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Anybody want to help me with alignment? Pull/Shake issues.
Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
Anybody want to help me with alignment? Pull/Shake issues.
Stock 89 XJ 4.0 auto 4x4 95,000 miles.
I have a stock 89 XJ with 235/75R15's on it. It has started pulling to right when I'm driving and let go of the steering wheel. It also has developed a shake at usually 55mph. Although it has done it at 50mph before. Sometimes the shake is a lot worse than other times. Sometimes it's almost like it doesn't shake at all. It's bizarre. It makes no knocking or scrubbing noises btw.
It used to not do any of this in my memory. It all seemed to kind of start a 3-4 months ago when I hit a pretty good pot hole with my right front tire. At least in my memory that seems when it started thinking back.
My back right tire was wearing in the center and not the edges so I thought that was it. Tire place said a belt had let go and that was the problem. No.
Went and had all the rest of my tires balanced today. I looked around while the front tires were off and didn't see any broke suspension parts. I also shook on the tires while it was the ground to make sure they didn't wobble any.
They were out of balance some but it still is pulling and shaking some at 55mph. The balancing did seem to help, maybe.
So now I hope it's just got knocked out of line. I would like to learn to do this myself and save the money. So any help or detailed links is very much appreciated.
Last edited by Chick-N-Picker; Feb 16, 2018 at 03:06 PM.
Look up "string alignment" on youtube. Thats how I do all my vehicles. It takes a while to setup everything correctly but it works great if you take your time. You will need an angle finder to set caster though.
Typically, if the vehicle is pulling one direction its due to the caster being off so thats what I would check first.
I would start by checking your front tires the shake sounds like you can have a bad tire . If your alignment is that far off you should be able to see it looking at the front tires . you can also check your toe with a tape measure and get close to where it should be .
Update: I still haven't had it aligned. I haven't had time. I'm sure it needs alignment due to it pulling to the right but I don't think it's causing my problem though. My tires aren't wearing uneven at all.
What has me puzzled is that it doesn't do the shaking every time I reach 50-55mph. And when it does sometimes it's very mild and sometimes it's so bad that I have to slow down.
It did it bad twice yesterday. Once was on the interstate running ca. 55. I got a bump pretty good and it immediately started shaking. I slowed down and sped back up and it didn't do it.
Then once I was on a regular road and hit ca. 52 and it started bad. Didn't hit a bump. Just rolling smooth. Slowed down, sped back up and it did it again. Slowed down, sped back up and it didn't do it. Those were just the two really bad shakes. It also did the mild shake a few times.
What could cause this on/off again mild/bad shake? If it was tires it seems like it would do it everytime. I don't know. Could an alignment issue cause this?
Thanks to this forum I know a lot about the Cherokee motor, tranny, tricks, and electronics to an extent. My darkest area is suspension things.
Last edited by Chick-N-Picker; Feb 28, 2018 at 10:01 AM.
Update: I still haven't had it aligned. I haven't had time. I'm sure it needs alignment due to it pulling to the right but I don't think it's causing my problem though. My tires aren't wearing uneven at all.
If it's pulling to one side, toe isn't the issue. Caster or camber is likely off on one side vs. the other.
Originally Posted by Chick-N-Picker
What could cause this on/off again mild/bad shake? If it was tires it seems like it would do it everytime. I don't know. Could an alignment issue cause this?
No. If the issue is worse after hitting a bump, that is the beginning of death wobble. Something in the suspension or steering linkage is worn and getting loose. Track bar, ball joints, unit bearings, TREs, etc.
If it's pulling to one side, toe isn't the issue. Caster or camber is likely off on one side vs. the other.
No. If the issue is worse after hitting a bump, that is the beginning of death wobble. Something in the suspension or steering linkage is worn and getting loose. Track bar, ball joints, unit bearings, TREs, etc.
Hitting the bump maybe didn't cause because it usually has nothing to do with it doing it. It happens on smooth rodes too. That could have just been a coincidence or just in my head.
I know it needs anlignment (camber/caster). So I'm just going to g brake down and do that or get it done no matter what.
I just shook the tires off the ground 1.5 weeks ago and they were real tight so I guess I can "hopefully" rule out wheel bearings.
I think I'm going to move front tire to back today and just see if that effects anything. It can't hurt.
At least I can drive it. I could drive it to California at 45mph haha. I live in the hills of North Carolina. Just trying to take it easy and not worry.
Tire balance and/or worn parts are usually the culprits here. Have you put a wrench on your track bar to see if it's tight? You should also have a helper turn the steering back and forth while you lay under and look for any looseness.
Tire balance and/or worn parts are usually the culprits here. Have you put a wrench on your track bar to see if it's tight? You should also have a helper turn the steering back and forth while you lay under and look for any looseness.
Not yet but getting ready to start going over stuff in the next few days. Its raining here today so I can't. Its been raining a lot here lately.
I had beginning stages of death wobble. Changed all 4 ball joints, the unit bearings and rotors. Only one ball joint was a little loose and only one bearing had a little play. Death wobble was gone but still had a shimmy. Worse at higher speeds. Ended up being the tires. And they were only 2 years old. It was also slightly pulling right. Probably the bad ball joint and bearing let the camber change just enough to pull. All of my other steering components and track bar had been replaced previously and alignment had been done previous to the tires.
Update:
I crawled under the jeep today and checked the bolts/nuts that I seen. All were tight and seemed right. Still haven't swapped tires. Hopefully tomorrow.
I did a lot of driving today and it wasn't doing the shake all that much, almost none until I started trying to get it to recreate the shake. At first I struggled but then it started doing it. I think I was wrong earlier about the bump causing anything.
Anyway, I figured out that if it's shaking a little or extremely bad. If I let go of the steering wheel and let it pull to the right, it stops shaking and smoothly heads toward the white line kind of fast. If I steer towards the left while it shakes it seems to make it worse. Obviously holding the wheel straight it shakes however bad it's shaking at the moment.
So now I'm thinking it pulling to the right has a big part of my problem. So what's this point to?
It's kind of hard to narrow something down that doesn't happen consistently.
Last edited by Chick-N-Picker; Mar 2, 2018 at 03:55 PM.
Well I had been really busy and it had been raining a lot or either cold but yesterday I finally got a chance to crawl under the jeep and shake and do a check on the suspension parts.
I raised each side of the vehicle separately and checked for looseness at 3 & 9 and 12 & 6. Didn't see or feel nothing.
Also used a piece of wood and long bar under the tire to push up and see if I heard or seen any movement. Nothing that I could see or hear.
And then I switched my left front tire to the right and right to the left. Drove it today for the first time AND.....
it now pulls to the left where it was pulling to the right. So, I reckon I at least do have a tire issue. When I hit that big pot hole with my right tire maybe it broke a belt. Hopefully that's all. Will be getting another tire on tomorrow or Saturday.
Ok. Went and put another tire on the front right yesterday. Still pulling left. Went back put one on the left. Now the pulling to either side seemed to pretty much be gone. however, it did still wobble some but nothing like it had. I even tried to get it to do it but it just never would get that real bad wobble. And it seemed if I drove on through the less wobble it would smooth out.
Now on to today. I decided to now put the two newer front tires on the back and my backs on fronts just to see what happened and because the newer one have black walls and the older ones had white letters, so it looked better too haha.
Got in to drive and the mother trucker is back pulling left again. I got it up to about 50mph and it was going to still wobble but I just let off the gas and just took it easy home. It didn't feel like it would have been a bad wobble though.
So my thoughts and questions are this. My original front tires definitely needing changing. But could bad back tires (broke belt, out of round, etc) be causing the "newish" wobble that I experienced when they were still on the back? Remember they are now currently on the front and I am once again pulling left.
I hope that makes sense.
PS: I love Jeeps but this wobble/pull right/pull left thing is making me want to sale it and get an IFS truck. Lot less likely to run into this stuff. But then what I bought might end up being junk with a lot more than 96,000 miles. Life is beating me down in other ways than this Jeep and I'm beginning to get real discouraged.
Last edited by Chick-N-Picker; Mar 31, 2018 at 10:33 PM.
If you're getting frustrated with it you might want to think about taking it to a quality tire shop and get it professionally diagnosed. It may be worth it just to know what you're dealing with rather than chasin gremlins.
Another thought is the mix/match of tires is always risky - different brands and/or levels of wear etc.
You should always do what is best for you, but before ditching your Jeep for an IFS truck, bear in mind the cost of switching a registration and taxes/fees is probably a lot more than a quality diagnostic and all trucks have tires and hence the possibility of tire problems.
I'm biased though, so just my opinion.
Anybody want to help me with alignment? Pull/Shake issues.
