where people can ask questions with a problem and get a variety of answers.

If helping people with campers annoys you, just stay out of threads where people are asking for help.

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I almost always have to jump up and down on my bumper to get it to unhook. I just consider that part of the job.

I can feel by how hard I am turning the handle on my manual jack when it is time to start jumping.

I don't have any trouble hooking back up.

I camp in slightly unlevel places but, not to bad.

Back in the day, when I did not want anything as dirty-looking as a greasy hitch ball on my restored El Camino, I would fight unhooking my dirt bike trailer. But when friends went along, and we took the junky station wagon, I would slap some grease on the rusty ball. Next 5-6 times unhooking from the '65, no issues. But I would need to rag the ball before anybody saw it. Even burning pounds of illegal substances, and hydrating with idiot oil most days, I figured out the issue

I almost always have to jump up and down on my bumper to get it to unhook. I just consider that part of the job.

I can feel by how hard I am turning the handle on my manual jack when it is time to start jumping.

I don't have any trouble hooking back up.

I camp in slightly unlevel places but, not to bad.