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Loose Steering is NORMAL for the JL

STG01

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It is warranty, so no cost if you can get the dealer to agree that it is the steering box.

“If you can get the dealer” is the issue :)

Just curious the cost of someone didn’t want to jump through 1,000,000 hoops with the dealers who say practically everything is normal and always discount forums as nothing but misinformation

Update: I got a quote of $695 for the new box plus an extra $75 until they get your old one back for a core exchange. That’s parts only.
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M JEEPN

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So the steering box was the fix?
Yes, the steering box took care of the issue. After the wandering issue was resolved I installed a 2.5 lift and 37's. The lift decreases the positive caster causing a little wander, but not nearly as bad as prior to the new steering box. Installed adjustable lower control arms to increase the caster to +6%. Drives great again.

IMG_8549.JPG
 

californiajeeping

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Yes, the steering box took care of the issue. After the wandering issue was resolved I installed a 2.5 lift and 37's. The lift decreases the positive caster causing a little wander, but not nearly as bad as prior to the new steering box. Installed adjustable lower control arms to increase the caster to +6%. Drives great again.

IMG_8549.JPG
Did you get the new AE version of the steering box?
 

tom1000

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It needs to be said, although I can already feel the conflict that my comments will generate. So be it.

I’ll try to be brief as possible.

If you feel your Jeep is not safe to drive or has some other issue than loose steering, this doesn’t apply to you. Get your Jeep into service.

Now about that loose steering...

Tight steering on a Jeep means certain death. Hit a bump at high speed and watch what happens to the steering wheel with those live axels. Loose is good.

For off-road, you need power to turn the wheels on obstacles and more precise control to not fall off a cliff. Loose is good.

This is why Jeep designed the gearing ratios in the box to be loose.

Now for the wandering...

All cars wander do to road crown and imperfections and wind. You might notice it much more in a Jeep since bigger steering corrections are needed because the steering is loose. Also WIND (The Jeep is an aerodynamic train wreck.). Watch any driver in any car and you will see them making constant corrections, just smaller. This is normal.

Maybe you don’t agree. That’s fine, but my family has owned four JLs so far (2018 and 2019), and I’ve driven many more. They are all the same with loose steering.

Enough of this. Unless you have some other issue beyond “loose steering,” go drive your Jeep. Enjoy the loose steering! It will keep you awake and having fun while the rest of the regular car drivers are half asleep.

Yes the JL absolutely has steering issues. I just checked the NHTSA site and the 2018 JL has 776 complaints – steering 585, suspension 165 this is 97% of all the complaints concerning the JL. It appears that the various Jeep Wrangler Forums have thousands not hundreds of posting of steering related problems, with road wondering and steering play leading the various issues with no definitive fix. Many JL owner report that my JL drives just fine or “they fixed it”. I believe these owners for various reasons have accepted the poor drivability of the JL and are prepared to live with the problem. When you spend 40K or more on a vehicle you really want to believe you made a smart purchase and have the vehicle accelerate, stop and handle properly-two out of three is still bad! My 2018 two door Sport is very difficult to keep between the lane lines. I have had it to the dealer three times and as many other owners report have gotten “never heard of steering problems with the JL”, “that just how the JL drives”, “everything tight no problem”. I took it to an Independent Alignment Shop to have it checked and everything was within spec and tight. I believe the steering issue it is an engineering problem caused by Jeeps desire to make the JL as light as possible to improve gas mileage and make the Government happy. The Track Bars are hollow and light making them prone to deflection under load which may be part of the problem. I also believe that increasing the Steering Ratio on my two door to 17:4:1 from the JK 16.7:1 is the reason for what many describe as excessive steering play; the four door has a ratio of 15.6:1 lower than the older JK and close to a normal cars steering ratio with a steering box. The four doors should handle better on the road than the 2 doors. The JL two door is a much different animal than the 4 door. Jeep (apparently in reaction to the real not perceived steering problem) has come out with new Track Bars, Steering Stabilizers and Alignment Specs but some (most) dealers will not put them on? I am tired of sitting at the dealership with no satisfaction; so I am going to wait another few months to see if Jeep comes out with a steering related recall and then contact Jeep Cares for help. I also hope that a Class Action is taken against the JL, I am ready to sign on. Say and think what you wish but do not tell us our JL does not have steering problems.
 
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My JK has a little bit of play, but not like, 20 year old U-Haul truck amounts of play. No vehicle should have that much play in the wheel lol.
Right!?.... my 19 JL has been at the dealership for 2 months waiting on a rear main seal at 1300 miles... the steering is so umcomfortable..but I'll tackle one issue at a time with fca. the whole "it's a jeep thing" "its normal" "suck it up" or "ya that's just how it is" from other jeep owners is getting pretty old .. how about jeep takes accountability for their products, fix whatever the issue is and please fix my damn jeep in a timely manner... I dont even remember what mine looks like these days.... I've driven a 86 Suzuki samurai that didnt even steer this bad.. were in 2019. You cant honestly just "settle" on an uncomfortable ride. ... they can make it better.
 

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Yes the JL absolutely has steering issues. I just checked the NHTSA site and the 2018 JL has 776 complaints – steering 585, suspension 165 this is 97% of all the complaints concerning the JL. It appears that the various Jeep Wrangler Forums have thousands not hundreds of posting of steering related problems, with road wondering and steering play leading the various issues with no definitive fix. Many JL owner report that my JL drives just fine or “they fixed it”. I believe these owners for various reasons have accepted the poor drivability of the JL and are prepared to live with the problem. When you spend 40K or more on a vehicle you really want to believe you made a smart purchase and have the vehicle accelerate, stop and handle properly-two out of three is still bad! My 2018 two door Sport is very difficult to keep between the lane lines. I have had it to the dealer three times and as many other owners report have gotten “never heard of steering problems with the JL”, “that just how the JL drives”, “everything tight no problem”. I took it to an Independent Alignment Shop to have it checked and everything was within spec and tight. I believe the steering issue it is an engineering problem caused by Jeeps desire to make the JL as light as possible to improve gas mileage and make the Government happy. The Track Bars are hollow and light making them prone to deflection under load which may be part of the problem. I also believe that increasing the Steering Ratio on my two door to 17:4:1 from the JK 16.7:1 is the reason for what many describe as excessive steering play; the four door has a ratio of 15.6:1 lower than the older JK and close to a normal cars steering ratio with a steering box. The four doors should handle better on the road than the 2 doors. The JL two door is a much different animal than the 4 door. Jeep (apparently in reaction to the real not perceived steering problem) has come out with new Track Bars, Steering Stabilizers and Alignment Specs but some (most) dealers will not put them on? I am tired of sitting at the dealership with no satisfaction; so I am going to wait another few months to see if Jeep comes out with a steering related recall and then contact Jeep Cares for help. I also hope that a Class Action is taken against the JL, I am ready to sign on. Say and think what you wish but do not tell us our JL does not have steering problems.


THISS!!!! WELL SAID MAN!
 

DCOURTS

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Very well said
 

Bernard

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OK, now me.

Got the 2019 JLU Rubicon about 2.5 months ago – came from factory with those off-road tires and I didn’t do anything with the suspensions nor the steering.

I have Read all the “issues” with the JL beforehand and was well aware of it AND I owned, for many years, a solid axle off road vehicles.

...
Got back a week later, on a Friday (the wife was away so didn’t need it).
They said they checked all the bolts and Re-balanced the wheels (they said it was way off… from factory – I didn’t notice anything in that regard but, well…) at their shop AND replaced the steering dumper - they said it was bad and replaced it with a Fox one… one thing off my list).

...
Now I have a stock 2019 JLU Rubicon (only about 900 miles on it…we only drive it to the dealership), with a Fox steering damper (courtesy of FCA), with an off-center steering wheel (i can do fix that one myself but don’t dare, so they won’t blame me for…something), loose and wandering steering and a soon-to-be very angry wife…
Update...
Yesterday I got the V41 recall - they took out the new fox steering damper, they installed just a few week ago, and installed a new black nameless/mopar/FCA damper:crying: .
I couldn't refuse - if I did they would have say that they had a solution and I refused it...
Drove back home with my brand new "solution" - same thing :angry:.
Waiting for the next phone call with Ginger, my ECS Specialist = FCA US LLC customer care case manager.

I have a MC lift kit + 4 Fox reservoir shocks + driveshafts + wheels... all still in the boxes, in my garage - can't install it, so they can't blame me/it for the steering and get an easy way out:crying:
 

roaniecowpony

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It needs to be said, although I can already feel the conflict that my comments will generate. So be it.

I’ll try to be brief as possible.

If you feel your Jeep is not safe to drive or has some other issue than loose steering, this doesn’t apply to you. Get your Jeep into service.

Now about that loose steering...

Tight steering on a Jeep means certain death. Hit a bump at high speed and watch what happens to the steering wheel with those live axels. Loose is good.

For off-road, you need power to turn the wheels on obstacles and more precise control to not fall off a cliff. Loose is good.

This is why Jeep designed the gearing ratios in the box to be loose.

Now for the wandering...

All cars wander do to road crown and imperfections and wind. You might notice it much more in a Jeep since bigger steering corrections are needed because the steering is loose. Also WIND (The Jeep is an aerodynamic train wreck.). Watch any driver in any car and you will see them making constant corrections, just smaller. This is normal.

Maybe you don’t agree. That’s fine, but my family has owned four JLs so far (2018 and 2019), and I’ve driven many more. They are all the same with loose steering.

Enough of this. Unless you have some other issue beyond “loose steering,” go drive your Jeep. Enjoy the loose steering! It will keep you awake and having fun while the rest of the regular car drivers are half asleep.
You are convinced the looseness in your JL steering is a design feature? Sorry, as an engineer, I think you are making assumptions that have led you to an erroneous conclusion.
 

Vezfly

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Regarding title of thread -Yeah this is why every other vehicle has zero slop, junky german Mercedes who build the off road master G WAGON don’t implement this engineering....
 

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californiajeeping

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Regarding title of thread -Yeah this is why every other vehicle has zero slop, junky german Mercedes who build the off road master G WAGON don’t implement this engineering....
In addition, why do some JLs have steering slop and some JLs do not? It would be normal if all had the same amount of excessive steering slop, but they don't. And many have reported in the main steering thread that the slop went away when they changed to the new AE steering box.
 

JeepRider10

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All,
In addition to the Jeep Cares cases, log on to the website below and file a complaint.

www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Jeep has been skirting this issue for far to long. If people file complaints the NHTSA, will look into it and hopefully we can get some help in forcing Jeep to fix the issue. I know I am being repeatedly told that Jeep engineering the steering with 4" inches of slop in the steering but I refuse to believe that, as I too have test driven JL's that did not have that amount of slop. Jeep is just playing the long game and assuming we will stop complaining as it is a terrible waste of our time and efforts.
 

AnnDee4444

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I also believe that increasing the Steering Ratio on my two door to 17:4:1 from the JK 16.7:1 is the reason for what many describe as excessive steering play; the four door has a ratio of 15.6:1 lower than the older JK and close to a normal cars steering ratio with a steering box.
Interesting. I wounder if I could convince a dealer to put the 4-door or Gladiator steering box on my 2-door. FWIW the Gladiator is 13.3:1.

I bet the differences between have to do with the moose test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_test
 
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Vezfly

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In addition, why do some JLs have steering slop and some JLs do not? It would be normal if all had the same amount of excessive steering slop, but they don't. And many have reported in the main steering thread that the slop went away when they changed to the new AE steering box.
I got the AE, it took the slop from 2.5 to 1 inch slop. It’s still not safe IMO, front end is so tight it causes driver induced oscillations because of the slop. Tight front end is fine if there were no slack, this thing is a POS and I promise will hurt someone if it hasn’t already
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