Why does my 3-car wedge wobble like its going to shear off the 2 5/16" ball?

You say the tire wear is out of norm? Have you had the alignment checked? Depending on the suspension configuration, it may require some research/creativity to correct if it's out of spec.

 

Perhaps loose wheel bearings or loose u bolts or a broken u bolt or bushings shot

 

No thanks. I am from the mindset that believes DRW P/U trucks were not designed to do this type of work. Nothing beats a real truck with a 5th wheel and air brakes to stop it all.

Sorry, I do not buy in to all this.

 

i know this guy saw him in 78 complaining he would never feel the road if he had a truck with power steering

 

A "real truck" for hauling cars would have to have a low mounted "stinger" 5th wheel and a car or two parked over the cab, otherwise you're just half-butting it.

 

I'm thinking this is just the nature of those beasts. There's basically no lateral restraint on the motion of the car over the ball. What little there is comes all the way from the back of the trailer at the contact patches, and is transmitted forward by the flex of the trailer. At least with a fifth wheel on a gooseneck, you get some restraint on the tipping of the neck due to side loads.

 

You are comparing apples to oranges.

As far as the original question. Check the axles through leaf springs to balance beam between the springs.

Not thinking Kaufman uses Dexter axles, but even they have two different axles for the 7,000 lb rating. One is thicker(more expensive) but far more durable than the other.
When the thinner one flexes in multiple directions under load, it wears on the springs/balance beams & your tires can be pulled in various directions. Check the wear on the bolt
that runs through the balance beam too. Most mfg's save a few pennies & buy the thinner axle & you can see the difference when you compare them side by side.

To my apples & oranges comment, I started with a dually with flat bed (all legal) & then moved to a wedge. All three items were a waste of money & a learning curve that
would have been better spent buying proper equipment up front or starting out working for a company. So I know the difference.

Before someone says you have to start somewhere, well yeah, that is obvious. But why start in the hole? Because once you have a loan on the dually &/or what ever trailer,
you have to dump it to move up. It is wore out before the loan is on average. Hindsight is 20/20, but knowing what I know now, will never recommend that equipment in a broad base way.
They have their niche, but 90% of them rolling around are not in that niche & seemingly less than half are running legal.

 

So your hauling 3 cars, I presume with a dually using standard trailer brakes and no fifth wheel and your only concern is a "wobble"

If you get a second you might read the post about the driver who died in IN a few months back. I'm sure he thought he was ok to.

 

That idiot was obviously either not paying attention or following too close. Can't blame that on the equipment. You may want to think about the cause of the accident not the equipment that was used. He hit at a high rate of speed to launch those cars like he did so I lean towards the not paying attention thing. Could have been a medical issue also but you can not blame the equipment for that accident.

I routinely gross 43k with our 5500 and i adjust my driving and following distance accordingly. BTW that is a gooseneck with a 2 5/16" ball.