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Is this normal? Steering wandering all over the place. Brand new 2021 Rubicon 2 Door

rickinAZ

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Rick, I did confirm the part numbers of my lower control arms with the dealer, he was the new parts guy but he knows Jeeps and I believe he fully understood me and the issues I was having
I am waiting for a call back from the service manager to confirm it, and it is still going in next Wednesday

I don't understand why they lifted a 392 even higher and used stock length lower control arms?
Doesn't a Rubicon have the least amount of caster out of all of the JL Wranglers to begin with and by lifting it you have to be losing more caster

I still haven't found any information on my lower control arms PN 68250242AB, I don't know if this number is specific to the 392?

PN 68322798AA is definitely the Mopar lower control arm for a lifted Jeep using the Mopar lift

I ordered 2, PN 68322798 lower control arms for a Mopar lift from AllMoparParts.com and they were $31.00 each
Thanks to all that have provided part numbers, I really appreciate it
If your Rubicon is lifted any higher than a dead-stock Rubi you may want to consider adjustable LCAs. The 24.25" (Mopar lift kit LCAs) will likely not be enough. Mine is a Diesel (supposedly an 1" higher than a stock Rubicon) with a 1.5"/2.0" leveling kit. When adjusted to 24.25", my caster was 5°. At 24.375" I was just north of 6° - which is the happy place.
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richk225

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If your Rubicon is lifted any higher than a dead-stock Rubi you may want to consider adjustable LCAs. The 24.25" (Mopar lift kit LCAs) will likely not be enough. Mine is a Diesel (supposedly an 1" higher than a stock Rubicon) with a 1.5"/2.0" leveling kit. When adjusted to 24.25", my caster was 5°. At 24.375" I was just north of 6° - which is the happy place.
I agree with you on that, What I hope to do is install the lower control arms from the lift, and then get the caster to that 6 + degrees with the adjustable upper control arms that I already have.
I appreciate your input and I still scratch my head when I try to figure out what Jeep was thinking?
I don't think that a set of $62 (my cost) would break the bank on them building it the correct way from the start.
Question for you, what manufacture leveling kit did you use? were you able to use your stock shocks or go with shock adaptors or new shocks?
 

rickinAZ

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I agree with you on that, What I hope to do is install the lower control arms from the lift, and then get the caster to that 6 + degrees with the adjustable upper control arms that I already have.
I appreciate your input and I still scratch my head when I try to figure out what Jeep was thinking?
I don't think that a set of $62 (my cost) would break the bank on them building it the correct way from the start.
Question for you, what manufacture leveling kit did you use? were you able to use your stock shocks or go with shock adaptors or new shocks?
My shocks/springs are stock from the factory. No adapters.

Drives like a dream.
 

richk225

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My shocks/springs are stock from the factory. No adapters.

Drives like a dream.
Again, I thank you, I can't wait to get them on my ride
 

richk225

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My shocks/springs are stock from the factory. No adapters.

Drives like a dream.
Did you have any issues before you did the mods with the steering wheel returning back to center after making a turn? The suspension manufactures that I spoke to said that is a definite sign of not enough caster
I am going out into the garage with a magnetic angle finder to see just what mine is from the factory
 

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Thanks for the good info. I just ordered a set of the LCAs mentioned. Question, will I need to get an alignment when I replace the stock ones?
 

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Thanks for the good info. I just ordered a set of the LCAs mentioned. Question, will I need to get an alignment when I replace the stock ones?
Not needed
 

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Mine was the same when I got it brand new. Dropped the PSI in the tires and that helped. After the coils settled some it seemed to do better. The longer control arms will help as others have suggested.
 
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OP here. I am pleased to report that the longer LCA have made a huge improvement. I think our 2-door drives like a normal car now. I do notice it tracks perfect at higher speeds but at <50 MPH, I think it tends to wonder a bit. I assume that is the speed sensitive steering electronics messing things up. But, I would say I am now comfortable and I beleive the wife will have no concerns with the handling. I am comfortable now but was absolutely not happy on the drive home from the dealership.
 

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I test drove a friends 2 door and it bounced like a ball on local roads.
My JLU is rock solid at highway speeds.
 

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hoag4147

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OP here. I am pleased to report that the longer LCA have made a huge improvement. I think our 2-door drives like a normal car now. I do notice it tracks perfect at higher speeds but at <50 MPH, I think it tends to wonder a bit. I assume that is the speed sensitive steering electronics messing things up. But, I would say I am now comfortable and I beleive the wife will have no concerns with the handling. I am comfortable now but was absolutely not happy on the drive home from the dealership.
Lower your tire PSI. If stock do like 32/34 you will see improvement for lower speed
 

rickinAZ

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Did you have any issues before you did the mods with the steering wheel returning back to center after making a turn? The suspension manufactures that I spoke to said that is a definite sign of not enough caster
I am going out into the garage with a magnetic angle finder to see just what mine is from the factory
Mine absolutely had the wheel not returning to center (pre-LCAs). After making a turn, the wheels were going dead straight but the steering wheel itself was slow to return to the 12:00 position. The 24 3/8" LCAs and a pass-through steering damper fixed it. In fact, I did the damper first, and that, by itself, fixed the returning-to-center issue - I was surprised.
 

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Hi All:
I recently picked up my 2022 JL Sport S 2door (built Feb of 22)
This is my 4th 2 door Jeep Wrangler, been driving them for 20+ years (YJ,JK,JK).

On the drive home from the dealer it was all over the road at highway speeds requiring constant steering adjustments. It could not stay straight, felt like the wind was pushing it all over the road. The first thing I thought was tire pressure too high (I didn't know about any of the steering issues with the JL).
I checked the dash and tires were at 40 and 41psi. Pulled over at rest area and lowered it to 34 using the dashboard display.

The steering improved but still didnt feel right. My 09JK with 130k miles required less steering adjustments at highway speeds.

After coming home I fell down the rabbit hole reading this forum about the JL steering issues.

I have done the following:
Tire pressure set to 32 psi cold with tire gauge.
Received email next day from Jeep health report showing 32psi (built in spyware lol)

Verified the steering box is steel(Black Box)

Crawled under jeep and checked all steering bolts were more than just "Hand tight" didn't get my torque wrench verify exactly where they were

I was thinking I should :
Pull out fuse F34 and do a reset

Bring to dealer and have alignment checked.(I expect hear "Everything is fine".)

Discuss the "Software Flash" that has helped others with similar issues.

Has anyone with a Stock Sport S benefited from the longer LCA's or is that just a fix for Rubi's with these issues?

I am open to the thoughts and ideas of the people on this forum.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
 

rickinAZ

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My 2-door JK steered much better than my 4-door JL, even with the advantage of a longer wheelbase on the newer vehicle. In my case a pass-through steering damper (Teraflex in my case) + longer LCAs converted it entirely. But...on a non-Rubicon the stock LCAs should be fine.

Here is my advice: download a free angle finder for your phone and check your caster. The sweet spot seems to be 6-7° for most of us. If you are below 5° the longer LCAs will likely help you. Search the forum for the ideal measurement points. For me the steering knuckles were better than the "pumpkin". Those are the two self-measurement points. This should take 15 minutes, including downloading the app, determining the measurement points, and actually checking the caster.
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