Quote:
Originally Posted by ng2951
Yeah, even with the TV hitch ball removed, the hitch will not move to locked position without tapping. I have lubed it with hitch grease, but it still will not move forwards or back without "assistance."
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Wait a minute. Do I understand that the latch handle won't move up and down even when there is no hitch ball in the coupler? That's a way different problem. The first thing I would do is go with Rumbleweed's suggestion to spray some lube (find the thread about the Teflon spray) into the area between the handle and the body of the coupler. You can't get grease in there, but spray lube will go in well - I use it when things seem to get sticky. If that doesn't work, Commodor47 may be right when he suggests a deformed pawl, but it would have taken a fairly significant event to deform it.
My suggestion is that you bite the bullet, put the trailer tongue up on the tongue jack, lower the front scissors jacks for safety - and get down on your back and peer up into the coupler while you or an assistant work it back and forth. The mechanism is surprisingly simple, but from the top, its workings are not obvious. When you get under it, you may see what is hanging it up.
By the way, I have a friend whose motto used to be "If force doesn't work, you haven't used enough." Back when I was new to trailering, I took his advice once when the coupler bound up. Bad idea. I broke something in the coupler. That's when I finally got down on my back and examined it from the underside. Once I got down there and the
AHA! light came on, I had a welder do a quick fix for the simple problem I had created. And I began moving the tow vehicle forward a touch when the coupler binds. And I have never had another problem. After these experiences, my wife and I, who alternate roles of driver and coupling assistant, both know when to yell "Pull forward a bit!"
Bill