What type of hitch is this?

[GN2018]

Clearing out the in-laws place.  Father passed and mother is with Alzheimer’s so time to sell the house.  I came across this hitch and was wondering if anyone could tell me what it is.  What is the purpose of the small ball?

[Jglew82]

The smaller ball is an attachment point for an anti-sway device. 

[nht mike]

That is the head for an equalizer type hitch. The small ball is for the attachment of a friction type sway control. There should be two spring bars to go with it.

[GN2018]

Is it generic or did father in law weld that on there for a specific application?

[aseibel]

If he welded that himself, he did a good job. I think it looks like it was bought that way.

[reardiff]

if you do a google search for Trailer Sway Ball Mount you'll get plenty of results.  Most look like this, but some are welded one piece like you have. 

 

[garagerog]

Looks like a custom job to me, with the back-plate, even the trailer ball appears to be welded to the ball mount although with less weld than the smaller/auxiliary ball. The welded areas have taken less rust than the original parts.

[GN2018]

Probably should just leave it out for the metal scrapper.  Doesn't seem like something anyone would want or anything I could trust to give to someone.  Father in law was known to "rig" things.

 

[idnative1948]

I have been using that one on my last three trailers. Mine looks exactly the same. 

[jumpinjoe]

I've seen a couple of these over the years and have been told they were an early attempt at a WDH designed by "Uhaul". I cannot and will not swear they are responsible for it, but I have seen at least one with a 2 1/8" ball welded on it. That size ball was a special ball size used by "Uhaul" for a while as I understand to prevent them 'walking' away. Again, I can't swear to that, but I have no other answer as to where those odd ball 2 1/8" balls originated.

 

In complete honesty, I owned one just like it for many years (but without the little friction control ball on the side) and actually gave it away about 6 months ago. It's a perfectly fine and adequate WDH if the ball height matches your load coupler's height. I used it primarily as a simple HD ball mount when I didn't really need a WDH. Have no idea what the spring bars were rated at.

 

To the OP ........ if you find the spring bars with it, I would advise you hang on to it. It's not truly an antique or anything, but it will provide you with a super duty straight ball mount/hitch, and if need be can be used to use as a WDH if ball height and coupler height are close (we'll say within an inch high or low). Oh yeh, I'd advise measuring that ball to ensure it's not a 2 1/8".

 

Regards,

Joe

Edited October 23, 2019 by jumpinjoe
poor formatting