Shake/Wobble after bump in 02 LJ

[Pikeman]

Have a friend with an 02 LJ 120k miles stock everything. Complaint is that after hitting a bump they feel a shake in the steering wheel and the truck wanders. I wanted to ask the Jeep people here for suggestions on where to start looking to diagnose/ fix the problem. Thank you for any guidance you can offer.

[Black & Tan TJ]

Have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth while another watches. With that many miles there's probably some worn ball joints, tie rod ends... Be sure to check the trackbar, if it gets loose you'll get death wobbles, I got them but it was the draglink end at the pitman arm moving up & down in the socket.

[neilbyrd]

The dredded death wobble. Check all the bushings on the front end. Jack the front end up on one side and try to move the tire side to side watching the tie rods for slop also check the wheel bearings while you have it up. Then try to move the tire with one hand on top and one one bottom watching the ball joints. If you need help let me know I am not to far from you.

[Pikeman]

Neil, it is actually one of the soldiers that works for me and he lives down in Hemet. Trying to come up with things to check and so far has been right on target with things that came to mind. Just being a Yota guy wasnt sure if similar items or known issues on the Jeep. The whole IFS/ Solid Axle difference.

Thank both of you for confirming and giving guidance on things to look at.

[Materdaddy]

Solid axles are known for DW. One of the only advantages I can think of to having IFS is not dealing w/ dw.

[neilbyrd]

Neil, it is actually one of the soldiers that works for me and he lives down in Hemet. Trying to come up with things to check and so far has been right on target with things that came to mind. Just being a Yota guy wasnt sure if similar items or known issues on the Jeep. The whole IFS/ Solid Axle difference.

Thank both of you for confirming and giving guidance on things to look at.

If he wants help let me know

[chris142]

I'm assuming that this is an 02 TJ not a LJ since the LJ was not built in 02. Anyway the usual cause for DW in these Jeeps is the track rod mount where it mounts to the front axle. Napa sells a hard plastic replacement bushing that replaces the problem prone rubber one.

You must burn the rubber bushing out of it's sleeve then install the new plastic bushing along with it's special grease. Super easy job. Once the rubber bushing is burned out you just press the new bushing in with your fingers and put the bolt back in.

[1 Bad F N Z]

Have him check his shocks. On my Grand cherokee the fronts had leaked, and when you extended the shock they would colaspe the first couple of inches before actually start to work. Thus driving down the road, you would hit the rough spots and the shocks weren't doing anything.

[Pikeman]

I'm assuming that this is an 02 TJ not a LJ since the LJ was not built in 02.

I was going by the year the owner told me. I know for a fact it is an LJ (kind of hard not to notice the 13 extra inches, especially when parked next to a TJ)

Again thank you all for your advice on what to check, I will let you know what he or I find when the problem is located.

[6spdYJ]

More input on the same subject: http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/sh...-Help-question

[IEcrawlerTJ01]

Alignment and tire balance is a big thing with DW as well

[Black & Tan TJ]

Hey Mike,
I think I found something concrete. I too had a slight wobble / shake in my 02 when I'd hit a bump at times but not consistently so I didn't think much of it. Well low and behold during my Warn locking hub and Vanco Big Brake conversion I replaced the ball joints since I was there and guess what else happened. Yup! No more shake and wobble. I was going to do tie rod ends too but didn't which was good cause I might have thought they fixed the shake... The old ball joints had 75,000 miles on them and one of the lowers did have a loose spot in a certain position probably causing some play. I replace all 4 ball joint with Moog brand suggested by Dukes69 and not the plastic stock one, good choice.

Cheers, Tom