Steering Stabilizer Failure? (Non-Wobble issue)

[Sgt Beavis]

G’Mornin’ Fellas,

I just wanted to run this buy y’all and see what everyone thought about this. I’m thinking the Steering stabilizer has failed but I’m not 100% sure on this. While driving I70 from Denver to Breckenridge, CO I started having a lot of issues keeping the Jeep straight at highway speeds. This was a white knuckle issue when going through the Eisenhower Tunnels where there are lots of ruts along the out edges of the road. My Jeep would sometimes suddenly pull toward the barrier and it was difficult to maintain a line. This was at 55mph in a straight line. In the curves it does this as well, but to a significantly lesser degree. At lower speeds it isn’t much of an issue at all. I was driving through Boulder Canyon Dr (very very curvy road) which was rutted and pot holed quite a bit. My speed never went over 45mph and I did feel the steering pull in one direction or another on occasion but it was easy to control.

I should stress, there was no wobble at all. I’ve hit bumps and potholes and the wheels stayed straight. This is more of the steering pulling in one direction or another from the road conditions.

To me, this actually does sound like a stabilizer issue and I’m probably going to drop the coin to put a falcon or fox stabilizer on but I wanted to run this buy the forum as a sanity check before I do.

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[HoundDude]

there is a TSB for defective stabilizers produced over a specific date range, you may want to look into that first

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Yea, they're in that range. The number starts with X097.

I could go get this replaced at the dealer but I'm inclined to get something of a bit better quality. Especially since I do a lot of off roading. I'm thinking of that Falcon 2.2. A bit pricey to be sure, but the quality and durability seem to be there.

 

[Mkz567]

This...

 

[Sgt Beavis]

This...

Yup. I may go with the Fox stabilizer but thus far I'm thinking the Falcon is more bang for the buck.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Today I ordered Rancho’s geometry correct brackets. After some research I think this is the next logical step since I have the 3.5” Rancho non-Rubicon lift. I’m also going to have the alignment rechecked and have everything in the steering retorqued. If the problem persists I’ll upgrade the stabilizer.

 

[Mkz567]

I gotta say it does feel better on the highway after falcon steering stabilizer on medium setting, still has some play but its firmer. Next I'll try on firm.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

So I’ve now gone a couple of weeks with the geometry correction brackets. While my steering feels a bit more precise, it is still pulling on rutted roads. These strong Colorado winds are pushing it around pretty good as well. So I went ahead and ordered the Falcon Nexus 2.2.

On the downside, I also need to get a new torque wrench to properly install it. On the upside, I get a new torque wrench..

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I replaced the stabilizer today. After removing I found that I could compress it without using my full strength. It was also leaking fluid.

For comparison, I tried compressing the Falcon stabilizer but found I just could do it if I put a lot of muscle into it on the Soft setting. It wasn't too much of a pain to install. I had to buy a torque wrench but hey, now I've got a new torque wrench.

I've only taken it on a few roads around the area, nothing to really test it out but I'll be driving a really rutted road later today that'll give me a better impression of how this has affected my steering.

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