Hitch Gets Stuck On The Ball

[uechikid]

This is the fourth or fifth time we have towed this trailer. One of the times we took the trailer out to get the hitch setup we had a hard time getting the hitch to come free from the ball. Today after getting the trailer where we wanted it at a camp site, it happened again. For the life of me I couldn’t get the hitch and ball to come loose. I finally got the hitch to where there was no tension on it, and pulled the pin from the receiver then pulled forward. When the shank came out of the receiver, the hitch and ball just fell apart, like there was no problem.
I have a husky WD hitch, round bar.
Any help would be great.

[Logan X]

Sometimes I have to look at the ball in the hitch to see if it is up against the hitch wall. I move the truck the slightest bit to free up the ball. Sometimes shifting to neutral and letting the truck settle will help (remember to shift back to park).

You can and should apply grease to the ball. That should help. Also, sometimes I step on the side of the receiver hitch closest to me and rock it a little as I’m raising the tongue.

I hope that helps.

[NH_Bulldog]

The tolerances are pretty close and the angle of the ball mount due to the WD might make it a bit tighter. A bit of grease will help, as will stepping on the hitch/bumper to jostle it loose.

[linux3]

I grease the ball and spray WD40 around the clamp and that helps.
I have found that only the TT or the TV can be locked in place.
I use wheel chucks on the TT so I do not set the parking brake on the TV. There needs to be a little movement.

[uechikid]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I did grease the ball this time, that didn’t help. When I get home I’ll spray silicone up inside the mechanism. Will see if that helps too.

[sourdough]

As one of the previous posts mentioned, letting the truck/ball/hitch unbind themselves has always worked for us (except when DW forgot to pull the latch pin and tried to set the trailer down on the ball :facepalm:). I usually chocked the trailer then raised the hitch. If it just wanted to pick the truck up I lowered it a bit but left a little tension on it then released the parking brake. If it did not move and free up just looked at the hitch to see which way the ball had gone too far and let the truck move in that direction a tiny bit until the truck dropped off - now I'm talking a tiny bit....not a foot! Could never tell if not setting the parking brake helped or not but did it both ways if it was flat. Also greased the ball and lubed the latch pin mechanism.

[LHaven]

When I get home I’ll spray silicone up inside the mechanism. Will see if that helps too.

I've found on certain of my hitch mechanisms that the lock lever on top allows the lock piece inside to move away from the ball, but doesn't positively move it away. If it isn't kept properly lubed, it just sits tight until it's jarred enough to move out.

[RagingRobert]

As a newbie I found this and even getting the coupler down never easy until commonsense prevailed :) I'm sure this has been mentioned...when I hook up, drop on the ball with chocks in place move slightly forward and the wife gets the coupler down and pin in every time now. Unhooking wasn't easy at first either...you must grease the ball for sure, I use wheel bearing grease...chocks of course, move forward to lift coupler easily...the ball has to be in the middle so back up ever so slightly...with the coupler up I can see a gap and use that as a guage to center the ball...lower the jack if, it doesn't come off easy, bounce on the bumper...works every time.

[wiredgeorge]

Eat a log of pizza and french fries. Lift little lever. Get on bumper and jump up and down.

[uechikid]

As a newbie I found this and even getting the coupler down never easy until commonsense prevailed :) I'm sure this has been mentioned...when I hook up, drop on the ball with chocks in place move slightly forward and the wife gets the coupler down and pin in every time now. Unhooking wasn't easy at first either...you must grease the ball for sure, I use wheel bearing grease...chocks of course, move forward to lift coupler easily...the ball has to be in the middle so back up ever so slightly...with the coupler up I can see a gap and use that as a guage to center the ball...lower the jack if, it doesn't come off easy, bounce on the bumper...works every time.

I couldn’t get the coupler lever to come up and back.
Thanks for your advise. I’ll keep all these suggestions in mind the next time.

[JRTJH]

I couldn’t get the coupler lever to come up and back.
Thanks for your advise. I’ll keep all these suggestions in mind the next time.

Sometimes, when the coupler is "weight on" the ball, it forces the coupler rearward (as the ball rides in the cup on the coupler). That pushes against the "fingers" that sit under the back of the ball, pushing on the fingers with enough pressure that you can't unlock the lever.

When that happens, I find that if I apply "unlocking pressure to the lever" as I lift the trailer tongue with the jack, there's a "sweet spot" where the fingers will slip out from under the ball and the coupler will unlock.

It's "sort of like" when the tow vehicle "rolls back just enough to prevent the trailer from uncoupling".

[flybouy]

Exactly what John said. If the lever won't move I apply pressure with one hand while raising the tongue jack with the other. Typically when it hits that "sweet spot" it will easily move.
Sometimes if the truck to trailer are at extremes angles to level it can cause a bind.

[uechikid]

Today, when we put the trailer away, the hitch lifted right off of the ball. I noticed that the head of the receiver, where the ball bolts to, was fairly level to the ground and on the same plane as the hitch. Our driveway has a pretty good slope to it. That means that when the truck is on a level surface, the ball is actually tilted back, toward the trailer. Could the hitch and the ball be getting jammed up because the ball is not pointing straight up?

[flybouy]

I have a similar issue in our driveway. One of the advantages of the air bags on the truck. With the bags, I can lift the rear of the truck to takes the strain off the latch as the ball is pushing up into the coupler. Using the tongue jack does the opposite. By lifting the tongue and the truck the ball is being raised by the latch under the coupler. Hope that makes sense.

[JRTJH]

Some people assume that all trailer balls are the same, they aren't. In some applications, the brand of the coupler, the way it's built and the type of trailer ball make a HUGE difference. Looking at this cross section of a coupler, you can see how the ball "fits into the cavity" moving forward slightly as the fingers grip under the ball. Notice how the coupler cavity "sort of grips under the ball in front as the fingers push against the ball in the back?

Now, look at the three shank designs on these photos of trailer ball. You can see how some would "bind on the fingers" if the front lip of the coupler pushes against the shaft, forcing the ball back tight against the fingers if the rear of the trailer is higher than the ball. The same can happen if the rear of the trailer is lower than the ball, by pushing the fingers against the rear of the shaft, forcing the front of the ball tighter against the coupler lip on the front part of the shaft...

Sometimes, just changing the trailer ball to a different shaft machining will make all the difference in the world in how easy it is to uncouple and/or to lock the fingers behind the ball while hitching...

[uechikid]

Thanks for the great explanation, pics and diagram.

[James p]

Try using grease, you'll be surprised.

[Ccrew]

Eat a log of pizza and french fries. Lift little lever. Get on bumper and jump up and down.

I actually heard that Chocolate pudding helps too! :-)

[Sledog]

1) If that rusty ball in the photo is your current one, throw it away and get a new one. One with the largest diameter shaft that will fit in a properly rated hitch for your trailer weight.
2) The adjusting nut on the underside of the trailer tongue is so named because you should adjust it. New trailer, new ball, new year - adjust it. Not tight, but barely touching. Everyone thinks they are "factory or dealer adjusted", they aren't. They are owner adjusted based on the ball style, the trailer, wear and tear, etc. After initial adjustment, I check mine every year.
3) Grease the ball. I use thick, "high-pressure" full synthetic marine-grade grease, but that's me. What's important is you have a metal-on-metal (ball and trailer) situation and it requires grease.

[markjamestx]

I keep grease on the ball, and my jeans when my ball cover is not on. When the ball and hitch get stuck though (happens a lot of the time), it really depends on the campsite pad angle between the trailer and truck. Try releasing the parking brake and see if that helps. It usually does the trick for me. The DW loves the grease on my jeans, LOL.

[Folkie]

Thanks uechikid for your OP. I've been having the same issue with my 2020 Cougar 22RBS and assumed it was just me. We haven't had it long enough to use it much and the issue seemed random when it occurred. I always lube the ball before each trip so I think the times we had the issue is when the coupler is under compression like when we back into our driveway or the camp site isn't level. Then the truck is in park with the brake on and the camper is chocked. Bouncing on the bumper doesn't always work but when it does it usually scares the s**t out of me because I think the coupler is going to hit me or the truck (never really gets close). If I have to move the truck slightly then my wife gets upset when camper pops off. Lesson learned: Don't run the tongue jack up so high that the truck is getting lifted more than an inch or so by the ball.
Just went out to wipe the grease off the ball and it appears to have a smooth transition from the shank to the ball. Inspection of the coupler revealed that it was rusted inside and and felt pitted (maybe galled from fabrication?). I wiped all the grease off then hit it with some sand paper. Sprayed it out with WD-40 wiped it clean then buffed it shinny with a wire brush on my drill and cleaned it again. Made sure it was smooth to the touch and greased it with ball grease. I'll have to pay more attention to this maintenance in the future. Don't know if this was a factor or not. We are taking a short trip this weekend so I'll let you know if I see any improvement.

[mjsibe]

it helps to use a pin to hold the latch up.
Jack the trailer up a bit to put upward tension on it.
Make sure the trailer is chocked.
Then just release the parking brake on the tow vehicle
It just pops.

This usually happens when a lot of tension is between the Trailer & vehicle.
Bit of forward or reverse it will pop off.

[apachewolf]

This is not a rare problem with Keystone. I even had them replace the hitch on the A-frame and it still happen once in a while. I solved the problem by using a rubber mallet from Harbor freight, I just lift the latch lever and than tap it with the mallet. Works every time. Easy and painless.

Happy camping.

[Harried Harry]

I've had the same issue with getting grease on my jeans. My wife observed I was trying to push the tongue & receiver to get the ball to release. Once I stopped doing that and adjusted how I was working to get them apart, I stopped getting grease on my jeans.

Another thing I have done is to keep an old tennis ball on the ball. This is a great way to avoid getting grease on my jeans since the tennis ball keeps the grease on the steel ball and not on me.

Great discussion! I've learned a lot. I don't have as many issues about disconnecting since I usually use my Truck Camper but I also have a trailer to carry my Jeep when (if we aren't under quarantine) I go to a Jeep event.

[Laredo Tugger]

When I had my TT I had the same problem. I would lift the latch lever and then try to raise the tongue off the ball and it would always get stuck. I carried a large hammer that I would retrieve and tap the top of the ball housing (with some lift tension) and it would always break free. Then kind of like the monkey who discovered a rock to clobber coconuts I realized that I already had a "hammer" in hand when I removed one of the torsion bars on the WDH. Just used it to tap the ball housing. Worked great.
RMc

[Garfman]

Placing wax paper on the ball before connecting serves as a cleaner substitute for grease. Sledog is right when he suggests trashing the rusty ball. You get what you pay for when you buy balls. My preference is for Curt balls; HF or Princess Auto balls are cheaper for a reason.
Trial and error is why we can answer your questions. Better to learn about slope in your driveway than at 10 PM on a rainy, hungry Friday night.

[Folkie]

[QUOTE=Garfman;Better to learn about slope in your driveway than at 10 PM on a rainy, hungry Friday night.[/QUOTE]

You must be talking about me! Friday the 13th, Dec 2019: brand new TT first trip home from the dealer at rush hour, with improperly setup rear view camera (thanks dealer), dark and raining! Somehow got in the driveway without hitting the neighbors' cars. Strangely, I don't recall having an issue unhitching. Maybe I don't recall because of being overwhelmed by everything else. :lol:

[uechikid]

Just for clarification. The picture of the rusty ball is a picture that JRTJH posted as and example of different style ball shanks. That's not the ball on my setup.
That being said. I used to pull an inflatable dive boat that the ball looked a little like that.:facepalm:

[blubuckaroo]

Laugh all you want, but ours was in and out several times for this issue.
We've trailered for many years, but this trailer grabs the ball.
The dealer even gave up and pulled the pin.
Folkie, please share when you find the answer.

[uechikid]

Oh, and when I get grease on my clothes, I’m really pissed because I do my own laundry.

[flybouy]

Oh, and when I get grease on my close, I’m really pissed because I do my own laundry.

Wear shorts, that way the grease is on you not the pants. Works for me but I'm longlegged so I miss the shorts. :lol:

But seriously, I keep my ball cover in the bed of the truck. When I uncouple and raise the tongue I immediately place the cover over the ball. Seems simple enough even for my simple mind.

[Folkie]

I "delegated" the responsibility of covering the greasy ball to my DW. Since she is stuck with doing the laundry there is some motivation in helping me keep grease off of my shorts. Short legs = grease on shorts. :lol:

[JRTJH]

Learn to walk in high heels... That way the grease will be "slightly below the shorts and just above the knee". That makes it easier to clean it off your leg while sitting in a lawn chair with an adult beverage... It's much easier than having to lean over to even see the grease "below the knee"...

Tough part, if you have large feet, the "selection of camping heels" may be limited to only the basic styles... Most of the "frilly ones" stop at a "tight toe size" for anyone with big feet.....

[Folkie]

Stuck hitch, short legs and big feet! You're making me feel bad! :(

[JRTJH]

Stuck hitch, short legs and big feet! You're making me feel bad! :(

Hey, look on the bright side, if you're complaining about the stuck hitch, at least you're not at home pushing a lawn mower in those high heels :popcorn:

[Folkie]

:marshmallow::iagree:

[flybouy]

Thank the Lord I'm 6'3" mainly in the legs! No high heels in a men's 15 EEE and wearing "Daisy Dukes" to Expose enough leg ain't a look anyone would want to gaze upon with me as the subject!:eek:

[Phil Saran]

You have been given many good examples of how to get the ball to
break loose.

Not mentioned is check the ball and the inside of the hitch for bures
if you find any use some emery paper to clean up, also a file would
help.

[Folkie]

Not mentioned is check the ball and the inside of the hitch for bures
if you find any use some emery paper to clean up, also a file would
help.

Touched on it in post 21. I'll let you know if my attempt to clean it up the coupler makes a difference for us next week after we get home.

[notanlines]

Marshall, my eyes simply can't erase the visual with that description....:(

[Folkie]

This weekend's experience: After cleaning up the coupler and applying a generous amount of grease to the hitch we headed out to a friend's place to do some suspension work on the camper. Parking there required backing down his driveway and turning to the right to get the camper level (truck was still nose up attitude and at about 30+ deg angle to the camper. After chocking and removing the hitch bars I attempted to unhitch. Had to goose the truck forward in order to unlatch the coupler, then roll back ever so slightly to reduce the tension on the front of the coupler and step on the bumper to separate the ball and coupler. Given the vehicle attitude and slope it didn't seem like an unreasonable effort to separate them. No sudden jump or lurching of the trailer.
On the return trip I backed up my sloped driveway and maneuvered so that the truck and camper were as straight in line as possible, put the truck in park, applied the parking brake and chocked the camper wheels. After unhooking the hitch bars I lowered the jack, released the coupler latch and raised the jack. The coupler came right off of the ball without issue.
Problem fixed? Maybe. Dumb luck today? Probably. Do I have a better understanding of what's going on? Definitely.
Your mileage may very. :twocents: