Does you Cherokee drive goofy?

[Ruger]

I drive my wifes xterra once in a while, and it drives straight and true.
My 95 Cherokee seems to wander around. The guy I got it back off of, had the paperwork. He just had the front end aligned. The tires are wearing even.
Now the bad...
The right rear frame rail needs work, the floor was patched in various places, and the sub frames have pop riveted metal in about 5 spots!
I did none of this to the Jeep.
When driving it, it seems to wander, and steer funny, like you have to steer it to keep it straight.
The steering box area seems solid and tight.
Do they just drive this way?? If so, it's okay. I just want to be safe in it.

[prerunner1982]

Worn/loose steering/suspension components (tie rods, track bar, etc), though the shop should have found those when doing the alignment. This type of behavior is not indicative of Jeep Cherokees. Something is definitely wrong.

[Ruger]

Well I did notice that my tires were low. I sprayed the beads around the rims and they all have slow leaks from corrosion.
The left front had 15lbs. The right front had 19lbs. The back were off a bit too. I put 32 in all of them. Seems 98% better now.

[prerunner1982]

Yep. That will do it as well.

[F1Addict]

My record ('89 on 30s) for no-hands driving is 1.55 miles so no, wandering is not typical of XJs unless it's windy. Causes are usually worn suspension/steering components like ball joints, bushings, bearings or, as you've discovered, tire inflation. Worn/loose components are usually accompanied by Death Wobble, though.

[Ruger]

It is much better now. No death wobble. It has 235/75r15 on it right now.
It is honestly about 98% better. I was looking underneath. The rear shocks look original. The fronts look newer. After looking the rears will need changed. I did notice that the top two bolts look a little scary. Hope they dont break.
Also. They werent cheap with the horsepower. Its says high output on the tailgate. I drive my vehicles easy. But I did get on it and was surprised. Seems to have a lot more power than I expected.

[nickyg]

My jeep doesn't drive goofy but it has a goofy driver.

[Brasscatz]

If I remember exactly what msmoorenburg said when I drove his Jeep and said it was "wandering".... he said "when an XJ's alignment is that dead on the money, they tend to wander" LOL!!!

[Dredwolf]

My jeep doesn't drive goofy but it has a goofy driver.

X2


:smiley-laughing021:

[saar]

Not sure about being "goofy" but my XJ feels like a Jeep on the road.
Driving our other car (Peguet 307) is much more calm and easy.

[Ruger]

My buddy came over and drove it. He said..."feels like a jeep". I dont know what that meant. I did notice the rear shocks are original. Cant be good!

[4.3LXJ]

Better change them

[Ruger]

I just did my exhaust real quick. While under there I did notice the leaf springs are flat. Like there is no bow to them. Kund of odd. I drove it again. It is hard to describe. But the ass end feels like it is rocking side to side.

[4.3LXJ]

Better replace those shocks

[redneckXJ]

When I got mine and it was stock it drove terrible, wandered all over and got death wobble with a full load of passengers. I put a lift on it with new shocks, removed the front a rear seaybars, replaced the control arm bushings and it drove near perfect but with a slight clunk when hitting bumps. Turned out to be bad balljoints. Once they get up there in mileage everything gets worn and they drive a little sloppy.