I’m so glad I read your post! I thought I was just crazy! I’ve only had my JL for three days and was wondering why I felt like I was fighting to keep it straight. I noticed if I put my arm out the window, it wasn’t as bad. I started searching through the forum to find out if this is normal. Will take the survey. Thanks!!
Did you tighten the lower control arms or all of them?
I only did the lower control arms. Also I seem to have fixed the problem entirely by tightening a few bolts held in place by cotter pins.
What torque did you tighten them to? Edit: I see you said 100 in another post.
I did. Tightening the lower ball joint castle nuts solved it for me.
Wonder if @JeepCares has seen this and shared with their engineers.
Just to make sure, you tighten to 100 ft lbs instead of 190 that is called by Jeep right? I think that's what it says in the attachment.
Im not sure what torque I put on those bolts. Its gotta be past 100. I loosened them so that the tension would free up and allow for slight movement forward and backwards. I have noticed though that after doing so I can hear the control arms clicking when I go over bumps. I have been meaning to have them tightened down more then I can with brute force. I just have not done it yet because it doesnt bother me enough to go out of my way and I also plan on moving to adjustable control arms sooner then later anyways.Just to make sure, you tighten to 100 ft lbs instead of 190 that is called by Jeep right? I think that's what it says in the attachment.
I doubt it, FCA has been very quiet on this and I think in denial... Until I hear from them, this is my belief.
Not at all, if the Jeep is wandering all over the road you’re causing more wear by constantly course correcting and changing direction. With tight steering your making minimal input and the Jeep is driving straight with little stress on anything. Bumpy roads in this thing suck the steering is so vague you have no idea where to even start to correct bump steer, not to mention hydroplaning is just sketchy a bumpy water covered road is the JL’s worst nightmare. Loose steering is bad steering, I don’t see any scenario where having less control over the front wheels is advantageous.I have ben driving jeep now for over 12 years...had a YJ .... TJ .... JK....CJ....and now a JL....well soon I will lol.... but one thing I know the play you have on the steering wheel will save all the moving steering components and give you more control over harsh roads .... if it wasn't for that play your quick response steering wheels would put extra stress on the components causing premature wear to your ball joints and everything with a screw or weld. When your boucing around on dirt roads the last thing you want is quick response steering that will drive you of the road.
FCA told me today my Jeep steering is good, but it is not. Totally frustrated.
I think that the steering is highly susceptible to road imperfections, and thus the wandering. I noticed it when I was breaking in the new KO2's, as well as my brand new KM3's, after a wheel and tire upgrade. After the tires wear in, the steering seems to settle down. Also, to another's point, lowering the PSI a bit also helps. Beyond that, I added a Teraflex Nexus 2.1 Stabilizer and that improved things even more. I've not tried it in the "firm" setting as of yet as I've not been on a long highway trip, but I'm curious how much that helps at highway speeds.
