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Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

JeepCares

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I got a 2019 JLU Rubicon a week ago yesterday. I have the wandering issue. I have also noticed that my steering wheel is cocked a little to the left. Has anyone else with this issue noticed this?
Hi UDUBJL,
We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing a steering concern on your new JLU. If you decide to have your dealer address this, please send our team a private message and we would be happy to add an extra layer of assistance through this process!
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PDQ

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My 2019 JLU Sahara is having same wandering issues. Been into dealer 3 times now with no improvement. Most recently they ordered a new steering damper p/n 68251580AE, however they installed p/n68251580AB ??????????? even though the work order ticket calls out the AE part number. This new damper did not help at all. Very frustrating.
 

californiajeeping

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My 2019 JLU Sahara is having same wandering issues. Been into dealer 3 times now with no improvement. Most recently they ordered a new steering damper p/n 68251580AE, however they installed p/n68251580AB ??????????? even though the work order ticket calls out the AE part number. This new damper did not help at all. Very frustrating.
Did they check your toe specs? Per one of the Star cases, it should be adjusted to the max high end of the spec to help minimize wandering. Welcome to the wandering club. 2018 and 2019 JLs have 99% the exact same steering component part numbers.
 

PDQ

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Is the correct new steering damper part no. 68251580AE? If so, what is the Part no. 68251580AB they installed on my vehicle?
 

DWS44

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Is the correct new steering damper part no. 68251580AE? If so, what is the Part no. 68251580AB they installed on my vehicle?
"AE" is the newest one at the moment, per my dealer. They just installed it today.

I finally had a day to take mine in for the loose steering and wandering a little over a week ago. They agreed that it had issues right away with no argument and had apparently dealt with this on several JLs. (The advisor even mentioned they had a few with the "Death Wobble", which mine had not experienced. I was actually surprised/impressed when she used that term out of the blue). Their resolution was to replace the steering stabilizer, but the first one they ordered came in and was apparently broken out of the box, it was an "AD" and when they went to order a second one, the found it had been superseded by the newer "AE". They ultimately found another "AD" stabilizer to get me back on the road until the "AE" came in.

During the week I drove with the "AD" version, the steering definitely felt a lot crisper with considerably less play in it. Turning the wheel moves the wheels almost immediately now. Can't really say it did much for the wandering...might have been a little better, but hard to say in the limited interstate driving I did during the week. I also had pumped the tires back up to 40 to make sure their test drive was conclusive...I need to drop that back down again. Had been running ~35 beforehand with had helped a lot with the wandering.

Anyhow...dropped it off this morning and left for the day (Kudos for the 2019 Challenger loaner they gave me!). Picked it up on way home from work with the newly minted "AE" installed. Hard to tell much difference from the "AD" version on the way home, plus it was really windy out.

Here's the work order, if it helps anyone:

upload_2019-5-29_18-45-15.png
 

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Rdmitch

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Hope this helps with your issue. You may find it gets you part way there. The next step is link-rod and possibly steering gear box.
Itā€™s so hard to pin it down some days it just drives great and other times I want to drive it off the road ...but it will do that on its own!
I am starting a log for what conditions exist on good and bad days...watching wind, rain, temperature, etc.
some have suggested different tires effect wandering but I donā€™t think thatā€™s the issue.
 

californiajeeping

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Hope this helps with your issue. You may find it gets you part way there. The next step is link-rod and possibly steering gear box.
Itā€™s so hard to pin it down some days it just drives great and other times I want to drive it off the road ...but it will do that on its own!
I am starting a log for what conditions exist on good and bad days...watching wind, rain, temperature, etc.
some have suggested different tires effect wandering but I donā€™t think thatā€™s the issue.
Tires might be contributing and could be a small percentage of the problem. That's why so many mention the PSI affects the handling. With your JL parked and engine off, stand next to one of the tires and push on the fender back and forth several times, and watch how much the tires flex. Then compare to another vehicle.
 

Rdmitch

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Tires might be contributing and could be a small percentage of the problem. That's why so many mention the PSI affects the handling. With your JL parked and engine off, stand next to one of the tires and push on the fender back and forth several times, and watch how much the tires flex. Then compare to another vehicle.
Agree that pressure does help. Was better after dropping the PSI to. 34.
The style of the tire I am not sold on it being a contributing factor since somemtimes it handles
good and other times terrible and itā€™s the same tires.

But Iā€™m gonna log by morning and afternoon drives and see if there is any common denominator.
 

Rdmitch

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hey @Rdmitch. I seem to remember you being pretty happy with the improvement after they replaced your steering gear... I think you had a lot of play before that, do you still have a dead spot? if so, how much play do you have at highway speeds?
I never had a dead spot or loose steering. My issue in the past was always the classic wandering. While holding the steering wheel lightly (like you would drive a normal SUV), the Jeep would just move either left or right and the driver had to steer back into the lane to correct for this. This would happen fairly often and it was always a constant pain to be always correcting. Not tied into any particular speed range since it would occur both highway and city driving. It looked like a drunk driver trying to stay between the white lines.
I have no lift or special tires. just stock 4dr. Sahara.

4 trips to the dealer, jeep cares case number and lots of playing with alignment and tire pressures have got me to where I am now .
We have replaced stabilizer bar, track bar (link bar ?), steering box, checked torque on tie rods and everything recommended by Jeep.

As of today, I have to say its much improved...maybe 60 % better and is what I consider to be mediocre at best. So coming from totally unacceptable its a step forward. The steering box seemed to make the most significant impact to date and while I cant say its the root of the problem for everyone, it did get me a improvement.

I would love to be able to just drive normal without worrying or thinking about the steering and I really hope there are some solutions coming from Jeep in the near future to help us all get to 100%, but I just don't see that happening without a lot of pressure from the user community.
 

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DWS44

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To update my post from last night...drove the Interstate to work this morning with winds mostly calm. The steering with the "AE" stabilizer still felt better than the original stabilizer it came with (i.e. no dead spot, more crisp feeling). Couldn't really tell any difference between the "AE" and the "AD" stabilizer I had for a week or so.

That said, the new stabilizer didn't seem to have any affect on the wandering. If anything, the wandering this morning felt even more twitchy than before I took it in for them to work on it. This was with the air pressure lowered back to 35. Sigh.
 

JeepCares

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To update my post from last night...drove the Interstate to work this morning with winds mostly calm. The steering with the "AE" stabilizer still felt better than the original stabilizer it came with (i.e. no dead spot, more crisp feeling). Couldn't really tell any difference between the "AE" and the "AD" stabilizer I had for a week or so.

That said, the new stabilizer didn't seem to have any affect on the wandering. If anything, the wandering this morning felt even more twitchy than before I took it in for them to work on it. This was with the air pressure lowered back to 35. Sigh.
Hi DWS44,
We're sorry to hear that this was not resolved for you. Please let us know via private message if you return to your dealer and we'll gladly have a case escalated in your behalf.
Lydia
Jeep Social Care Specialist
 

cmcclintock

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To update my post from last night...drove the Interstate to work this morning with winds mostly calm. The steering with the "AE" stabilizer still felt better than the original stabilizer it came with (i.e. no dead spot, more crisp feeling). Couldn't really tell any difference between the "AE" and the "AD" stabilizer I had for a week or so.

That said, the new stabilizer didn't seem to have any affect on the wandering. If anything, the wandering this morning felt even more twitchy than before I took it in for them to work on it. This was with the air pressure lowered back to 35. Sigh.
Is you caster set at 6 degrees(up from Typical 4.3 - 4.9 from factory) It made a world of difference on mine.. NO MORE WANDERING..$90 at a good alignment shop...That is what I did after 2 trips to the dealership with no results.
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