Death Wobble, I know, shut up already.

I know this has been discussed a million times, and I've read a million articles everywhere on the net about it. I have a 2001 Jeep GC and have started to get the death wobble pretty bad at around 40-50mph. My local mechanic checked it out and has stated that the front sway bar bushing on the passenger side is worn out and causing this. Only problem is, I haven't read anything about a sway bar being or causing the issue. I don't have a clue about any of the suspension on the front end. But he's saying he can't just replace the bushing, even though I found a complete sway bar bushing kit. He wants to get the entire new sway bar from the dealer, and it's $300.00 and do a lineup which is gonna put about $600 parts and labor. Do I spill out that much cash for a single bad bushing, or get rid of the GC altogether? I love my Jeep and have had it for 7 loyal years. She's got 155,000 on the odometer.

Yeah, run fast, run far. There's lots that can cause DW but a sway bar is not one of them. And the bars themselves almost never go bad, unless its been damaged off road or in an accident.
Get another opinion from another mechanic.

BTW you don't have DW. You have a shimmy. DW is a catastrophic loss of control due to massive shaking, which only stops when the vehicle stops. If your shaking is only "pretty bad" and goes away when you drop below 40, its just a shimmy.

Get all front end components checked for wear, looseness etc.

Hey thanks for the quick reply. I was thinking basically the same thing, he's out to get my money. One more question, is an alignment even worth a try to stop the shimmy? I've never had an alignment done, but have also never had any problems with it staying straight or abnormal tire wear.

An alignment is not supposed to deal with shimmy itself, but getting the toe-in set to the correct valve will probably help a little bit. Shimmy -begins- with a wheel/tire that is out of balance, or bent, or a tire that is going out of round (like the tread delaminating from the carcass). And any part of the suspension or steering system that allows movement when it normally shouldnt can make the shimmy much more intrusive.
In most cars the usual cure is to replace ball joints, snug up the wheel bearings, the steering box, adjust the toe-in, and make sure the hubs are not bent, the wheels mounted without any rust making things have 'runout'. In a Jeep replacing the ball joints is sort of a big job - but may be needed.....
I bought my 86 comanche in 2010 with 120,000 miles on it. It has the lateral rod called a "Track bar", with a rubber bushing at one end, which had deteriorated and was allowing way too much left-right movement on any slight road surface; so that got replaced. Also the steering box was FAR out of adjustment; I could turn the wheel back and forth about 30 degrees and still be going straight ahead.
I dont know if your Cherokee has a rack and pinion steering set up, or the Saginaw type of steering box - but dont assume the steering box or the rack and pinion are okay. I know the steering boxes require periodic adjustment (to preload the bearings inside) or the steering gets mushy and the car will be poor at 'lane keeping'. I presume the 'rack and pinion' steering systems require eventual adjustment too. If your Jeep is all wheel drive, a failed U-joint in the front axle shafts may result in vibration, though its kind of rare on Jeeps I think.

Its possible to have tires that show up as being well balanced, but still be resulting in the 'death wobble' (or shimmy) due to carcass damage resulting in a tire no longer round enough, or a wheel that is bent, or a bad wheel bearing.

Also if you ever squirted the flat-tire-fix from a spray can, the gooey slime that stops the leak can puddle inside and put the tire out of balance.

So while your sway bar bushings may be senile & ready for replacement, they are not the cause of the shimmy.