7 Reasons Why Trucks Shake When Towing
Trucks that vibrate while driving is definitely not of the best things that could ever happen, though this can be even scarier when the same occurs while a trailer is being pulled.
The shakes most certainly show up when you hit right around 50 mph (80 km/h), however as always, it can depend. Despite of when this happens, i think you came over here to finally find out what are the causes of it, and maybe even find a solution.
Begin with the trailer
What you should begin inspecting first is certainly the trailer itself – nothing of this nature happened before, right? So why wouldn’t you want to suspect it to be the main cause of the issue?
Is it level?
It may come as a surprise to some, but it’s certainly possible that a trailer which is sitting rather uneven can be the cause of them shakes in your pickup truck when pulling one.
The smaller the trailer, the bigger the drop is required in order to keep everything flush – considering the fact that trucks aren’t of the smallest vehicles, you will probably need to buy a drop hitch for it all to work. I like the B&W line.
Sure, you can get by with just a drop hitch that’s permanently welded, though having one that can be adjusted in a pinch makes it all so much better, if you tow different trailers all the time that is.
Make sure the load there is even
Messing up the weight ratio of a trailer even by just a bit can make it budge too much, and that can lead to the whole thing introducing some shake inside your vehicle.
Most of the time, 60% of the weight should be in the front, though it can be a bit different depending on what you have; be sure to read the manual.
Also, if the trailer is empty, that can also be the reason why it is introducing the vibration. This is particularly true if it’s a single axle.
Bad wheels
Worn or plain bad tires can easily be the main source of the problem i am trying to help you with here.
If you know that the tires are old, it’s best to replace them entirely and see how it goes. If they are indeed good enough, you may need to get them balanced.
The wheels may also need to be rebuilt, and what i mean by that in this instance is that the bearings could be worn. To know if this is indeed needed, jack the trailer up and move one of the tires from side to side – if there’s any play, they should get serviced.
Something is up
Not always can it be simple to define what exactly is wrong with a trailer, so with that in mind if you tried everything i talked about already, you may just want to get it checked out by people who specialize in this sort of stuff. The thing might have went bad and you’ll need to get a new one altogether.
It’s your truck
How could that be possible, you might say?
The trailer may have just introduced some new stresses to the pickup truck’s chassis, and that was enough to make it start to vibrate more or less when towing something.
This is only more true if you try pulling the same trailer with a different vehicle, and if there’s no wobbling inside the cab, your truck is the issue; the same can be said if the shakes still persist even with a completely different trailer.
There can be a lot, and i mean a ton of reasons why would your pickup exhibit such behavior – worn driveshaft parts, axle, breaks, even the tires. Really, if you get to this point, i don’t think you can do much than get it serviced. Believe it or not, this sort of thing can happen to the newer pickup trucks as well, so if that is the same in your situation, get in contact with your dealer.
Other potential causes
The hitch may be seated improperly. What i mean by that is that you might need to push it further into the receiver, as many of them have more than one opening for the pin to go in. Doing so could reduce the rattling in there, which in turn gets rid of the shakes you feel inside the cab completely.
In case that you indeed have an adjustable hitch on your truck, ironically enough it can also have something to do with the vibration. What you can try to do is replace it with a solid one and see if there’s any change for good.