I would regularly spray this lock and others with lubricants to prevent sticking and keep it rust free. Here are other suggestions in this help article:

I purchased about 20 of these for a fleet of company trailers. They wont perform well in wintry climates. You will need a torch to unfreeze them. Otherwise perform as advertised.

Still working well

What an unexpected pleasure to open my e-mail and find a follow up message from you a year after I purchased from you.I hope things are going well for both you and etrailer.com. Even though I have not had the need to purchase any additional parts for my trailer in the intervening year, I continue to recommend your company to those of my friends who are still restoring their trailers. I hope many of them have used your company for their parts orders and are as happy as I have been with your stellar service and great products. Ive attached a few photos for you of my current set up. One shows the ball lock in place so if others wish to know what it would look like installed you may share it with them feel free to edit out my chickens, she says with a laugh. The PDF file is a copy of the front page of our local newspaper when my trailer made the Christmas day cover. And the last photo was taken in October at Lake Skinner just to prove that my baby is not a trailer queen we actually go camping on a quite regular basis we went out 8 times last year. Ok, having shared my baby pictures with you, I would also like to tell you a somewhat sad tale. I have a fellow Sister-On-The-Fly all female camping group, who 2 months ago had her trailer stolen...right out of her driveway at her home. She was devastated to say the least. She put this sad news out on the vintage e-mail websites and, fortunately for her, the vintage trailer community leapt into action and she began receiving steady e-mails about the progress of her stolen trailer from those who spotted it along the way. Enough e-mails in fact that the local law enforcement was able to follow them and was able to recover her trailer, amazingly enough. I ran into her at a recent trailer gathering and found out she did not have a ball lock on it when it was taken, and Ive made it part of my discussions with the ladies on our trips to mention the necessity of locking your trailer, both in your driveway and on trips we had another one taken, boldly during daylight, at a vintage rally!. I show them how the lock works and recommend they contact etrailer.com for one. They like mine because it is much less industrial looking and that matters to the ladies.Well to keep this from becoming a novel, I suppose I should sign off and let you get back to business, Patrick. Thank you again for checking in, that was truly amazing. Ill continue to recommend you and etrailer.com and when I next need parts and vintage trailers always do, be assured I will contact you first.Have a great day, and thank you for helping to keep my Aunt Bea safe and where she belongs.Best regards,Maggie

I noted the same problem with the sharp clevis ? pins protruding from the bail. They do not seem to serve any purpose and there is no information in the instruction sheet that would indicate removal of the pins would somehow diminish the security of the lock. At first I assumed they prevented the shackle from being pushed too far into the lock but that was not the case. Mine are coming out and if it violates the warranty at least I wont have ripped my fingers and hands open.

Just go ahead and buy it! You will have no regrets. No issues and works great year round. We keep these locks on all 3 of our trailers at all times. No missing trailers now!

Works perfectly!