93 ZJ "clunk" in front axle

Oh also,

when driving at 40-60 mph, if I hit a bump just right, .. the whole frontend starts vibrating, resonating, and doesn't stop until I slow down a lot.

R> Hello all,

I'm guessing track bar bushing might be shot.

could that also cause thaty wheel to "flap around" and make a somewhat violent vibrating noise when you hit a pothole the wrong way ?

Ball joints might be going, too. Get thee to a repair shop.

You should be checking this out sooner than later, if it's a ball joint failing your tire can fall off, same if a wheel bearing blows out.

You can jack up the front and if it's a wheel bearing the wheel will be flopping around.

You can go under while someone cuts the steering from side pin to side pin and watch the top and bottom ball joints. If you see vertical movement in their joints or if their is rust coming out around the rubber boots, they are about to fail.

While doing the above side to side with the steering, watch the track bar that goes from a bushing on the passenger side axle up to a ball joint on the drivers side frame. If the bushing is bad on the axle, you will see movement, same for up at the frame ball joint.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

That is called the death wobble....

Yes it can be caused by a bad track bar bushing or ball joint and all the other things mentioned including a bad steering damper shock.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

ok...

Is that something that something you can easily fix yourself ?

Ron

Mike Roma> That is called the death wobble....

Ron Croonenberg did pass the time by typing:

DW.. Death Wobble. Something I'm not to unfamiliar with. :/ Try it at 85-90MPH. Let me guess.. hitting a bump "just right" is at a diagonal.

It only gets worse.

You need to take care of this before the wobble scallops your front tires or you dribble off the road. ^_^

Here is the list. (besides having too high a tire pressure)

1) tire balance/rotation/alignment (even a bad tire) (a badly balanced tire/thrown wheel weight leads to DW) If you have a bad tire move it to the back where it does less harm. 2) dead stabilizer/damper (this shock, located on the drag link, helps reduce steering vibrations) dead shocks. If your shocks are original then they may be gone. without good shocks the suspension in a ZJ is not stable.4) Antisway bar mounts cracked or failed. This has the effect of not damping both sides equally. Control arm bolts loose. Check the eight bolts (four on the body four on the front axle). This takes a torque wrench to check since even if they feel tight they may be loose enough. At any rate, I'd have someone check the runout on your tires.

Yes. The axle end bushing is replaceable. If the ball joint end up at the frame is bad, you have to replace the whole bar as far as I know. That's how the rest (TJ, XJ) work anyway. Still not a difficult job.

If it's a wheel bearing, that's an easy fix too, you just replace the hub on those. The ball joint is best left to a pro, it's an SOB to change.

Mike

R>

It's a wheel bearing.. just had the same thing with the wife's ZJ (also a

93)

Snow...

So you had that "clunk" when driving through a pothole, up the driveway etc ? and that "death wobble" when driving at +- 50mph and hit a bump just right ?

I have an early 93. You probably had to replace the whole bearing assembly...right ?

Snow wrote:

ok

when driving 65-70 + mph then it seems to not do that (I figured that the "gyroscopic effect" keeps the wheel "straight"

uhm.. yes probably hitting with one tire just before the otehr one

I bet

right. Thing is how to figure out what it is I need to fix.

tire pressure is fine

I replaced this one. it seemed to be better.. but started again after a while.

I replaced those a while ago (but quite a while ago)

ok...

tires don't really seem to have a runout

I noticed mine the most because of the brake pedal. When cornering, the rotor pushed in on the caliper piston so the first hit on the brake pedal after that was low, the next pump it would be back up to normal.

Mine didn't clunk, but I got to it before the wheel fell off... ;-)

Mike

R>

Ok, I looked at it with a friend of mine. It seems that the part where the draglink ataches to the hub/spindle/steeringknuckle or whatever it is called is worn and has some play in it. (it's like a tie rod end but then on what the service manual calls the draglink)

Does the whole draglink need to be replaced ? or can the end of it be replaced ?

thanks,

Ron

R> Hello all,

Ron Croonenberg did pass the time by typing:

The ZJ uses a Y type arrangement.

Play as in side to side pop/klunk or as in you can rotate it front to back.. rotating is fine, it's the pop/klunk that is bad.

$73.10 oem, $59.94 (chryslerpartsdirect.com) That's for part 4 on this diagram.

food for thought (if you want to go this way)

Yup.. part 4 in

that's the one

I assume one has to buy the whole draglink ?

Ron

DougW wrote:

That is part of the drag link on my Jeeps. The expensive part....

You can change that yourself pretty easy. It's adjusting end is to center the steering wheel only and has no bearing on the front end alignment.

I back off the big nut to the top of the threads and give it a hard hit with a large hammer, commonly known as a BFH. That usually pops it out. The other end needs penetrating fluid and two nuts and bolts on either end of a sleeve clamp to loosen.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

Ah... that's good to know.

Since it has been "flapping" around because of the play. I probably will have an alignment done anyway.

I have the tool somewhere in my garage. (My '79 CJ5 uses the same special BFH tool. )

hanks for the help.

Ron

Mike Roma> That is part of the drag link on my Jeeps. The expensive part.... >