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Old 07-16-2019, 03:05 PM   #1
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Thank you RVers...you saved our trip!

This HUGE THANK YOU should have been written last October…but I’m going with the philosophy of ‘better late than never’!! Last October I did a post on IRV2 regarding a difficult and dangerous problem we were having with our RV. Within 2 hours, 11 of you wonderful RVers had responded naming our problem (the death wobble!!) so we could get our problem fixed…oh the power of social media!! We were brand new RV’ers and had set out on a 15 month RV experience to see the USA and Canada in our 36’ Itasca diesel pusher. Afew days into our journey our RV started violently shaking from side to side…when my husband got it stopped, we were 8 feet from a thousand foot drop off just south of Mount Rainier. This happened 14 times before I posted on IRV2 (I should have posted the first time it happened!)…3 times it was life threatening. We had contacted our dealer, the coach company and the chassis company and it was the chassis company that worked diligently with us trying to find a cause. A big ‘thank you’ to Duane at the Corporate Office of Freightliner who provided the best customer service I’ve ever experienced (Freightliner was changing out parts at their expense trying to locate the problem). You IRV2 RVers told us about the ‘death wobble’…in fact, one of you sent a video and once we saw the video, we knew our problem had a name…however we didn’t like the name!! It was an inexpensive fix on the Jeep we were towing…and once that was fixed, we have not had a shaking problem! We were only acouple days away from stopping our RVing experience…my husband had lost 10 lbs…and I had stomach pains every time we drove.

So again ‘thank you’ to the 11 of you who so quickly answered my post…we have had wonderful experiences along this journey! We will sell our RV/car and return to our home at the end of August…with so many wonderful memories! We can not thank you RVers enough for your wisdom during a very dark period of our trip…and also thank you IRV2 for this site where much wisdom is shared!
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Old 07-16-2019, 09:43 PM   #2
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I didn’t see your original post, but I can certainly agree with what you’ve said.
A great bunch of people contribute here.
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Old 07-16-2019, 09:59 PM   #3
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What was the problem with the jeep and what was the fix?
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:37 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuzKarKoc View Post
It was an inexpensive fix on the Jeep we were towing…and once that was fixed, we have not had a shaking problem!
Would you elaborate, please? So it was not a motorhome chassis problem at all but something wrong with the vehicle you were towing? What was the fix?

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Old 07-17-2019, 07:17 AM   #5
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If the death wobble they're referring to was on their towed Jeep, it's a known issue with Jeeps that don't have their suspension/steering properly built.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/wrang...th-wobble.html
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Old 07-17-2019, 09:01 PM   #6
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It affects certain Jeep Wrangler models.
Here’s a video...
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Old 07-17-2019, 09:53 PM   #7
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I have a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, Hard Rock Edition, and have had no problem with a death wobble. I had a 2012 Ford F-350 when I had a 5er and after a few years it developed a death wobble. It was all stock. I took it to an off road shop and had it fixed. No problems after that. Don’t remember what they did. I have also heard that Some Harley’s alsohave a death wobble. I have had many Harley’s and noe of them ever had a death wobble.
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Old 07-18-2019, 05:15 AM   #8
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Thank you RVers...you saved our trip!

I also would like to know what the inexpensive fix was. I paid over $500 to have the jeep dealer add a circuit to keep the steering pump on while being towed. Spent almost another $100 to add a charge circuit to keep the battery charged. Without the charge circuit the battery voltage drops and the electric emergency brake locks up skidding the back tires.
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Old 07-18-2019, 05:57 AM   #9
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If you experienced the "death wobble" over 14 times, I would seriously have your tow bar checked out by the manufacturer. That back and forth motion places a serious strain on the tow bar. I would also get the base plate checked where it connects to the tow vehicle for cracks and/or bolt problems.

Better be safe than sorry.
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Old 07-18-2019, 06:12 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Bigd9 View Post
If you experienced the "death wobble" over 14 times, I would seriously have your tow bar checked out by the manufacturer. That back and forth motion places a serious strain on the tow bar. I would also get the base plate checked where it connects to the tow vehicle for cracks and/or bolt problems.

Better be safe than sorry.
This is good advice. I'd check more than the tow bar, too - check the mounts to the toad's frame to make sure those aren't compromised.
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Old 07-24-2019, 10:18 PM   #11
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Response to questions re "Thank you RVers...you saved our trip!"

I want to answer some questions that were asked after I posted “Thank you RVers…you saved our trip!”

Yes…the issue was with our 2014 Jeep Cherokee and not our Motorhome.
The first mechanic that worked on the rig (just after the Mount Rainier experience) thought the airbags had deflated on the MH. We immediately contacted the coach company, the dealer, and the chassis company to learn if anyone had heard of this before. No one said they had heard of anything like this. Freightliner stepped up and started systematically to replace parts although they couldn’t define the problem. We would then have to drive to see if that ‘fix’ actually worked. This went on for about 3 1/2 months...we did not want to stop our trip...but our route dramatically changed. Then we learned of the death wobble through IRV2. The fix was a $200.00 part installed in our Jeep. That was also when we learned that ‘the fix’ was issued by Chrysler about 3 years ago. We were very surprised that none of the 3 companies knew about this issue since many RVers tow Jeeps! And…our Jeep dealer had ever heard of it! The fix is the Mopar Flat Tow Wiring Kit…part #68321424AB—TSB # 08-029-16 REV.A. Luckily we had purchased a heavy-duty tow bar, which has remained solid. Freightliner (DeWayne especially) was great to work with…and it turned out it wasn’t a Freightliner problem. The only good thing about this experience is that we have an almost new chassis!

Thank you for the suggestions about having the tow bar, the base plate where it connects to the towed Jeep, and the mounts to the towed frame checked by the manufacturer. We have had no problems since October and we can see no signs of wear…but it is a very good idea to have that checked. However, the tires on the Jeep did wear out quickly and had to be replaced.

You might ask, “Why did you continue when this was so scary and dangerous”? We asked ourselves that almost every day of the 3 1/2 months! 1) We really wanted to see the US and Canada and the RV seemed the best way for us to do that. 2) We had rented our house for 15 months and had no home to go back to! 3) We are not quitters...we were determined to ‘make lemonade out of lemons’!

Again...thanks to the 11 of you for sharing your wisdom last October!!
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Old 07-25-2019, 05:03 AM   #12
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A Big Thank You for getting back to us with a update! So many can learn something from your experience. So as it was a bad experience for you, I'll bet others may benefit. I commend your grit to keep on going until you found the problem. I would have done the same thing systematically trying new things until the solution was found.

May your roads be smooth and the wind is always to your back on the rest of your trip!
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Old 07-25-2019, 11:11 AM   #13
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This group has helped me so many times I have lost track. I was new last November and still have a ton to learn but it is getting easier.
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Old 07-25-2019, 11:24 AM   #14
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I am not smart, but I know alot. Many folks here have experience I do not when it come to RVs and towing. I have learned many thing from this site, and others, that has saved us much money. And save me time in trouble shooting.



Thanks for sharing the resolution of your issue. Too many times that doesn't occur.
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