Does anybody have any experience or input on shock absorbing ball mounts? I'm getting a trailer at the end of the month and needed a ball mount, and I found this on sale at Princess Auto for $3.70...Amazon.com has it listed for $64.99 so I figure it was probably a safe buy for the price.

Anyway, I'm just curious how exactly it works, or if it makes much of a difference in towing at all

If you want to check it out, just take out the space in the http

ht tp://www.amazon.com/Robin-Industries-Shock-Absorbing-Mount/dp/B000VZAFM2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1237666865&sr= 1-1

 

So nobody's come across one of these before?

 

Never heard of it myself.

 

This is from the site you referenced:
Product Description
Shock absorbing ball mount features a patented Elastomeric Torque Tube Design that isolates vibration in all directions from road surface conditions, starts, stops and shifting cargo in the trailer for a smoother ride. U.S.A.
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Not that I am against innovation, but I like knowing everything that is holding my trailer to my tow vehicle is solidly welded/bolted together.

 

It's kind of hard to explain but there appears to be 3 parts to this thing. There's the part with the ball mount itself, it's on a solid 1.5" bar, this goes into a standard 2" tube, and there's a 1.75" spacer in between.

The bar the ball mount is on is long enough that the hitch pin goes through it as well as the normal 2" part.

Clear as mud?


edit: It looks to be pretty solidly built. It's a class 3 rated for 6000lbs so it should be way overkill for what I'll be towing anyways. I'm more curious about it's shock absorbing claim

 

Used to use one on the 3/4 ton to tow big boats, I doubt very much that the jk would be able to haul enough for you to notice any difference. I went back to a solid 2 5/16 ball. the elastic nature will be of no use to you with light loads and they take up more space when stored.

 

I don't see how it'll take up more space when stored...it's pretty much the same as the standard ball mount I had. I'm pretty sure it is heavier though. Either way, it's going to spend most of its life locked into the Jeep or in the trailer, so storage isn't really an issue

Either way, it was cheap enough that as long as it works to pull my trailer, shock absorbing or not, I'm sure I'll be happy with it