Grease on the ball?

[Steelhawk]

A friend we camp with always puts grease on his trailer ball. He says I should do it as well. Is this a good idea?

[dodge_guy]

Farmerjon wrote:
Hah. You can find most anything on a Farm. There is no wrong answer. On our farm and others in our area a lot of the stuff we tow use a simple pin that drops thru the draw bar. as the equipment gets heavier the type of connection gets heavier. Our wagons have the simple pinned draw bars and we may pull more than one wagon at a time.
But what one area and type and size of farm does may be very different from other farmers. So to question what Dodge Guy is telling you is really uncalled for.
Back to the OP's original question I for one still think

Houston Remodeler wrote:
A little dab'll do ya

Thanks! Like I said we could be here all day going over various connection methods for farm equip.

Back on topic!

[Farmerjon]

Hah. You can find most anything on a Farm. There is no wrong answer. On our farm and others in our area a lot of the stuff we tow use a simple pin that drops thru the draw bar. as the equipment gets heavier the type of connection gets heavier. Our wagons have the simple pinned draw bars and we may pull more than one wagon at a time.
But what one area and type and size of farm does may be very different from other farmers. So to question what Dodge Guy is telling you is really uncalled for.
Back to the OP's original question I for one still think

Houston Remodeler wrote:
A little dab'll do ya

[dodge_guy]

Muddydogs wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
yep, your right. I should have thrown that in there. most farm implements have four wheels and a tongue that swings down, so the tongue weight is only about 15 lbs! even a boat has minimal tongue weight.

Do you know anything about farm equipment? First you claim most farm trailers have hooks and now you claim most farm implements have four wheels and no tongue weight. Me thinks not.

Since we are off topic now. I guess it depends on what type of farm implement we are talking about! A hay trailer with steerable front wheels and stationary rear wheels has only an arm that just lays on the pintle or ball (depending on how it was set up) has minimal tongue weight. Sorry, I didn't know I needed to explain how every piece of farm equipment works. If I did we would be here all day! I was just giving an explanation of how little some tongue weight could be! Sheesh! :S

I guess we now have the farm police!!!

[RVcircus]

I use grease and I have grease stains on 1/2 of my pants to prove it;)

[bpounds]

Muddydogs wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
yep, your right. I should have thrown that in there. most farm implements have four wheels and a tongue that swings down, so the tongue weight is only about 15 lbs! even a boat has minimal tongue weight.

Do you know anything about farm equipment? First you claim most farm trailers have hooks and now you claim most farm implements have four wheels and no tongue weight. Me thinks not.

One might wonder, what that has to do with RV's?

[Muddydogs]

dodge guy wrote:
yep, your right. I should have thrown that in there. most farm implements have four wheels and a tongue that swings down, so the tongue weight is only about 15 lbs! even a boat has minimal tongue weight.

Do you know anything about farm equipment? First you claim most farm trailers have hooks and now you claim most farm implements have four wheels and no tongue weight. Me thinks not.

[deltabravo]

grease on the ball.... always.

[dodge_guy]

dewey02 wrote:
This thread seems to have taken on a "greasers vs non-greasers" argument.

Now, where have we seen that before?

Everyone knows Greasers are cooler!

[dodge_guy]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, when maintained properly grease does not ruin a ball/coupler from dirt. On my long trips of 1-3000 miles I have never had any grit in the grease. And of course a farm implement store will tell you no grease, they operate in dirty/dusty environments. Not too mention that the majority of those hitches are pintle hooks!

I have the same ball for 13 years and it shows no signs of galling. My buddies hitch OTOH he never lubes it and it shows! The ball has gouges in it, and we have had to retorque a few times already! He just refuses to put on some grease because it is just one more step. I don't think he even carries any type of grease with him even for wheel bearings!

No pintle hooks on farms that I live and work on around here. In fact, I've only seen one of them in 50 years.

Either a regular bumper hitch ball or a 5th wheel goose neck is waht we have. No grease on them.

But, I am beginning to believe that this ball wear problem is related to the Weight Distribution Hitch device. It puts more force on the ball. Grease may be needed in these cases. Nothing on the farm has one of those.

yep, your right. I should have thrown that in there. most farm implements have four wheels and a tongue that swings down, so the tongue weight is only about 15 lbs! even a boat has minimal tongue weight.

Like you say WD hitches put a lot of pressure on the ball which increases the wear on the ball without grease. so the wear with a WD hitch without grease will be bad! as compared to no WD or very light tongue weight with WD.

[dewey02]

This thread seems to have taken on a "greasers vs non-greasers" argument.

Now, where have we seen that before?

[CavemanCharlie]

dodge guy wrote:
Yes, when maintained properly grease does not ruin a ball/coupler from dirt. On my long trips of 1-3000 miles I have never had any grit in the grease. And of course a farm implement store will tell you no grease, they operate in dirty/dusty environments. Not too mention that the majority of those hitches are pintle hooks!

I have the same ball for 13 years and it shows no signs of galling. My buddies hitch OTOH he never lubes it and it shows! The ball has gouges in it, and we have had to retorque a few times already! He just refuses to put on some grease because it is just one more step. I don't think he even carries any type of grease with him even for wheel bearings!

No pintle hooks on farms that I live and work on around here. In fact, I've only seen one of them in 50 years.

Either a regular bumper hitch ball or a 5th wheel goose neck is waht we have. No grease on them.

But, I am beginning to believe that this ball wear problem is related to the Weight Distribution Hitch device. It puts more force on the ball. Grease may be needed in these cases. Nothing on the farm has one of those.

[Passin_Thru]

Ball and ends of lift below it but not on the trailer ends. They brake your sway.

[dodge_guy]

Yes, when maintained properly grease does not ruin a ball/coupler from dirt. On my long trips of 1-3000 miles I have never had any grit in the grease. And of course a farm implement store will tell you no grease, they operate in dirty/dusty environments. Not too mention that the majority of those hitches are pintle hooks!

I have the same ball for 13 years and it shows no signs of galling. My buddies hitch OTOH he never lubes it and it shows! The ball has gouges in it, and we have had to retorque a few times already! He just refuses to put on some grease because it is just one more step. I don't think he even carries any type of grease with him even for wheel bearings!

[humblerb]

After we bought our first TT, I read lots of arguments both ways.
I even stopped in a trailer store (implement trailer, not travel trailer) and asked what type of grease I should use.
They told me not to use grease.
I have used axle grease on mine for 5 years.
You need to be diligent about cleaning the ball AND the trailer coupler frequently.
The grease can and will hold grit and cause wear from the grit.
I clean mine every other trip or so, depending on how much driving I do with the hitch in the receiver and how far apart the trips are.