Crap. New camper is stuck to my tv!

[MikeNChelle]

Originally Posted by southpaw211

So my husband (evidently the brains of this duo) brought up a good point - if we unhitch the camper without leveling, how the heck can we get it up on the lynx blocks? Duh. Didn't think of that. So I guess having leveled it first probably wasn't the cause. We did not have the stabilizers down. He is going over to pick it up later and will have the tech stand there while he hitches & unhitches. Then crossing our fingers that it works in camp driveway. As my husband put it (if there are any Star Wars nuts out there), meesa feel stoopid!

Maybe the blocks caused an unusual tweak of the hitch / ball into the TT since the TV would've still been on uneven ground. When your husband picks it up, put the blocks under it as well and see if it still works fine. I have never seen a camper dealer have a hilly and non flat parking lot. Everything works the way it is supposed to in the dealrs lot, LOL.
Hope it all works out for you.

[southpaw211]

WE DID IT!

We got home, did all the things we did before, fiddled with the latch, nothing. Then we lowered it as far as it would go, and finally the latch slid back! (it would not slide back last night). So now we know: crank it low, then lift and slide the latch. Phew!

Thanks again for all the help, couldn't have done it without you!

Karen

[Terry]

Originally Posted by southpaw211

WE DID IT!

We got home, did all the things we did before, fiddled with the latch, nothing. Then we lowered it as far as it would go, and finally the latch slid back! (it would not slide back last night). So now we know: crank it low, then lift and slide the latch. Phew!

Thanks again for all the help, couldn't have done it without you!

Karen

Awesome! It's always the little things that get ya! A year from now you will look back and laugh!

[Jagiven]

Having the TT leveled side to side and the TV, should not have anything to do with the ball latch not releasing. I have the world’s worst parking location at my place. My TT parks on the city street between trips. I need about 6” of blocks to level the rig. Often it only gets 2-3” of blocking. Only once parked in this location have I had any issues with the ball not releasing, which is where I used the technique mentioned above. I have noticed when I lift the TT to release the WD bars, one bar has no weight on it almost immediately and the other side needs the TT lifted a few more inches, before it can be released.

I recommend smearing a glob of bearing grease on the ball before your hook up. This will help the latch and reduce some of the creaking you hear.

[sylvia]

I don't know if this is true but, the rv sales person told me if you cover the trailer it will wear off the fiberglass/paint and make it dull. Is that true?

[RoadrunnerII]

I believe what you have happening is that you have cranked the tongue jack up to release the WDH arms Once you have the WD arms removed you need to lower the jack back down to release the pressure on the ball to the latch so the latch will move back away from the ball all the way. So by lowering it back down you are putting the tongue weight back on the ball and the rear of your vehicle. You don't have to go all the way back down just enough to reduce the friction on the latch
Once you lower the jack, Release the latch and then crank the tongue jack back up to release the ball.
Once you have raised the tongue a quick rock of the TV usually lets things pop apart easily.
Yes this sounds like a lot of up and down cranking on the tongue but that is what I do every time without issues.
I am thinking an electric tongue jack is in my future!

Also I use a piece of waxed paper about 12" x12" folded down twice to a smaller square held around the ball with a large rubber band around the lower neck of the ball.
Makes for a clean and lubricated connection. No squeaks because of the wax Nice and clean No grease!

When you get to your destination pitch the waxed paper and put a new piece on when ready to hook back up. Ball is always clean and therefore none on my legs hands or arms from brushing it while doing the hitch or unhitch!
For the latch I use silicone spray as it does not attract dirt

Just my two cents from an old farm boy!
RRII

[whitehawkgirl]

Hi Southpaw,
This happened to me as well, but fortunately I was in the campground owned by the rv dealership. It took one of the guys to do some heavy duty jumping on my truck bumper to release the ball ( of course the TT jack was on the ground, but extended while they did the jumping). They greased the ball and so far I have not had any trouble with it releasing, but I did have to call them when I got home and tried to re-hitch and could not get the pin to slide forward - that was remedied after a call to the service department to get some advice on slightly inching the tv forward to see if the locking sleeve/clamp...or whatchamacallit finally clamped. Good luck!

[KeithS]

My 2010 Superlite 298 RLS hitch would not release as well. A couple of times I had to release the hitch pin and pull forward, pulling the ball mount out of the receiver, then drop the ball. Usually, a flat blade screwdriver inserted in to the slot below the coupling lever, working the piece that grabs the rear of the underside of the ball to the rear, and holding it to there while cranking the hitch off of the ball, works. I have gone through the unhitching process about 10 times.