Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

[cableline01]

Have we put out a survey to see what months of production this is affecting? Maybe narrow down what ones are having the issue.

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[parkertl]

Update-

The tech from the dealer did a 20 mile test drive last Thursday. I spoke with him and he definitely agreed that something was not right with the steering. He gave his feedback to my Jeep Wave rep who called me today.
The problem is currently with Engineering and Quality at FCA Corporate, which means that they are working on the root cause.
There is no ETA at the moment but they seem to be aware that there is in fact a serious problem.

If you haven't opened a case with them make sure you call 844-533-7928. Just tell them you are experiencing the JL steering issue and I am confident they will know what you are talking about.

 

[Holymoly1963]

Update-

The tech from the dealer did a 20 mile test drive last Thursday. I spoke with him and he definitely agreed that something was not right with the steering. He gave his feedback to my Jeep Wave rep who called me today.
The problem is currently with Engineering and Quality at FCA Corporate, which means that they are working on the root cause.
There is no ETA at the moment but they seem to be aware that there is in fact a serious problem.

If you haven't opened a case with them make sure you call 844-533-7928. Just tell them you are experiencing the JL steering issue and I am confident they will know what you are talking about.

Thank God for techs who get it and are willing to help. I went to a different dealer today, and they were really not very interested in even listening to me. Customer care is dead at most businesses today...a real opportunity to easily beat the competition.

 

[scotland007]

Update-

The tech from the dealer did a 20 mile test drive last Thursday. I spoke with him and he definitely agreed that something was not right with the steering. He gave his feedback to my Jeep Wave rep who called me today.
The problem is currently with Engineering and Quality at FCA Corporate, which means that they are working on the root cause.
There is no ETA at the moment but they seem to be aware that there is in fact a serious problem.

If you haven't opened a case with them make sure you call 844-533-7928. Just tell them you are experiencing the JL steering issue and I am confident they will know what you are talking about.

This is great news. Your tech deserves a case of beer for making the case. Hopefully not being a member of the public he will get more respect than we do.

 

[jmcdtucson]

Since I am new to Wranglers, I made a quick video get get opinions on if this is a normal amount of play.

Mine is basically this exactly. It drives great for the most part, but, sometimes more than others, there is always that dead spot. Any JK owners want to chime in on this? Normal or should we work with the dealer to at least get it on file?

 

[Campkid77]

I bought my wife a new Rubicon JL and I drove it the other day and it seems to have some play in the steering and feels like I am constantly trying to correct the direction we are traveling. I thought it was out of alignment but I went and drove another one and it felt the same way. Is anyone else feel this issue and is it just the way it is or is it just a jeep thing? We just sold our 2013 JKU and it was like that too but I expected improved steering on the new JL model. I would like to hear other peoples thoughts about this steering play or drifting feeling. O by the way, She loves her new ride!

Want to alert you to the fact that hundreds complaints have been filed regarding the Steering of the 2018 Wrangler JL on the NHTSA. website. I just filed a complaint as well. The Wrangler JL I just leased is having some major steering issues. I've been a Wrangler owner and a Jeep owner for more than 10 years so the issue is not my inexperience with driving a Wrangler. There is a noticeable steering dead zone (play) when the steering wheel is at-or-near centered position. Furthermore, the vehicle does not seem to be able to drive in a straight line (the Jeep wanders quite markedly on paved roads without constant correction. ) Several times I went out of my lane. These two issues are present at all speeds but are especially noticeable at highway speeds. Both issues compound and make the vehicle unsafe to drive requiring frequent micro-corrections which are hard to get right because of the aforementioned dead zone. The car at higher speeds is totally unsafe to drive. I contacted the dealer and I have a good relationship with them. I've leased or purchased 7 Jeeps including Wranglers over the past 12 years. they are sending a flatbed for the Jeep. I hope they can put me in a different Wrangler. We have pretty strict lemon laws in New York State so I'm sure I will have this rectified in one way or another. jeep should really address this problem before the have a media and brand nightmare. I can not reccommend the 2018 Wrangler at this point and that's sad, I've been a loyal Jeep customer for around 20 years.

 

[richk225]

While waiting to bring my Rubicon to the dealer I decided to file with the NHTSA, Maybe it may save a life
The first picture is of the castle nut with just removing the cotterpin, no wrench needed to loosen it up and I was able to spin it down by hand. Again blue paint dab on nut and I was able to put a feeler gauge between the nut and C arm of the housing. So I guess the two step torque process was missed, 15 ft lbs. to 30-37 ft. lbs

 

[stangken]

While waiting to bring my Rubicon to the dealer I decided to file with the NHTSA, Maybe it may save a life
The first picture is of the castle nut with just removing the cotterpin, no wrench needed to loosen it up and I was able to spin it down by hand. Again blue paint dab on nut and I was able to put a feeler gauge between the nut and C arm of the housing. So I guess the two step torque process was missed, 15 ft lbs. to 30-37 ft. lbs

Wow. That is outrageous!

 

[stevenc]

While waiting to bring my Rubicon to the dealer I decided to file with the NHTSA, Maybe it may save a life
The first picture is of the castle nut with just removing the cotterpin, no wrench needed to loosen it up and I was able to spin it down by hand. Again blue paint dab on nut and I was able to put a feeler gauge between the nut and C arm of the housing. So I guess the two step torque process was missed, 15 ft lbs. to 30-37 ft. lbs

Mine is loose as well and when I tried to tighten it to spec by advance to the next slot, it felt like the castle nut will not handle that much of torque.
The castle nut is very light and seems like made of aluminium instead of steel. I ended using some stainless steel washer with varies thickness to dial in the torque. Others experiencing the same?

 

[cableline01]

I have taken mine to the dealer 2 times and they “checked everything” and said there is nothing wrong with the Jeep. I just checked this today.

 

[Saejin]

Met up with another owner the other to compare steering. We both had JLURs. Will post up results here soon.

 

[Saejin]

Ok, here goes the observations I had when meeting up with another Rubicon owner who has the observed issues: dead zone and drifting. I may miss a few things, but I’ll try and capture most of what we discussed.

The meetup was good in the fact I had made adjustments to my steering box and he had his replaced by the dealer along with them checking the torque on all his ball joints, etc.

So, real quick background on my Jeep. Bought back in March. Test drove it, didn’t notice any major issues with steering although it felt very different that my Audi which was expected since I had owned a 2013 JKU before. I quickly got used it and was able to drive fine on the highway doing 75+, passing semis, etc. The Jeep did drift on the highway, but nothing out of the ordinary for 33” off road tires. There was a bit of play in my wheel at 12 o’clock. Tires didn’t move until I move the wheel about 1/2-3/4 of an inch. I didn’t have the lockup issue or shaft recall. I did have the cruise control TSB and the dealer applied that fix about two months ago.

Then I started reading this thread and posting as well. This got my OCD into over drive, and I started noticing my steering more and more as I was driving it and how much I needed to adjust to keep it straight. Again, not scary, just a bunch of minor corrections.

So, I adjusted my steering box by 1/8”. This tightened everything up and my play went from 2” side to side to about 1” or less side to side. And it was much stiffer which I kinda liked. Also, the amount of wheel input to move the tires decreased. I wasn’t correcting as much on the highway as before and my return to center feel remained the same.

Ok, so we met up and did back to back test drives in the parking lot to test for return to center feel and took each other’s Jeep on a pretty straight road allowing us to get up to 45-50mph. Return to center was very similar on both. He immediately noticed my steering was much tighter and didn’t have as much play as his. I noticed his was what I call loosey/goosey. Remember I was coming from my Jeep which had a heavier feel to the wheel and his felt lighter and had more perceived play. I wouldn’t say it was dangerous to drive, just took more focus as the Jeep wandered on the road forcing me to make more inputs and since there was more play in the wheel I had to adjust more frequently.

For mine when he drove it he said it felt tighter and he didn’t have to adjust as much if any to keep it straight.

We also noticed on both Jeeps that when going straight if you turn the wheel 5 degrees either direction the wheel would stay in that direction and not return to center which is different than most vehicles...could be a steering box, Jeep thing.

Well, enough for that post, quite a long read. But now here is the odd part. After driving his Jeep I actually liked the lighter feel of the wheel versus the heavier feel of mine. Mine only became heavy after I adjusted the box. It took out most of the play I had, but made the wheel heavier to turn. Kinda felt like I had 35s or 37s on the Jeep.

So, after some extensive testing for binding at home by lifting the front end up and with the engine off I turned the wheel from side to side to see if it would bind. It didn’t. Then I adjusted the box back to stock and did the same test. Wheel felt the same, but the play was back. However when the engine was running the play remained, but with the box at the stock setting the wheel felt lighter. At the 1/8 adjustment the play was reduced but the wheel felt heavier. Since I liked the feeling of a lighter wheel I returned my box adjustment screw back to the stock setting.

I took it out for a drive on the highway and was pleasantly surprised. Wheel felt lighter and the play didn’t bother me as much as I remembered it did.

So, to be honest I have no idea what the hell is going on in these boxes, but I would like to trust that the tech who is setting the specs on them is doing it in a very controlled and measured way. So I don’t think adjusting the box is the silver bullet fix. I think it’s a combination of things and maybe a 1/16 adjustment of the box helps, but so does proper psi, proper torque on ball joints, alignment check, etc.

Right now I’m happy with the way it drives and won’t be adjusting it anymore either way. It’s in the stock position and unless FCA finds a fault and decides to issue a TSB or recall to fix something I’m done with trying to figure out this issue. I’m happy to meet up with other owners and let you drive my Jeep and compare to yours. Just PM me if you’re in the Maryland and DC area.

Sorry for the long read, just thought everyone would benefit from this comparison and the reason I went back to stock after adjusting the box 1/8 of an inch.

Thx

 

[Saejin]

Also, we did discuss the ambient temp issue a bit. But now that I think more about the temp in the engine bay is pretty high, so there would have to be a huge difference in the outside temp to impact the temp in the engine bay as in to make it cooler. The theory we discussed was cooler temp increases the viscosity of the hydro fluid making the steering feel more responsive. I’d say let’s wait until winter has arrived in he northern states and see what owners who had crappy steering in the summer think.

Also, we talked about the second adjustment area on the steering box. This is the adjustment for the worm gear bearing preload which may have an effect on return to center and possible the play in the wheel.

There’s no way someone could adjust this at home unless you pull the box and break it down. It’s adjusted at the factory to certain specs and marked. This could actually end up being one of the major issues as well.

I’m assuming I had some binding going on that I couldn’t detect when I adjusted the box which resulted in the heavier steering feeling. If I could remove the box from the steering linkages and test it that would be the ideal way to check for binding.

 

[Saejin]

Pics of my adjustment.

 

[cableline01]

Good write up we all hope we get some resolution. It is my first brand new car and upset on how it has turned out. I feel like a mental institution, everyone thinks your crazy when your telling the truth and can show it. I am leaving my jeep stock not adjusting anything cause Im looking for them to fix the issues without blaming me for changes.

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