Hey Ferm, got a Jeep question

[THEFERMANATOR]

On that era JEEP, sway bar bushings were a problem. But your describing a track bar problem. The first check I always do is to get a helper, have them sit in the JEEP and rock the wheels back and forth fairly quickly. Watch all of the front end components while doing this. Pay espescially close attention to the track bar where it attachs to the frame by the pitman arm, that joint is a known issue with all of the JEEPS that used a tie rod end style attatchment(CHRYSLER knew it was an issue and fixed it on the later GRAND CHEROKEE's). Also check the steering box for play, it doesn't take much to make these things wander. Then take and jack one side of the front axle up at a time to get about 2 inch's of air under the tire. Then take a pry bar and pry the tire upwards, and then pry by the ball joints outwards. This will show you ball joint movement.

Those bushings your talking about are a tru PITA to change. You can go with the ENERGY SUSPENSIONS ones, but they are still not easy to replace. They should have some movement in the though, and they rarely ever fail(I never replaced a set that needed to be changed). My 88 CHEROKEE I'm curerently driving still has the factory originals in it.

And as for your alignment shop, I hope they did ya right. But most of them have the green is good mentality(if the specs fall in the green, who cares). And the factory specs would cause problems to begin with. They put alot of toe in in the front ends to try and help them go straight. Alignment specs should be .05-.08 toe in, and as close to 0 as possible on camber. Caster is the highly overlooked item on these that causes MOST of the front end issues. The caster should be 6.5 with a cross caster of .5 or less. Caster is the main culprit in the death wobble in all JEEPS. Check your front end over and get back to me.