my gc is very unstable when going down the road.. i hit a small bump and i i am all over the road..i know my sway bar links need to be replaced i will be doing that this week. anyone know what else it could be?..thanks

my gc is very unstable when going down the road.. i hit a small bump and i i am all over the road..i know my sway bar links need to be replaced i will be doing that this week. anyone know what else it could be?..thanks

I would look at two other things. I have experienced the death wobble a few times and believe it's a combination of things. Certainly the sway bar links contribute. The Steering stabilizer, if worn, will keep things loose up front. I believe the biggest contibutor are the motor mounts - I am changing mine out this week. They are badly worn. The mass of weight up front, if allowed to move (as worn mounts will) I believe is one major cause.

Prof

Hmmm, I believe that you are the first I heard say anything about the motor mounts causing DW. To a point I can understand that but then again I don't. If a motor is running smoothly looks like it would vibrate then smooth out, speed should not effect that if worn motor mounts... if they are worn looks to me like the vibration from the engine would be there constantly. Are jeeps the only vehicles that would be efffected by worn motor mounts? Reason I ask is I have had plenty of vehicles and some have actually had the engine CHAINED down and no motor mount at all and no effects to driving or wobble at all. Main issue usually was motor rocking when taking off from a stop or kick down into lower gear you could feel the engine wanting to roll, that was all.
That is the only reason why I would have said worn motor mounts would not cause DW because of experiences with other vehicles with bad or no motor mounts at all.

My only thought on death wobble is that it starts with the lack of a proper steering stabilizer. The 4.0 is a rather tall engine, with the mounts down low. Back and forth in a frequency of wobble, the engine follows along given it has worn mounts. Simple dynamics really, when you think about it. At least that is my two cents.
Prof

Guess it may be possible, anything is possible. But just out of curiousity sake, what engine do you have maynardc69?

I had the Death wobble. I'd hit a bump, vibrate until I got it under 45.
It would only happen on good size bumps and was hard to reproduce. I had a lot of things changed, but what ultimately gave me control back was replacing the steering Dampener or Stablizer (Horizontal shock absorber like, behind the skid plate). It was cheap enough, I should have done it first.

i have the 4.0...awd..ive seen some talk about the track bar but thats ok..ill have to look at that stability shock...i can twist my tie rods a little bit..i do have this for sale right now.. hopefully ill sell it and dont have to worry about it..thanks

i dont have any vibration it just rocks side to side along with my steering wheel...like the springs or shocks are shot

I think it's all in the amplitude and frequency of the hit - I've experienced it a few times, and it takes slowing down to get it to go away.
Worn shocks, steering stabilizer, and motor mounts. I think motor mounts play a bigger role that people imagine. That's the major weight up there and once it gets rocking side to side...
Prof

Was talking to my father-in-law and he has a plain jane cherokee, which I have read plenty about them also having DW also. He has had DW for quite some time and has spent plenty trying to fix it and claims it is still there just not quite as bad. I had made mention about the motor mounts to him whether or not he heard about that being a possible cause and he said that was the first thing he replaced cause they are reletively cheap. Probably cheaper than any other part he said but he still has issues with DW. So he said he is going to try saving money and redo all at once instead of a part here and there.

My question is, my JGC has DW a little and isn't really bad. I know my wheel bearing is going bad but everything SEEMS to check out good, could the wheel bearing possibly be causing it? It also feels like my tires buckle under my jeep when I turn sharply to the left and give a loud and feelable pop under the driver side front(somewhere). I know whatever it is popping has to be bad but do not know exactly what it is. Control arm bushing??

No. I have just changed out my motor mounts and think they were a small part of the culprit. The major part is the steering stabilizer. If it's old and worn I think it leaves play in the system.

By the way, my old motor mounts were so worn, the engine had to be lifted about 1/2" on the driver side, and a good 1/4" on the passenger side to match the new mounts.

Prof

I have the same problem i have 94 jeep grand cherookee and i have the dw i beleive it is the front wheel bearing when the windows are close do u heard weird noise not sure how describ it but that is my problem i went to 5 diferent garages and they told me they was nothing wrong with me front end but turned out by being the wheel bearing

I have the same problem i have 94 jeep grand cherookee and i have the dw i beleive it is the front wheel bearing when the windows are close do u heard weird noise not sure how describ it but that is my problem i went to 5 diferent garages and they told me they was nothing wrong with me front end but turned out by being the wheel bearing

The more I think about it, I believe death wobble is from inherent design of the Grand Cherokee. Main thing is to have a good steering stabilizer. Wheel bearing I don't think has any effect. Motor mounts I think have more effect than a wheel bearing. Once wobbling, the bad mounts allow the engine to swing along.
Replace your steering stabilizer.

Prof