This post is really just a show and tell for those of us who use the Pullrite Superglide Hitch.
My hitch is 13 years old and has worked flawlessly until last Saturday.

We had just got home and were trying to unhitch and the hitch mechanism was froze in place. We tried pulling forward, backing up, raising the legs lowering the legs, you know, all the things you do to get the hitch mechanism free when unhitching. Nada!

I finally had to pull the two clevis pins and raise the trailer nose up to free the assembly from the main body of the hitch.
It was here that chills went down my spine.

Like most of you, we love the mousetrap effect when hitching up. It's the sign of a nice solid capture. I even peeked to make sure jaws had circled the pin but in hind sight the angle in which I was looking would not have shown if the jaws did not completely close (bad form on my part) . I did my bump test, raised the legs and headed home.

Well, what I saw when I got the head free from the body of the hitch was that the jaws had only gone 3/4 of the way closed. The locking gear had not engaged either. (sorry no picture of that). We had towed all the way home with the hitch only partially closed.

The hitch plate was bound up and would not engage or disengage. It was really locked up. It took a ton of wd40 and a punch and hammer to get the jaw to disengage enough to release it from the hitch pin.

Something was binding up the mechanism and I had to completely dissemble it to find the issue.
My suspicion was that the jaw had fouled and jammed itself in its race but that was not it.
It was this part, the slide that drives the jaws.

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I was frozen solid in its tracks. I had to use a punch and hammer to get it loose. I used a straight edge to see if it was bent. If it was I couldn't see it.
The spring was still under max tension so getting this apart was a challenge.
There were no signs of debris but there was heaving galling marks. I don't know if this was the cause of the jaws only partially closing or if the jaws caused this damage because the hitch was not closed properly.

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I don't see anything bent or broken but something must have tweaked because it will no longer slide in its track.

I bought a new plate assembly and it came in yesterday. Not cheap but felt better replacing it at this point.

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I have always been careful when lubing these parts but I think that I will keep a better eye on this part in the future.
Here is what it looks like when new.

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So to the point of this post.
Don't forget to double check that the jaws have completely encircled the king pin and periodically check all the moving parts to make sure they are working properly.

Stay safe.