When I received the unit I went to remove the balls to make sure they were lock tited as is my custom. The elevator ball and pin came out just fine. The 2nd ball I attempted to remove broke off leaving the threaded end in the plate itself, although I sent pix of this and spoke to 2 of your staff I was told nothing could be done. I've run a successful business for 30 years and always found that if I took a small hit in profits now, I would always be rewarded with more business from a loyal satisfied customer later. Shaun