RE: Hitch question

[slowpez]

 
Can I paint the ball on our hitch with metal primer and then chrome spray paint?
 Will painting it interfere with how it attaches?  I can t think that it would but I m not sure.
 Thanks, Susan

[ForestCreature]

 slowpez
I m going to take a wild stab at this one. I m sure someone will correct me if I m wrong.  But I think the ball has electrical grounding properties, and by painting it you may disrupt the ground. With what you spend on paint and primer you can have a new shiny ball for the same money.

[mikewilley]

 slowpez
If your wiring harness is OK, the electrical grounding on the hitch should not be a problem.  In fact, most class III hitches are anodized, which makes them virtually non conductive to electricity anyway (but I digress
 
 I don t think it will hurt anything to paint you ball, but the rubbing of the ball and coupler will almost certainly remove all the paint anyway.
 
 I am guessing that you are asking because part of your ball is getting rusty where the chrome is rubbed off.  This happened because of the rubbing I talked about above.  When you get your new ball, use a little lithium grease on it before hitching up and make sure you have enough tonge wait on your trailer.
 
 hope this helped.
 cheers,

[mike4947]

 slowpez
Susan there are only three sure cures for a rusty ball.
 1) Buy a $3 cover so you don t see the rust.
 2) Buy a stainless steel ball, no rust but they do get pricey.
 3) If you have a receiver type hitch pull the drawbar when not towing.  Which is good advice all the time as if you ve every had to pound out a drawbar that had rusted into the receiver you d know what I mean.
 In any case keep a little lube on them, not so much for rust prevention but for preserving the ball and coupler on your trailer from wear.
 Any kind of lube will work. People have even used waxed paper folder over several times and it works fine.
 Myself even though I ve got a stainless ball and pull the drawbar; I still grease the ball and use a cover to keep the grease from getting everwhere.

[slowpez]

 slowpez
Thanks for the replies.  Our ball became rusty the first time we took the PU out - turns out it wasn t seated on the hitch correctly and when the PU fell off the hitch the sway bar became wedged so tightly we couldn t get it off.  Had a heck of a time getting the PU up.  However, that s a different story.  We do take the hitch off between trips, quess I was just after the aesthetics.  You know, a shiny ball indicates you must put a lot of love into your unit.  I will learn to love the rust and think of it as our PU aging gracefully.

[JonesFamilyJayco]

 slowpez
I went with the cover for the ball.  I started placing grease on the ball to make it easier to hook up/un-hook the hitch (it was starting to get real difficult).  It helps alot-hitch now is very easy to use.  The cover keeps the grease from making a mess.  
 
 I just went with a simple black hitch cover.  They make some really neat ones that look like fish, dogs, deer, etc.