Poorly made?! The ball isn't hard enough to support the plating.

I'm not sure of the cause, but it definitely needs to be replaced.

Jim

Typically you will see copper plating on the steel, followed by chrome or nickel then the top plating of hard chrome. Looks like a bad chrome job. If it's a Curt and stamped around the base, contact their customer service dept. That truly looks like a MFG problem where either the base materials are not strong / hard enough, or the chrome application had issues.

That looks like the same one I have for my GM. The top of the ball looks just like that but without the peeling. I have a complete spare setup that I purchased for the previous truck and never used, new one came with the setup and dealer said for liability issues, they trash even the unused ones anyway.

Time to replace the ball. Plating was not properly done and has failed. This loose plating will also be sharp where its not worth the lacerations to keep it.

Is there a chunk broken off from the ball? Serious failure where another brand should be purchased.

Jim