Picked up an '01 Cherokee 4.0L 4WD, auto last week. Have plans but have a ? as it sits stock now - when I go over a bump or dip in the road my Jeep reacts accordingly but the strange thing is it tends to 'wobble' side to side and I'm wandering if this is typical or should I be investigating a possible issue. Shocks seem to be ok (130k miles on em), and it doesn't dive at braking or bounce excessively so I am guessing they are adequate at least for now but I get this side to side that will cause your head to kind of nod left to right a few times and I just don't want to be missing something. Thx in advance!

 

When you say side to side are you saying the body is tilting left and right, if so, does it do it when you try to change lanes on the freeway as well or lean hard around corners?

• This could be broken sway bar end links, or removed/disconnected sway bars.

Or does the steering move from left to right shaking the wheel?

• This could be the infamous "death wobble" Jeeps are known for. Fixing that starts with checking all suspension bushings/components for wear and correct tightness.

 

Joshua, more of the first option...just kind of 'tosses' you side to side, not death wobble. I've had a few wranglers and dealt with the before so I know it's not that.

 

I bought my 2000 XJ about a month ago and had the exact same symptom. The passenger's side sway bar mount in the front had pulled out of the frame. It took some innovative welding to fix that, but now it rides solid and responsive like it's supposed to. My mechanic seems to think it was battery leakage that caused it.

 

Sounds like sway bar issues, I'd check the front first as the rear can damn near be removed with not much difference to driving feel. Could be damaged, could have been removed by PO, or just disconnected.

 

You say the shocks are good but with 130K miles on them I bet they are in need of replacing as well. If a shock on one side is shot but the other side isn't it will cause each side to absorb/rebound at a different rate and give it a side to side feeling.

 

 

As a newly acquired old Jeep it would be prudent to do a thorough check on all the steering and suspension components, so check all of:
- Sway bars
- Track bar
- Control arms
- Steering components
- Ball joints and wheel hubs
- U-joints

But as the others have already mentioned, sway bar is the primary suspect and of course, is a wear part that is common to have fail.

 

My sway bar bushings on the front were so worn and wallowed out... I'm surprise the sway bar did ANYTHING lol.

 

It's funny, my Dad had a 94 XJ and over the 400k miles he drove it he had almost no major issues -- however, one thing he did have was that the sway bar links broke a bunch of times. It was more of an annoyance than anything.

The worst is the sway bar links they used on the TJ's with the ball joint style that just failed over and over and over...

 

Thx guys! I appreciate it and I'll dig into it this evening.

 

Figure it out yet?

 

I actually 'worked from home' today to install new sway bar bushings and sway bar end links/bushings, new front disks/pads. While the bushings helped greatly, they did not 100% correct the issue so I presume it's shocks as well and that makes sense as they have 130k miles on them so I'll be changing those soon along with a 1.75" spacer front lift and add a leaf rear lift and then install 30" or 31" all terrains.

 

Check for play in other components - don't assume it's the shocks just because it wasn't entirely due to bad sway bar links (also bear in mind there are bushings where the bar mounts to the frame that can and do wear out. If you replace the end links, but have bad frame mount bushings, you'll still get "sway". Mine were so bad that I could see daylight around the bar. It's a pretty easy replacement (at least as easy as doing the end links.))

Also, bear in mind that lifting the Jeep will exacerbate any suspension related concerns, so if it's acting weird at stock height, it will be slightly weirder when lifted.

 

I too get the chance to work from home often, it sure helps to get things done from time to time.

I'm not going to repeat what others have said, but they're right. Keep checking all components related to your issue, don't just replace parts if possible (your wallet with thank you)