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Old 07-26-2013, 12:20 PM   #1
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Grease the ball?

You grease the ball hitch or leave it dry? If so, what's best and how often?
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Old 07-26-2013, 12:21 PM   #2
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DRY!
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Old 07-26-2013, 12:37 PM   #3
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DRY!
X2- if you use anything don't use grease. They make a Teflon lube for this purpose it's used on ball hitches and they make make a Teflon lube ring for 5th wheels. Jim
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Old 07-26-2013, 12:49 PM   #4
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Dry why would you want to get your shin greasy as well skinned
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Old 07-26-2013, 01:00 PM   #5
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You grease the ball hitch or leave it dry? If so, what's best and how often?
It depends on what you are towing.

I tow a 30 foot 12,000 lb. rolling garage with very high tongue weight behind my coach.

I always grease the ball with wheel bearing grease. Once I am at my destination, I clean up the ball and tongue with a degreaser. Before I head out again, I put a new coating of wheel bearing grease on the ball.

Why do you see OTR truckers with a generous bead of grease sitting on their "Fifth Wheel" platform before they place the trailer's king pin onto the platform?

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Old 07-26-2013, 01:21 PM   #6
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Wheel bearing grease.
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Old 07-26-2013, 01:33 PM   #7
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What would you need grease for,pulled for over 55 years without grease and never had a problem.
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Old 07-26-2013, 01:46 PM   #8
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Always used grease, never had a problem.

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What would you need grease for,pulled for over 55 years without grease and never had a problem.
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Old 07-26-2013, 05:29 PM   #9
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It'll turn corners faster with grease
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Old 07-26-2013, 05:50 PM   #10
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x10 on the grease job!!
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Old 07-26-2013, 07:11 PM   #11
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Wheel bearing grease.
Same here
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Old 07-26-2013, 07:54 PM   #12
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What would you need grease for,pulled for over 55 years without grease and never had a problem.
That's entirely up to you. It's your rig.

But there are others that may have a different opinion and since the OP was asking for peoples opinions there will be many.

You can keep doing what you've been doing for another 55 years as long as it works for you.

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Old 07-26-2013, 09:25 PM   #13
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My cousin bought a new TT, the dealer told her not to grease the 2.5/16" ball. A few months later we met at a CG a few hundred miles away. She showed me her hitch, which had a covering of shiny metal flakes on it, and asked what they were. Those flakes were the chrome-finish off the ball. The ball receiver was also dry and galled. When we hooked up to leave I lightly greased the trailer ball, she got mad and told me the dealer said not to. After we got home she called me to say thanks, it didn't screech when turning street corners now.
All my trailer balls have a coating of grease, covered with the bottom-half of a plastic water bottle when unused, to prevent getting grease on clothing accidentally. When that water bottle "cover" gets greasy, throw it away and cut another in two.

The ball is cheap to replace, the trailer coupler is not.
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Old 07-26-2013, 10:12 PM   #14
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When we had our prior TT in the shop for a complete rebuild after a tree fell on it, the shop owner said they never grease the ball. They do deliveries too. What they do is wrap the ball with a sheet of aluminum foil. I never tried it since my ball was already greased.
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