Problems hitching and un hitching

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.