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Extreme front end shaking problem when towing behind motorhome

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Old 04-01-2015, 10:23 AM
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Default Extreme front end shaking problem when towing behind motorhome

I have a 2014 Latitude V6 with Active Drive II. While towing behind my motorhome on a 5000 mile trip last summer I experienced a severe side to side shaking in the front wheels of the Jeep about 7 times. Extremely intermittent, and difficult to diagnose at first (is it motorhome, towing setup, or the Jeep itself causing this?). Lots of moving parts here, but I am closing in on the answer.
The shaking is severe. I can feel it A LOT way up in the front of the motorhome. First time I thought the drive axle in the motorhome had come loose from the frame on one side! When it happens I stop immediately, of course, and inspect everything. Nothing appears wrong. This seems to occur when one of the front wheels on the Jeep goes over some raised area in the road (once when I took a tight right turn and the Jeep went over a curb, once after going over some white 1" high markers in the road) or perhaps a rutted place (once railroad tracks at an angle), but it is so intermittent it's hard to be sure of the cause, and I cannot reproduce it. It does seem to happen at lower speeds, seldom over 35MPH thank goodness.
At considerable expense I've had the motorhome thoroughly checked (first thought was it was the bushings in the track bar) and there is no problem there. I've replaced the tow bar and checked the geometry - no problem there. New tires and balance on the Jeep. Still no help.
Now I find I'm not alone. Another person wrote to a motorhoming magazine and he has had the same thing occurring. I suspect there are more to come.
Now, what's going on? Could this be related to the half shaft problems or other front steering things showing up on the KLs? Mine drives perfectly - no shake shimmy or anything EXCEPT this potentially dangerous thing when towing.
Anybody have ideas? Jeep dealers say they have to be able to reproduce the problem - and I don't want to take them on a 1000 mile or so test ride....

Last edited by twoflyrodders; 04-01-2015 at 10:29 AM.
Old 05-20-2015, 10:15 PM
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Check your height of the hitch when towing. It sounds as if you are slightly lifting the front of the Jeep off the ground. All of the normal weight should still be on the front wheels when the MH is at travel height. Measure from the ground to the a fixed point on the front of the Jeep prior to hooking it up, then remeasure this exact point after you have hooked it up to the MH and the MH is at normal travel height. This mainly effects all of you with diesel pushers with air bags.
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