My beautiful faithful '88 Cherokee, 157k, has developed the wobble of death. Originally occurred when hitting bumps, but now also occurs at any speed over 60mph. Please guide me in the right direction??? All stock not modified...have checked all the regular things but haven't started replacing parts yet. Advice appreciated!!

 

The 1st thing is to look for any worn or parts with play check all steering parts then ball joints and all the control arms , also check Track Bar for any play there should not be any play in it .

 

lift your front up and start pulling and moving parts look for any play in the steering components, this death wobble issue has lots of threads on this forum and a search on 'death wobble' can guide you through a lot suggestions to check for..

Marc

 

Have someone turn the wheel as you watch the trackbar. If it pops at all, the bolt hole at the axle is likely out of round. If it looks solid, get the front axle on jackstands and check the balljoints. Grab the tire at 12 and 6 and rock the tire. It shouldnt move. Do the same at 3 and 9, to check the tierods. Again, it shouldnt move.

Check all of the following as best you can.

 

If the bolt hole is out of round, what are the options to fix it?

I ask because I got DW the last time I drove my 95 on the highway - it was the first time I got DW in it and it was surprising because the front end felt pretty solid prior to that. I don't know/haven't tested if it's popping yet, so I'm just curious at this point.
I was planning on doing all the steering parts this spring anyway, so I bought all new tie-rods (ball joints are recent), a new track bar and new LCA's and was planning on doing the replacement this weekend. Depending on how the LCA's go I will then figure out what I'm doing about the UCA's.

If I have a crack in the mounts for the track bar or control arm mounts, will this be obvious? If not, what advice/tips/tricks are there for checking for cracks?

 

I saw a post where a guy welded a washer in there. No idea if that is a good idea though.

 

If it's still running the original, now 30 year old, control arm bushings don't even bother looking just replace them.

 

You could weld a thick washer onto the mount, or make a template and cut some scrap to match the mount, weld it in, and redrill.

 

I figured welding is the only proper fix. Hopefully it will be fine; I'll know tomorrow.

I need to learn how to weld - if anyone lives near North Central MA and wants to give me a Welding 101 lesson - let me know please!