Greasing the hitch and ball

[Doctor Harold]

Originally Posted by MTRCYCMAN

FYI
Actually WD40 is designed to displace water. WD stands for WATER DISPLACEMENT. 40 stands for the 40th try. It was never intended as a lubricant. We as consumers decided to use it for that. Years ago, we use to use it on the ignition points when the distributor would draw moisture. It would not be a good lubricant for the ball and hitch.

Exactly!

I've pressure washed a lot of car engines. Afterwards I would spray everything inside of the distributor, including the cap (inside and out) and the car would start.

WD40 is a lousy lubricant, but on a squeaky cupboard hinge, and most household things, all you need is a lousy lubricant. You could use kerosene and it would work just as well, but you may like the smell even less than WD40.

I learned from my Dad that most mechanical things fail from lack of maintenance and lubrication. The thing about a ball hitch is that there is actually very little movement. A little horizontal movement when you make turns, a little forward and backward rotation when you go up or down hill, although most movement is a compound of both.

In my opinion it's so minor that you can get away with no lubrication at all, but eventually measurable wear has to occur. It may take years, or even lifetimes, depending on your use. With lubricant that wear will be minimized, probably to the point that the trailer will end up on the scrap heap before any measurable amount occurs.

Bottom line is: do what makes you comfortable. If it doesn't bother you, leave it dry. As for me, I don't like the thought of metal to metal movement without lubricant, so I prefer to lube the ball. In the past I've use a quality wheel-bearing grease, but I'm actually considering trying a film of synthetic motor oil.



Harold

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Doctor Harold

In my opinion it's so minor that you can get away with no lubrication at all, but eventually measurable wear has to occur. It may take years, or even lifetimes, depending on your use. With lubricant that wear will be minimized, probably to the point that the trailer will end up on the scrap heap before any measurable amount occurs. Harold

+10 on the ball not wearing out from no lube although I can see it making a difference with possible squeaking. Your coupler will wear out long before the ball because of the weaker materials their made from...you never see rebuild parts for a ball like the coupler replacement finger latches .

[John in Santa Cruz]

Well, I didn't lubricate my chrome plated 2" ball for about a year, and the chrome is worn off about 2/3rds of it, and that area has gotten pretty rusty.... so hitching up for tomorrows run to the south Sierra, I greased it with my usual green marine ball bearing grease, by squirting some on a blue shop paper towel, and rubbing it all over the surface of the ball, leaving just a thin coat.

FOr awhile I was using a stainless ball with my Casita, and I didn't grease it for a few trips, and the stainless has galled and pitted. I retired that nice alloy towbar when I got my f250 as it was about an inch too short for the tailgate to open.

top is my old and now current steel towbar with a regular steel chrome plated ball...
bottom is the alloy towbar with a stainless ball. you can see the damage to both from not greasing...

[Doctor Harold]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Well, I didn't lubricate my chrome plated 2" ball for about a year, and the chrome is worn off about 2/3rds of it, and that area has gotten pretty rusty....

I get that, but realize that chrome plating is very thin, as is the nickle plating underneath it. It also isn't very durable. Believe it or not, rust can actually act as a lubricant, although it isn't optimal.

Harold

[Sir Scampalot]

I was told to use a grease that conducts electricity because that is actually how the trailer is grounded when in tow. Is there any truth to that?

[computerspook]

I lube it. But not "liberally every time". Just a bit about once a year seems to to great. Have one of the small containers that e-trailer was talking about. Bought it for a couple bucks many years ago. Have several trailers and use it one a year as I said on those. Just toss about a tooth brush's worth of tooth past sized dolup in the hitch each year, none on the ball. Also regularly pull other trailers. If they are try inside I put about that much in the hitch.

If I am going to leave the ball on the trailer for a while I wipe it off. Still works doing this once a year. And it is like a decade and the plastic container is still half full.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by Sir Scampalot

I was told to use a grease that conducts electricity because that is actually how the trailer is grounded when in tow. Is there any truth to that?

Seven pin and four pin connectors both have a ground wire connection. I don't know that I would be concerned about grounding through the ball and coupler as long as the wiring and connectors are doing their job.

[mizterwizard]

Originally Posted by Sir Scampalot

I was told to use a grease that conducts electricity because that is actually how the trailer is grounded when in tow. Is there any truth to that?

Well, maybe but there shouldn't be. Your trailer should have a separate electrical ground. The hitch would seem like a big conductor but with the corrosion that appears everywhere it just isn't reliable.

As a mechanic I have had to deal with a lot of intermittent electrical issues associated with bad grounds. It is a very often overlooked part of the circuit that is just as important as any other part.

The hitch ball moves every time the tow vehicle or trailer moves. It is thousands of times per mile. The amount of movement is often small but it exists. Anything that moves could benefit from lubrication because the lube takes the wear, saving the parts. It isn't always the best solution though.

Consider the tracks on a bulldozer for instance. There are hundreds of joints there that have no seals and no lube yet they last long enough to be useful. If they could all be sealed and lubed then they would undoubtedly last longer but it is just too difficult to do so they run dry and open. That means they run in dirt, mud, water, sand and what ever else is around.

Not that a hitch ball has the same environment as a track but it isn't necessary to lube all joints. Sometimes it is better to just let them wear out but make them of the best wear resistant materials you can afford.

When it comes to hitches and balls it is messy to use grease as a lubricant. It also collects contamination and can become more of a lapping compound than lube. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't use anything though.

There are dry lubricants that would be appropriate. Here is an Amazon listing of dry lubricants. Note that some wet lubricants have gotten in there too but don't get distracted.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dry+lubricant&ref=nb_sb_noss

A fifth wheel plastic disk type solution would be nice but I just don't see any room for much between the hitch and the ball. Plastic bags seem like a reasonable solution if you want to take the few seconds it calls for to mess with the bag. You could heat the ball and dip it in paraffin wax. That would be much better than grease but it is a project in itself.

Just about anything non-abrasive that you could put between the hitch and ball that would sacrifice itself to protect the parts would be good but it would take some time to arrange. I'm thinking the cartridge from a cow bone might work well, one time. If you are a butcher that might be your answer.

These self lubricating balls are a good deal and at $20- $25 each they make a lot of sense compared to the mess and inconvenience of other solutions.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=greaseles...f=nb_sb_noss_2

Ultimately, it is a matter of time/money. You can run with nothing and the hitch will eventually wear out. Then it would cost you about $100 to make it like new again. You can stop every hundred miles to disassemble everything and grease it up. The hitch might last longer than the truck or trailer it goes on at the expense of a lot of time and effort plus the cost of grease and rags. You could do something in between and be happy with that. There is no one right solution.

Nobody has said anything about it so far but I will. There is no safety or handling issue here. The leverage on the hitch and ball is so great that any friction there is not likely to be a problem. It would take a very perceptive person to notice a difference between a slippery hitch and a stiff one. That is as long as we are still talking about trailers.

[Pete Hein]

For thirty bucks, I'll put up with a bit of noise!

BTW (and on-thread) I use teflon spray on the ball and on the works of the receiver. Minimally less messy.

[John in Santa Cruz]

anyways, there aren't many conductive greases..you have to add a lot of aluminum or carbon powder to make grease conductive, and that interferes with the lubrication. ok, high graphite greases are conductive but they are also really messy

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by MTRCYCMAN

FYI
Actually WD40 is designed to displace water. WD stands for WATER DISPLACEMENT. 40 stands for the 40th try. It was never intended as a lubricant. We as consumers decided to use it for that. Years ago, we use to use it on the ignition points when the distributor would draw moisture. It would not be a good lubricant for the ball and hitch.

The ball should have a viscous grease, that will stay put and smear around as needed, like axle grease, or wheel bearing grease. But the working mechanism, pivot points, catch mechanism, etc, won't respond well to grease because you can't get it into the tiny crevices where rust has formed. This is where WD40 comes in. It's perfect for freeing up and lubing those points, or the padlock that locks the catch closed. It soaks in. Then the volatile solvent evaporates and leaves a higher viscosity lube behind. It's excellent for this and lasts quite a while. I've been using it for this very thing for years. I also spray it into the plug socket occasionally to help the plug slide in and make good contact. It works well too, on the door latch and squeaky hinges.

Here is a quote from Wikipedia about the function of WD40:

"The long-term active ingredient is a non-volatile viscous oil which remains on the surface to which it is applied, giving lubrication and protection from moisture.[14] This oil is diluted with a volatile hydrocarbon to make a low viscosity fluid which can be aerosolized to penetrate crevices. The volatile hydrocarbon then evaporates, leaving behind the oil. A propellant (originally a low-molecular-weight hydrocarbon, now carbon dioxide) creates pressure in the can to force the liquid through the can's nozzle before evaporating.[14] The product is also sold in bulk as a liquid to industrial companies.[15]"

Formulation:

<25% petroleum base oil. Presumably a mineral oil or light lubricating oil.


Read it for yourself here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40

Every time the subject of WD40 comes up, someone volunteers that it is not a lubricant, in a presumed attempt to discourage it's use. Not helpful. I invite you to try it and report back how well it worked. Not as a high pressure grease, but as a mechanism lube.

BTW, water and gasoline are also lubricants, but leave nothing behind, like WD40, when they evaporate. There are about 2,000 uses for WD40 and about 1,999 of those were not part of it's original intended purpose. Sometimes, new uses are found for things.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Sir Scampalot

I was told to use a grease that conducts electricity because that is actually how the trailer is grounded when in tow. Is there any truth to that?

It has been the case sometimes, but is not proper in todays kind of use. My father used to put a steel wool pad in the coupler before setting it on the ball, to make sure it grounded well. That seemed to work OK for tail lights only. And he did not have a receiver hitch, which is another poor connection.

Some Oliver's had a missing ground wire that made the ball/coupler the ground path. This lead to poor charging and brake controller warnings.

Trailers that need their battery charged, or ones with brakes, should have a designated ground wire that passes through the 7 pin plug to a lug on the trailer frame.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Sir Scampalot

I was told to use a grease that conducts electricity because that is actually how the trailer is grounded when in tow. Is there any truth to that?

If you are getting ground through the trailer hitch and not the connector, something is wrong and you need to fix it.

[Glenn Baglo]

Well, WD-40 stinks. There is no getting around it.

I have a can of Jigaloo, which seems capable and doesn't stink. And I have a can of Liquid Wrench. The Liquid Wrench says "deoderized" on the can. I also stinks.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Doctor Harold

WD40 is a lousy lubricant, but on a squeaky cupboard hinge, and most household things, all you need is a lousy lubricant. You could use kerosene and it would work just as well, but you may like the smell even less than WD40.

my favorite squeaky hinge lubricant is Triflow, applied from the small dropper bottle with the very thin straw directly to the top of the hinge and maybe any moving crevices, work the hinge to help it penetrate, wipe up any excess. boom, no squeaks for *YEARS*

its also what I use on bicycle chains, and most anything else that benefits from a light oil.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Well, WD-40 stinks. There is no getting around it.

I have a can of Jigaloo, which seems capable and doesn't stink. And I have a can of Liquid Wrench. The Liquid Wrench says "deoderized" on the can. I also stinks.

my favorite penetrating oil for freeing rusted bolts is Kroil (or its aerosol version, AeroKroil). "The Oil That Kreeps". I think it came from the aircraft industry. I won't even try and remove those head bolts from a 30 year old motor without several liberal applications of kroil and some time to penetrate.

it smells exotic and probably moderately toxic, I do try and wear nitrile gloves any time I'm using it.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Raspy

BTW, water and gasoline are also lubricants, but leave nothing behind, like WD40, when they evaporate. There are about 2,000 uses for WD40 and about 1,999 of those were not part of it's original intended purpose. Sometimes, new uses are found for things.

I find WD40's best use is as a bug and tar remover.


its basically kerosene with a few % of light oil.

[Doctor Harold]

I've seen people wash grease off their hands with WD40, in fact I've done it myself.

WD40 is like the proverbial hammer: As Abraham Maslow said in 1966: "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."

The opposite is true also: look in many toolboxes and you can find tools that are not hammers but they have evidence of being used as hammers. Large Crescent wrenches come to mind.

I own at least 15 different kinds of hammers. I might use a ball-peen hammer to pound a nail in the wall, but that doesn't make it the right tool for the job, nor does that magically make it a framing hammer.

I have a lubricant that a locksmith told me was best for locks. If I'm in a hurry and can't find my lock lubricant, I'll grab the WD40 and use it in a lock. That doesn't make it the best lock lubricant.

When I was a kid my dad taught me to wipe the ferrule of my fishing rod on the skin on the side of my nose to lubricate it.

Once at the firing range my friend's pistol was acting up. I determined it needed a drop of oil, but the oil bottle in my range bag was missing, so I pulled the dipstick out of my truck's engine and got a drop of oil from there. It worked great.

Another time I was driving a car home that my kid had bought and it was misfiring. I pulled the distributor cap and the cam follower on the points was totally dry. I pulled the dipstick and got a drop of oil to lubricate it and get us home.

The point is: WD40 may not be the correct tool for the job, but depending on the circumstances it may be the best tool at the moment.

Whatever works, no worries.

Harold

[John in Santa Cruz]

I carry a extra heavy jumbo framing hammer in my camping kit for driving stakes, I also used a dremel grinder to widen the claw so I could pull big tent stakes out.

[mizterwizard]

Originally Posted by Doctor Harold

I've seen people wash grease off their hands with WD40, in fact I've done it myself.

WD40 is like the proverbial hammer: As Abraham Maslow said in 1966: "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."

The opposite is true also: look in many toolboxes and you can find tools that are not hammers but they have evidence of being used as hammers. Large Crescent wrenches come to mind.

I own at least 15 different kinds of hammers. I might use a ball-peen hammer to pound a nail in the wall, but that doesn't make it the right tool for the job, nor does that magically make it a framing hammer.

I have a lubricant that a locksmith told me was best for locks. If I'm in a hurry and can't find my lock lubricant, I'll grab the WD40 and use it in a lock. That doesn't make it the best lock lubricant.

When I was a kid my dad taught me to wipe the ferrule of my fishing rod on the skin on the side of my nose to lubricate it.

Once at the firing range my friend's pistol was acting up. I determined it needed a drop of oil, but the oil bottle in my range bag was missing, so I pulled the dipstick out of my truck's engine and got a drop of oil from there. It worked great.

Another time I was driving a car home that my kid had bought and it was misfiring. I pulled the distributor cap and the cam follower on the points was totally dry. I pulled the dipstick and got a drop of oil to lubricate it and get us home.

The point is: WD40 may not be the correct tool for the job, but depending on the circumstances it may be the best tool at the moment.

Whatever works, no worries.

Harold

A few years ago I was helping with a community service project to install sprinklers at the high school athletic field. The trenches had already been done with a power trencher but where ever a head was to go the trench had to be opened up a little and in some places where the trenches crossed there were spots where the trencher filled in one trench while it was digging another. So there was a bit of hand shoveling to do.

I had taken two shovels of my own just in case something like this came up. Not many others thought to do the same. One fellow was using my "other" shovel and complaining about how it wasn't a very good tool. He kept telling about how much better some other shovel was. Without tipping my hand I asked him, "Do you know why that shovel is better than the shovel you are talking about?" He said that he didn't. I said that it was because it was there. Any other shovel was not as good unless it was there.

Often we know of a better tool for the job but we don't have it handy. So we use what is near by. I've used a lot of wrenches as hammers and other tools too. I've opened bottles with my teeth or the edge of a board because I was thirsty and didn't have an opener handy.

I would not say that WD40 is the best lube for many things but when it is in hand and the other stuff is 30 miles away at the store, I use WD40. In a perfect world we would all have shelves full of various products, each with a special purpose. In the real world we just have to make do.

Only women can have every possible cosmetic for the job. Just look in any nearby purse and you will see it is true. If that doesn't get me some flames I don't know what will. Come on DonnaD. Let me have it.