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Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

Cypher

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I’m curious as to the steering issues you had on your ‘19 (I’m sure it’s upthread) and did you try LCAs on it?

I’m losing hope that mine will be fixed.
if you do a search on all my threads you will find the one on the issues I had. no, I did not do the LCA swap on my 2019, and it also had the old steering box and drag link. that one had issues literally from the drive home from the dealership so I was not too upset at the repurchase. I am happy with my 2020 now as it drives much better. I almost went with a 2018 JKU as it drove much better than any JL I had drove but now my 2020 is pretty nice.
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RagTopDeluxe

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if you do a search on all my threads you will find the one on the issues I had. no, I did not do the LCA swap on my 2019, and it also had the old steering box and drag link. that one had issues literally from the drive home from the dealership so I was not too upset at the repurchase. I am happy with my 2020 now as it drives much better. I almost went with a 2018 JKU as it drove much better than any JL I had drove but now my 2020 is pretty nice.
Other than steering (and a freak bearing replacement at 400 miles), mine has been wonderful and I love it. Not being able to take it anywhere is getting real old, tho.
 

Tomoro

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After taking my Jeep to 10 different dealers, having 5 alignments done and everyone telling me the wondering, play in the steering wheel, death wobble, and constantly having to correct the steering to keep it driving straight is normal and a characteristic of a owning a Jeep. Had all the tsb and recalls done just made the issue worse
I contacted FCA and the manager told me I should go to the dealer and trade it in for something I feel comfortable driving.
So being a licensed technician and in the industry for close to 30 years I decided to inspect it for myself
I asked my dealer to remove the track bar and check the mounting brackets and they told me fca doesn’t recommended doing that unless you replace that part, I even offered to pay.
 

Tomoro

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Trying to post a video but it says no extension available?
Any help how I can post it?
 

Cypher

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Other than steering (and a freak bearing replacement at 400 miles), mine has been wonderful and I love it. Not being able to take it anywhere is getting real old, tho.
here is the thread on my 2019 Journey...
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...oose-hvac-issues-etc-new-2019-3-6-jlur.23404/

Even with the issues I had with my 2019, I put 10k miles on it in 5 months with a good chunk of those off-road (and it was in the shop over 40 of those days). So far I only have about 400 miles on my 2020, but as it sits right now I would not hesitate to drive across country (something I do a lot to explore all around the western US.) In fact next week I will be heading to Albuquerque, then into CO to see some Aspens turning and then through Utah and back home in AZ. this weekend I hope to hit a few local mountains.

while I 100% agree with everyone on here that we should not have to change parts on a brand new vehicle to make it drive nice, I also feel it is easier than fighting with a dealership and will end up better in the long run. Since this is not my first JLUR I had a good idea of what to expect, and what I wanted to try to fix it based on what others on here had done. there is still a little room for improvement with mine that I think the aftermarket drag link, tie rod and track bar will solve but it is not critical. I can drive on the highway and uneven roads now with no issues, and can actually relax now when driving. it's still not a Grand Cherokee, or even full-size truck as far as how it drives, but it is really nice for a vehicle that I can take pretty much anywayere I want to go off-road with no issues.

if you need any suggestions or advice feel free to message me on here, if I don't know the answer the local shop I use is great and they are always willing to help answer questions.
 

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Pass

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I'm a prospective buyer of a 2020 Rubicon 4dr... So the dealer let me take one for the day to drive it around. So far so good. I got it on the interstate for about 4miles and noticed no real wandering outside of what I would expect on a solid axel vehicle. It does tend to pull right a tad... but really nothing too bad so far. No death wobble. I got it up to 35-45mph on a rough-ish road to see if it would do it and it hasn't yet. Steering doesn't seem overly loose thus far. It does have a touch of play in it. I'll measure it and give feedback... but thus far it seems pretty good.

This vehicle has an 8/19 build date. If you're curious about the parts or want me to test anything out and give you feedback let me know... I have the vehicle until noon tomorrow.
 

Warz2k4

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here is the thread on my 2019 Journey...
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...oose-hvac-issues-etc-new-2019-3-6-jlur.23404/

Even with the issues I had with my 2019, I put 10k miles on it in 5 months with a good chunk of those off-road (and it was in the shop over 40 of those days). So far I only have about 400 miles on my 2020, but as it sits right now I would not hesitate to drive across country (something I do a lot to explore all around the western US.) In fact next week I will be heading to Albuquerque, then into CO to see some Aspens turning and then through Utah and back home in AZ. this weekend I hope to hit a few local mountains.

while I 100% agree with everyone on here that we should not have to change parts on a brand new vehicle to make it drive nice, I also feel it is easier than fighting with a dealership and will end up better in the long run. Since this is not my first JLUR I had a good idea of what to expect, and what I wanted to try to fix it based on what others on here had done. there is still a little room for improvement with mine that I think the aftermarket drag link, tie rod and track bar will solve but it is not critical. I can drive on the highway and uneven roads now with no issues, and can actually relax now when driving. it's still not a Grand Cherokee, or even full-size truck as far as how it drives, but it is really nice for a vehicle that I can take pretty much anywayere I want to go off-road with no issues.

if you need any suggestions or advice feel free to message me on here, if I don't know the answer the local shop I use is great and they are always willing to help answer questions.
If I complain about my steering, will my local dealership change the LCA for me at their expense?
 

Cypher

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If I complain about my steering, will my local dealership change the LCA for me at their expense?
no, the LCA swap is not something I have heard anyone get from the dealership due to steering issues. the main thing is adding caster, and on a stock JL a cheap way to do it with Mopar parts is to swap over to the Mopr 2" lift LCA.

you can get the same with any adjustable LCA, or fixed extended aftermarket ones.
 

Warz2k4

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no, the LCA swap is not something I have heard anyone get from the dealership due to steering issues. the main thing is adding caster, and on a stock JL a cheap way to do it with Mopar parts is to swap over to the Mopr 2" lift LCA.

you can get the same with any adjustable LCA, or fixed extended aftermarket ones.
So it's about $70? total
 

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californiajeeping

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no, the LCA swap is not something I have heard anyone get from the dealership due to steering issues. the main thing is adding caster, and on a stock JL a cheap way to do it with Mopar parts is to swap over to the Mopr 2" lift LCA.

you can get the same with any adjustable LCA, or fixed extended aftermarket ones.
Unfortunately some Jeep dealers will deny warranty on anything suspension or steering related if you use aftermarket LCAs. You can scroll back through this thread and find several examples of this. I've also called a few random dealerships and they said the same thing. You could always put the original LCAs back on before you bring it to the dealer of course, but what a pain.
 

Cypher

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Unfortunately some Jeep dealers will deny warranty on anything suspension or steering related if you use aftermarket LCAs. You can scroll back through this thread and find several examples of this. I've also called a few random dealerships and they said the same thing. You could always put the original LCAs back on before you bring it to the dealer of course, but what a pain.
yes, that's why I tried out the Mopar LCA and not adjustable ones for now. since my 2019 was repurchased and dealerships were less than helpful I wanted to test these out as I would guess 99% of dealers out there won't be able to tell these are not factory. they are Mopar parts, and look exactly the same. also, as a Mopar part, they "should" not raise any issues.
 

MDG

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That looks like a lot of play. Bolt seem undersized compared to hole in each bracket. Seems like that alone could cause issues. Do you plan to fix that in anyway and if so how?
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