Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

[JeepRider10]

t

https://www.moparamerica.com/oem-parts/mopar-steering-gear-68250506ad

Thanks

Sponsored

 

[Vezfly]

Ok- the AE box installed has done two things, slop went from 2-3 inches to less than 1. The wandering has improved by 70%. Let me get a few hundred miles and I’ll repost. This is a Rubicon 4 door with March 2019 born on date. Overall a good improvement , not great. Maybe that will change with time.

 

[californiajeeping]

Ok- the AE box installed has done two things, slop went from 2-3 inches to less than 1. The wandering has improved by 70%. Let me get a few hundred miles and I’ll repost. This is a Rubicon 4 door with March 2019 born on date. Overall a good improvement , not great. Maybe that will change with time.

Do you have the new steering stabilizer via recall V41 installed yet?

 

[FedeF]

I have a 2019 Sahara and I had play on steering and wandering since day one out of the dealer in December 2018.
I took the car to service the first time in January, and I was told that everything was in specs.
I replaced the suspensions with Rubi takeoffs plus 3/4” spacer. At the same time I installed LCA from the mopar 2”. Major improvement on wandering, but play was the same.
I took the car back to the dealer and contacted JeepCare to make sure they were up to date with what was going on. Dealer replaced the track bar. The steering felt more solid on bumps, but the play did not change at all.
JeepCare followed up and I told them as above. That was about when the new AE steering box was released and I mentioned that to JeepCare.
They contacted the dealer, I call them and they ordered the new box.
Box replaced and MAJOR improvement on Jeep drivability!
I can actually drive without looking like an actor out of a 70’s movie where they would swing the wheel left and right to go straight! You can actually feel the roof now.
It is not, and I never expected to feel like a sport car, but I would have never complained if the steering was like this on day one.
I have to thank JeepCare and the Dealer to take care of this for me!
I recommend to anybody with wandering issues to install longer LCA, and new AE box for steering play!

 

[DWS44]

Sounds like some positive experiences coming from this AE steering box on the 4-doors. How bout some love for the 2-doors now.

 

[Vezfly]

Do you have the new steering stabilizer via recall V41 installed yet?

Yes - it was done before delivery

 

[Tyson3264]

Ok- the AE box installed has done two things, slop went from 2-3 inches to less than 1. The wandering has improved by 70%. Let me get a few hundred miles and I’ll repost. This is a Rubicon 4 door with March 2019 born on date. Overall a good improvement , not great. Maybe that will change with time.

Same experience with my March 2019 rubicon with the the AE steering gear. I think I’m about 85% fixed. It still wanders a little bit, but not nearly as much. The steering just feels off. I had another alignment done by another dealership and not too confident with what my actual total toe is now. It was supposed to be at .34 from last alignment, but they were reading it as .25. Its fixed up enough to where I feel I can safely drive it on the interstate, so I’ll take it as a small win and wait for Jeep to do more/better.

 

[californiajeeping]

Same experience with my March 2019 rubicon with the the AE steering gear. I think I’m about 85% fixed. It still wanders a little bit, but not nearly as much. The steering just feels off. I had another alignment done by another dealership and not too confident with what my actual total toe is now. It was supposed to be at .34 from last alignment, but they were reading it as .25. Its fixed up enough to where I feel I can safely drive it on the interstate, so I’ll take it as a small win and wait for Jeep to do more/better.

Ok- the AE box installed has done two things, slop went from 2-3 inches to less than 1. The wandering has improved by 70%. Let me get a few hundred miles and I’ll repost. This is a Rubicon 4 door with March 2019 born on date. Overall a good improvement , not great. Maybe that will change with time.

Tyson3264 and Vezfly - Did you have the torque on the steering and suspension components checked? The ball joints on my JL were finger tight, the track bar, drag link etc. took several full turns to get them to the factory torque specs. You can tell if they at least checked the ball joints by looking at the cotter pins in the castle nuts. If they look perfectly bent over, then no one removed the cotter pins to check the ball joint torque. If the cotter pins look a bit mangled like someone used a pair of pliers to bend them, then someone did check the torque. Don't trust that the dealer checked, one dealer lied to me and said they checked, then I brought it to a 4x4 shop along with the torque spec print outs. There are several examples throughout this thread that other people also found loose components and it contributed to the steering fix.

 

[EDH_JL]

Sounds like some positive experiences coming from this AE steering box on the 4-doors. How bout some love for the 2-doors now.

I dropped off my Jeep this morning asking to address the loose steering gear, but didn't realize there were different steering boxes between 2 door and 4 door. Have there been any updates to the 2 door gear part numbers? I forgot to check what mine was but its a 2018. I put tape on the steering wheel as a visual indicator of where I felt the "dead spot" is, but I'm not sure if that helped or hindered during my test drive with the service manager. They said they will do some research and let me know what can be done.

Does anyone know what part numbers there have been for the 2 door steering gear?

 

[EDH_JL]

I dropped off my Jeep this morning asking to address the loose steering gear, but didn't realize there were different steering boxes between 2 door and 4 door. Have there been any updates to the 2 door gear part numbers? I forgot to check what mine was but its a 2018. I put tape on the steering wheel as a visual indicator of where I felt the "dead spot" is, but I'm not sure if that helped or hindered during my test drive with the service manager. They said they will do some research and let me know what can be done.

Does anyone know what part numbers there have been for the 2 door steering gear?

Dealer just called, normal for 2 doors due to the short wheelbase. Said they reviewed a STAR case which says it's normal. Panic stops are sketchy as it goes side to side over the lane, but guess that's normal @JeepCares

Edit: I looked up the STAR case and they didn't do the "over center rotating torque" test on the steering gear. They did it while I waited and found it out of spec, but surprisingly TOO TIGHT. New steering gear going in tomorrow, but am concerned it will be worse now. However the advisor thinks it may be the electronic steering overcompensating for the tightness causing it to wander. We shall see Thursday when I pick it up.

 

[JeepRider10]

Vezfly, thanks for the update and that sounds promising. I have a 2109 JLUR with a late May or early June build and it still has the AD steering gear box. I will open a Jeep Cares case and see what they will do. I am assuming (but hate to assume anything) that they did a wheel alignment after changing the gear box, is that a correct assumption? Also you mention about flashing the PCM, did they do that?

 

[Redneck_Jedi]

Does anyone know what part numbers there have been for the 2 door steering gear?

My 2019 2 Door shows part number P68250508AD.

 

[Vezfly]

Vezfly, thanks for the update and that sounds promising. I have a 2109 JLUR with a late May or early June build and it still has the AD steering gear box. I will open a Jeep Cares case and see what they will do. I am assuming (but hate to assume anything) that they did a wheel alignment after changing the gear box, is that a correct assumption? Also you mention about flashing the PCM, did they do that?

They did do alignment and reflash

 

[Tyson3264]

Tyson3264 and Vezfly - Did you have the torque on the steering and suspension components checked? The ball joints on my JL were finger tight, the track bar, drag link etc. took several full turns to get them to the factory torque specs. You can tell if they at least checked the ball joints by looking at the cotter pins in the castle nuts. If they look perfectly bent over, then no one removed the cotter pins to check the ball joint torque. If the cotter pins look a bit mangled like someone used a pair of pliers to bend them, then someone did check the torque. Don't trust that the dealer checked, one dealer lied to me and said they checked, then I brought it to a 4x4 shop along with the torque spec print outs. There are several examples throughout this thread that other people also found loose components and it contributed to the steering fix.

They assured me twice that everything has had torque checked. I'll need to see if I can find the cotter pins.

 

[californiajeeping]

They did do alignment and reflash

Did you have the torque on the steering and suspension components checked? The ball joints on my JL were finger tight, the track bar, drag link etc. took several full turns to get them to the factory torque specs. You can tell if they at least checked the ball joints by looking at the cotter pins in the castle nuts. If they look perfectly bent over, then no one removed the cotter pins to check the ball joint torque. If the cotter pins look a bit mangled like someone used a pair of pliers to bend them, then someone did check the torque. Don't trust that the dealer checked, one dealer lied to me and said they checked, then I brought it to a 4x4 shop along with the torque spec print outs. There are several examples throughout this thread that other people also found loose components and it contributed to the steering fix.

Sponsored