LaytonXJ

So I dropped a cigarette in the floorboard, went to pick it up, when i looked back up I was scrapping a guard-rail. Totally screwed my XJ up. The collision didn't do much cosmetic damage, but it did do a number on the steering components. I hit on the passenger side, broke my rim, ripped the steering gear box from the frame, knocked my Jeep out of alignment. I replaced the steering gear-box and bought a reinforcement plate for it. I also got it aligned, and of course replaced the tire and rim. My question is: Why does it still shimmy and shake? It doesn't do it unless I hit a bump on the road on that side or apply the brakes heavily and sometimes on sharp turns, usually at cruising speeds. If i slow down to 45 it goes away. I was putting brake pads on today and I noticed a lot of play in the U-joints, so I know they need to be replaced. Once I do get those replaced do you think that the shimmy will go away? What else could be causing this?....and when I go to purchase the U-joints how do I know what type of axle I have so that I can get the right part? It's a 1994 Cherokee Sport 4D 4WD 5spd.

LaytonXJ

I didnt realize that there was so much information on this topic (the "Death Wobble") the "Diagnose Your Death Wobble" write-up by rweaver138 https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/ was very helpful. Im pretty sure that it's going to be the U-joints. I still need to know which kind of u-joints I need though. I go through quadratec.com to get parts they have a few on there.

_StationWagon_

You have a Dana 30 axle up front, most likely high pinion.

If you had real death wobble I don't think you would be referring to it as a "shimmy". DW is violent shaking and your life flashes before your eyes because you're sure you're going to die. The Jeep is almost impossible to control. Did I mention VIOLENT? Your shimmy could be cause by any number of things, but right now my money is on tire. Are both front tires balanced since the accident?

(and seriously I hope you learned a valuable lesson from the accident: smoking can get real expensive ...)

wildspear

Smoking....funny!
I just learned the hard way about what DW is. 70mph on the highway..... woke me up quick. I have a bad track bar bushing, I'll see if it's fixed after I get it replaced. Did you get new steering linkage after the gaurdrail mishap? If so loose fittings can do it, u-joints, ball joints. Did you check the ball joint on the passinger side real good. Many things can affect the handling, trial and error and many beverages. Let us know what you came up with.

_StationWagon_

Yeah, quite often the track bar is the culprit, so I've been told. When I had death wobble I went thru 3 broken frame side track bar bracket bolts, broken motor mounts, new tires, new track bar (from RE 1600 to JKS); steering box swap, sway bar links, currie steering, upper control arms, UCA mount bushings ... all that was fixed and now it's gone. Can't say what the exact cause was, but yeah - death wobble ain't no shimmy & it ain't just the steering! The whole Jeep starts to hop around.

LaytonXJ

I definitely do have the death wobble..."shimmy and shake" were bad word choices. Every time a friend rides with me they think they are going to die lol. I've gotten pulled over once because of it, the cop said that he thought the tires were going to pop off. I have gotten 4 new tires since the accident. The driver's side front is wearing on the inside badly. That could be part of the problem too. I will try the new tire and the new U-joint then go on to the more expensive stuff to see if I can get this fixed. The Jeep is like a son to me, i love him (his name is Forest). He's got about 234,000 on him and he's still kicking strong, definitely going to run this one in the ground then pull him off the road and start restoring him.

tj40

sounds like you may have bent the front axle housing (where the ball joints are) or have broken out the the connection where the axle housing attaches to the lower control arm. That is a weak connection anyway double if its rusty. I would guess that you may have weird tire wear if you have movement in the axle housing. So ya check the welded areas on the axle that attaches to the lower control arm......