89Cherokee

Ok, so I am having a slight problem with "death wobble". When I am driving straight down the road and I hit a bump the front tires will wobble. The only problem is that when I am in a turn and hit a pot hole I have no such problems (no wobble). What is the problem? Is it just an alignment issue or is it possible that the steering box is getting old? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I need to drive 1000 miles in the next 24 hours and if it is the steering box, I will just upgrade to something more HD but if it just the alignment I will live with it until I can get a lift put on (it isn't that bad and as long as I know it is going to happen I will be ok with it)

thebrow89

go jack the front end up and put a pry bar under one of the front tires and bounce it a little and see what moves

BuckB91XJ

1.) Jack it up.
2.) Get underneath.
3.) Have somebody move the steering wheel side to side.
4.) Observe all of your joints and tierods. Wherever you have a joint where one side moves and the other doesn't. It's a bad joint and could be causing your problem. Check them all. They all probably have about the same amount of miles so you could have more than one bad.

quadracer0387

i have the same problem... i ended up replacing the track bar, steering stabilizer, shocks, and lower control arms. then put on a steering box brace. then an alignment. with 154,000 on her, everything was warn pretty bad... i just used it as an excuse to upgrade

89Cherokee

Well, I just drove 1000 miles with the problem (didn't ever happen above 45 mph) But i found out what the problem is: The track bar mount attached to the frame is stretched. The mechanic said that it was probably loose from the previous driver and that caused it to enlarge. He said I will have to replace the track bar mount and track bar but that it isn't that big of a deal as the control arms will keep the tires from falling off I figure I will order the non-ball joint style track bar mount and a new adjustable track bar.... Also, found that the tires are slightly out of balance (which caused slight vibration at speeds over 55).... tires only have a few miles left on them so I am not spending the money to balance them.

a1racer

also check your front tire pressure it can cause a wobble if under inflated

asatxj

Never heard of stretching a TB mount. It may be loose but that's some pretty stout stuff.The hole where the TRE goes through may be wallowed. Go get one at a JY and get a new TB. When you put the new bracket on use loctite and get them on really really tight.

89Cherokee

I guess I can have another mechanic look at it. (The other guy looked at it for like 2 minutes and gave me the option to replace both the trackbar and trackbar mount) I personally also tried to tighten it but the ball joint just kept spinning and wouldn't get any tighter...