An ol' timer asked me yesterday why I don't grease my trailer ball, it is a pivot point and should be greased. I've been towing my construction trailer for over 7 years and have never greased the ball. What are everybody's thoughts on this?

 

I always do! Its part of my pre trip! I also grease the hitch receiver on all 4 sides, no real reason for it just how I do it!

 

I tow about 12,000 miles a year; I try to grease the ball up every couple of weeks or so. Basically, anytime I'm about to connect a trailer, if the ball looks dry, it gets greased.

 

Never greased mine.

 

I grease mine every camping trip. Don't want to mess up the coupler on the trailer end. It would be a real PITA to replace that.

 

Grease the ball and have a cover on all my ball/drop combos. The grease not only provides lubrication to prevent wear and friction it also keeps the ball from rusting. Make sure to wipe out the old grease and put a thin layer of grease on the inside of the coupler also. The coupler likes to collect dirt.

 

Mine is grease-free and rusted to heck currently. It's mostly on there to prevent idiots from completely bashing the back end should I get rear ended, plus it gives people a heads up when driving through the parking lot.

I would say put grease on it though, there's been more times when I've had to jump up and down on the bumper when trying to release the trailer off mine, grease would've helped.

 

Same here. I've never greased mine, but I don't see where it would hurt.

 

I put a greese layer on before every trip and wipe it clean when i get home.

 

Thanks for all of the input, I guess I won't bother, basically because I haul my trailer 5-6 days a week for the most part, I'm a handyman and my trailer has almost as many miles as my truck. If it's unhooked I'm usually plowing snow or hauling debris to the dump, lol At 116,000 miles, I have noticed (I think) that my brakes on the truck have been saved as I've never replaced the rotors the pads just once, but the dual axle trailer I'm on my 3rd set. Knock on wood!?

 

50% of my miles are towing, never greased the ball. guess it wouldnt hurt

 

I grease towing commercially, but never did towing my own trailers. Even without grease the ball/hitch will outlive the trailer in average use, while occasionally I wear expensive pants going boating.
One option for good looking ball is stainless steel, what also has lower friction than regular steel
Than ball greased on last trip and recoupled with all the sand attracted to it will not help at all.

 

I never greased the ball when I was pulling my utility trailer, U-Hauls, etc. Light weight stuff.

Then I got a travel trailer with a WD hitch. On these, it is hard to get the nut on the ball really tight. In fact, you have to put a pipe wrench on the ball to tighten it. A wrench won't fit the nut underneath.

Didn't grease it either. Until after an 1,100 mile trip I found my ball had begun to loosen itself. From then on I have greased every ball, and kept a cover on them when not in use.

Grease the pin on my fiver now. Bottom line is, when metal rubs on metal, it should be lubed.

 

I always grease mine up before hooking up the trailer.

 

^^^^^This^^^^^