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Loose steering feels like it has play and drifts

Rdmitch

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I don’t know what you guys experience after 300+ pages

I’m coming from BMW X1, and my 2020 Sahara stock tires/wheels, drives pretty straight with more input than a BMW. For the most part, I think it’s a Jeep thing, and I got pretty use to it quickly.

Glad you’re in the 70% or so group that got a “good one”

Imagine that you’re driving down the road and a big gust of wind comes from the left that starts pushing you into the lane to your right. So you quickly react and cock your wheel a bit to the left to keep in your lane. Then a gust comes from the right, since you want to avoid that semi in the left lane you have to adjust to the right to avoid a certain accident. This is what happens over and over except there in no gust of wind pushing us. The jeep just tries to move lane to lane on its own accord. So we constantly have to move the steering wheel back and forth to stay in our lane and avoid a collision or going off the road. It is unpredictable as to which way we will wander and sometimes it’s every 500 feet, sometimes once in a mile, sometimes it behaves good for a few miles. No rhyme or reason, not predictable.
That’s what we experience every day and that’s what we’re upset about. It’s just aggravating and unsafe.
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jacllondon

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Yes, that is exactly what I experience. Feels i am driving on eggs that are rolling under the tires. my friend has a 12 JK 2 doors. It has some play (not as much as the JL) but the damn thing feels it is planted on the ground. The main problem is the steering wheel does not return to center when you steer. That is why you need to adjust constantly zig zagging back and forth. IF ONLY returned to the cent and stay on the center we wouldnt have problems. I am looking around and I ve found a 2020 rubicon. Tempted to trade in my 2019 for that, but I KNOW HOW STUPID THAT MOVE SOUNDS. I want to love this thing. I had 2 TJs one JKU and this JL. Despite is the best of all them in many things, the steering issue just take off any fun.
 

roaniecowpony

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spudf16 said:
I am tracking the NHTSA website for the recalls and complaints for 2018-2020 JL/JLU/Gladiators. We need to encourage others to sign up and put their VIN in.


Done. It took 5 minutes. All should really do it. Power in numbers.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/?

I just posted my complaint with NHTSA. Agree,it's the most publicly visible way to get this issue aired, short of news or yellow journalism media.

It's a puzzle how this issue got thru the testing by their test drivers as well as how it has persisted this long, seemingly without a definitive diagnosis and fix to the public. It seems FCA hasn't taken this as seriously as the affected customer base. If accidents are linked to this issue, the product liability buzzards (lawyers) will find all this on these forums.

My SteerSmarts Yeti Pro-Series track bar arrived last night. I also have a SteerSmarts tierod and a Falcon steering damper in the garage. A SteerSmarts draglink is still on order. I plan to change the track bar first, possibly today.
 

Warz2k4

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Yes, that is exactly what I experience. Feels i am driving on eggs that are rolling under the tires. my friend has a 12 JK 2 doors. It has some play (not as much as the JL) but the damn thing feels it is planted on the ground. The main problem is the steering wheel does not return to center when you steer. That is why you need to adjust constantly zig zagging back and forth. IF ONLY returned to the cent and stay on the center we wouldnt have problems. I am looking around and I ve found a 2020 rubicon. Tempted to trade in my 2019 for that, but I KNOW HOW STUPID THAT MOVE SOUNDS. I want to love this thing. I had 2 TJs one JKU and this JL. Despite is the best of all them in many things, the steering issue just take off any fun.
I do not want to make any implications, or claim the issue is fixed, but I unconsciously think that when I turn my 2020 Sahara, it returns to the center w/o any additional input.

I do have to say that when I test drove 2018's, it did not return to the center, and was wandering pretty bad.
 

jacllondon

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I do not want to make any implications, or claim the issue is fixed, but I unconsciously think that when I turn my 2020 Sahara, it returns to the center w/o any additional input.

I do have to say that when I test drove 2018's, it did not return to the center, and was wandering pretty bad.

do you feel safe changing lanes? no drifts?
 

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roaniecowpony

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For me, the steering looseness is most obvious when driving at speeds above 50 mph and reversing steering direction as on a winding road with S turns. I notice a very apparent dead area where moving the steering wheel to reverse direction does nothing, I over correct with more steering input and then have to correct again. It reminds me of when I drove a 65 VW Bug with a completely worn out front steering and suspension...a few taps of the steering wheel on one side, then a few taps on the other side. A little death-wobble here and a little shimmy there.....
 

RagTopDeluxe

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For me, the steering looseness is most obvious when driving at speeds above 50 mph and reversing steering direction as on a winding road with S turns. I notice a very apparent dead area where moving the steering wheel to reverse direction does nothing, I over correct with more steering input and then have to correct again.
We were in our way to the Lake Tahoe area to run the Deer Creek Trail when we turned around because the steering on the curvy mountain roads was pretty scary and felt very unpredictable. Definitely not a Jeep thing. :mad:
 

Aceman

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I'm still dealing with this problem.

2020 JLUS Unlimited, brand new from factory. I noticed the excessive amount of play on the drive home from an out of state dealer. For my 3rd attempt, I'll be bringing my jeep to a different dealer and see what they say. Funny enough, all the non-FCA shops I've brought my jeep to noticed right away that the steering wheel should not be that loose, and these are very knowledgable mechanics with 30+ years of experience. In park, you can turn the wheel from about 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock without the tires moving. Every non-FCA mechanic I've seen said the steering box is most likely the culprit. I also noticed that the steering did tighten up a little due to the colder weather.

I'm on board for mass emails to execs, raising public awareness through all digital/social/media outlets, and a class action lawsuit. It's piss poor how FCA is handling this obvious defect. It's just a matter of time before someone is killed driving these faulty vehicles.
 

jacllondon

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We were in our way to the Lake Tahoe area to run the Deer Creek Trail when we turned around because the steering on the curvy mountain roads was pretty scary and felt very unpredictable. Definitely not a Jeep thing. :mad:
that sucks
 

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jacllondon

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do you guys think the new steering box will help?
Gear-Power Steering - Mopar (68250508AE)
 

Rdmitch

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VegasJeepJL

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No...I have the AE box and it’s no better.
Have you gone the route of longer adjustable control arms to see if increasing caster helps?

I have set-up my next appointment and will be off to talk to the service manger beforehand as always. I wish I could give the dealers the list of new parts to try but I will need to battle the "jeep thing" mentality and see if I can press again to get a new steering box and adjustable control arms. Maybe jeep will approve these.

Another week goes by - this sucks. So much for buying a new car !
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