99 Sport Rear End "Squiggle"

Hello ,

I have recently acquired a 99 XJ Sport 4Dr with 109k on it (this is my first Jeep). Although it is in excellent condition (looks and runs gr8), it gives a strange feeling when going over even small bumps and imperfections in the road. It feels as though the rear of the Jeep is moving sideways ever so slightly and that the right rear corner is compressing more than the left. The vehicle sits level (no sags at rest) and does not continue to bounce after the bump so I *think* the shocks are ok. It just feels as though the right rear is squatting and squirming to the left. I suspected that perhaps the track bar was bad and causing a momentary misalignment of the axles, but the shop that just performed a front-end alignment claimed that all the front-end pieces were tight. Although, I'm not convinced they did a very good job as the front end still tends to wander and does not want to self-center after a turn.

Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

I would guess that you need some new shocks expecially in the rear

I would check your bushings.
I had a car do the same thing, almost to the point of undrivable and new bushings cured it.
HTH

natep1 said:

I would check your bushings.
I had a car do the same thing, almost to the point of undrivable and new bushings cured it.
HTH

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Which bushings? I mean, having all the bushings replaced would seem to be a pretty expensive prospect. :shocked:
Also, if it is the bushings, are poly bushings the way to go?

Make sure the sway bars are still hooked up, front and rear. Then shocks.

The sway bars are indeed connected (I don't think this truck had ever been off-road prior to my ownership), but their bushings look somewhat suspicious. The bushings look pretty well worn with their holes looking more oval than round. Perhaps a new set of poly sway bar bushings and 4 shocks is the place to start.

CantonXJ said:

I'm not convinced they did a very good job as the front end still tends to wander and does not want to self-center after a turn.

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Hmm. "wander" and "not self-center" almost point a finger at the steering stabilizer as well.

Den

Unless you are doing bushing yourself I would suggest replacing the springs and such with say an OME suspension kit, gives you new F/R springs, shocks,bushings and will be the same amount of work as replaceing the spring bushings in your stock springs and such..and the benefit of a better ride than stock..

DenLip said:

Hmm. "wander" and "not self-center" almost point a finger at the steering stabilizer as well.

Den

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Steering stabilizer is brandy-spanking new Rough Country unit ... was the first thing I replaced.

RichP said:

Unless you are doing bushing yourself I would suggest replacing the springs and such with say an OME suspension kit, ...

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Hmm, but I'm not really sure I wanna go the lifted route and I don't think that OME makes non-lifted kits (do they?). This Jeep is my daily driver and only sees mild off-road use (fishing, camping, etc.). I bought it mainly for its capabilities in snow (didn't want an AWD rice-rocket) and decent amount of cargo room.

wheels centering shouldn't depend on the steering stabilizer, it should be mostly dependent on the caster of the wheels. unless you've got adj. control arms an alignment shop probably wouldn't have touched that, with factory control arms I believe it's controlled by shims at the LCA mount. Something to call back and ask about.

Just a quick follow-up on this. I had a set of Monroe SensaTracs (coil-overs in back) installed last week and it completely cured my problem. Thanks to all that responed!

Dave

likely the new shocks lifted the rear end a bit, and that would change the efective caster on the front wheels.

87manche said:

likely the new shocks lifted the rear end a bit, and that would change the efective caster on the front wheels.

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Right you are 'manche! The rear came up just under an inch. It's now just slightly higher than the front when unloaded. I got the coil-overs for towing a 17' ski boat.

Air pressure in tires good??? not sure if that would cuase it or not