I had to load a large cabinet in my truck yesterday, I jumped up and tried to flip the B&W Turnover Ball. It has been a few months since I've flipped it and was stuck. wouldn't budge.

Of course as I tugged and wiggled it, the latch would keep snapping back into place, Which would require me to jump back out of the truck and pull it out into the unlocked position again. In and out, in and out. I finally gave up and just hauled the cabinet with the tail gate down.

So I need to figure out how to get it unstuck and flip it a couple of times.  I was thinking of just hooking up to the trailer and then putting the jack down and seeing if it would lift it out. I don't know what kind of down weight the typical gooseneck coupler will tolerate. I'd hate to get the ball out and ruin my coupler in the process.  I may have to crawl underneath the truck and see if I can put a bar ontop of a jack and press it up and out from underneath.

Any ideas?

I don't know about getting it free'd up, but after you do, clean everything up with a wire brush and some solvent and coat everything with some of this.... http://secure2.data-comm.com/servlet/RBIS/-strse-214834/Anti-Seize-Compound-Silver/Detail  And add a dab to the moving parts every once in a while.

More flavors!... http://www.labsafety.com/search/Loctite/8835/?type=brand

You may have to repeat the lubricatiing a few times.

Good luck!

I would spray it with some PB Buster then hook it to the trailer and jack it up.  Wont hurt the coupler, the coupler should be able to easily pick up the ENTIRE truck off the ground.  I assume your coupler meets SAE J2638, see specs here.

http://www.bulldogproducts.net/Couplers/pdfs/Ceq-Couplers-pgs48-08.pdf

Yup. that's why I did not go with that type of hitch. Where there is winter and snow and salt... too many of them get stuck. 

Which stinks, because I would have MUCH preferred to not have the rails and plate and all that yada yada stuff in the bed of my PU.

Hope you get it unstuck. I would have greased it up somehow (WD 40 or motor oil) and then tapped on it with a hammer.

Kroil and brake fluid both are excellent penetrants. When it's loosened, ATF applied a couple of times a year will keep it free, and won't wash off.

Gard

I've got some Kroil and that's what I was thinking of spraying it with.  The oil that creeps.

I've got a dump trailer so I never haul sand or gravel or anything like that in the truck. Its easier to haul in the trailer and dump it out.

I have a tonnaue cover on my bed. So any corrision came from below.

I'll soak it  in Kroil for a day or two and then try hooking up the trailer and running the jack up till it lifts the bed.

I leave my ball in the up position almost all the time. I only flip it when I have something that won't fit in the bed with the ball up. So it stays up for months at a time. I do hook up my trailers several times a week. It's inconvienient to remove and place behind the seat several times a week.

I have a roll up bed cover that I keep on the bed most the time if possible. It keeps what ever tools I have in the bed out of sight of people walking by the truck in the parking lots. If they don't see them, they are less likely to steal them. Keeps my tools dry and out of the weather. Supposedly gives better areodynamics  for better fuel mileage when the bed is covered.  And keeps crap from blowing out of the back of my truck.

I sprayed some WD-40 on the ball and let it sit over night. Hoooked it up to my trailer and pressed the up button on my hydralic jack. Ball came straight up and out.

It was corroded around the bottom and top of the square post. Mostly the bottom where road salt and other road spray came in contact with it. I lightly sanded it with some steel wool, coated it in grease and returned it to it's place. I'll have to remember to pull it and wipe it down more often.

Only the ones that dont get greased.  If you didnt want the rails, you should have gone with the BW.  A little PM goes a long way.

Winter snow and salt arent the only things that cause rust.  I've laughed at several of my friends (who never maintain anything) when their BW's got stuck........no snow/salt down here.  Now they know why my hands are greasy everytime I mess with the GN.

No - it's not always snow and salt, it's living on dirt/ gravel roads and all that, that comes up from the bottom and gets everyplace - in all the mechanisms. Grease and dirt just don't mix.

I know several people around this area with turn-over balls. Hence my decision to do it the other way. One friend has the T/O ball, but her truck is garaged, has a bed cover, and she doesn't live on a dirt road. The only other method I've seen is to completely weld the plate and ball into the bed of the truck. I see many guys that do that.

I can, if necessary, pull the pins and remove the GN plate which leaves the 2 rails that I then put a thick rubber mat over the top.

Mine hasn't been stuck from corrosion either. Always has been dirt, but even with it getting stuck occasionally, I still like it better than the alternative.

Well this is interesting.  Are that many people really having the BW get stuck? 

Like Ive mentioned the only people Ive known with a problem didnt understand preventative maint.  I keep mine greased and have a bed mat that lays over it, but that doesnt do anything for the bottom side.  I had assumed it was my periodic greasing that keeps it moving??????????

Chad - These are the first I have heard from corrosion. I have had two stick, and seen one other and it was always from dirt wedging in around it. I have had better luck with mine with no grease and keeping it cleaned out. The first B & W I owned, I greased right away. After dealing with the dirt collecting to that magnet, I quit greasing and just keep it cleaned out and have had better luck.

My problem hasn't been dirt or junk wedging in around the shaft.

Mine had a ring of rust that extended up from the bottom and down from the top about 3/8".  The main part of the shaft was clear and still had the yellowish color of the original product. I took some steel woo and rubbed off the  rust and greased the shaft and put it back.

If you clean up the receiver in the bed well. Use a wire brush ect. and then spray with this. http://www.lubriplate.com/pdf/pds/3_22%20X-357.pdf

It will leave a dry slick coating for the pintle.

                                                                               Rod