Outside Lube (Locks, Steps, etc.)

[40_Acre_Mule]

I use gun oil. To be specific, Remington oil in the green can with the yellow top. I buy it at Wal-mart in the sporting goods dept.
It works great in the locks on the storage compartments. I usually refresh it about once a year.
I also use it on the step hinge, but I have to reapply about every six months.
For the hitch ball, I use heavy bearing grease.
For the scissors-jack stabilizers, a dry teflon lube.

What about y'all?

[kanyonkitty]

Remington gun oil in the same green can as you. and I also have one or two others, but their out in the shed, so I'll have to look at them later. But, they are all for guns to eliminate gunk build up. Some days theres a lot of rounds thru my guns.

For the ball, I use synthetic waterproof hi-temp bearing grease (mint green color when newly applied)

[Steve Collins]

Here in the frozen north, I use graphite lock lube on the locks - have to deal with freezing issues. Any petroleum based lube in the locks ends up combining with moisture and freezing up in the winter.

I lube the window mechanisms with the graphite lock lube and wipe off the excess. Same for the hinges on the doors and exterior compartments.

For the hitch ball (and the friction sway control ball) I use the white lithium grease. Keep it in a small tube in the tool box. That also lubes the weight bars where they connect to the ball platform.

I have the old style jackstands for stabilizers and they just get a few drops of motor oil every now and then. Or a spritz of WD-40.

And any electrical connections on the exterior get dielectric grease - main 7-way trailer connector, all exterior lamp bases. etc. Here in New York State, they use a lot of salt on the roads, and it finds its way into many places and starts a corrosive action on any bare metal surfaces. Electrical connections are particularly susceptible to this. I've seen standard 1156 or 1157 turn signal lamps fail in less than a year because of this problem. Even on the TT which doesn't get hauled around in the winter, this corrosion gets started due to moisture alone. Coating all the electrical connections with dielectric grease stops or minimizes corrosion problems, especially with lamp bases and in the 7-way. I do several applications of the dielectric grease to the truck end 7-way each winter.

[Mooney]

Wow- ya'll nailed it good-

Dielectric grease for, well, electric stuff....

Gun oil or graphite lube for moving stuff....

I use (for now) that little plastic can of electricity conducting grease that the RV dealer was kind enough to donate to the cause- it helps keep the ground loop going, and is nice and slippery for the ball and the weight bars....goes on thickish and smooth like Chapstick, but not nearly as goopy as regular grease (which I heard can affect the common ground that passes through the ball between trailer and truck).

[Hematite]

I spray HD Silicone in the locks and on sliding surfaces, like windows. I also spray silicone on all the trailer and truck electrical connectors to stop corrosion.

I am using normal wheel bearing grease for the trailer ball but, after what Mooney said, I will look into another product. Lubrimatic makes a dielectric grease, I wonder if that is heavy duty enough for the hitch ball?

[Mooney]

Aha!

I knew CW would have the stuff....

This is what I use and have found I love.

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/s...be/skunum=9192

remember, with this stuff, a little goes a LONG way- the container I have (an older looking tub- should be the same stuff though, it's the same name) has the consistency of Chap-Stick- you don't need to slather on a lot.

[precorguy]

ok, use graphite on the locks and use a hitch ball lube on the hitch ball -- its also mint green - so may be the same as mentioned above.

have used wd 40 to clean or unstick moving parts and then silicone on gasgets etc.

i use a white lithium greese on the jacks.

what i can't get under control is the step off the bedroom at the rear of the trailer --- have tried almost everthing and well it is stubborn to move period!

if anyone has had this problem and knows of some sort of cure, i would love to know!

[Hematite]

Well, I had a hard to move rear step on the T-2499. I soaked it with WD40 many times and worked it back and forth many times until it got better. lots of rust poured out of the hinge joints. Finally, the rust wasn't coming out but it wasn't a lot easier to move. I compared it to the front step which was VERY easy to move. After studying the rear step, I realized that it had been bent at some point, maybe while it was delivered? I judiciously used a sledge hammer to straighten it (it was bent towards the front of the trailer). Then I used a motorcycle chain lube on the hinges and it was done! Now it is absolutely effortless to move the step in and out!

[chuck & lori]

I use the same teflon/light oil spray lube for locks, sticky steps, etc. as I use for my bicycle chain. For the stabilizer jacks I use the same parafin based liquid lube I use for the chain on my mountain bike. It doesn't catch any dirt as it dries once out of the bottle. They make a similar lube in a spray can for motorcycle chains. My step son uses that on his dirt bike chain. Might be easier to get into tight places. I use what looks like white lithium grease for the ball. It is labeled specifically for that application, and is marketed by Reese.
My step son cautioned me not to use too much grease on the ball because the heat generated at that location by friction can cause the grease to ignite. Sounds wrong to me-if this was true I would think my wheel bearings would go up in flames long before my hitch! Anyone ever hear of this happening?
Thanks.

[Sunline Fan]

Chuck,

I've never heard of that before. If you are worried, I'd use a wheel bearing grease on the ball, as it's rated for a higher temp. However, the ball really doesn't move all that much or all that fast, so I don't see how it could heat up that much. For those of you from MI, maybe a trip down M-119 near Cross Village would heat it up enough .

I use the following- I suppose they aren't the best choices, but it's what's available:

- Ball & all hitch parts: White Lithium grease
- Door Locksets: I usually take them all apart and oil them with just a standard oil from the oil can. When I get a new to me coach, so far none of the doors will close by pushing them. You have to open the latch to close it. As soon as I lube them internally, it closes with very little effort.
- Locks: I usually don't touch them, but if I need to, I'd use WD-40.
- Steps: I have the older style, which greasing them really wouldn't gain much.
- Jacks: I've used white lithium in the past, but I like the idea of a dry Teflon lube. I can't tell you guys how many times I've pulled all four jacks off and cleaned them on the bench. This is mainly after going in the woods where the jacks are dragged through sand. For this reason is why I haven't done the ones on the toy hauler. I have a feeling I'm going to now look into the dry Teflon for those, and mine once they get painted.

Jon