I've been experiencing some wobbling lately at about 100 kph, especially when going around a left hand curve in the road. It's not quite a death wobble, more of a gravely ill wobble. I noticed drag link tie rod end at the pitman arm was shot - that was a an easy fix. While fixing the tie-rod end, I noticed the track bar can be moved up and down slightly - I suspect that's my real problem.

Couple questions:

• How in God's name does one access the nut on the driver's side of the track bar?
• Is the drivers side joint a tapered fit? I'm wondering if I can just cut the ball off at which point the remaining stud and nut would fall off. Or do I need to use a pickle fork?
• All I need is an OEM replacement (or equivalent) I - are there any standard brands that I should stay away from?

Thanks for any advice.

pull the cotter pin and use a 3/4" socket or a wrench in that tight spot.

tapered, so pickle fork is your friend.

can't recommend a brand, if you were local I could give you a stock track bar.

Thanks BM

So, I got the new track bar swapped in there yesterday - what a pain in the ***! The passenger side trackbar bolt came out much easier than expected but the driver's side was hell. The cotter pin in the castellated nut was completely rusted and there was no way I could get it out (given the tight confines) or break enough of it off to get a socket on the nut. As someone suggested, I had to unbolt and remove the entire 'box' that the track bar is bolted to. Only 4 bolts/nuts holding the box on but they were very rusty and not easy to get a lot of leverage on. Once I got the box unbolted, I was able to lower it and with the other end of the trackbar unbolted I was able to remove the entire assembly. This made removal of the castellated nut was much easier (I was able to tap the remnants of the cotter pin out at that point). Cleaned everything up and bolted it all back together.

Thanks for the advice.

So, the new track bar did not cure the wobbles. Wobble is drastically reduced but still there at exactly 92 km/hr on a straight level road or at a slightly less speed if going around a left hand turn.

What condition are the Ball joints in? After track bar I think they're the next most common source of wobble.

Edit - Also check control arm bushings and sway bar links.

Tires balanced? how s the tread on them....

agree with PatHenry^^^

Hi guys: First thing I did was have the tires balanced and asked the tire guys to look for any defects - no problems detected and only a slight re-balancing required. The re-balancing made a very slight improvement.

I've pried away on the ball joints and can't detect any play at all. They were replaced within the last 15k kilometres and I grease them religiously.

Also pried away on the control arms and although there is slight movement, I'm not clear if the movement is excessive or if it just the 'give' in the rubber bushings. The control arm bushings are original.

I see a small amount of movement in the new trackbar at the passenger side when the steering wheel is rocked but not sure if that's just the 'give' in the rubber bushings or if the bolt hole is worn. I'll pull the bolt out and take another look at that.

You do realize the jeep will not ride like a Cadillac, but do those things help out?

er, wut?

I can't recall if you've done so already, but did you check the shock mounts for play? How are the bushings in the sway bar? (Both the end links as well as the mount to frame.)

Took another look at the passenger side of the trackbar. The bracket hole is not wallowed out - it's still round but it is larger than the bolt (original factory bolt) by maybe 1/2~1 mm Similarly the metal sleeve in the track bar bushing is larger than the bolt by 1/2mm (both just guesstimates).

I went ahead and ordered all new control arm bushings but it might be a while before I have an opportunity to put them in.

I was asking what you have done already has it helped to the point that it is okay, or do you think there is more to suspect to be wrong?

When steering is turned back and forth is there visual play.

Plus the steering is usually pretty bad, lots of wandering and bump steer is what mine had when it was out.