I've been waiting for a newer revision. I've drove a couple with the AE box and they still had play. I would rather fix it right and be done with it over having to keep going back and forth to the dealer and hoping I get a good box.
I agree. Luckily mine tracks straight now. Only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of dead space in the steering. To me it's bearable and I only occasionally notice it since mine tracks straight now. I am not messing with mine unless there is an updated steering box over the AE version that proves to be much better.
Do you really believe that a 1/4 degree to half a degree of caster can be accounted for by position welding brackets? That’s better than aircraft frame assembly. Have a look at the JL frame welds. Believe what you will, I know better and this is a waste of time.
considering I am a technical trainer for a collision group with over 700 locations and I have seen 100’s of the Jl platform on measuring systems across the US and Canada yes. Also the axels are made is a jig which located the C’s in the position desired prior to welding. The JL has a factory tolerance of +/- 10MM on ANY point of the frame or unibody structure. I have personally measured 20-30 of these and have seen suspension mount points 7-10MM different from one side to the other. My personal JL is 4MM off on the front lower mounts. The factory arms are exactly the same length, because of the frames not being not being consistent that contributes to the handling issues, the factory arms are in a bind. Also FCA has 3-4 different manufacturers for the frame and they are not consistent from one to the other.
DO you know of a fix(or one coming( for this steering issue(dead spot) with you experience, fixed my wandering with adjustable LCA bringing caster over 6.0
There is rumors of a “new” gearbox that is supposed to be released by the end of the year that is cast iron like the Jk. The wandering and the dead spot are two different things, my JLUR was absolutely terrible with the wandering. I replaced all the control arms and installed them correctly ( the way I linked earlier) and am running 6.5* caster. I have a very small dead spot 1/2 in only when the outside temp is below 60-65. In warmer weather it’s as tight as a rack system. I have fixed several of these the same way and have also swapped the AE box and corrected the dead spot. Every box is manually set from the supplier and can be set differently. I went through 5 boxes once before getting one that had acceptable play. You can bench test the box prior to installing them and have a pretty good idea if they are good or not prior to installing.
Not that I am aware of, no OEM uses any single manufacturer for anything. GM has 10 different places manufacturing their truck frames. The frames are not making any difference in the dead spot. But I believe 100% they contribute to the wandering. I have seen alignment speck all over the place on brand new jeeps. The cause is the control arm points are off. I am dealing with one now that has an absolutely ridiculous rear thrust angle from the factory. The entire rear end is pushing the vehicle to the right, we will most likely be replacing the frame. It could easily be corrected by installing 4 adjustable arms and centering the rear end but they probably won’t get approved.
Thanks so much !!
