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Check your balls!

I hope to God that I never lose a trailer...I had a blow out the other day and that scared the shit outta me....I had our bronco in two on it and the tire blew, threw the trailer and my truck to the right and hit the curb hard....if it wasn't for the curb it wouldn've been worse....
 
checket mine, turned it 5 full turns to tighting it up! thanks for this thread!! i would probley never check it! i probley will weld it up or atleast tac it!
 
This happened to a guy I ride JetSki's with. I was right behind him when his came loose and his 2 year old MINT 'Ski and trailer met a Telephone Pole & Fence at about 50MPH.
 
Ranger said:
make sure to spot weld it to the hitch not to the thread, you never know if you might need to change balls... unless you want to buy a specific hitch for each size.
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Thanks ill do that!!

Mad Maxx said:
This happened to a guy I ride JetSki's with. I was right behind him when his came loose and his 2 year old MINT 'Ski and trailer met a Telephone Pole & Fence at about 50MPH.
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ouch...i bet his pride was hurt more than anything!
 
Yea, it was painful to watch. See it come un-hitched, nothing I could do, see the sparks from the pavement, then a cloud of dust, and a 'Ski & trailer in a bunch of pieces, nooooo good.
 
sodfarmer said:
We had a 2 5/16 ball that would come loose frequently. So we dipped the threads in liquid fertilizer before we tightened it. It never came loose again.
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Bet you could not get it off if you wanted, bet it started to rust before your eyes after the fertilizer bath :yesnod:
 
This is an eye opener and brings up that we should all check our balls (and trailer) every time we hook up and at every stop. It's just a good idea. If your married (or g/f), you might be able to get them to check your balls too.
 
upbrakie said:
This is an eye opener and brings up that we should all check our balls (and trailer) every time we hook up and at every stop. It's just a good idea. If your married (or g/f), you might be able to get them to check your balls too.
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i swear the wife has mine checked in her purse sometimes....

atleast she let me buy a duramax....
 
We have a heavy duty Tri-ball hitch, works slick, and no nuts to come loose. I have had one incident with a trailer, was pulling a fully loaded 16000# water trailer home from town, and on the highway the tire shot off, every lug broke, all eight, with a 22.5 semi tire on a steel wheel, had to limp it 3/4 mile to a site my parents own. Then we had to go get the 200+ lb tire out of the ditch, luckily, when it shot off, it went into the corn field, then came back and stopped by a field approach. Also lucky we have a loader tractor at that farm, that would've been impossible for my mom and I to load into the pickup.
 
Ranger said:
make sure to spot weld it to the hitch not to the thread, you never know if you might need to change balls... unless you want to buy a specific hitch for each size.
Click to expand...

I found it to be better to have a dedicated hitch/ball for each size, less chance of having it come loose swapping hitch balls, cost more to do it this way IMO safer because you aren't disrupting the ball, torque it properly with locktite & lockwasher, they don't come loose, from my experience it's when I used to get in hurry swap the ball, torque it to "good enuff" wrench tite, and roll with it, then find out it wasn't "good enough tite", IMO only safe way to tow is to go biggest on everything, is the $40 difference in say brake control of lesser capability worth a life or equipment damage.

Does not pay to scrimp on cost when towing.
 
Several years ago, I almost lost a new trailer with two brand new snowmobiles when the ball came loose. I didn't notice anything wrong until I went to unhitch the trailer after driving 8 hours at night in the middle of a snow storm.

I went to unhitch from the car and WTF? The ball was completely loose. Only four more threads and the nut would have fallen off. That was a brand new hitch that was installed the night before and everything was tight when we left for the trip.

Ever since then I use Locktite in addition to the lock washer and I always check my balls every time I make a stop to eat or for fuel. :)

Some of the balls I've used have a hole in the shaft for a cotter pin after the nut is tightened.
 
Glad to see everyone is ok.
Navion-smart thinking
Everyone learns from others accidents
 
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