Humor-Satire
America: land of freedom, innovation, and baffling trailer ball sizes. We split the atom, landed on the moon, and built an internet where people argue about pineapple on pizza—but somehow, we still can’t agree on a standard trailer hitch ball.
Let’s talk about the dumbest holdover from the 20th century: the 1-7/8” ball vs. the 2” ball. Two nearly identical hunks of steel whose sole purpose in life is to ruin your weekend when you grab the wrong one.
You know the drill. You’ve got your boat ready, cooler packed, sunscreen slathered. You go to hook up your trailer—and boom. The 2” coupler glares at your 1-7/8” ball like it’s some kind of mechanical insult. Now you’re in the driveway with a wrench, swearing like a sailor while the neighbor kids learn new vocabulary.
Who decided this was a good idea? Probably the same guy who thought left-handed scissors should exist, or that metric and SAE tools should be randomly mixed in every junk drawer.
Let’s be real—nobody walks around saying, “Wow, I’m sure glad I have both a 1-7/8” and 2” trailer ball. I love unnecessary complexity!” No. You mutter and curse and look up videos on whether it’s technically okay to tow that light trailer with the wrong ball. (Spoiler: it’s not. But you’ve done it.)
Meanwhile, Europe—yes, Europe—solved this with one standardized tow ball size. But here in the land of pickup trucks and freedom, we cling to our mismatched hitch balls like it’s a Constitutional right.
The solution?
It’s time to vote. Not in an election—those are rigged. I mean vote with your wallet. Only buy trailers with 2” couplers. Melt down every 1-7/8” ball and turn it into something useful, like a paperweight or an emotional support object for trailer-induced rage.
Let’s build a better future. One where “wrong hitch ball” is no longer the reason dad throws a wrench across the yard. One size. One ball. One nation, indivisible, under torque.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA
Yes, I’ve dealt with this issue, when I had to borrow a friend’s trailer, and it didn’t fit the 2″ ball on my truck.
The two-inch ball that had been mounted on my truck since 2017.
But much, much worse are modern gas cans. The old gas cans we had been using for years worked perfectly well, but, as is true of everything that works, the federal government is determined to fix them, so they issued regulations to make them not work nearly as well, without air vents to help them discharge smoothly, and with nozzles that have to be worked separately.