thomas0202

I have been having the dw pretty bad the past few days so today I went under the xj to inspect the steering. I can take the tie rod and rotate it both ways alot and when I rotate it enough it begins to rotate the drag link. Is this normal or do I have a issue?

ZINGGG

A little bit of play in the tie rods is perfectly normal. Take a video of it and post it so we can see how much it rotates. And take a read of this:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/di...-wobble-55021/

Tie rods are not one of the more likely causes of death wobble. My guess is that your problem area lies more in the alignment, ball joints or track bar.

thomas0202

Ok I'll try to get a video sometime tomorrow if I get the time. I fairly sure the alignment is off cause on wheel points straight the other point way off to the side

ZINGGG

How far off to the side?? That doesn't sound good... That may also be an indication that your ball joints are bad. That's also something to look into

thomas0202

Not to terribly far of but it's noticeable if you look hard enough. I shook the wheels around with it jacked up and the ball joints seem ok but I'm taking tomorrow to get aligned and see how it turns out. I did see on here about people upgrading to the zj tierods. Are there any benefits to that?

ZINGGG

An alignment will be a great start. I have heard great things about the ZJ upgrade and I plan on doing it in a few paychecks here actually. The benefits are the tie rod is thicker and is solid (as opposed to the stock XJ tie rod which is hollow). The tie rod ends are also bigger. Not to mention it bolts right in so it's easy to do. You can find a brand new one on eBay for between $70 and $80 with the tie rod, both tie rod ends and adjusting sleeve. So yes, do it!

thomas0202

So I got the jeep back and the guy said that the whole front end is perfect. He said the reason for the dw is tires going bad or are bad in the front. Anyone ever heard of that causing dw? It hasnt done a severe dw in the past few weeks. Its just a constant shake thats always there above 50 mph. Thanks in advance.

ZINGGG

Tires can cause death wobble. Did he give any more specifics? Is it just because they are bald? Or are they out of balance?

thomas0202

They are balanced and have probably more than half tread left on them. When I bought the xj it had been sitting for about a year under a shelter at someones house. He thinks that they began to dry rot over the time they sat and that driving them now has begun to kill them.

thomas0202

Anyone ever heard of this?