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Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

Woodynj

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I had to have my leaking gas tank replaced at 750 miles. While in the shop, I complained to Jeep that my steering was excessively loose. They authorized the 'steering' TSB, but also tightening of ball joints and other suspension parts. They also tightened the steering box adjustment...it was too loose according the service manager. The steering is now satisfactory.
Don’t give up @TIDALWAVE thsts what they want us to do.

$50k+ automobiles should not have satisfactory steering. It should be great and feel safe. I know what trucks ride like and how they handle. I am not expecting a sports car but what I am experiencing is not good.

“It a Jeep thing” is total bs. If I bought a 20k car and it was unsafe I would be angry.

I am documenting everything and plan to not let this go until it’s fixed or Jeep buys the car back (lemon law or not).
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old8tora

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“It a Jeep thing” is total bs.
I am documenting everything and plan to not let this go until it’s fixed or Jeep buys the car back (lemon law or not).
That's the key : documenting everything .
 

chadc880

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Figured I'd add my experience into this thread...

Bought my JL back in March, and in June, had replaced the stock steering stabilizer with the RC to try and solve some of the looseness. It did add more resistance to the steering feel, but it introduced too much bump steer and pulled to the right when braking. Put the stock stabilizer back on after about a week, and never really noticed the loose steering after that (unsure if it's because of something I tightened when swapping parts, or just break-in, or just became used to the feel).

Come August, I got the itch to take her offroading. Got it nice and muddy. Afterwards, took it to a self-service car wash and use the power washer on all the underbody I could reach. After cleaning out around the front axle and behind the wheels, I noticed the loose steering feel return. OK, maybe there was just some build-up of normal wear-and-tear around the steering? I figured, "eh, I'll tolerate it" and see if it breaks in again.

A week or two later, I take it in for my first oil change and tire rotation, as well as the cruise control recall. After the tire rotation, it definitely wants to pull to the right, which I've experienced in other vehicles, but now the wandering feels worse than normal. Could that possibly be due to the reflash for the U62 recall too? Who knows. But it's kind of a chore to drive right now. That was a little more than a month ago.

I've taken it to an independent shop to get the alignment checked out; everything was good there. No adjustments needed.

This weekend, I plan on just swapping the front wheels to the other sides to see if that reduces the right-side road-crown pull. I did set up an appointment with a dealership to see if they can apply the TSB 08-092-18 next Tuesday too. We'll see if I can get cooperation from them; it's not the dealership I bought from, but it's closer to my office, so hopefully the procedure won't take long, and I won't have to miss much work.

But as far as personal observation, I've experienced the looseness, slight wandering, and dead-spot. The dead-spot doesn't really bother me, and the looseness by itself is something I'm not sure if I grew accustomed to, or it eventually went away, but adding in some wanderlust by the JL with the other two kinda make it less fun. Just have to remind myself that small adjustments are all that's needed to get it to track straight.

EDIT: Oh, and btw, my JL doesn't show up against the track bar weld recall.
This is what loose ball joints would cause.
 

47Jeepster

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Last week I turned in my Rubicon to the dealer to have the steering box adjusted as per FCA instructions ... gave them all week to do it.

We then traveled to Biloxi, MS, for Crusin' the Coast 2018. Imagine if you will a 30 mile stretch of Gulf Coast filled with custom Jeeps and other vehicles. About 9000 officially registered and probably an additional 9000 not registered, but Crusin' anyway. Part way through the week the registration board showed that 40 states and Canada were represented ... we were two of seven participants from Arizona. If you love custom vehicles, put this event on your bucket list.

Our ride for the week was this stretched 1964/65 CJ3B. It was a show Jeep to begin with and my friend stretched it to turn it into an "unlimited." Since my friend is from Texas, he also had to add duel tires to the rear axle. His theme for this build was "this is the Jeep that Willys would have built in the 1960's if they'd of thought of it." It's still a show Jeep ... it's placed best of show a couple of times.

Fred-2.jpg


After sharing the driving, I'll admit that my JL does steer better than a 1964/65 CJ3B! But still not as good as the two JK's in our immediate family.

Now back to my JL. I have the AC steering box and the mechanic tightened the adjustment 3/16 of a turn ... just what JeepInformant settled on in his two videos. The Star Case input was to adjust the steering box 1/4 of a turn, but no more. The mechanic and I agreed that he would use his experience and common sense to figure out what was appropriate. The center dead-spot is gone ... it's gone ... really gone! The adjustment might even be a little too tight ... will continue to drive it as-is for a few weeks. Since it doesn't return to center quickly on it's own and it wanders a little, I might have to play with the camber. It's not a white knuckle problem any more, so I might simply wait awhile for FCA to reach a conclusion on how to fix it.

Changes that improved the steering on my 27 Jun built Rubicon:
1) Adjusted tire pressure from 45psi to 36psi
2) Tightened the "finger tight" ball joints to spec
3) Tightened the steering box 3/16 of a turn
 

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pantheman75

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I instantly noticed this issue when I test drove one; the steering was sloppy / twitchy as all get out. Jeep doesn't get one cent from me until they 100% resolve this issue. $50K for a vehicle that has sloppy steering is ridiculous.
 

old8tora

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I instantly noticed this issue when I test drove one; the steering was sloppy / twitchy as all get out. Jeep doesn't get one cent from me until they 100% resolve this issue. $50K for a vehicle that has sloppy steering is ridiculous.
No Kidding !

Was the salesman with you when you test drove ? What did the salesman say ?

( In Cali the salesman would be bored half-asleep , chewing gum , and looking out the window .)
 

outlanderbz

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Does anyone have the spec sheet for the torque numbers?I tried searching and failed. I know I saw it in here. I have a JL Sahara

I think I am going to take it to a local shop and ask if they can check them all for me. I am a bit ignorant to this stuff but I know my dealership lied to me when they said they checked it. The pins are perfect and one nut I can move with my fingers! Something like that shouldn't cost much I don't think.

This will get 3 of 4 main things taken care of from what I have read here. Let me know if I am missing anything
1. (DONE) Tire pressure from 47 psi to 36 psi (door jam spec)
2. (DONE) TSB 08-092-18 was applied
3. tighten all ball joints, etc
4. adjust steering box
 

jeremyjeep

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Does anyone have the spec sheet for the torque numbers?I tried searching and failed. I know I saw it in here. I have a JL Sahara

I think I am going to take it to a local shop and ask if they can check them all for me. I am a bit ignorant to this stuff but I know my dealership lied to me when they said they checked it. The pins are perfect and one nut I can move with my fingers! Something like that shouldn't cost much I don't think.

This will get 3 of 4 main things taken care of from what I have read here. Let me know if I am missing anything
1. (DONE) Tire pressure from 47 psi to 36 psi (door jam spec)
2. (DONE) TSB 08-092-18 was applied
3. tighten all ball joints, etc
4. adjust steering box
Click on the Search icon, then click the MORE button. That way it will search all threads. Then enter torque and click search titles only, then search. Here is one example from the search results: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/ball-joints-factory-torque-specs.13375/#post-324834
 

47Jeepster

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Does anyone have the spec sheet for the torque numbers?I tried searching and failed. I know I saw it in here. I have a JL Sahara

I think I am going to take it to a local shop and ask if they can check them all for me. I am a bit ignorant to this stuff but I know my dealership lied to me when they said they checked it. The pins are perfect and one nut I can move with my fingers! Something like that shouldn't cost much I don't think.

This will get 3 of 4 main things taken care of from what I have read here. Let me know if I am missing anything
1. (DONE) Tire pressure from 47 psi to 36 psi (door jam spec)
2. (DONE) TSB 08-092-18 was applied
3. tighten all ball joints, etc
4. adjust steering box
Check out page 62 in this thread ... post #923. Do the Google search and you’ll have all the torque values you need.
 

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outlanderbz

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jeremyjeep

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outlanderbz

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47Jeepster

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Do an internet search to find ALL the torque values on your Jeep in one place ... Google "JL-WRANGLER-TORQUE-SETTINGS-Quick-Reference-Guide" and you'll find the website where they're posted. It's not good etiquette to post the forum address here, so you'll have to do the Google search. Torque info should really be a sticky on this forum ... hint ... hint ... hint.

Once you get to the website, click on "Front Suspension" and you'll find the spreadsheet that JeepInformant posted.

Oh yes, while you're there, click on "Tires and Wheels" to notice that the lug nuts should be torqued to 130 ft-lbs ... mine were torqued anywhere from 75 to 175 fl-lbs from the factory. Glad I found the high torques in the garage where I had a breaker bar, rather than on the trail with the short handled "tool" that FCA provides.
 

outlanderbz

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Do an internet search to find ALL the torque values on your Jeep in one place ... Google "JL-WRANGLER-TORQUE-SETTINGS-Quick-Reference-Guide" and you'll find the website where they're posted. It's not good etiquette to post the forum address here, so you'll have to do the Google search. Torque info should really be a sticky on this forum ... hint ... hint ... hint.

Once you get to the website, click on "Front Suspension" and you'll find the spreadsheet that JeepInformant posted.

Oh yes, while you're there, click on "Tires and Wheels" to notice that the lug nuts should be torqued to 130 ft-lbs ... mine were torqued anywhere from 75 to 175 fl-lbs from the factory. Glad I found the high torques in the garage where I had a breaker bar, rather than on the trail with the short handled "tool" that FCA provides.
thank you. For the front suspension list, should I ask my mechanic to check them all or are there certain ones they should focus on - just ball joints?
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