Story time. And questions near the end (plus helpful info)

I own a 1994 Jeep Cherokee XJ sport. Love it, great car. Hasn't had and major problems. It's been driving smoothly and running fine for weeks.
The other day I noticed a should vibration in the wheel, I thought yeah okay probably needs a wheel balance. Nothing bad. Yesterday I went for a spin to test my new lights and it still had the wobble at around 97kmh, but I hit a bump and all hell broke loose. The Cherokee was shaking like a *****, mirror fell off, fuel light came on, and my eyes were shaking out of my head.
I slowed down and knew I had reached the stage that I always feared. Death Wobble. I pulled into a parking lot and did a quick inspection for anything obvious. I didn't find anything except for my center hub cap that partly fell off and had broken it's clips. Kind of ruins the asthetics. Underneath everything looked fine except for some components that looked like they had grease spilt over them. Possible leakage in some of the components??
It happens every so often (it's been 2 days and it had happened 4 more times) I'm staying of the highways.
The Wobble occurs between 88kmh and 100kmh. But the sweet spot appears to be 97km. That's when it brings to vibrate a touch, then violently shake when I hit a certain bump the wrong way.

What's the usual problem when it comes to XJ death wobble? Expensive? Hard to fix?

Like I said, '94 Cherokee sport.
NOT MODDED or LIFTED
No big tires it can't handle or and sort of steering component change. Everything is original and old.
Also noticed it pulls to the right a tad. So an assignment is in order.

 

DW = worn steering components.

 

But which ones? I'm not replacing everything. I don't have that kind of money or time. How do I find which is the culprit

 

Lift the front and get someone to turn the steering wheel and see where your slop is. It could be many things not just 1; ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel hubs etc.

 

Most common cause of the infamous "death wobble" is worn bushings on the track bar. (or worst case scenario a loose mount...but i haven't personally heard of someone with that being loose.
With our solid front axles... the track bar is what helps to keep the front axle centered under the body up front. (side to side)
Other worn steering linkage (tie rods, etc.) can make it worse, but root cause is generally the track bar for most. Fortunately it's fairly cheap and easy to install yourself.

 

Thanks. How would I check to see if it's broken or anything? Move the suspension up and down or?

 

Biggest thing is get underneath it... there are two mounting points. One at the axle toward the passenger side (front axle)...and then it mounts to the frame up near/above the pitman arm. And there are large bushings with metal inserts in them. And those rubber bushing will wear over time, and can dry-rot, crack, tare, etc.
No real measurement for a worn one unless it's so far gone that the axle is actually shifted over to the side. At that point you would measure the outer edge of the tire to the body on each side, and if you get different measurements, (with tires on the ground of course), then your axle is offset from where it should be, which is centered under the vehicle side to side.
The measuring method if you replace it yourself is an easy way to make sure you have it back in place correctly (especially if you replace the solid OEM one with an adjustable one).... If your Jeep is stock then you don't really need an adjustable track bar...but when you go to lift it, you will need one in order to still be able to center it correctly.
Hope that helps.

 

here... check this diagram out...that should help you ID these suspension parts under your rig....not the exact same model, but for IDing purposes it's pretty close.

 

Great photo! Only one thing missing. The "Steering Dampener" is partially hidden behind the "Drag Link" bar. I replaced steering dampener, got relief for 3 months from "Death Wobble," then it came right back. Turned out to be "Track Bar" was loose at the lower mount. Death Wobble gone! Jeep On!

 

i had death wobble once. it was trac bar. replaced that and tightened up tighter than a frogs *** and the rest is history.

also a coil over dampener helped immensely due to my bias ply iroks.

 

One way is to visually inspect the bushings, the side at the axle is pretty easy to see with a flashlight.
Also if you stand at the side of one of your front wheels, and give the body a good couple pushes... then look at you Jeep straight on from the front (looking down each side) see if it came back to rest centered side to side. If the bushings are really shot, it may not have.
Also listen for anything that sounds loose when you do your couple side pushes.
Another thing to check is your tie-rod ends. See if they are shot. Those are pretty easy to do as well. in fact about a month ago, I crawled under mine and replaced the track bar and all of the tie-rod ends too. Inner and outer both sides.
Also check your pitman arm and steering linkage. while having a mate turn the wheel a bit (parked obviously)...and see if there's any play in the steering linkage too. you don't have to be a rocket scientist to determine if it does or not. It's pretty easy to tell if excess play is present.

 

I think from looking at it, that the photo might be of a TJ... but knew for "demonstration" purposes that the linkage is close enough to an XJ for identifying parts.

Fortunately I didn't have to actually experience the full on Death Wobble with my XJ....as I knew the front end linkage was "tired" when I bought her... so I had only driven her a few times prior to crawling underneath to replace everything and saw the bushing on the lower (axle end mount) was worn out. Could see the stress cracks in it so knew I that was being added to the list of replacement parts.

 

Check tire toe.
You need 1/16 to 1/8" toe in.
Replace any components you find with play during your inspection.
No way to rectify worn out parts without new parts.
Then keep your parts greased for longevity.
As your in Ontario Canada, try Prime Choice Auto for low cost parts. Remember, lower cost parts will not be top of line quality. but may fit your budget.

 

My wifes, 01 210k miles all stock. I had replaced trac bar, drag link, damper, sway bar links and tie rod two years ago only because all the boots were gone. That was at about 170k. About a year ago it started to shimmy bad while braking. I kept putting off fixing it until finally it started to almost have death wobble. I say almost because it didn't nearly rattle my eyes out of their sockets like some death wobble I've experienced. It also would shimmy without braking.

Finally this past summer I did the ball joints. They weren't actually as bad as I expected but I did them anyway. Also I did the hubs. Only one side was slightly loose. Also did the rotors because I believe that's where the shimmy started. Once I did that death wobble was gone. Still had a slight shimmy over 45 mph but that turned out to be the front tires. Control arm bushings are still originals.