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Hensley Hitch Grease
I noted in previous threads that I had a large accumulation of grease between the spring bar cylinders. These are the cylinders into which the zerks screw and into which the spring bars snap.
I suspected a crack in a weld
At Hensley's suggestion, I removed the main unit of the hitch and sent it into Hensley MFG for inspection. It cost me $113 to ship the unit from Texas to Michigan. And I was told I would have to pay the return shipping. I had no problem with this since I primarily wanted to be sure the main unit was not damaged or that it had a defective weld. Hensley prople told me before I shipped that they had no other reports like mine.
I talked with the Hensley people after the hitch got up tp Michigan and this is what I learned. "That a few other instances had turned up, but the Hensley people who actually make the hitch said that over greasing the hitch could have been my problem" It turns out that cylinders cannot be fully welded at the top and there are gaps. Thus, when one pumps in the grease it can be forced out the gaps into the space between the cylinders at the top. It sure looks like this is what happened in my case.
Thus the mystery is solved. The Hensley manual says you cannot over grease. I suppose this is true, but it can sure lead to a mess. Now the only thing that I find irritating in my experience on this topic is that I will spend upwards of $200 to find out something that I think the Hensley people should have known from the getgo. It still seems a little inconceivable that I am about the only person who has pumped in so much grease that it is forced out not only at the bottom around the spring bars, but also at the top in "gaps" at the top of the cylinders.
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