Here is a picture of the hitch as it was last night when I was fighting it. It's a Blue Ox hitch.

 

More important question here is what is a Nissan guy doing on a Ford forum?

 

A. The RV info here is way better
B. Superduty is coming this fall

 

I've got that same style coupler on my camper and car trailer. IMO, it is a very forgiving design.

Odd

The only thing I can think of is that the latch part of the coupler must be hitting the back of the ball at the same time the front of the coupler is touching the front of the ball. The angle of the head is probably what is making that happen.

One thing I've found with that design is that you have to get the latch pulled back far enough to the the pin back in latch in the open position. The way that latch swivels down onto the ball when the lock slides forward makes it possible for the locking mechanism to be in the way even with the latch slid back into the open position.

Now that I think about it, I seem to remember problems like this until I learned to pin the lock open. The latch goes back a lot farther than you would think to get the locking mechanism fully out of the way. The only way I've found to know it is fully open is by putting the pin back in the latch.

Try pinning it open and see if that helps.

If not, driving the rear of the truck up on blocks might help too. That would reduce the angle of attack the ball mount has relative to the coupler.

 

When looking down at the hitch I was able to see the ground through where the latch slides. Maybe seeing the ground isn't enough clearance and I'll try sliding the latch back further. The ball seems to get stuck at the front of the coupler. I did get the ball to go back in the coupler when driving the truck in reverse, but it still wouldn't come out.

 

I think it is catching the edge of the lock and binding. When you hook up, the ball will push the latch back and out of the way, but by design it will bind the other direction.

Something easy to try, anyway.

Let us know!

 

Success!! I greased the snot out of the coupler and for good measure the ball too. Once I jacked the tongue up high enough (with the latch released) it popped right off. It worked twice the same way.

The toy hauler weighed in a tad bit over 8,000 lbs. That's pretty much dry.

 

It should not really pop on or off if it were working correctly. Your latch on the trailer may be bent or not fitted properly. The tongue should simply rest on the ball and then the latch locks under the ball to keep the tongue on the hitch. There should be no binding or catching at all.

 

Sous, I agree with you. But given my prior disconnects, I'll take a pop off that only takes 1 minute.

 

Anyway you can take a picture of everything hooked up?
To me that WD hitch doesnt look right.
A lot of problems can be pressure forward or backwards.
Chock your trailer wheels then put your truck in neutral to relieve the pressure...then park and park brake.

 

The picture in post #31 shows it hooked up except for the torsion bars. The picture below is with everything connected. It leveled out the front end nicely.

The ball mount does have a slight lean towards trailer. I added that. It didn't seem to have much tension. 3 links in the chain brings the bar to about 3/4 inch below the trailer frame. One more link and it is right at the frame.

New questions: can I add sway control to my existing setup? Do I need to?

 

The blue ox is advertised as having built in sway control. If it works as advertised, I doubt you'll need anything additional.

I think etrailer had some videos on how the sway control works.

 

Looking at the socket of the coupler that fits over the ball, it appears to me that the inward curve of the leading side is a bit excessive. This is going to cause the socket to capture the ball and not allow it to easily fall out. To me, this is a good thing when traveling down the road, and an inconvenient thing when trying to unhitch.
I'd say that copious amounts of lubricant is your best solution. Otherwise, the next time you go to hook up, lower the coupler down until the smallest diameter of the coupler is at the widest dimension of the ball, then take a look up underneath to see how much clearance you actually have around the perimeter of the ball. As mentioned, I'd bet the latch is adjusted just a bit tighter than it needs to be, decreasing the size of the "sweet spot" that allows the coupler to raise up clear of the ball.

 

I was thinking that the coupler looked a little more conforming than what I'm used to.

So far, the axle grease seems to have helped.

 

Use grease. I have used both of these with success:
https://www.amazon.com/Reese-Towpowe.../dp/B0008F67JU
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X70LZA...EJYDWSE1ESN3BC


Even then sometime I have to jack up the trailer tongue, then jump on the truck hitch to disconnect. It all depends if the trailer has rolled forward or back a 1/2" or more.