Severe problem towing 2014 Jeep Cherokee

[Twoflyrodders]

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. I'd like to hear from anyone else with this problem on a new Cherokee.
Now, what's going on? Could this be related to the half shaft problems or other front steering things showing up on the new Cherokees? These vehicles have independent front suspensions so there is not way to put a steering stabilizer on them. 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....

[Twoflyrodders]

Well, now there are over 40 owners on my list, and FCA is aware of the problem. As is NHTSA. There should be a fix coming from Chrysler soon. I will post about it as soon as I can.

[Twoflyrodders]

OK, for your info: I have towed Jeeps over 200K miles. This is not my first rodeo. This has happened with both Roadmaster and Blue Ox tow setups. In my case with both a 10 year old Roadmaster and a brand new one. Tow bar is within 1" of level. No slop, nothing loose. Jeep attachments are correct. At significant expense I have had the motorhome checked and no problem there. If you think that video is from a "bad road" you are mistaken. It usually occurs on good roads OR bad roads, at lower speeds, when there is a deflection of the front wheels on the Jeep. I cannot explain why it does not occur with most of the Cherokees, but those who experience it are not imagining it.

[MaverickBBD]

et2 wrote:
That video is ridiculous and doesn't prove anything other than the person went down the worst road they could find. I live in MI and don't see roads like that much less drag my MH down them at that speed.

I'll repeat this again because people seem to be blaming the jeep and not having any proof of their towing set-up integrity. We have no idea what your setup is like. Is there any slop, is it completely level, have you checked the tow bars, has the hitch bolts been re-torqued, has the base plate been re-torqued, are your tires aired properly, etc etc.

There have been a few of you here with complaints. There are way more people who have towed these vehicle without a problem. As far as I'm concerned nobody has convinced me of a issue. Towed ours with no problems what so ever for two years.

Excellent! All good points. My thoughts exactly.

[et2]

That video is ridiculous and doesn't prove anything other than the person went down the worst road they could find. I live in MI and don't see roads like that much less drag my MH down them at that speed.

I'll repeat this again because people seem to be blaming the jeep and not having any proof of their towing set-up integrity. We have no idea what your setup is like. Is there any slop, is it completely level, have you checked the tow bars, has the hitch bolts been re-torqued, has the base plate been re-torqued, are your tires aired properly, etc etc.

There have been a few of you here with complaints. There are way more people who have towed these vehicle without a problem. As far as I'm concerned nobody has convinced me of a issue. Towed ours with no problems what so ever for two years.

[MaverickBBD]

https://youtu.be/UNmkr4dL1OE

[et2]

Towed our for two years without one issue. But it was level, and all slop in the hitch setup removed with immobilizers from day one. There is a lot more to look at besides blaming the jeep.

[jwmII]

This relates more to the castor setting on the front end. Normally a problem of this kind can be addressed positively with a small increase in the castor positive setting.

[Twoflyrodders]

Another person with this problem was able to obtain a video of this and has let me publish it. Find it on Youtube at https://youtu.be/UNmkr4dL1OE

[RJsfishin]

The more I read about this problem, the more I think there is a problem in the geometry w/ these vehicles. But I know one thing, if it was mine, I'd either not tow it, or tie the steering dead ahead whenever I did. Every time it does this, it is literally trying to tear the front end right out of the vehicle.
If I really wanted to fix it, I would be looking at installing a very heavy duty steering stabilizer, which will, right or wrong, very likely stop the problem. The question would still remain,.....what is different about these cars ???

[Twoflyrodders]

That's an old picture - the vehicle shown is my old Grand Cherokee, not the new Cherokee. I need to update...no, I don't have the bike on it when the problem happens.

[Retiredblade]

Twoflyrodders wrote:
This is a serious problem and coordinated effort will be required to get action out of either the NHTSA or Chrysler. I would urge all who have experienced this to contact Chrysler and NHTSA. I have sixteen reports of this problem so far and Chrysler needs to address it... there is a great video of this occurring but I can't upload it here as it is in MP4. I will send an email to all I know of to try to get us on a common email list so we can better coordinate. Better yet please send me a private message here with your email address. Thanks, Bruce

I noticed in your picture of your rig and the Jeep, that you have a bike hanging on the back of your Jeep. That very well could be the problem, have you towed it without that thing hanging on the back?

[Retiredblade]

I have a 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, V6 with the transmission being the proper one for 4 wheels down towing, that's why I bought it. No problems towing it, I have a Roadmaster stowmaster that I bought off of Ebay about ten years ago, the thing weighs a ton. Hitch at proper height. My 2000 Jeep Wrangler towed great also.
I hope it is not the Jeep's problem, if I have wobble problems, I will trade that thing quickly.

[Twoflyrodders]

This is a serious problem and coordinated effort will be required to get action out of either the NHTSA or Chrysler. I would urge all who have experienced this to contact Chrysler and NHTSA. I have sixteen reports of this problem so far and Chrysler needs to address it... there is a great video of this occurring but I can't upload it here as it is in MP4. I will send an email to all I know of to try to get us on a common email list so we can better coordinate. Better yet please send me a private message here with your email address. Thanks, Bruce

[richnorsworthy]

We have our 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited at the dealer again. They are looking for the problem again and discussing it with Chrysler. So far they have no clue as to what is causing it. The last time the service fellow told me he did not think they had fixed the problem after all the alignment work. They did not.

I appreciate all the comments above, but my wife and I do not think we want to take the chance of towing it again from a safety and trust issue. We will not know when it will do it again, especially at higher speeds that could cause us to wreck or someone else to wreck.

We have had too many problems with this vehicle to trust it any more. Hopefully, Chrysler will step up and give us our money back. Please be careful and continue to provide feedback. Some times we would like to have our Liberty back again which never had such a problem and is the reason we wanted to stay with Jeep. We will see what happens, but we will not be towing the Jeep Cherokee any long distances.

[et2]

I's there more than 3" difference in height between the MH and toad attached to the tow bars? Our cherokee sat very high ( the worst vs low). Need a 6" riser to get it almost level. You never want the road higher.

Haven't had a issue yet.