Death Wobble question

Chairokey

Chairokey

New member
OK Guys, I just inherited my sister inlaw's 96 Jeep Cherokee, and she told me she had issues with the front end shaking really bad when she drives on the highway. It doesn't do it all the time. in fact when she got it here, I took it out and drove it to 70 mph for a few miles and it drove fine. She said she took it to a couple different mechanics and both of them said it probably just needed an alignment. I have no experience with death wobble, and i'm a far cry from a mechanic (kind of the reason I picked this up), but I decided to take a look at it and see If I could find anything obvious. I'm not mechanic, so maybe the guys she took the Jeep to knew something that I don't, but this definitely looks like a candidate for the front end shaking. Now obviously this needs to be replaced, but my question to you all is do you think this is probably the soul reason for the front end to shake at highway speeds? or is there something else I need to look at?

next, this looks like a project that wouldn't be too difficult to tackle with a jack and some wrenches, am I going to get into over my head?

and lastly, I found some replacement parts for only 16-20 dollars on a website called partsgeek.com. this seems awfully cheap because usually my repairs cost alot more than that :p is there a website/brand that i should try to stick to when ordering jeep parts? thanks guys, any help is appreciated


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Sounds more like a track bar, I have had mine come lose, driving down the road hit a bump and the front wobbles real bad once I slowed down it stopped. I would check that first, the pics you took are of the sway bar links, they will cause it to have more body roll in hard corners at speed.
 
Thanks guys. That video was saying it all seemed to be in good shape except the track bar was bending. How do you fix something like that when the joints are just fine?
 
Ok I've got an update. I can't get the front end to shake like my sister Inlaw told me it does, but my wife drove it yesterday and said that she was able to experience it. She said she was having a hard time to get it to respond around a turn during this issue. I wasn't there so I can't speak to what the issue is with that, sounds dangerous though so I took it home on back roads.

But anyway once she got to work she said she could smell burnt rubber, I went out, put it in drive and drove very slowly. I could feel a catch every 10 feet or so (maybe every tire rotation?) I looked at the tires and you can definitely see that something is causing them to catch for a split second from the recent wear. which would explain the burnt rubber smell. After a 100 feet or so it stopped, and then would pick back up temporarily every so many miles.

Any ideas? This thing is staying parked til I figure it out
 
That will just cover it up. Check the trackbar bolts and brackets. The XJ uses a 10mm bolt. It's small and can rust, break etc.,,

Check the ball joints as well. If they are going out it will cause uneven wear on the tires. I would guess every rubber bushing is shot and will need replaced.
 
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ChrisB said:
That will just cover it up. Check the trackbar bolts and brackets. The XJ uses a 10mm bolt. It's small and can rust, break etc.,,

Check the ball joints as well. If they are going out it will cause uneven wear on the tires. I would guess every rubber bushing is shot and will need replaced.
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This is definitely the best place to start. Also I would always recommend replacing the steering stabalizer if it has not been replaced.
 
Death Wobble

Death Wobble can be Very, Very Violent and Very hard to control at highway speeds. Your 1996 jeep cherokee is a XJ model. I would start off looking at the track bar ends when some you Trust with the wheels Blocked and in PARK with the E brake on have your helper rock the steering wheel back and forth about 6" from side to side and watch the track bar to see if the ends are moving from side to side at mounting points. You should look at the ends on the tie rod and drag link and the ball joints for side to side movement. Also spend $40.00 on a new steering stabalizer. The XJ steering geometry is good they just have parts that wear and they are mostly easy problems to iron out, Good Luck
 
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