Steer Vibration While Towing

[hansongary]

We towed an enclosed trailer containing 2 motorcycles this weekend and got a pretty bad vibration through the steering wheel at speeds >=60. Vehicle is a 2wheel drive 2004 tahoe with the 5.3. I haven't towed a whole lot and don't have this vibration when not towing, but not thinking this is normal.

 

I've always had some problems with my front tires feathering and after quite a few alignments at the dealerships over the years was recently told bushings on the front end were in bad shape, which seems wild to me at 70k. I was planning to replace the tires in about 10k miles or before winter, but I'd really like identify the issue before too much time passes.

 

Any idea's? Could my front end alignment be messed up with the extra weight on the back end?

 

Thank you!

Gary

[pm26]

The explanation is quite simple. The trailer's wheels were badly out of balance (or not balanced at all), or one of the trailer tires was out of round or had a loose cord in it. It is not unusual for trailer vibrations to be transmitted into the tow vehicle. I had it happen several times with U Haul trailers with wheels badly out of balance.

[r1byker]

I have a different take; the weight of the trailer took weight off the front end of your truck, thus exacerbating the problems with the front end of the truck. I would look to the front end for the source of the vibration.

 

I've towed a lot with U-Haul trailers with their funky wheels, and have not had any vibration problems. I imagine it is possible, though.

[dlstewart01]

I don't know if the tongue weight would be heavy enough to unload the front wheels that much with that trailer. If that is the case you need a weight distributing hitch to put a load back on the front wheels.