98 XJ Death Wobble.

jeep828

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Location
Hickory
I own a 98 Jeep Cherokee Classic and at 50mph and above while im driving if I hit a pot hole or even as light as making the transition onto or off a bridge my jeep flies into what ive heard called "The Death Wobble". The steering wheel starts shaking left to right and the only way to get it to stop is to slow down to 40~50 mph. If anyone has any idea as to what would cause this or has also had this problem and knows the resolution I would love to hear it. Thank you in advance.
 
Worn out bushings and bearings. I had the same problem on my 99, never did eliminate it completely. Replaced both of the unit bearings and the steering stabilizer and had the front end realigned and everything balanced. Worked except it still would shimmy a little if you hit a pothole. Hope this leads you in the right direction.
 
I replaced many things on my '99 XJ, the thing that finally cured the DW's was LCA bushings. I actually swapped the aftermarket fixed LCA's with adjustable ones, but had them adjusted to match the fixed length.
 
My 95 is doing the exact same thing, if I hit a bump or pothole or anything like that at 50mph or more then I get death wobble. However mine doesn't stop until I get the truck slowed down to 20mph or less.

I'm getting ready to start replacing parts and hopefully I can get rid of the death wobble. So far I've done the driverside unit bearing and I've got upper control arm bushings, I just need to put them in.

I'm also planning on having an alignment done after I finish replacing all the worn parts.
 
ditto on my 92.... it stops about 20mph and i heard to replace the tie rod ends and stabilizer so thats prob what ill start with:poop:
 
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