Front end shaking

[nicdavis21]

I have a 2000 jeep cherokee with no mods. It has 62,000 miles, and is in mint condition. We just had new u joints, pads, and rotors put in 1 month ago. Now it has developed this random shake in the front end that only occurs randomly in low (0-30 miles an hour) speeds that I have noticed. The steering wheel shakes and there is a noise like something is binding up, when this shaking is going on and you apply pressure to the brake it stops, when you release the presure off the brake it continues all the way until you stop. Every time I get a mechanic in the vehicle it doesn't occur. It does this whether you are in neutral or drive as long as the wheels are rolling, when you are going straight or turning, and it only does it randomly. Alot of the archives speak of a steering stabilizer does this sound like a symptom of that? We have inspected the wheels,rotors, u joints, calipers and everything looks good. we also took of the front drive shaft off and drove aroundin just 2 wheel drive, after circling the neighborhood a dozen times it started to do it again. Any sugestions?????

 

[B192734]

Is this a real shake, or is it like a vibration? I had an old pickup that would vibrate like crazy relatively randomly (also expect when the mechanic was there). Eventually we tracked it down to the torque converter.

 

[mud4feet]

First off, welcome aboard! I believe you've come to the right place, although I'm not the best one to help you.....trust me, someone will chime in and correct any bad advice I give you and lead you the right way!

You mention you checked the "wheels"......did you mean/does that include the tires? Are they wearing smoothly and evenly? The first thing I would check is the balance, just because that's probably the cheapest (and can cause havoc). Shocks? Are they in good shape? It could be the steering stabilizer, but a new steering stablizer might also mask the real problem. You mention that it stops when you apply the brakes, so that would lead me to think that it may be in your steering/suspension components -tie rods, ball joints, etc. Have you had it aligned recently? Bad alignment can also cause havoc..........and they will tell you if you have any worn parts under there..........can't align it properly with worn parts. Just my non-mechanic-fixed-some-things-screwed-up-some-others-oh-well-I'm-too-cheap-to-take-it-to-someone-else-'till-I've-screwed-them-up-too-badly thoughts. There are many others here more knowledgeable than me, but hope I helped somewhat.

Wrangler owner,
mud

 

[nicdavis21]

It is a pretty good shake, it is definitly more than just a vibration. The tires are wearing pretty good they were purchased last fall. in very good shape the vehicle sat all summer.

 

[Jeepr]

try switching the tires front to back. If the shake goes away, it has something to do with the tires.

You had the u-joints in the axle replaced, or the ones in the drive shaft? A binding axle u-joint can do that.

 

[Wolfsmate79]

its common.....check the tires for being out of balance and have it alligned. Will do the trick!

 

[Dorivin]

Could be the u-joints or the roters. Sometimes your brake will wanna stick to the roter and sorta lock up causing the stearing will to shake and wanna pull to one side or the other and the brakes will heat up reallllly hot, it'll smell like the tires are burning. Could also be an alignment problem.

 

[TwistedCU]

Check your trackbar joint and bushing at the frame end.

 

[droopey]

maybe your tires are "flat" spotted from being parked in one spot all summer long.

 

[sloppyjoe]

I had about the same prob with a Zj i have, it turned out to be the Stabilizer, but I would not rule out checking the tires to see if there r some flat spots. The way I checked the stabilizer was I found a place here near where I live( bump in the road that always made it shake) and every time I used that road it shook, so that is how to test for the stabilizer, hope that helps. JOE>

 

[jay79cj7]

I also have a 2000 XJ and have some vibes at certain speeds as well, but a little different than you describe. They were pretty serious, with the steering wheel shaking quite a bit at times. I suspect I have a tire out of balance but haven't had a chance to take care of it. However, check your stabilizer as well. I checked mine and it offered no resistance to movement... A $30 replacement at NAPA later, those vibes are still there, but reduced to the point that I would probably not even notice them if I didn't already know they were there. Its easy enough to check and change out.

 

[Laph]

that also sounds alot like the problem I had on My 99wj also. The problem turned out to be some bad tie rods. The bad ones where both the inner ones. the two that connect the steering and the passenger tie togeather.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I also have a 2000 XJ and have some vibes at certain speeds as well, but a little different than you describe. They were pretty serious, with the steering wheel shaking quite a bit at times. I suspect I have a tire out of balance but haven't had a chance to take care of it. However, check your stabilizer as well. I checked mine and it offered no resistance to movement... A $30 replacement at NAPA later, those vibes are still there, but reduced to the point that I would probably not even notice them if I didn't already know they were there. Its easy enough to check and change out.

It sounds like you treated the symptoms and not the problem. Masking the problem isn't a good way to go, IMO. The shake is still there on the other side of the stabilizer, and it will only get worse untreated, and potentially cause more serious problems to other steering components the longer you go.