Jeep Front End Question/ 2000 JGC + Bonus Question!!

James · 2006-11-01T00:31:11+00:00

This is a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 130,000 miles.The sympton is just a bit hard to describe. When I am driving on a rocky,gravel road, I feel a shaking in my steering column. It is veryweird....... if the road is very rutty, I can only assume that somethingin the front end is worn and loose, and this sets up a shimmy that Iactually feel quite strongly in my steering column and steering wheel. Itseems that I can actually "hear" rattling in my steering column.This is NOT death wobble. I have no such symptons at any speed, on asmooth or even semi smooth road. It is only there when I travel up and downour very rutty gravel mountain road, and I feel it even at very slow speeds.The "jerking" steering column is quite pronounced.I am thinking of tie rod ends............ or steering stabilizer , or balljoints ??What is the most likely culprit?BONUS QUESTION-- not related to above primary question..... I have alow frequency, rumble type rattle underneath my car. It sounds like itcomes from the center of the car, toward the back 1/2 of the car. Ofcourse, I can't be sure. It sounded so much to me like part of the exhaustsystem, I had my mechanic put in on the rack and check all of that verycarefully. He could find nothing loose. I only hear this when I am goingover rough roads, with many bumps etc. It is not a high pitch rattle... itis more like a rumble.What other parts could I suspect, and inspect to locate this noise. Could adefective wheel bearing exhibit this noise? How does one check the statusof a wheel bearing ?Thank you all very much !!!!--James--

Nov 01, 2006 30 Replies

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

You don't think a well-placed rock will spin the wheel around, even with power steering? Suprising.

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

Bill, are you implying a stock TJ power steering system uses hydraulic rams for power assistance? You are misinformed.

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L.W.(Bill) Hughes III 19 years ago

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L.W.(Bill) Hughes III 19 years ago

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

You said hydraulic cylinder, I thought you were talking about a ram-assist PS like on the bro's 70 Torino:

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

What's your steering gear ratio?

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L.W.(Bill) Hughes III 19 years ago

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L.W.(Bill) Hughes III 19 years ago

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Matt Macchiarolo 19 years ago

Several times keeping my thumbs out of the wheel saved me from injury.

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L.W.(Bill) Hughes III 19 years ago

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