Trailer Tongue Coupler Wear?

I have a 32ft enclosed car trailer that since 1999 I have probably 200,000mi with the same ball on several different trucks and I never grease it. It shows some wear but nothing I am concerned about. Had a ball shear off once but thats a different story.

This camper is 30 years old so there's no telling what hitches have been used over the years. We have had it for the past 3 years and are using the hitch the previous owner sold with it. I just happened to notice that line/crack - I have no idea how long it's been like that or even if it's supposed to be that way.

Since there is wear in the top of the coupler and the ball has a large flat on it, there is no way that ball was the only one used. My thought is that someone towed using a 2" ball. Replace the coupler and the ball and do it right the next time using grease.

That is not really "unusual" wear on the ball, it is what happens with a lot of use. Greasing it will help prevent that, as long as the grease doesn't get dirty - that can make it worse, as the grease will hold the dirt and grit against the ball.

My first thought is that crack / line is the hitch splitting apart, but then the outside picture doesn't show the crack?

Either way, with that amount of wear I would think about replacing the hitch and the hitch ball.

Good lord! Idk if it’s the resolution or is there really grooves and chunks missing out of your trailer ball?

Don't you grease your ball? I just use plain jane general purpose grease on mine. Yeah, it's a little messy, but worth it if it keeps it from looking like the one in your pics..

Good luck! Mitch

Resize your pics to 640x480 MAX,