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madonetwo's avatar
madonetwo
Explorer
Mar 11, 2017

Intermittent jerky towing of 5th wheel

Bear with me: Bought a 2016 Denali diesel 3500 HD SRW truck then an Open range light 5th wheel. Bought a B&W turnover ball hitch. Pulled camper home, no problem. Ran over bush and into light mud. Turned corner and kicked out the breakaway brake pin. Pulled camper another 1.2 miles without knowing problem. Reinserted pin, RV released. Parked it for 2 month. Hooked up last week and headed out for dry run trip 7 miles away. Noticed jerky, intermittent tugging as we towed. Thought brakes issueso n RV, etc. Took RV to service and they found no problem. Towed it with two of their vehicles, one old, one new and said it towed just fine. QUESTION: could there be an issue with the truck? It drives just fine without RV in tow. Hitch seems to be engaged ok. Could a fuse be blown in the truck? We have appt on Monday to take truck to dealer before heading out on 400 mile trip later in week. Ideas? Suggestions? (no warning lights on dashboard came on. Brakes and turn signals work on RV when towing. Looked underneath and all seemed ok). Thanks for any advice on things to check out.
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  • TakingThe5th's avatar
    TakingThe5th
    Explorer
    Mar 11, 2017
    Have you looked closely at the tires? They might be beat up after towing over a mile with the brakes on. Might also give clues to any damage you might have caused while running over things. Did the other two TVs have the same pin height as your TV or was the geometry different? Did your TV pick up some mud in the brakes? Have you checked out your driveshaft, maybe a bad u-joint or carrier bearing vibrating under load, or maybe a problem in the rear end or axle bearings. Admittedly I am also struggling with this issue.
  • austingta's avatar
    austingta
    Explorer
    Mar 11, 2017
    Kind of a long shot, but could the trailer plug be miswired so that the brakes are energized when some other thing like turn signals, etc., are engaged?

    There are separate fuses under the hood for trailer brakes and the 12 volt power feed to the trailer in the trailer feed, but if those were blown the brakes simply wouldn't engage.

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