Trailer coupling will not latch down onto tow bar

uncle-mofo

Bought a boat recently which came with it's own trailer. My car has a 50mm tow bar and the trailer coupling says it is 50mm also.

The coupling sits down onto the tow bar but the handle does not click down fully into place.

It is as if the tow ball is slightly too large, but there does not seem to be any adjustment on the trailer coupling. The coupling is a a Bradley double lock, all guides online seem to show various ways of adjusting nuts to vary the tension, but this coupling seems to have none of that.

Am I missing something?

hoodie6029

Bit of cooper grease on the ball? Belt of a lump hammer?

uncle-mofo

Have tried all that along with an insane amount of GT85. The mechanism itself moves smoothly so I don't think that's the issue

Doe Tiden

Have you used the hitch before?

I had a similar issue with my ball hitch when it was new it was just from the paint on it

uncle-mofo

It is a new hitch and it is painted! I see now that they should be sanded down which never crossed my mind. I will give that a go.

Thanks

cyborg

Having the same ussue with a bradley hitch ,have sanded the ball but still not fitting, did you have success?

Wildly Boaring

Some hitches particularly on odd trailers ef boat trailers can be cheap hitches with strange mechanics. As above maybe its the paint, but on a normal ball hitch I've never had the issue.

Try it on another ball hitch if someone near has one on their car.

BTW I have seen fairly serious issue getting a hitch off a new ball. Have a decent jack handy