Choosing Trailer Balls and Switch Balls
So you ’re ready to buy a trailer orb . But how do you go about choose the correct one for your fomite ? There are four cistron to consider here : trailer weighting , the diam of the hole on the ball mount , the heaviness of the Lucille Ball mount platform on the receiver , and the size of the laggard coupler [ source : etrailer.com ] .
First , let ’s get to do it a little more about weight - specifically , gross trailer weightand tongue weighting . everlasting dawdler weightis the fully loaded free weight of the dawdler you ’re towing , include any and all gear place on it . Tongue weightis the downward pressure that the trailer exerts on the ball [ source : Truck Stuff USA ] .
The most important factor in choosing a laggard formal is its gross prevue weight unit rating . Each ball lists its own weight electrical capacity . Be careful here : Your trailer recipient may be rated to carry up to 10,000 pounds , but if your ball is rated at 5,000 lbf. , that ’s the utmost you could tow . In increase , always make certain the hitch ball ’s weight unit rating is cracking than the gross poke exercising weight so you do n’t clog the towing equipment .
Trailer ball are separate by the dimensions on the unlike parts of the unit . There ’s the diameter of the egg itself ( the distance around the center of the testis ) , the stem ’s diameter , the stem ’s distance , and the size of the circular piece of music of metallic element between the ball and shank . The most plebeian ball size of it is two inches in diam , but heavy - duty industrial trailer balls can go up to 2 1/4 " . The diam of your chunk mount ’s hole must be no more than 1/16 " greater than the formal shank diameter in ordination to fit [ source : etrailer.com ] . The necessary shank length is determined by the heaviness of your ball mount political platform - you do n’t want to get a bollock whose shank is so low you ca n’t lock the junky in place . You ’ll also ask to purchase a clump to fit into your coupler .
In short , you need to bribe a ball that ’s 1/16 " smaller than your globe mount ’s hole and that can support an amount of weightiness greater than your trailer , has a long enough shank to fit into your ball mount program , and whose diam also fits into your coupler .
In this next section , we ’ll instruct how to by rights put in hitch accessory like trailer ball and switch balls so you could part towing .
