Tow vehicle death wobble

[Zwicky4]

We have a 2015 tiffin phaeton 36 ft diesel pusher, we tow a 2015 jeep Cherokee trail hawk behind it . From time to time while driving on surfaces that are very uneven and changing a lot such as construction zones, we encounter the wobble of the jeep behind the RV . It feels as if someone is in the jeep shaking the steering wheel left right- right left very quickly and shake the entire rV..Kind of scary when you are driving 60 down the interstate . i have to slow down to almost a complete stop before the shaking stops. Any suggestions or input would be much appreciated! Thank you
Tom

 

[bpaikman]

we encountered the same thing in the past. I don't know if this is the answer to your problem, but this is what we found out. There are two pins on the arms of the tow bar that must lock into place to keep the toad from wobbling, and one of them wasn't "popping up". (As it turned out, we had some damage to our tow bar and we eventually replaced it.)
We're not sure exactly when the damage occurred or when it could happen again so now, as part of our departure procedures, after checking, the lights, one of us stands outside and observes as the coach slowly pulls away, that both of those pins in the towbars pop up and lock it into place. After we started doing that, we never had the problem again.

 

[Zwicky4]

we encountered the same thing in the past. I don't know if this is the answer to your problem, but this is what we found out. There are two pins on the arms of the tow bar that must lock into place to keep the toad from wobbling, and one of them wasn't "popping up". (As it turned out, we had some damage to our tow bar and we eventually replaced it.)
We're not sure exactly when the damage occurred or when it could happen again so now, as part of our departure procedures, after checking, the lights, one of us stands outside and observes as the coach slowly pulls away, that both of those pins in the towbars pop up and lock it into place. After we started doing that, we never had the problem again.

Thanks for the help unfortunately that’s not our issue. Safe travels

 

[Scotttkd2]

There are a lot of threads on the internet about the various death wobble issues, especially related to Jeeps. Your specific year and model will have specific recommendations, may include pulling a fuse. Bringing the new coach home from the dealer the first time I took a hard right turn at an intersection and the cross over pavement drainage ruts kicked in the wobble. I couldn't believe how that shook the entire coach and I was barely over 20 mph. On my Ford towed vehicle I use a bungee from seat mounts wrapped around the steering wheel several times to give some resistance on large bumps/transitions and have never had a wobble with it since.

 

[sheridany]

I have the same Jeep Trailhawk and never had a an issue in over 12,000 miles. I had the death wobble kit from mopar put on and it seems to work.

I followed this article.

Jeep Death Wobble Fix Update – How We Fixed It

The towing and braking equipment we upgraded to ensure the death wobble won't won't happen again. See what we changed.

rvlove.com

Here’s how to prevent the ‘death wobble’ from happening.​

You need to have an aftermarket accessory installed. It’s called a Mopar Flat Tow Wiring Kit (Part Number 68321424AB). And it will keep the electronic steering active in tow mode. This aftermarket wiring kit helps prevents the ‘death wobble’ from occurring, which prevents damage to the steering and other components and other potential incidents.

We took our Jeep to a dealer that already had the part in stock for the installation. Some dealers we called had never even heard of it while others were familiar. This can be a complex and time-consuming installation requiring soldering wires into the existing wiring kit. So this isn’t an ideal DIY project. We wanted the job to be done by a dealer experienced with the process to ensure a successful install. Having an experienced shop would also reduce the number of labor hours for the job.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

This can be a complex and time-consuming installation requiring soldering wires into the existing wiring kit. So this isn’t an ideal DIY project.

Any time a dealer needs to solder something, I've found that's the best time to DIY as anyone, regardless of experience, has a much better chance of doing the job correctly than any dealer could hope to.

 

[Rome Perez]

We have a 2015 tiffin phaeton 36 ft diesel pusher, we tow a 2015 jeep Cherokee trail hawk behind it . From time to time while driving on surfaces that are very uneven and changing a lot such as construction zones, we encounter the wobble of the jeep behind the RV . It feels as if someone is in the jeep shaking the steering wheel left right- right left very quickly and shake the entire rV..Kind of scary when you are driving 60 down the interstate . i have to slow down to almost a complete stop before the shaking stops. Any suggestions or input would be much appreciated! Thank you
Tom

Talk to your mechanic, install what they call a shimmy shock to stop the shaking.If he has no idea what you’re talking about find an old timer mechanic and he will take care of it. Hope this info helped.