HudsonRipp

Hi!

I'm new to Cherokeeforum and am excited to be a part of the greater Jeep community.

I've known about the forum for a while now, but have finally decided to join for two reasons:

1. I'm experiencing some trouble with my 2000 Cherokee XJ

2. And I am not traditionally mechanically inclined, but with the right guidance can work my way around a vehicle fairly well

With that said, I'm not sure how things are done around here, but I figure I'll just throw my question/problem up here.

Two days ago, I was letting the girlfriend drive my Jeep and I was in the passenger alongside her. We pulled up to a red light and my buddies (who were tailing us) pulled up in the next lane over.
Being the stupid fool that I am I told her to hold the brakes, I flipped it into neutral, and she pressed the gas to rev the engine a bit. It was all good fun until the light turned green, I told her to punch the brakes, she didn't hear me, I threw it back into drive, and there was a lurch and a sort of POP! and the Jeep started to shake VIOLENTLY when we drove.

I don't know much about cars, but my first inclination was that it was the transmission, but upon further inspection, I don't think it is. It hasn't started leaking any fluid (except some power steering fluid), it's an automatic and at the points when the gears change over there doesn't seem to be any extra stress or issues. I had a mechanic friend take a look at it and he didn't think it was the transmission either, but couldn't determine the source of the problem. He did, however, recommend I get an alignment as I needed one and after doing that (and getting all new tires - something that I had been starting to need) the shaking went down about 50%. It seems like the shaking is primarily in the rear, but it's hard to say. I can drive at about 55mph without an issue, but I have to creep up to 55mph. I absolutely cannot speed up or it starts to shake and anything past 55mph gets it shaking again.

I've heard about the "Death Wobble" and feel like this could be it but don't know as I didn't have any of these problems before the incident.

Any thoughts on what it might be? Any and all help would be fantastic!

PatHenry

You'll want to post this in the technical stock XJ section.

Sounds more like something gave out in your rear brakes than anything else.

cruiser54

I moved it.

lawsoncl

Doesn't sound like death wobble. You'd have the wheel jerking back-n-forth, and wondering if the Jeep is going to crash. If the frequency of the shaking follows with vehicle speed, I'd I'd check the driveshaft u-joints. Mechanics should have been able to locate it by running it on the lift. Does it change if you put in in 4wd? Lurching if you make a tight turn, which might point to a front wheel ujoint/cvjoint?

BwanaBob

I was teaching a young man how to drive some years ago and he did something similar.
He revved it real high and let out the clutch. That stripped the splines on both rear axles.
(it was a Dana35 by the way). Maybe something is damaged in your rear differential.
Or as was mentioned, maybe a driveshaft u-joint or u-joint strap is damaged.

dave1123

I'd suggest a cracked universal cap, throwing the driveshaft out of balance. Just a guess.