2018 Expedition vibrates badly when towing trailer

[otrain]

My 2018 4WD Expedition has a severe vibration pulling my empty horse trailer. Expedition runs fine without the trailer, but it shakes way too much to feel safe trailering horses. My dealer only had suggestions that didn't help, "nothing wrong with the truck or the trailer."
My pickup recently got totaled (by a falling branch!) so this was the first time I hitched the Expedition to the empty horse trailer, 2500 lbs. and got the weight distributing hitch set up properly. Trailer always ran smoothly with the pickup, but the Expedition vibrates from low speed, worsening steadily until the truck is really shaking at 50mph, in trailer or normal mode, in gear or in neutral at that speed, with distributing bars or without. Trailer has good tires, bearings, hitch is set up correctly. I've got a couple things to try, borrowing a friend's trailer number one to compare, but this is not what I expected in a $65,000 truck.
Anyone solve this one or experience it?

 

[scottdm]

A prior poster had similar issues and determined that his trailer wheels/tires were out of balance. How long has the trailer been sitting? Any chance it has flat spots on the tires, etc?

 

[duneslider]

I just towed a nearly 5k trailer for almost 1000 miles last week and had ZERO issues and it ran smooth and straight as could be even in some fair wind. No vibrations, pulling, etc. I have zero experience with horse trailers though, no idea how they might perform different than other trailers.

I would definitely try a friends trailer if that is an option.

 

[otrain]

Thanks for the input. The trailer tires should be fine, used it 2 months ago last but its just been sitting since the pickup was totaled, don't trailer the horses in the heat. I've driven it with the torsion bars at recommended tension, then looser and finally off. Off actually decreased the vibration 50% or more, still pretty bad. That put the tongue weight right on the rear axle and the shaking still increased with more speed, esp over 50, just not as bad, which makes me think the truck is the problem. Horse trailer is just like any other trailer when its empty, shouldn't cause this. Feels like a harmonic vibration.
My hitch company is great, didn't have a clue. Ford dealer service manager thought there's a "personality conflict" between truck and trailer. OK...Going to a second hitch place for their opinion. Expect to check tire balance. Stay tuned...

 

[Wayne Decker]

Weird, and this is the second such report. I just towed a 6,600lb Airstream 2500 miles with no issues. I've been towing horse, utility, boat and camping trailers for over 40 years with all kinds of vehicles and never had that issue. It'll be interesting hear the solution.

 

[Flexpedition]

Just curious why you would use a WD hitch @ 2500 pounds? A step in troubleshooting would be to eliminate the WD hitch from the equation.

Did your pick-up have a camper shell on the back? Are the trailers side windows open? I'm wondering if the air going around the side of the Expedition is buffeting-- assuming the trailer windows are open. Whereas the air flow from around the cab of a pickup truck would have been different if you had an open bed.

I don't know how good they are but there are cell phone vibration analysis meter apps (Siesometer) that you can try on your smart phone. I'd be curious what it would read inside the trailer behind your Expedition versus another tow vehicle.

I'd also be curious if you loaded a few hundred pounds of something (feed, hay) into the horse trailer and try again.

 

[otrain]

Thanks for replying. Weight distributing hitch helps with any tag-along horse trailer - 2500lbs is empty; add 2300lbs of horses and trailer is 5000lbs with live weight in it, so shifting weight to the front axle allows for a safer level ride without getting light in the front wheels and increases stability, etc. Trailering the horses without WD bars isn't a safe option esp in case of serious avoidance maneuvering.
Its not an airflow issue; I've towed this trailer with an F250 with a shell, a Ram for 14 years without one, same hitch style. Windows closed. This isn't just an annoying vibration but becomes a strong rapid shudder/shaking of the whole truck at 50mph. Looking at F150 forums its not an uncommon post, people bought a 2017 or later to tow and couldn't because of this issue. Best "fix" (maybe) I found was having the dealer reinstall transmission software - that fixed some. It goes into the dealer next week and I'll get that done.
I also thought about loading the trailer with weight but really, what would be the benefit? Something isn't right if I can't pull 2500lbs. I am going to borrow a friends trailer to test, just to rule out trailer issue. Again, all ideas welcome.

 

[Calidad]

I had a old xtra wide horse trailer with steel wheels with two bent / wobbly wheels and when it was empty it would vibrate like a shake floor at an amusement park. Add some weight and it wasn’t bad. Eventually we just replaced the wheels and all was good again

 

[Thomas Warden]

Just towed a 5,000 lb. Camper for the first time behind my 2019 Expedition XLT without any vibration. It seemed to make the front end a little “light “ but the roads were wet and it rained most of the way. Still, no problems. Hope you find your “cure”! Good luck “!

 

[otrain]

Still working on it; truck back at Ford today. A friend pulled the trailer, smooth as ever with my earlier trucks. I've arranged to borrow a friend's tag-along 2 horse for comparison when it comes back from the dealer, will let you all know what happens. Thanks for the comments.

 

[duneslider]

Just trying to weed out the easy questions but you do have the trailer level or slightly tongue down when towing right? If the tongue is high, even slightly it can really make the trailer behave badly. I had an ATV trailer and it towed great in the morning with the 2 atv's and full gas cans but on the way home with empty gas cans there was just enough change in the tongue that it would pull like crap. I got a receiver with a couple more inches of drop and it pulled significantly better.

 

[otrain]

Thanks for the reply. It's level; I only drove it 35 miles to my trailer/hitch experts to have the WD hitch adjusted for the 1.5" higher Expedition receiver (compared with my lost pickup). It shook the same coming home set correctly, level as it did going. Shook with the bars off as a test. A friend pulled the trailer with a HD Ram that was higher and so tilted up slightly (no WD) and it was as smooth as it always had been with my 2 earlier pickups. My last 1/2 ton pickup had the same rear axle ratio and 100 less HP but no problems. I didn't get the HD tow package because I never expected to tow much with this and it says 6000Lb with weigh distributing hitch.
Waiting to see if the dealer does anything. I asked for reinstalling any software/firmware that affects towing, if there is such a thing. The service manager drove it last week, acknowledged it's awful, but said it was a "personality conflict" between truck and trailer, nothing wrong with either. Gotta love it, it's voodoo towing. Someone on a good horse trailering forum described exactly the same problem, corrected completely by buying better tires for the Expedition! Not ready to go there yet, but...
Stay tuned!

 

[otrain]

Problem solved! I had the Ford dealership perform what they called PCM and TCM update, basically reinstalling the trans software, and now the horse trailer pulls smoothly. The suggestion came from the truck and trailering board at the Horse.com, a much used and respected site for the equestrian community. Folks that trailer horses worth six figures to competitions have learned a thing or two, I guess!
Thank you everyone that contributed their thoughts, much appreciated.

 

[Fozzy]

Problem solved! I had the Ford dealership perform what they called PCM and TCM update, basically reinstalling the trans software, and now the horse trailer pulls smoothly. The suggestion came from the truck and trailering board at the Horse.com, a much used and respected site for the equestrian community. Folks that trailer horses worth six figures to competitions have learned a thing or two, I guess!
Thank you everyone that contributed their thoughts, much appreciated.

Did they give you a receipt or work order ticket showing what they did? If so could you share it with us? It may help the ones with dumb dealers and service people. Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[otrain]

The paperwork said just that, customer reports vehicle vibrates and shudders towing trailer, "performed PCM and TCM update". They didn't have my trailer so they didn't know if it would work - it was my request to do it. I got home and hooked up and found the trailer pulled smoothly. Seems like we need to consider electronics and updates like this more these days.

 

[shane_th_ee]

Problem solved! I had the Ford dealership perform what they called PCM and TCM update, basically reinstalling the trans software, and now the horse trailer pulls smoothly. The suggestion came from the truck and trailering board at the Horse.com, a much used and respected site for the equestrian community. Folks that trailer horses worth six figures to competitions have learned a thing or two, I guess!
Thank you everyone that contributed their thoughts, much appreciated.

Welp, I'd have lost money betting on the solution to that one. But I'm glad you got it solved.

 

[duneslider]

That is extremely interesting! Just curious but did you ever tow the trailer without having it in "Trailer" mode? My head can't imagine what scenario in the programming would make the vehicle behave that way when towing a trailer.

Very glad you got it figured out!

 

[Flexpedition]

Seems like I've been seeing this commercial a lot recently, so would be annoyed if there wasn't a fix.

 

[woodmanjc]

Don't shoot me for mentioning something very different but yet similar. In 2014, I pulled my travel trailer, about 4000 pounds with wdh with my 2010 Silverado 1500 from Texas to Washington state, about 2000 miles one way. On the way up, at about 700 miles, it started vibrating bad at times, I could see the back of the truck jumping up and down in the rearview mirror, it would usually start around 50 mph but sometimes below that. Had all the tires on the truck rebalanced at Salt Lake City and had two trailer tires replaced at the same time with no change. After getting to the campground in Washington, took the truck to a Chevy/Cadillac dealer in Bellingham to be checked out. Took a drive with a mechanic and when he went up a slight incline it started vibrating. He said "it is the lockup clutch, we have replaced many of them under warranty, we have to replace the torque converter", left the truck overnight, drove a brand new (15 miles on OD) loaner truck back to the campground. Picked up my truck next day and eventually pulled the trailer back to Texas with no issues. So the issue was a chattering lockup clutch.