jeffbutterfield

can the front driveshaft in my xj cause death wobble if theres a bad set of u joints?

4.3L XJ

No. But if you have bad axle shaft U joints it can contribute to it

jeffbutterfield

I"m thinking it could be torn lower control arm bushings, were getting a squeek when we go over a bump, that will be the next thing I try, but we just did those last August, everything is less than a year old, with a new steering box last month.

fb97xj1

Check the bushings, and look for any metal to metal contact on moving parts. Chock the wheels and have someone rock the vehicle side to side to see if they can replicate it while youre underneath. Doesnt always work, but its worth a shot.

If you do need control arm bushings, buy arms with bushings installed. And get some fresh bolts. Sometimes the old ones need cut off. You can use a balljoint press on the bushings in the axle.

jeffbutterfield

Thanks

Stephen_Chicago

I just joined this forum as well. Almost pissed my pants when experiencing my first death wobble on my 2001 Jeep Cherokee a couple months ago.

I've been under the front end a few times and everything seems tight. Grimy, but tight. If the problem isn't obvious, is it just a matter of replacing part-by-part until the problem is resolved? And in what order? I was going to replace the track bar, then if that doesn't solve the problem move on to the steering dampener, then tie rod ends, control arms...?

jeffbutterfield

Mine turned out to be the right steering knuckle where the tie rod end goes, someone in the past hadn't tightened it up good, so the cone socket was wallowed, it was tight enough that it wouldn't move when stationary.
Also, the trac bar is a major culprit along with control arm bushings. The upper bushings on the axle are a mother to replace under the rig

boxburn

Certainly don't just replace part by part hoping to find the cause. The best thing you can do is take a lever to everything on the front end and see if you can spot any unwanted play. By hand and eye, I could not see any issues with my track rod ends, with a lever I found play in all 4.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04FN...nthonyProffitt

In total I have done ball joints, track bar joint, track bar bush, tie rod ends, drag link and drag link end. My death wobble is now gone. This was a process of elimination though with the ball joints being first, then track bar and most recently tie rod ends and drag link (end).