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DW lots of searching done, lots of parts replaced

G

grand600

NAXJA Forum User
Location
La Follette, TN
Hey guys got an 88 cherokee limited 4x4 4.0 136,000 miles on it, stock suspention. have been dealing with DW for a while. Parts replaced, Trackbar, tires, upper and lower 4 link bushings, shocks. Alignment was just done tie rods and all other steering components seem to be in good shape(no Play). Almost forgot new rotors and pads, and all new U-joints even knowing this probably would have nothing to do with DW. Now here is what I have found. The trackbar is an autozone unit with under 10k miles on it. But it is my main suspect for the DW I keep getting. The track bar has a factory looking rubber bushing in it. If I get some one to move the steering wheel back and forth while being under the truck looking at the track bar bushing there is a solid 1/2" of back and forth movement/compression in that bushing. No Play in it, just seems like a very weak bushing. I have seen polyurethane bushings for this. Do they work? I have also looked to try to find a track-bar with a heim joint or the like with less movement. Where can I find these, and do you think I may have found the cause of the DW. Thank you for the help!!
 
If you have excessive movement at the upper track bar joint you probably need a new one. You can try to tighten down the mounting nut. Make sure the tapered hole in the frame bracket has not become enlarged.

Make sure the bolt hole on the axle end mount is not enlarged. Check the torque on the axle end bolt. A poly bushing in the axle end joint will probably reduce the amount of movement there.
 
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The track bar should not move at all.

A poly bushing would be stiffer...as in stiff and would allow less, if any movement. Take the bolt out and look at the mounting hole. It's quite common to have the mounting hole wallow out in to an oval, or worse. That makes whatever bushing you have in there useless, you'll never tighten it with NO play.

The best fix I've heard of is to weld a heavy washer over the damaged hole...to make the hole round again, replace the bolt with a heavier bolt. Make sure it's torqued to specs, if that's actually the problem. The other problem is that it's an AutoZone track bar. period, enough said. I've seen cheap track bars fail in less than 5K miles.
 
Check the condition of the axle bracket hole, repair if needed. Correctly torque the axle bracket bolt, consider replacing the axle end bushing with poly.

I used 1/4" plate on mine.

.
standard.jpg
 
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The mounting holes and metal bolt hole in center of bushing are nice and round. No slop in bolt to hole clearance. Bushing looks OK in appearance. If you take a standard Phillips screwdriver and put it into the bushing the rubber is really weak and moves substantially. Mushy rubber. What is a Good replacement track bar? or should I just try the $10 poly bushing first?
Thanks fellas
Jon B
 
Have you had your tires balanced lately? It's very easy to mistake unbalanced tires for DW... and often unbalanced tires will cause you to have actual DW. Just something you could check.
 
Yes autozone track bar does have lifetime warranty, but id rather fix it right this time with a quality track bar so I dont have to put another one on in under 10k miles
 
Any double shear track bar that comes with a new frame bracket is superior.

Iron Rock Off Road has an excellent DS track bar. Call them, they will tell you if it can be used as is for a stock Cherokee or if there is enough threads to trim it down for a stock XJ. They may even be able to make you a shorter one for a stock XJ.
 
BirchlakeXJ mentions MOOG in post #11 above. One source for this is RockAuto. I recently thought I was going to need a track bar and as I recall, found the best combination of price/shipping at Amazon. Search for Moog under suspension parts as they don't refer to this unit as a track bar.
 
http://www.kevinsoffroad.com/ Cured my DW, and enhanced the front end for pot holes, washboard ice/hard pan, etc. Very happy with the products, but more-over customer service. Never telephoned, just e-mails, and product(s) came quickly.

Gave you their home page link so as you can gain a solid foundation on their products, and why they carry them, and how good they will be for your XJ. After much comparisons, i.e; product correctness, quality, where made, prices, etc., I ended up with a majority of my front end parts through them, lol, one stop shopping as it were.

In addition I went with ARB/Old Man Emu throughout the suspension areas.., except for Kevin's site's recommendation to go for a less expensive, but adequate steering damper.
 
I am going to try a energy suspension poly bushing and see where that leads. It seems nobody make a good aftermarket bar unless you have a minimum 2" lift. So I may add a 2-3" lift then get a nice adj bar to go with it. So coil spacers and add a leaf here I come. Id do a better lift but this vehicle sees very little off road, so I don't need rock crawl flex.'
Thanks for all the reply's fellas. Ill keep ya posted
 
You don't need an after market bar, I think you are making a good call by replacing that bushing with a poly unit.

Something frequently overlook w/ death wobble is that the steering box itself may have excessive play, allowing the pitman arm to oscillate & the suspension to DW. Check your steering box for excessive play - do you have an over-large dead spot / wandering in the wheel? Have somebody turn the wheel back and forth while you watch the movement of the input shaft in relation to the pitman arm. There should be almost zero lag / slop in there.

Don't add a cheap lift to your rig just to get an adjustable bar. You don't need an HD bar, you need a new bushing & possibly further diagnosis / repair. The factory track bar in my rig was tight for 100K miles. If you don't 'wheel the rig enough to need a lift, keep it stock with quality parts and you'll be MUCH happier with the performance & overall quality of your rig.
 
yossarian19 said:
You don't need an after market bar, I think you are making a good call by replacing that bushing with a poly unit.

Something frequently overlook w/ death wobble is that the steering box itself may have excessive play, allowing the pitman arm to oscillate & the suspension to DW. Check your steering box for excessive play - do you have an over-large dead spot / wandering in the wheel? Have somebody turn the wheel back and forth while you watch the movement of the input shaft in relation to the pitman arm. There should be almost zero lag / slop in there.

Don't add a cheap lift to your rig just to get an adjustable bar. You don't need an HD bar, you need a new bushing & possibly further diagnosis / repair. The factory track bar in my rig was tight for 100K miles. If you don't 'wheel the rig enough to need a lift, keep it stock with quality parts and you'll be MUCH happier with the performance & overall quality of your rig.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have all autozone junk on my stock, and have solve DW on all three with stock parts, just finding the bad part. And in 9 years I have yet to replace an AZ front end part.
 
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