Troubleshooting Sundowner Gooseneck Trailer Jerking

Question:

I just purchased a new Sundowner trailer. Gooseneck, 3 horse slant, 6 ft shortwall, living qtrs. Im pulling it behind a 2018 Fird F250, super duty, 4 wheel drive, 6.2 gas engine, Lariat. It jerks, speeding up, up slowing down with or without braking. Dealer took it back to check it out. Ive been pulling a 3 horse slant sundowner with 2ft short wall with it and you cant tell it is back there. I would not put a horse in it.

asked by: Sue

Expert Reply:

Some potentials to consider when troubleshooting include that your brake controller may not be mounted correctly. I included the below diagram as an example how the Tekonsha P3 # 90195 needs to be mounted to correctly sense inertia. The jerking in particular could be because the brake controllers settings are too aggressive. Sometimes for highway driving you can use boost settings and then lower settings for city stop and go driving.

Finally is your trailer setup level. Sometimes jerking can happen when the tongue sits low can makes braking overly sensitive so measuring hitch height when the trailer is fully loaded would be a step to take. Included is a Help Article and some video resources on the P3 as well.

expert reply by: Patrick R