1Up rack question - help
 

feeling dumb...for a change. Got my new rack, thing of beauty. Inserted way into my 1.25 hitch and the tightening ball went beyond the inner inside walls of the receiver. So the ball was not within the cup of the receiver. I tightened the ball all the way without realizing it was not touching the wall of the receiver. Can't get the ball to go back in enough so I can pull the tongue out a bit and engage the ball inside the receiver. Is there a way to get the ball to retract?

Try to squeeze them together while tightening or loosening

if you ever have this problem
 

I now know how to fix it. The ball expansion mechanism is way more simple than the 20 ways I tried to fix it. The ball is simply hand pressed into the tongue. In the end, used a screwdriver to pry out the ball, removed the hitch, pulled back the inner brass pin with my finger, pressed the ball back in and now it works as designed.