I have a 1994 Cherokee Sport two wheel drive. This is the first Cherokee I have owned. My Cherokee seems to rock from side to side a lot while driving on the street. Is this normal for this vehicle, or do I have a shock problem or some other suspension problem? The vehicle has 150,000 miles and I have no idea whether these are the original shocks or not.

 

Somewhat characteristic of the suspension design. Crawl under and have a look at the shocks. Napa SensaTrac shocks really help with the ride and sway control on a stock XJ BTW.

 

I had another car do that, it felt like it was rocking from one side to the other. Turned out to be a bad tire in the back.
But yeah, they don't drive exactly like a car and do take some getting used to.

 

Mine does this as well. I've learned that I can't load up my Yakima roof box the way I used to. The higher center of gravity seems to enhance that side-to-side oscillation and it can be a little scary.

 

i get the rocking but not just from side to side, it kinda does the front left to back right and front right to back left, i find my jeep also takes large bumps and pot holes rather easily and feels light relative to the size of the hole/bump, but when i drive over nicer flat road and hit the cracks and smaller bumps this is when i really feel the rocking that i talk about...


to give an idea of what an average montreal road looks like here...on the local offroad forums we joke all the time about going downtown to do some rock climbing, lol...remember this is an average street and they get much much worse





i have diagnosed my jeep to have a finished leaf pack that is in bad need of replacing, 4 bad shocks that are not completely done but are on their way out...and bushings all around are in need of replacing...im on a 6.5" lift so that does make a diff, but ive never driven an xj with less than 4.5" and i know they ca drive nice if in good condition

so myy vote would be on checking the suspension and replacing the shocks and all bushings...also check track bar for any loose..then get an alignment

 

check to see if the sway bar is there.

 

Mine did that when I first bought it.

It drove fine, but once I hit a pothole or corrected with my steeringwheel, I picked up a sway that would take lowing down to correct.

I looked under the front AND back, and the bushings {little rubber holders} on the sway bars were shot all around. Cost about 30$ at the dealer to replace the ones up front and back.

The hard part was getting the bolts undone. Too some PB Buster and a 10 foot pipe to get the front ones off, the back ones are higher up and protected from corrosion a little better.

That fixed 80% of my problem. I finished the project with some new Monroe shocks from pepboys {the cheap 20$ ones} and it rides like a charm. that was two years ago.

Good luck, it's an easy fix. I bet when you look at the bushings, they'll be malformed, if they're even there at all.

Finally, it might be a good idea to check into ordering them online. It might be cheaper than the dealer, and poly busings don't wear out... ever. Do not get the greasable ones. They look cool, but a lot of maintenence.

Have fun.

 

Doesn't sound like you have death wobble but it'll be good to inspect all parts listed in this write-up:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/di...-wobble-55021/

In your case, I'd say the first thing to look at is shocks and sway bar bushings.

 

I agree that what the OP is describing isn't death wobble. I've had that, too. I believe what he's describing is something like a rocking motion that can be exacerbated by attempts to correct, similar to a phenomena known to airplane pilots as Pilot-induced Oscillation. I've found that this can happen from a gust of wind from a passing big rig or from something as simple as when the natural frequency of my Jeep matches that of the undulations on the highway.

There's a lot to be desired under my Jeep, I'll have to move shocks and bushings up the list and apologize in advance to my lights and bumpers for their demotion.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the help. I am going to take a close look at the bushings and shocks.