1989MichJeep

So, I have a Lifted 1989 xj that shakes pretty bad on occasion while driving it. Here's the kicker, it isn't a matter of shaking at a certain speed, but rather, it happens when I hit chatter bumps or pavement to dirt transitions and vice versa. I'm not sure what the issue is. It's obvious it's in the steering, cause my steering wheel shakes as well, and it's severe and very hard to stop. The only way I've found it to stop is braking till I'm almost completely stopped. I have looked at my steering unit. The upper and lower control arms seem to have adequate bushings, I just replaced my sway bar bushings yesterday, and it didn't help any ( but they were bad) so it was neccessary, but not the fix I was hoping for.

Any ideas fellas? It's getting to be rather dangerous, and fairly unpredictable.

93XJeeper

what you are getting, is a common case of death wobble. Look it up, you will get lots of results. It's typically caused by worn out steering components. Check your track bar and its bushings, as well as tie rod ends, ball joints, etc.

Metmknice

You have experienced what is knowns as, Death Wobble.
Other than worn out joints, usually an alignment issue or tires.
Check toe, and set it if out of spec. Make sure that tires are properly inflated, balanced, etc. Rotate tires front to rear see if anything changes.
Most every time I have experienced DW, it has been toe out of spec.
If you are not sure when your steering was last replaced, go get new moog parts, and an Upgraded V8 ZJ tie rod setup to replace your POS toothpick that they call a tie rod.

93XJeeper

I remember when I bought my jeep, my dad was driving it on the highway and just about s*** his pants when he got it.

SeriousOffroad

https://www.google.com/search?q=What...utf-8&oe=utf-8

1989MichJeep

My dad had the same experience when he was driving mine with some worn out 31 Mickey thompson's. His reaction was the same lol

1989MichJeep

The tires are nearly brand new and the alignment is spot on.

1989MichJeep

Should I check for play in the track bar when it's on the ground, or on jack stands?

93XJeeper

lift it up off the ground. U might even need to un bolt the axle,side and make sure hole is not wollowed out, if so, u will need to drill for bigger bolt.

1989MichJeep

Alright. I think I'll give that a go in the morn. Thanks 93XJeeper

93XJeeper

also,,while the wheels are off the ground, check all the other steering components for play. And shake the wheels and see if the ballpoints or bearing are bad.mthere shouldn't be any play.

SeriousOffroad

Steering joints should be checked with weight on the wheels.

1989MichJeep

So this morning I jacked my jeep up on stands and started smacking on the trac bar, and nothing happened, so I then checked my ball joints and tie rod/end, again, nothing. So I tried the control arms again, the uppers were rock solid, so moving to the lowers, the passenger side was good, so I transitioned to the drivers side, whacked it with the hammer and and it moved, then I grabbed it with my bare hands and found there to be about 1/4-1/2in or so of play in the back end or the lower. Found the problem, on to fixing it lol. That's y'all!

SeriousOffroad

Put on the ground and have an assistant turn the steering back and forth rapidly (10 o'clock - 2 o'clock) while you look at, listen to and touch all of the TRE's and joints up front.

YOU MUST HAVE THE RIG ON THE GROUND TO GENERATE ENOUGH RESISTANCE TO THE STEERING FORCE APPLIED.