Do all Wranglers handle like this?

[jeepingib]

While I realize that the OP is a troll. Someone else is likely to find this thread during a search. If you have a Mopar lift, you have more height than the control arms were designed to handle. As such you still don't have enough caster to make the steering have a strong return to center. This also applies to factory XR and Rubicons. And "in spec" caster by an alignment machine is not truly a proper amount. 5.5° ought to be the minimum amount of allowable caster. With some going as high as 7 degrees. The dealership will be of no use to you when trying to figure this out as they are going to defend the factory design and specs, irregardless of what the facts say is going on.

Secondly it was stated that a steering stabilizer would fix death wobble. This has been proven time and time that it is only hiding the problem. Yes it can make it "go away" if you put a new stabilizer on, for now anyway. Because it is controlling the oscillation. But it is completely ignoring the reason that there is an oscillation in the first place. Something has to be worn out in order to allow things to move like that in the first place.

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[Rubi SoHo]

Even my son’s YJ handles better than you described so either you’re using a heavy dose of hyperbole, or something is likely broken.

 

[BullMoose1776]

/sees headline
/doesn't read any posts

Yes, it does.

 

[Beachcomber72]

a heavy dose of hyperbole

Now we’re getting somewhere…

 

[Retrograde]

The steering systems in today’s Jeeps are antiquated.

The steering systems in today's Jeeps are the result of piss-poor engineering... I had a '79 Gen II Bronco with a factory D44 up front, and at its oldest and most worn out, it didn't steer as poorly as my JL Wrangler does.

 

[jmr]

It's solid axle with recirculating ball steering assembly. Your RAM has rack and pinion with IFS.
I replaced my stock lower control arms (LCA) with the Mopar LCA and that does help with return to center. It's a Jeep thing so I guess you don't understand.

 

[AFD]

My 4-door returns to center just fine. A 2-door I rented did not. Drove it on to a curb making a right out of the National car lot. I attributed it to the short wheel base and just steered it back to center.

Maybe that's the difference I noted between my 2-door '23 and the 4-door rental I had?

Driving along a windy rural highway, my 2-door seems to return to center fairly well depending on the angle/contour of the road. In a straight line on an even road, a few degrees of steering angle will mostly keep pointed in that direction without fully returning to full center. Pulling out from a 90° turn, I absolutely need to manually steer back to center or I'd be off-roading.

Or maybe it's just a combination of being more pronounced in a 2-door along with the lower caster angle of the Rubicon trim? It's a bit different compared to the 4-door Sahara, but overall, I really like the 2-door's steering behavior much better.

 

[Ratbert]

The steering systems in today's Jeeps are the result of piss-poor engineering... I had a '79 Gen II Bronco with a factory D44 up front, and at its oldest and most worn out, it didn't steer as poorly as my JL Wrangler does.

Thoughts on why your Wrangler steers so poorly? Mine is actually pretty decent.

 

[COJeeper]

Mine goes back to center, ‘22 JLUR

 

[Retrograde]

Thoughts on why your Wrangler steers so poorly? Mine is actually pretty decent.

There is a lot of slop in the system, and Jeep attempts to mask that with the electronic assist/control system. It feels as if my steering shaft is made of rubber. On top of that, the return to center is heavily damped.

The next time you're on a rocky logging road, slow down to a crawl, stick your head out the window, and watch your front wheel-- notice how much it's flopping around with every rock and stone, and pay attention to how much of that movement you are not feeling in the wheel.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Dumb question for the OP. When was the last time the Jeep was in for an alignment?

It could be a simple adjustment to make it drive better. An alignment shop can do that.

 

[pantheman75]

The handling on my 2019 was so bad I traded it in after less than a year. It was literally scary to drive it above 40 MPH.

 

[Petey]

It was just question for those who own, or have driven, many other vehicles. If a Wrangler typically feels like what I described - compared to other vehicles - then what we have is "normal". If no one else ever noticed what I described then I would say what we have is not normal.

From all the replies here it seems it's normal.

Now, when he first bought the Jeep it had terrible "death wobble" but that was something entirely different and was due to a defective steering damper. What I'm talking about here is not that. The dealership replaced the damper with an HD aftermarket part and it fixed that problem completely.

What I'm talking about here is the lack of return-to-center force that most modern vehicles have. This Jeep doesn't have any - let go of the wheel in a turn and it will KEEP turning. To me that is odd and got my attention real quick the first time I made a right turn at a corner!

But my son loves it and he's used to it. I just had to ask here to make sure it was "normal".

i say not normal .. caster is built into the axle for reason... but chrysler products have a history of doing unreasonable things.. even the damper replacement that u mention shows that theres an underlying issue ..the death wobble is going to show up again once that damper wears out. Its a band aid fix. ur not supposed to get wobble even with the damper off if all geometry is correct.

 

[mellophonium]

I’ve been driving Jeeps for years, starting with my dad’s ‘78 J10. I’ve had 3 XJs, a JKU and now a JL. I have also been driving tractor trailers for 13 years now. I haven’t noticed anything odd about the steering or handling of my JL. But my JL drives like a Cadillac compared to a tractor trailer. ?

 

[Old Jeeper]

I drove my son's 2019 Wrangler JL Sahara for the first time awhile back and was a bit startled by its handling. I have never driven any other vehicle, including trucks, that behaved like this.

There is almost ZERO "return to center" force at the steering wheel when coming out of a turn. You basically have to hand-over-hand it back to center otherwise it will just keep turning. He's used to it but to me it feels very unstable as if it could dart off to the left or right if you were to let go of the wheel - or hit a pothole, etc.

We added longer lower track arms to add more caster thinking this would help - and it did - but it still doesn't feel right to me.

Is this typical of how all Jeep Wranglers behave?

He bought the truck built by the dealer's customer shop with 2" Mopar lift and 35x12.5 BFG AT2 on 17x9 Method wheels. Everything has been checked (alignment, etc.) and all are within spec.

To start with you got a wheelbase shorter than the Richard on a midget. If it won't return to center on its own then get under the front end adjust your Pittman arm, till it's centered. The Pittman arm is connected to the drag link. What has happened is in the HEAT of passion of installing lifts and big meats etc, it throw angularity out of wack. Suspension is degrees and angles. The drag link is adjustable and you recenter the Pittman arm using the adjustments on the drag link itself.

Let us know how this work for you...its NOT the caster that affects recentering of the suspension on the drag link. The Pittman arm is coming out of the bottom of the steering assembly as a general rule.

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