TRIMAX T5 Black Receiver Lock, 5/8" Pin, 3.5" Span

Why it's worth it

This receiver lock swaps in for your hitch pin and keeps the ball mount from walking away in a parking lot. The 5/8-inch pin with a 3-1/2-inch span suits heavy-duty receivers, and the machine-forged chrome steel gives a cutter very little to work with.

Ball mounts disappear more often than people expect. They're expensive to replace, they sit in plain view at the back of a truck, and pulling one takes about four seconds when a clip pin is all that's holding it. A keyed receiver lock ends that. This one drops into the same hole the factory pin came out of.

The steel is the reason to choose this one. Trimax machine-forges the T5 from chrome steel and adds a weather-resistant coating, a clear step past the plated hardware-store hitch pin it replaces. Trailer Life's guidance is to match pin diameter to your receiver class, and the 5/8-inch pin here is the standard size for the heavier tubes.

From our review of 7 trailer hitch locks

What we like

• +Ball mounts disappear more often than people expect
• +The steel is the reason to choose this one
• +It weighs about a pound and lives happily in a glovebox

What to know

• –The 3-1/2-inch span is built for wide, heavy-duty receivers
• –A 5/8-inch pin also won't fit the Class I and II receivers that take a half-inch pin