Death wobble
 

Wow it's been a while, I have a 2000 Grand Cherokee limited 4.7. So far I have replaced lower control arms , upper and lower ball joints (both sides) wheel hub bearings (both sides) outer tie rod ends had the wheels balanced and aligned and it still go's into a front end death wobble , it's violent ! I have to come almost to a stop to stop it , the upper control arms are going to be replaced and are on order but they don't look to bad . I have watched the movement in the front end and everything is tight . I have been chasing this problem for almost a year and the next steep is to run it into a large tree ! After the balancing and alignment of got better but it's still there . Any help would be greatly appreciated ! All so the jeep has a 2" lift and one size up over stock with the tires.

don't recall on the y2k GC's.. but if you've got a solid front axle under it, I'd say a new track bar is in your very near future. Easy to do and fairly inexpensive too.

It's the same as the ZJs except for a slightly wider stance and a track bar with rubber on both ends. The steering linkage is different in that it has one link to join the 2 wheels and one from the steering box to the opposite wheel.

Check the steering box for play and loose mounting bolts, and change the track bar bushings, making sure the mounting bolt holes aren't worn oversized. With the alignment, about the only thing you can adjust is the toe-in. The control arms don't have cams to adjust the caster and the camber is built into the axle housing. If the track bar bolt holes are worn, you can fix them by welding washers over the holes and drilling them to the right size to have no clearance.

You might want to check the front driveshaft to make sure it's still got some ability to change length and not binding inside the CV joints.

I almost forgot! Check the REAR lower control arm bushings. If the thrust angle is off and it's dog-tracking, that can amplify a tendency to wander with power changes.

I will take another look at the track bar, I have watched the front end while someone turns the steering wheel slightly back and forth and I see no movement at any of the joints from the gear box down and from the gear box up to the fire wall , but I'm going to look again just to make sure. Thank you for the quick replies.

What I'm talking about with the steering box is any play in the pitman arm side to side moving it by hand without the steering wheel moving. You'll have to check that with the wheels hanging.

BTW, the steering damper does nothing! I drove mine for a week without one. All it really does is cushion steering kick-back when one wheel hits something.

True.. you could look at that as well it was just that my first thought was the track bar.

Rocketmouse, your first instinct was correct. That's usually where the problem starts. Any sideways motion of the axle assembly starts a synchronous vibration that amplifies itself.

The reason I mentioned the rear bushings is because my jeep was wagging it's tail like a happy dog! If you nailed the throttle, it pulled right. Hitting the brake, it dove left. When I inspected the suspension, I found the outer cans of the control arm bushings had rusted thru! To save time and heartache, I bought complete assemblies rather than go thru pressing the old ones out and possibly bending the arms. I replaced all 7 arms and the balljoint.

Regarding the track bar being an issue; Here is a link to poly track bar bushings for the WJ. I installed these about one year ago. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Suspension-...item3f961870d6