B&W Gooseball wear and noise in factory puck?

[b1lanc]

Pulling a 15K 5th wheel with a Goosebox Gen 2 and a B&W Gooseball. Gooseball seems to have some play in the factory puck system and I was getting a clank (loud) on start/stop. I tried a light coating of red lithium on the shaft, but that did not cure the noise though it did help. I've seen posts recommending lubing and not lubing the shaft and ball bearing area. B&W sent me a new kit after reviewing pictures and video and the new ball has the same play when inserted in the puck and locked. I think the play is excessive but not sure what normal might be?
After a 4500 mile trip, there were gouges on the top of the ball (no foreign debris in the Goosebox). Ball was well lubed the entire trip. The gouges were not normal and happened in the last third of the trip with white lithium. Inspection of the Goosebox shows nothing that would have caused the gouges on the ball

 

[CFE]

Following - as I have a similar set up with the 20k goosebox.

Wondering if a different brand gooseball might be better?

 

[IndyRamMega]

Interesting....I run the same ball with my GN towing 20k plus and mine still looks pretty new....getting ready to take a 4k mile trip and will check it after to compare.....

 

[b1lanc]

I'm thinking about a Reese to match the Goosebox, but I think they have had a recent recall for their GM OEM balls - not sure about RAM. They have a ball that is only about a half inch lower than the B&W whereas I think with the MOPAR OEM ball, I'd lose about 1.5 inches between bed rails and 5th wheel. I did switch from red lithium to white lithium in the latter portion of the trip after not liking the first couple hundred miles with white to begin with. What I did notice is that Reese paints the inside of the Goosebox receiver (likely to prevent rust) and I kept finding these black strings in the white lithium that was left on the ball on the first couple of disconnects. Cleaned everything and shifted to red which I'm likely going to go back to. Will probably put some in the sleeve as well to see if I can quiet down the start/stop clank.

FYI, Reese did mention that they didn't know if B&W was meeting their hardness specs - which they couldn't tell me.

 

[b1lanc]

@RamCares
Can you please confirm the shank diameter for the factory puck system gooseball? According to Curt, their shank is 2-1/4 inches diameter. My B&W measures a little less. I have called dealers and MOPAR and nobody has been able to tell me what the diameter of the factory gooseball puck is and what the shank diameter of a gooseneck ball should be. There have to be engineering drawings on this and due to wear of first B&W, I would like to know if they are meeting MOPAR specs?
Thank you.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

White lithium is not good enough for lubing the ball you need a nice heavy grease i use wheel bearing grease in the tub just dip the ball in the tub and its good to go for a long time…

The gouges look like it came like that perhaps the zinc coating covered them up and now they are poking through

Curt ball is the best one to use as to my understanding they make the puck system for ram

 

[b1lanc]

I switched from white lithium to wheel bearing grease for exactly that reason after about 500 miles. There were no gouges at that time.

You might be correct that the zinc coating hid a defect - B&W did send me a replacement kit after looking at the picture and video.

The only reason I went with the B&W was to gain an extra inch of height over the bed rails.

Truck is in for CP4 recall next week and I'm going to ask to borrow a Curt ball from parts to check fitment as the new B&W has play between the shank and the puck.