Stick Shift Puzzle

I would open the hood and have someone hold the brake hard while letting
up on the clutch in both 1st and reverse to watch the engine.

My guess is the tail will shift side to side when warmed up while doing
this.

I have had the exact same thing happen and ours was a oil soaked spongy
tranny mount. When cold it is hard, once warmed up it went sponge so
the tail could wag causing a wicked judder when starting out under load.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Vin wrote:
>
> I have a Grand Cherokee (1994) with 70K on it. It's one of the last
> stick shift Grand Cherokees made, and I've owned it since it was new.
> I've developed a shimmy in the drive train that feels like the engine
> and transmission want to fall out of the vehicle. It's so bad that
> I've had to pull over to the side of the highway in stop-and-go uphill
> situations and wait for the traffic to clear. Before you suggest the
> obvious, here's what I've done: new clutch (including pressure plate
> and flywheel), new shocks all around, had the motor and trans mounts
> checked - twice, plus the universals, and the brakes are new. The
> brakes are not the problem because the vehicle rolls easily on even a
> slight grade. Here's the last bit of the puzzle: when cold, it acts
> perfectly OK: no shake at all. When I've been on the highway for a few
> miles and then try to start up a hill (even a small one, like my
> driveway), then the problem shows up. The car doesn't want to move and
> the whole underside of the motor/trans shakes like crazy. When I'm
> having this problem, I can hold the car with the emergency brake and
> try the clutch - no shake at all. I've taken it to various shops and
> no one can figure it out. Any ideas out there??

Mike,
You're the first person who has reported the same problem. Even
though I had the mounts checked when I had the clutch work done, after
your comments, I'm going to take it to another place to have the mount
checked again. If this turns out to be the solution, I owe you one.
- Vin