Trailer hitch latch adjustment

[Ian Brantford]

Howdy. I find that I am starting to get some forward-reverse trailer sway. Upon inspection, it looks like the hitch's latch has about 1/16" of play. Any previous trailer that I have used has had an adjustment screw in some obvious place to correct this.

I looked in the Boatmate owner's manual, and the only possible issue that it seems to cover is an off-round hitch ball. However, one that I tried is little-used and the other one is brand new. It does not appear to offer any way to adjust the position or tension of trailer's latch itself.

Before I bother to look up my trailer's model (it's the tandem trailer for my 2005 Moomba XLV) and then contact Boatmate... can anyone here point out an easy fix?

Thanks in advance.

[Ian Brantford]

Bump. Any quick advice?

[mmandley]

Ian are you refering to the the tongue of the trailer where the hitch ball goes into? I have a slight longated tongue on my trailer. It has a lip on the front so when the truck pulls the trailer it locks it in place better. Then the cover latch that snaps down on the top of the tongue causes a tongue to slide up inside under the back edge of the ball on my hitch.

I hope you understand my description.

I found it easiest to unhook my trailer by backing it up and then just unlatching and raising it off the hitch ball because of the way the trailer tongue is designed.

When my trailer is on the truck there is a little play front to back on my hitch ball. Its also a 2inch ball.

[Razzman]

Ian, all UFP A-60 actuators have play in them, that is if I'm understanding what your describing. There is no adjustment for that.

[Ian Brantford]

Here is a picture. I drew white arrows around the rear of the ball. The latch leaves a gap of at least 1/16". I can only speculate that this used to be tighter, leading to the new behaviour, as I never had reason to so closely inspect for play before.

I initially suspected that a tire had become dented or off-round due to new employees at my marina using round rocks or square lumber as temporary wheel blocks. However, trailer tires are supposed to be formulated to resist such things (because they sit for so long and car tires would get flat spots). All parties have resumed using proper wheel chocks, but front-rear sway remains. I haven't actually towed it for at least 3 weeks now, so I'll give it another try.

I tried towing with two trucks in quick succession, just to verify that it was not some new issue there.