Expert: Carl Brandt - 11/15/2004

Question
I own a 2001 Cherokee Sport. When I brake hard from high speed I have a very noticable shake/vibration. two weeks ago I replaced the front rotors and pads. The brakes were definatley worn but I did it mainly because of the shaking. The shaking did seem to go away but then last week I did an oil, lube and tire rotate and noticed that both tie rod end cups had a tear in them the passenger side being the worse of the two. Well I completed the lube letting only a minimum of grease escape from the tear. Then I took a 1300 mile round trip half of it in pouring rain and the shaking came back! What I 've now also noticed is the passenger side front wheel/rim is coated with a fine layer of what looks like brake dust but alittle oily to the touch. The drivers side has some of this but not as much and I don't think it is oily. To me it looks like the grease was mixing with the brake dust causing it to be oily

My Question: is it possible for the grease to get on the rotors from the tie rods and cause this shaking? They very close to the rotors!  

Answer
Mike,

It is possible for a small amount of grease, or oil to get on the brakes in this manner, but not as much as you seem to be getting.  Å suspect part, might be a front bearing seal, or a brake cylinder starting to leak.  You can check these out, by pulling the wheel again, and looking around the brake line connections, brake cylinders, and around the axles.  If you can't locate any leakage, then I would take the Jeep to a reputable front end shop, and have them do a wheel alignment.  It sounds like you may have some worn components, such as front wheel bearings, and front seals.  At the same time, I would have them check the tie rod ends, and have the tie rod end cups replaced at the same time.  The cups are not real hard to replace, so you might want to replace them yourself.

Carl