Towing issues with short wheel base motorhome

I have never had a problem but on the other hand my hitch mount solid to the motorhome and also soiid to the car.
A Blue Ox tow bar.

Moved to Dinghy Towing forum from Towing.

If your are towing 4 down, disconnect the toad, but leave the tow bar in the MH receiver and then try to move the tow bar side to side. If there is any side to side movement (slop) even a 1/16" that will be magnified by the time it gets to the point were the tow bar is attached to the car. We had this problem when we first started towing 4 down. The problem was resolved by taking the slop out of the hitch point. There a different ways to fix. some have had a bead of weld put on the draw bar, personally I wedged in a couple of washers and then used a hitch quiet. Now the car is stable back there.

Ken

Flute Man wrote:
I have never had a problem but on the other hand my hitch mount solid to the motorhome and also soiid to the car.
A Blue Ox tow bar.

Read the original post. It is about short wheelbase issues. Your wheelbase is likely more than double that of the OP.

We have flat towed behind two shorter motorhomes. A 26' class c, and now a 30' class a. No problems with either. I'm leaning towards the loose connection theory. Did anything change from towing the same vehicle with the previous motorhome? Has the alignment of the towed been checked?

Is there any possibility the ignition was left on in the Equinox? I ask because this enables electric power steering assist, which you DON'T want while it's being towed.

My van is the same chassis and wheelbase as your motorhome. I flat-towed a 14,000 school bus once from Utah to Portland. It did wander a little, but still less than when you were just driving the bus on its own.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We will try the hitch to see about the play. However, it is the MH that has front end wandering. It is similar to overloading the bed of a pickup and the front tires are not making good contact with the roadway causing the front end to bounce and wander. Our MH has a 138” WB and is 22’ in length with approximately 7’ of overhang behind the back axle. I have read about the ratio of WB to length. The tech person who wrote the article said it should be at least .55 to tow. Ours is only .52. The front axle weight is only about 3000 lbs while the rear is almost 7000 lbs unloaded. We have towed vehicles behind a 28’ MH with longer WB and a 22’ Sprinter van with a longer WB and no problems. Same tow bar setup. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Ok that helps.

The goods news, is there is hope for the front end.

1) Try front tire pressure to 50 psi
2) get a full alignment with camber correction, and max out Caster to at least 5-degrees. Ford will cover the initial motorhome alignment.