Jeep wants you to pay for a flat tow harness to fix the wobble

[10 fan]

I had it happen to me last week after 50 miles of towing for the first time. I was doing 50 mph on a very rough road. 2 days later it happened at 3 mph making a u turn. I had no clue what the problem was. In the last 1500 miles it has not happened again. I called Blue Ox and they explained it to me. I'm traveling from FL. to CA. so not sure if a dealer can help me.
2016 Cherokee Limited

[DrDaveMA]

This thread started discussion about the death wobble 5/11/2016, additionally there are several other threads both here on IRV2 and other forums that have been discussing this issue for at least that long. There are HOURS and hours of reading available, this is not something new. There are variations in the symptoms, some folks have it happen at low speed, some high, some while turning, some while driving straight, but all are scared by it. There are even some folks that have towed a significant number of miles and not had it happen (including me, coast to coast several times). The problem has been reported in both the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. The best thing you can do is your homework. By the way, I am told it is also happening with GM products that have EPS.

[SuperGewl]

Originally Posted by BobGed

I'm starting to think you have a battery issue, as I did.

When I first starting towing my 2014 Cherokee the "Death Wobble", or whatever you want to call it, wasn't a known, or at least frequently published issue. I was towing my Cherokee and never experienced the DW (I'm getting tired of typing it out). As soon as DW became a big issue on the forums I had the tow harness installed, which didn't go smoothly as it took the dealer a few tries, but this was in the beginning and they just weren't familiar with the process.

However prior to having the tow harness installed the problem I ran into was if I towed the Cherokee for two days without starting it, the battery was dead. Without the tow harness installed this shouldn't happen as there was no draw on the battery.

After three visits to the dealer one of the techs put his thinking cap on and load tested the battery (at this time the Cherokee was only about 3 months old). Sure enough he found one dead cell and replaced the battery. When I spoke to the tech he told me under daily driving conditions with the vehicle parked in the garage overnight, I would probably never know anything was amiss. However towing it behind a motorhome, using the the turn signals, brake and tail lights, that would be enough to bring the battery down in a couple of days.

Bottom line, I would suggest to have your dealer load test your battery.

This is incorrect as far as no power being used when in tow mode. If you have installed an axillary brake system then there is power being drained out of the battery. In some case more than others. If you use one the types that plug into the lighter plug then yes. If yours is using air from the MH then still yes, because it applies pressure to the brake pedal which will cause the rear taillights to activate which use battery power to come on with. Yes even if you had the diodes installed and it's connected to the MH. The diodes only allow the brakes lights to activate from the motor home when lightly applying the brakes on the MH, which don't cause the brake to actually activate in the Toad, but when the actual brakes
are pushed in the Toad the lights will come on.