2000 xj Shimmy Help.

OK so this doesn't make sense.
I have a 2000 XJ, 165k miles, 4.0L 4x4.

It does have a SLIGHT lift to it, but not much, spacers and shackles.

It has new shocks, track bar, tires and wheels(balanced good, they were actually on my friends 96 xj before he upgraded) and alignment.

I have a slight shake at 55 intermittently. It doesn't happen all the time. Randomly. I know one of my tie rod ends is going but they aren't that bad yet. I hear a small pop once or twice a month. Any ideas?? I have slight feathering on the outside of my tires but I got my alignment checked and it was literally perfect. Only thing I could think of is either my steering components are worn and just need replacing or my wheel bearings are bad (they're not making noise at all) I've checked everything. I'm out of ideas, mainly since its not all the time but randomly.

Any help is nice, thanks guys!

Well jack it up and feel for slop in the wheel bearings. Not hard.

Fix tie rod end. Not hard. If it has free play, it should be replaced.

Get underneath on ramps and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth a couple of inches and eyeball each connection for free play.

See I've done all that, along with a shop, we both found nothing loose or wrong. It doesn't make sense. I'm going to be checking the bearing again today cause I'm rotating my tires so I might as well. With the tie rod end I think I'm just gonna upgrade to the crown automotive upgraded one just because it's beefier and I found it on amazon for $139. I'll need a new drag link anyways cause I think I need to replace that tie rod end as well, but the one thats not replaceable. Sucks, I'm really debating on replacing all the joints on my front end just to eliminate them as a possible cause.

It doesn't take much play to cause a wobble.

With that mileage and year, I'd guess plenty of city driving or lightly used for off road?

Probably would see a nice benefit from new linkage and wheel bearings.

Ball joints if they have any play.

On thing to keep in mind- when replacing just one old part, the other old parts get to take the slop and you may see the problem move around until you replace everything. If you do it all at once, you get a nice ride for another bunch of years.

OK so I went out and checked it all, seems like the only thing that was more worn than everything else was both tie rod ends on the drag link. So I'll probably end up replacing that since it's an easy fix. Wheel bearings seemed good. And you are correct with the type of driving.