I bought a 99 XJ yesterday for $2500. It was originally a government vehicle (state of Washington), so it has the "Certified" calibrated speedo, Ext Idle feature, spotlight, pushbar, etc. It has 186,000 miles, the engine runs and looks great, transmission shifts smooth, but it does have the dreaded "death wobble" I've been reading so much about on here, I think it stems from bad u-joints because I can feel and hear some driveline shudder during idle and sometimes when making a turn, but I haven't had to dig around much. Also, the steering is starting to get somewhat numb/heavy with full P/S fluid.

 

Welcome to CF from Texas! Hope everything works out, U-Joints are pretty easy to replace from what I've heard, I haven't had to do it yet. Nice XJ though. As for the steering, try looking at the knuckles, see if anything is worn there, just a few ideas, I barely know what an engine is as far as mechanical ability goes.

 

Welcome!
U-Joints are not bad to do as long as you have the proper tools, that being a ball joint press and these can be rented at any AZ.
Damn that death wobble, plenty of write ups on here about what it could possibly stem from.

 

Yeah, it's a bummer, and I'm not the most mechanically inclined, but my mechanic loves building Jeeps as a hobby, and I'm sure he'd be happy to dive into it. Hopefully it's not too extensive. I looked at a few death wobble threads, and I know what failing u joints feel like, so that seems to be the most likely culprit. Other than that, it's a fantastic running/driving Jeep.

 

welcome!