shimmy at 58+ pop on hard turn...u-joint or ball AHHH!

Got a wicked shimmy at 58+MPH (death wobble i guess but stock height needs new suspension soon), thinking that's the ball joint...now I've noticed a pop on hard turns (like all the way to lock in parking lot) so you guys think this is u joint or ball joint? also could tie rod end be doing something funky?

getting it up on jack tomorrow to check ball joint not sure how you check for u joint and tie rod end


man my cherokee is turning into the ultimate money pit! :soapbox:

No such thing as 'death wobble I guess'. If you've had it, you know it. Did you try the search feature? Shimmies/ DW are kind of a hasta thing around here.

haha ya then I'm gonna say it was death wobble

just wondering if this is a two birds one stone problem or a many birds not enough stones problem

man I'm really starting to hate the Creep

CLOISER said:

man my cherokee is turning into the ultimate money pit! :soapbox:

Click to expand...

You have no idea...

~Scott

start with a trackbar. it's a lot cheaper and easier to replace than balljoints, and they go bad a lot more often. get somebody to shake the wheel real hard back and forth with the engine off while you look at every joint under the front end and watch for movement....

For the U-joints:

First, you can simply reach in and wiggle it. If it's really bad, you'll feel that it's loose.

If it's not loose, but you suspect binding (likely from what is described), jack up the wheel, crank the steering all the way to lock, and rotate the tire. You will likely feel it either binding, clunking, or both.

While there's a good possibility that the trackbar is also bad, I would not replace it or anything else until you look at it first.

For the rest of the steering, as suggested, get someone to wiggle the steering wheel back and forth, while you're underneath checking for lost motion. Leave it on the ground, so that the resistance of the wheels to turning will strain the joints more, and if it is turned hard enough to start moving both wheels, then any play that's there should show up.