Just a reminder... check your balls!

[Tanner]

No no... not the one's between your legs. At least I would hope you don't have to check if they're there.... well... maybe some of you married folk do


So I went to visit my dealer today, 4 hours away. Went to drop the boat off, and noticed when the trailer came off, the ball moved w/ it!

I had bought a new drop and ball combo b/c of my lift. They came put together from the manuf., but I figured I had better double check them. I cranked and cranked and got them as tight as I could. Normally I use red loc-tite to lock them up, but didn't this time. Well, some how how the nut backed out and was all the way flush w/ the bottom of the ball. I have no clue how this happened, but boy did I get a lump in my throat when I saw it. Talk about something I would never want to see. I was on some very twisty and windy roads in the mountains, so it would have been very bad news for me and possibly others if that nut had dropped all the way.

So moral of the story.... grab your balls and give them a twist

[da.bell]

lol, thanks for the "head"s up. he he he Okay, no pun intented.

[hoopykat]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWCH!

oops....wrong ball......didn't read the whole post!

-Mike

[CP3]

atleast it didnt fall of

Id hate to loose a ball

[Lunchbox]

I picked up one of these for this exact reason... It's made by Master Lock...

It has a pin that locks the ball in place so that it won't come off as easy when you are turning with the trailers...

I got mine from Checker Auto for about $25 for the whole kit...







You can go to http://www.towingtroubles.com/ to find out all the research Masterlock did on the dangers of towing...

[kko]

No no... not the one's between your legs. At least I would hope you don't have to check if they're there.... well... maybe some of you married folk do


So I went to visit my dealer today, 4 hours away. Went to drop the boat off, and noticed when the trailer came off, the ball moved w/ it!

I had bought a new drop and ball combo b/c of my lift. They came put together from the manuf., but I figured I had better double check them. I cranked and cranked and got them as tight as I could. Normally I use red loc-tite to lock them up, but didn't this time. Well, some how how the nut backed out and was all the way flush w/ the bottom of the ball. I have no clue how this happened, but boy did I get a lump in my throat when I saw it. Talk about something I would never want to see. I was on some very twisty and windy roads in the mountains, so it would have been very bad news for me and possibly others if that nut had dropped all the way.

So moral of the story.... grab your balls and give them a twist

good point. i cant tell you how many times i have helped customers take their boats off and found a loose ball. i always grab and give a twist b4 i put a boat on a truck. glad nothing bad happend.

[dogbert]

No no... not the one's between your legs. At least I would hope you don't have to check if they're there.... well... maybe some of you married folk do

LOL, rest assured, mine are quite secured...

[zad0030]

we put a long pipe on the end of the wrench and tightened it up. Hasn't come loose since.

[Tanner]

These are what I usually use lunchbox.... they lock themselves in as well. But that didn't stop the nut from working itself loose this time.

[oktige]

wow i would have never thought this would happan with a lock washer! even with the lock washer. i have always used a 24'' pipe wrench and get it just as tight as i can get it. I've never had any problem.. maybe the ball guys need to start using nylock nutz

[jacques2727]

What about using some hitch grease on the ball. This allows everything to rotate without moving the ball/nut assembly and working it loose. I re-apply 2 to 3 times a year and have never had a problem. Maybe it's not the right thing to do, but I suggest greasing your balls.

[chadster2]

I hate greasy balls so I stopped using grease. I messed up more than one pair of pants, bumping into them.

[Guest]

What about using some hitch grease on the ball. This allows everything to rotate without moving the ball/nut assembly and working it loose. I re-apply 2 to 3 times a year and have never had a problem. Maybe it's not the right thing to do, but I suggest greasing your balls.

We have done the same thing for over 35 years and never had a problem with the ball. We have grease our pants a few time so now I am in the habit of removing the draw bar every time we are done for the day.

We screwed up twice where we where not locked to the ball properly and a boat came off and another time a camper but at a few mph thank goodness. Now I triple check that.