Off the Ball - connection issue

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

I have had dozens of trailers over the years with lots of different couplers. Some are a bit handier than others, but I never had a real problem with any of them, including the one on my 2009 19.

One thing I always do along with lubricating the ball, is the moment any bit of resistance is noted on the coupler, is to give it a good lubrication, then clean off any bit that might be on the surface with a cloth to keep it clean to touch. I wonder how many either do this, or don't do this.

Different strokes.

On the farm dad taught me to never grease the ball. Too often crap would stick to the grease and make hooking and unhooking an issue. Besides, it's frickin messy! We did always jack up the trailer to make sure the hitch was hooked properly.

I have owned 15 campers over the years, 13 of them pull type, and only one new (our 5.0TA). As soon as I get the camper home the ball and coupler are de-greased. If I have a coupling problem I get a can of electrical contact cleaner out and spray the crap out of the coupler. However, I've rarely had a problem.

Once the camper is in place and chocked I put the tow vehicle in neutral and the hitch usually comes right off. Rarely do I have to move the tow vehicle back/forth to get the ball off and that's only when camping on an incline.

The last two campers I installed the Andersen Greaseless HardBall. At $14.99 it's cheap and Andersen guarantees it for life. Now if we just kept a camper long enough!

Again, different strokes.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

For many of use and definitely me, poorly formatted text is difficult to read without constantly reviewing what was written to understand. It does not have to be perfect at all, just easily readable. I enjoy helping where I can, but do need to understand the written concept of the issue.

I'm dyslexic. Those writing with one paragraph, no periods, no space after the period at the end of a sentence, can't capitalize the first word in a sentence, or just can't capitalize, are just plain lazy and/or rude.

The occasional spelling error has never bothered me. Hell, being dyslexic I misspell frequently. There's one in this post.

That stupid 2 hour (?) editing limit drives me nuts!

The last half of my working life I was a business teacher and taught Business Communications. Perhaps that has something to do with my attitude.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

I'm dyslexic. Those writing with one paragraph, no periods, no space after the period at the end of a sentence, can't capitalize the first word in a sentence, or just can't capitalize, are just plain lazy and/or rude.

The occasional spelling error has never bothered me. Hell, being dyslexic I misspell frequently. There's one in this post.

That stupid 2 hour (?) editing limit drives me nuts!

The last half of my working life I was a business teacher and taught Business Communications. Perhaps that has something to do with my attitude.

Enjoy,

Perry

I never have any problem reading your posts .Your posts are fine ! Pat

[gbaglo]

What it comes down to, is, if the composer of the post doesn't care enough to use caps, punctuation and paragraphs, I don't care to read it.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Greg- have you found the bulldog coupler any harder to hitch up with?

Watching this thread closely. Once did unhitch but it could of been my fault . In the beginning had a lot of trouble removing trailer from hitch . Really didn’t want to hammer it loose

After pickup Dennis said to not grease ball , but do now . Ball was really wearing and making lots of noise .

Interesting Oliver uses a bulldog hitch Pat

[blue_bullet]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

Different strokes.

On the farm dad taught me to never grease the ball. Too often crap would stick to the grease and make hooking and unhooking an issue. Besides, it's frickin messy! We did always jack up the trailer to make sure the hitch was hooked properly.

I have owned 15 campers over the years, 13 of them pull type, and only one new (our 5.0TA). As soon as I get the camper home the ball and coupler are de-greased. If I have a coupling problem I get a can of electrical contact cleaner out and spray the crap out of the coupler. However, I've rarely had a problem.

Once the camper is in place and chocked I put the tow vehicle in neutral and the hitch usually comes right off. Rarely do I have to move the tow vehicle back/forth to get the ball off and that's only when camping on an incline.

The last two campers I installed the Andersen Greaseless HardBall. At $14.99 it's cheap and Andersen guarantees it for life. Now if we just kept a camper long enough!

Again, different strokes.

Enjoy,

Perry

Just curious. The link you showed is for a 2-5/16" ball. Does the 5.0 take that size? My 2016 21 takes a 2". I see Andersen also sells a 2" Greaseless hardball

https://andersenhitches.com/Products...-hardball.aspx
which I might try. I only use WD40 PTFE spray on my 2" Curtiss ball but still am getting some marring on the ball. I have rubbed the underside of the Atwood knock off and can find nothing to cause a rub.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Watching this thread closely. Once did unhitch but it could of been my fault . In the beginning had a lot of trouble removing trailer from hitch . Really didn’t want to hammer it loose

After pickup Dennis said to not grease ball , but do now . Ball was really wearing and making lots of noise .

Interesting Oliver uses a bulldog hitch Pat

You do not hammer anything loose, you use the claw on the hammer to lift up on the hitch release pin.......some complained they could not lift up that level and when that happens the hammer allows more force to be used and normally it opens.

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

Different strokes.


The last two campers I installed the Andersen Greaseless HardBall. At $14.99 it's cheap and Andersen guarantees it for life. Now if we just kept a camper long enough!

Again, different strokes.

Enjoy,

Perry

Ok, got me interested in the Andersen Greaseless Hardball as my ball looks like crud is five years old with lots of miles. The problem for me is my Pro Series WDH receiver requires a 1.25" diameter ball shank and the 2" Andersen ball has a threaded shank that is 1" diameter. Found a Reese hitch ball bushing that reduces the 1.25 to 1" and is 1/2" tall. Finally got a supervisor at Andersen to double check it and he says several dealers have tried this and there just is not enough thread when using the bushing to get the nut on tight enough. So it won't work for me.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by blue_bullet

Just curious. The link you showed is for a 2-5/16" ball. Does the 5.0 take that size? My 2016 21 takes a 2". I see Andersen also sells a 2" Greaseless hardball

https://andersenhitches.com/Products...-hardball.aspx
which I might try. I only use WD40 PTFE spray on my 2" Curtiss ball but still am getting some marring on the ball. I have rubbed the underside of the Atwood knock off and can find nothing to cause a rub.

I believe our Andersen Hitch for the 5.0 has a nylon receiver. Yes, Andersen also makes 1 7/8" and 2" HardBalls.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

I'm dyslexic. Those writing with one paragraph, no periods, no space after the period at the end of a sentence, can't capitalize the first word in a sentence, or just can't capitalize, are just plain lazy and/or rude.

Oh, and if you don't indent the first word of a paragraph please add a blank line between paragraphs.

Just can't seem to get the business teacher out of me!

Enjoy,

Perry

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

I believe our Andersen Hitch for the 5.0 has a Teflon receiver.

The liners in the Andersen Ultimate coupler and Greaseless Hardball are nylon, not Teflon. That's not as slippery, but is harder and works fine.

The Andersen Ultimate ball and coupler are aluminum, so neither would be suitable without a coupler liner or ball cap. Since the Ultimate is sold as a system, there's little risk of the aluminum ball being used in an unlined coupler, but you could use the Ultimate coupler with a different 2-5/16" ball if you have one at the right height, and the nylon liner would presumably survive.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

You do not hammer anything loose, you use the claw on the hammer to lift up on the hitch release pin.......some complained they could not lift up that level and when that happens the hammer allows more force to be used and normally it opens.

Jim ,actually I had to use a huge screwdriver to get it to unlatch . Still think a hammer isn t ideal . Pat

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

Jim ,actually I had to use a huge screwdriver to get it to unlatch . Still think a hammer isn t ideal . Pat

I've found John in Santa Cruz's approach ( post #140 ), utilizing finesse, works way better, and not just with hitches. Brute force always seems to result in pain.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I've found John in Santa Cruz's approach ( post #140 ), utilizing finesse, works way better, and not just with hitches. Brute force always seems to result in pain.

Yes Glen moving the truck a little makes sense . However when it was new that didn’t work . I guess things are worn in and haven’t had any problems for awhile . Pat

[Rossue]

In an effort to help newbies I forgot to mention it really helps to pull the yoke up prior to rolling either uphill or downhill when you want to unhitch.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Rossue

In an effort to help newbies I forgot to mention it really helps to pull the yoke up prior to rolling either uphill or downhill when you want to unhitch.

That makes a lot of sense. Lifting the yoke releases the jaw so it can slide open when the ball is jogged by moving the tow vehicle a bit.

[Micheal K]

Originally Posted by Rossue

In an effort to help newbies I forgot to mention it really helps to pull the yoke up prior to rolling either uphill or downhill when you want to unhitch.

I used to do this with our previous single axle trailer before backing it from the street down our fairly steep driveway. As you said, it made unhitching much easier.

I haven't done it with our tandem axle escape because I've been concerned that when the trailer goes over the breakover point and the front axle suspension becomes much more compressed than the rear, the coupler could lift off the ball if the yoke was disengaged. Not sure how realistic this concern is though...

[ADKzookeeper]

A tire iron kept in the front storage box makes a handy tool to pry open yoke or pry up the coupler from the ball.

[cpaharley2008]

It would be nice if that tire iron could be used to operate the stabilizers. I like to have a tool that can be used in more ways than one, like a hammer and an axe.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I've had zero issues with the 'RAM' on my '14 E21... once or twice, it hasn't wanted to uncouple, I move the truck a half inch forward, no problem, uncouples easily. ditto, once or twice, the coupler hasn't wanted to latch when coupling, same thing, pull truck forward about 1/2", coupler yoke drops right into place.

This has also been our experience with the factory couplers on both of our Escapes. No issues. Knock on wood.