Hello All!

This afternoon I was driving my stock 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee on the highway about 50mph, and right after going around the slight curve in the highway my steering wheel startled violently wobbling and the whole car also felt like it shaking. I pulled over and did a thorough inspection and couldn’t fine anything loose, broken, etc so I figured I would attempt to drive it home the rest of the way (7 miles). On the way home I never had the problem again and it drove like normal. I even got up too speed of 65mph. Any guess on what this may have been? Should I be worried about it? Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum.

Death Wobble is a scary problem. The propensity for occurrence is increased when the vehicle is lifted and / or larger than stock wheels / tires are installed.

If the vehicle is stock then the steering parts have probably degraded from age.

This topic shows the parts I used to restore like new handling on my ZJ.

 

I was kind of thinking it may be death wobble... but would the death wobble just randomly happen and then fix itself and not happen again? It is completely stock no lifts or anything.

 

Hi guys. Hmmm my Jeep was wobbling like crazy. It is lifted and has a custom suspension and bigger / wider tires. Took it to one mechanic who is an off road jeep specialist and he said it wobbles because the suspension is made for rock climbing and it needs a stabilizer. Took it to another mechanic who just quickly added something to each suspension suspension and it drives fine now. Should I be worried that it was just a bandaid job and I could be in danger driving this thing? This are a pics before the mechanic "fixed" the wobble. Thanks.

 

When was the last time the linked steering parts have been replaced?

When I replaced mine, every single rubber bushing was hard and cracked.

All those ancient rubber parts position the axles at the correct location, while permitting the required movements.

 

Welcome to the forum.

It would be better to post this inquiry in the Modified XJ Cherokee Tech forum.

 

Definitely worth taking a look at ball joints, swing arm (control arm) bushings, sway bar links, tie rod ends, pitman arm and steering stabilizer (shock absorber on the front steering arms). if the joints are tight, check for leaking on the stabilizer, it may be floating a bit. That stabilizer acts as an accumulator for sloppy steering (recip ball steering box is not the most ideal for good road manners) which gets really noticeable on short wheelbase rigs like the XJ and ZJ. They are about the same price as any suspension shock absorber and well worth the money for smooth and stable steering. I just redid the whole shebang on the front of my 98 a few years ago as all of the above were worn out, I strongly recommend replacing any of these linkages with greaseable units so you can keep them lubed to avoid them wearing out prematurely.

 

I just remembered something I had with my 98 ZJ a few years ago. Check your front u-joint on the front driveshaft at the pinion. Mine wore out and had a cap that turned in the pinion yoke, wearing it severely, needing replacement. As the front hubs are constantly engaged this will spin even in 2WD and make one heck of a shake. The same is true for u-joints on the front axle. If you've got CVs on the front axle, you wont get shaking to the same extent unless they are really bad. but I've had u-joints that have gone bad cause serious shaking, and then quiet down for a while again when they "settle" into a happy place for a bit. If the wheel is pulling on a curve, this could be the front axle half-shaft u-joints - unfortunately they are a pain to do if they have been in there for any considerable length of time (big $$$ as an assembly, bit of a pain to replace just the u-joints).