Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

[jeepthang]

well..my torque wrench didn’t work at all. Bit I loosened these up and then retightened till they felt snug.
gonna go for a little ride in a bit and see if i notice any difference. Again, thanks for the pix...made it super simple to identify the right parts.
and I for one listen to everyone’s ideas and very much appreciate the great input and help i get here from people much smarter on these matters than me.
Big thanks to all you here !!!!

Any luck Rdmitch? What's the outcome?

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[wolf]

DITTO!

 

[californiajeeping]

Speaking of definitions, if you hold the steering wheel perfectly straight on a straight flat road or a very large parking lot and the vehicle doesn’t stay straight and goes either left or right without turning the steering wheel, is that drifting, wandering, pulling, or ?

 

[wolf]

Speaking of definitions, if you hold the steering wheel perfectly straight on a straight flat road or a very large parking lot and the vehicle doesn’t stay straight and goes either left or right without turning the steering wheel, is that drifting, wandering, pulling, or ?

messed up!

 

[df007]

Yes, let's hash out some definitions! Here's how I read them!

The first two are pretty much the same....but....

Pulling: Jeep going one direction and you have force in the steering wheel to keep it straight.

Drifting: Jeep going one direction and not really any force in the wheel to keep it straight. So a mild case of the above......?

Wandering: Jeep can go in either direction with wheel straight.

Play or Slop: You rotate the steering wheel and the front wheels don't turn. Often results in "Wandering" and "Drifting".

We should hash this out and make anyone who opens this thread agree to the terms and conditions! What other terms are we missing?

 

[jeepthang]

Yes a bit of all of the above especially at highway speeds. I describe it best as driving on roller skates or white knuckling the yoke in a Cessna 170 while touching down with a bit of cross wind. Lol! But I still love my JL!

 

[californiajeeping]

Yes, let's hash out some definitions! Here's how I read them!

The first two are pretty much the same....but....

Pulling: Jeep going one direction and you have force in the steering wheel to keep it straight.

Drifting: Jeep going one direction and not really any force in the wheel to keep it straight. So a mild case of the above......?

Wandering: Jeep can go in either direction with wheel straight.

Play or Slop: You rotate the steering wheel and the front wheels don't turn. Often results in "Wandering" and "Drifting".

We should hash this out and make anyone who opens this thread agree to the terms and conditions! What other terms are we missing?

Other terms include steering wheel shimmy (light), death wobble (violent), steering lock up, bump steer.

 

[Ehmsea]

Not making fun of anyone in particular...I'm here to learn from people who know more than I do; BUT...
I find it funny that on our online forum, we didn't think to Define the Terms we use until page 399!

 

[californiajeeping]

Not making fun of anyone in particular...I'm here to learn from people who know more than I do; BUT...
I find it funny that on our online forum, we didn't think to Define the Terms we use until page 399!

True and most people won’t read the past 3 pages of a thread so the definitions would need to have been repeated often.

 

[Rdmitch]

Any luck Rdmitch? What's the outcome?

Well.. I took it out yesterday late afternoon and it was so windy that making a judgement call would have been unfair. However today I did drive easily 50 miles both city streets and highway and I would have to say I did not notice any improvement on the issue.
Keep in mind my issue is not necessarily "loose" steering but definitely a wandering and constant small adjustments. So I can speak about loose or DW issues. I have learned to live with it since this Jeep is nowhere near as bad as the 2018 Sahara that Jeep was kind enough to take back.....after I sued them. But I REALLY want to make it drive better. I also have a 2 door JK that steers like a dream, so I know what to expect.
I was really hoping this would help me, but no dice. I would encourage others to try it anyway since we all know that different things impact different Jeeps in obscure ways. Hell, 1 guy pushed his fuses in and fixed the problem (yes I tried that too ). Eventually I will find a solution but I'm trying things that are relatively inexpensive to do.

Still contemplating a heavier track bar, the sector shaft brace and maybe tie rod. Just need to figure out a logical order to approach it with. The good thing that came out from this is I am much more familiar with the members of the suspension family and could do the track bar myself.

Fortunately there is a 4WP within walking distance to my office so if I decide to go for broke before the killer wasp attack I could just get it all done in 1 swoop. My stimulus check might even cover the whole shebang I'll just have to tell the wife I didn't get one. Ha-Ha

 

[californiajeeping]

Well.. I took it out yesterday late afternoon and it was so windy that making a judgement call would have been unfair. However today I did drive easily 50 miles both city streets and highway and I would have to say I did not notice any improvement on the issue.
Keep in mind my issue is not necessarily "loose" steering but definitely a wandering and constant small adjustments. So I can speak about loose or DW issues. I have learned to live with it since this Jeep is nowhere near as bad as the 2018 Sahara that Jeep was kind enough to take back.....after I sued them. But I REALLY want to make it drive better. I also have a 2 door JK that steers like a dream, so I know what to expect.
I was really hoping this would help me, but no dice. I would encourage others to try it anyway since we all know that different things impact different Jeeps in obscure ways. Hell, 1 guy pushed his fuses in and fixed the problem (yes I tried that too ). Eventually I will find a solution but I'm trying things that are relatively inexpensive to do.

Still contemplating a heavier track bar, the sector shaft brace and maybe tie rod. Just need to figure out a logical order to approach it with. The good thing that came out from this is I am much more familiar with the members of the suspension family and could do the track bar myself.

Fortunately there is a 4WP within walking distance to my office so if I decide to go for broke before the killer wasp attack I could just get it all done in 1 swoop. My stimulus check might even cover the whole shebang I'll just have to tell the wife I didn't get one. Ha-Ha

Speaking of free or inexpensive ideas, have you tried temporarily removing the steering stabilizer and take it for a test drive? There was a previous posting that said it did make a significant difference which led to getting a new one.

 

[Rdmitch]

have not done that yet on this one. I
tried it on the sahara and it didn’t make a difference.
May try it on this one and see. thought about replacing it with a heavy duty one.

 

[Dkretden]

Not making fun of anyone in particular...I'm here to learn from people who know more than I do; BUT...
I find it funny that on our online forum, we didn't think to Define the Terms we use until page 399!

It may take another 300 pages to settle on the definitions.

 

[Rdmitch]

i think the majority of posters/readers understand the differences from a death wobble to wandering and what a loose steering wheel is. Definitions are probably not needed.
Kind of like is it a sprained wrist, a broken wrist or arthritis.

 

[HoundDude]

when you guys post the dictionary, don't forget to include a footnote explaining that loose has two o's and wondering is what confused people do, not Jeep's with poor steering.

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