Trailer Coupler 2" Ball 3" Channel Tongue (3,500 lbs.) by Dutton-Lainson

Video Transcript for Dutton-Lainson 2 Inch Ball 3 Inch Channel Tongue Trailer Coupler Review

Hey everyone, Ryan here at etrailer. Today we're gonna be checking out and showing you how to install the Dutton Lainson trailer coupler. Trailer couplers, in my opinion, are almost a maintenance item. It just seems like after years of use, sitting outside, getting beat up, they just don't work how you'd like them to anymore. It's just kind of is what it is and so this'll work out real well as a direct replacement or even an upgrade over some other style very basic couplers. A lot of times too, it's almost more cost effective just to replace the whole coupler as opposed to just the mechanism system because the mechanism is usually what gives, right Rarely does the actual coupler get damaged, but you know, with one exception, I feel like if your coupler is welded on, that's kind of a pain to get off and change and if that's in good shape then maybe rebuilding the mechanism might be a better solution for you.

This coupler is gonna be designed to work with two-inch balls and it's gonna have a 3,500 pound weight rating. There's essentially very similar versions of this available as well that has higher ratings if that's what you need. It's available and it's designed to work with trailer tongues that are three inches, so those are really common sizes. A lot of the times this'll work as a direct replacement so you're gonna be able to bolt this on or weld it on. That's entirely up to you.

My first impressions of it though, I like it. I like the mechanism, which I feel like is probably one of the more important parts, right, 'cause that's what you're gonna be having to deal with. It's smooth. The handle's big and easy to grab. I've had experience with some other ones where the handles are real stubby and kind of short and just not the greatest, in my opinion.

It's not the case of this one though. Easy to work, even if you had a big pair of gloves or something on, you'll be in good shape there. Something I'm not too crazy about, so this is a bare metal finish so you are gonna have to paint it or put some type of coating on it, preferably. Maybe they do that 'cause, you know, if you're gonna be welding it, it's kind of an advantage. You won't have to grind stuff off, but just something to keep in mind as far as that goes.

Just to compare this one to some other ones available, right here we have a Demco easy latch and all these couplers for the most part are gonna be pretty well made. Nothing too too different, but I feel like when it comes to picking one out, that latch mechanism is gonna be the most important part and what one you prefer. The easy latch, it's pretty cool. It has this style going on here and when you go to lower your trailer down on the ball, this doesn't have to be open, it kind of just pushes up and locks in the place automatically, so that's a relatively new design. Seems like a lot of people like it. Personally, I'm kind of partial just to the old school latch like this because it kind of forces you to know, you turn that down and I know it's locked in, I know it has a good connection, and so for me, just that peace of mind, maybe it's just what I'm used to. And then you even have some other styles like this one too. This is a lever lock style coupler and these you got a pin you pull out and this little tab deal here that opens up, you drop your trailer, or drop the trailer onto the ball, close it up like that. These seem really heavy duty. Some people like 'em, some people don't. Like I said, I'm not super crazy about 'em, but it just really comes down to your personal preference. Something that does kind of separate this one from some of the others is you can easily adjust, I guess you would say, the tension of your level or how hard it kind of grabs the ball so it's easier seeing from the bottom side. I got another one of these on hand, so why don't we just grab it and check out what's going on down here. All you do is turn this nut to tighten it or loosen it. So for example, and a lot of times when these things are branding new, they're really easy to latch everything down, but after you get some miles on 'em, maybe some grease piles up in there and stuff, that might get a little tight to try to get squared away and so when that happens you can back and nut off a couple of threads and give you a little more slack in there to make it easier to hook up. If you look at the lever, though, whenever you lock this down, it has a catch in there, which holds that from popping open, and then as another safety precaution, there's a pin through there and you always wanna put something through there whenever you're hooked up to your vehicle. You can use a standard latch pin, or I like to use a lock. It does the same thing and you get the additional benefit of some extra security. And this is my own personal one. I've been using it for a couple years. It's the front and load (indistinct), use it a lot, haven't had any issues. So this kind of doubles as, you know, you use it when you're towing. Like for example, I'm at the boat ramp and I'm gone, the trailer's sitting there, I know this is at least locked to my truck and you know, when this is in storage too. It's just a little extra measure to maybe help prevent someone from messing with it. So something I recommend checking out there and we'll go over a couple measurements here too, that way we can make sure this is gonna work with your particular application. You go from the center of each mounting hole. It's gonna be three inches. Same deal for the holes up top here if you need to use them. And the holes are gonna be 1/2 inch in size so this isn't gonna come included with mounting hardware. If yours is in bad shape, you'll have to pick up some new stuff. I'm using 1/2 inch bolts that are 3 3/4 of an inch long, nine on lock nuts. Always make sure they're properly rated too so grade five or even grade eight will generally get the job done and be sufficient. In terms of installation, pretty straightforward. Everyone's setup will probably be a little bit different, but we'll go ahead, get ours replaced, and hopefully give you some direction. To begin your installation, you first need to remove the old coupler. I removed ours since this is a direct replacement. I just had to pull out a few bolts, get that old coupler off and out of the way, that was it. Some couplers will be welded on and if that's your case, you'll have to carefully kind of cut that weld off. You can use a Dremel tool cut off wheel and what I found in the past, you kind of get it going and then you can come in with a pry bar or chisel, especially if you have an air chisel. and work that off and pry that off there, but be careful not to damage the actual tongue of the trailer. So once that's out of the way, inspect it. Ours is in really good shape, but you can always sand it down, get a fresh coat of paint on there and then start with the fresh base there. With that all done, we can get ready to get our couple on. Something I wanna suggest too, since this is bare metal, even though it is pre-oiled really good, if you're gonna be putting this on, not a bad idea to have some extra layer of protection while it's off. Whether you wanna clean the oil off and paint it, put more oil or grease or something on it just to help prolong the life of it, probably a good idea to do that now, but you know, for demonstration purposes we'll go ahead and set this on. Nothing really to it there. We'll take our hardware. (bolt scraping) Feed that right on through. (bolt scraping) Get the nuts going. (nuts scraping) And then we'll come back with a socket and wrench and torque it down to the manufacturer's specifications. (wrench tinging) I do like to, you know, the couple's always gonna have a little play in it. I try to make sure it's sitting flat against the tongue of our trailer. I feel like that'll help keep it straight and probably, you know, help the trailer pull a little bit better as well. So I get both of these torque down. (torque wrench clicking) And that'll finish up our look at of the Dutton Lainson trailer coupler.