Loose Steering?

[Joker4L]

So..... did that fix the issue?

honestly to soon to tell because I feel as it helped but it can be placebo because how badly I want it fixed lol.

I test drive it 60miles round trip on the interstate yesterday but I was also towing which affects the vehicle so I still need to drive it some more under normal hwy conditions.

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[smlobx]

Thanks for posting the torque specs.
This may sound foolish but does anyone have a picture or video showing each location specified? I don’t want to tighten the wrong thing improperly?

I know...I lost a couple of points on my Man Card!

 

[Joker4L]

Thanks for posting the torque specs.
This may sound foolish but does anyone have a picture or video showing each location specified? I don’t want to tighten the wrong thing improperly?

I know...I lost a couple of points on my Man Card!

I meant to take pictures, maybe I will do so when I get home.
What I don’t understand is how most aftermarket steering components call for much higher torque values for example the tie rod steer smart calls for 130lb vs stock calling for around 47lbs

 

[Blu542]

Where did you find the manual? I need one!

 

[Joker4L]

Where did you find the manual? I need one!

I took the specs from the JL website. Lots of good info on their.

 

[NateSamJT20]

just bought my JTR on Saturday 9/28. Test drove a couple JTs before hand and both were loose and pretty bad with wander. I had already been reading up on this forum, so checked both and could see they were over inflated and was hoping that with right tire psi that all would be good.

So on Saturday, I buy my JTR! I'm super pumped about getting back to a Jeep since my 13 JKU. Bought from dealer that is 109 miles from my house because they had a great deal. Did most of the purchase over the phone so just showed up with check and signed a few pages. During the wait time, my sales guy said we could take it to go get lunch. I noticed it was little loose then, but only went a few blocks. Get back and finish up then start heading home. Missouri hills on the highway with a little bit of wind!!! FML! I white knuckled it all the way and tried to keep it around 60mph max in 70mph zones.

Got home, exhausted, and after dinner and a mental break I went out aired down to 36psi. Today got up and took family out for a drive with top off. The lower psi seemed to help, but there is still AT LEAST almost 1-2" in play to each side.

I'm really sick to my stomach that my dream truck/Jeep is this bad and I'm nervous to have my kids in it. But I don't want to driver 109 miles back to the dealer I bought it from to have diagnosed. And that's if they can diagnose it and not give me any run around. I have had horrible experiences with dealership service depts. previously. Also, don't want to show up to a local Jeep dealer to have them blow me off cause I didn't buy from them.

@JeepCares any suggestions/help? Seems to be a real issue that hasn't even been slightly addressed since the JLs

Also, pretty sick of the crowd that wants to blame people for not knowing how to drive Jeeps or knowing what we bought. Glad you are not dealing with this. Have owned 3 wranglers and nothing even remotely close to this

 

[spazzyfry123]

just bought my JTR on Saturday 9/28. Test drove a couple JTs before hand and both were loose and pretty bad with wander. I had already been reading up on this forum, so checked both and could see they were over inflated and was hoping that with right tire psi that all would be good.

So on Saturday, I buy my JTR! I'm super pumped about getting back to a Jeep since my 13 JKU. Bought from dealer that is 109 miles from my house because they had a great deal. Did most of the purchase over the phone so just showed up with check and signed a few pages. During the wait time, my sales guy said we could take it to go get lunch. I noticed it was little loose then, but only went a few blocks. Get back and finish up then start heading home. Missouri hills on the highway with a little bit of wind!!! FML! I white knuckled it all the way and tried to keep it around 60mph max in 70mph zones.

Got home, exhausted, and after dinner and a mental break I went out aired down to 36psi. Today got up and took family out for a drive with top off. The lower psi seemed to help, but there is still AT LEAST almost 1-2" in play to each side.

I'm really sick to my stomach that my dream truck/Jeep is this bad and I'm nervous to have my kids in it. But I don't want to driver 109 miles back to the dealer I bought it from to have diagnosed. And that's if they can diagnose it and not give me any run around. I have had horrible experiences with dealership service depts. previously. Also, don't want to show up to a local Jeep dealer to have them blow me off cause I didn't buy from them.

@JeepCares any suggestions/help? Seems to be a real issue that hasn't even been slightly addressed since the JLs

Also, pretty sick of the crowd that wants to blame people for not knowing how to drive Jeeps or knowing what we bought. Glad you are not dealing with this. Have owned 3 wranglers and nothing even remotely close to this

You can take your Jeep to any Jeep dealer to have warranty looked at without question. If you get even the slightest indication that they don't want to do it because you didn't purchase from them, run away as quickly as possible!

 

[JeepCares]

just bought my JTR on Saturday 9/28. Test drove a couple JTs before hand and both were loose and pretty bad with wander. I had already been reading up on this forum, so checked both and could see they were over inflated and was hoping that with right tire psi that all would be good.

So on Saturday, I buy my JTR! I'm super pumped about getting back to a Jeep since my 13 JKU. Bought from dealer that is 109 miles from my house because they had a great deal. Did most of the purchase over the phone so just showed up with check and signed a few pages. During the wait time, my sales guy said we could take it to go get lunch. I noticed it was little loose then, but only went a few blocks. Get back and finish up then start heading home. Missouri hills on the highway with a little bit of wind!!! FML! I white knuckled it all the way and tried to keep it around 60mph max in 70mph zones.

Got home, exhausted, and after dinner and a mental break I went out aired down to 36psi. Today got up and took family out for a drive with top off. The lower psi seemed to help, but there is still AT LEAST almost 1-2" in play to each side.

I'm really sick to my stomach that my dream truck/Jeep is this bad and I'm nervous to have my kids in it. But I don't want to driver 109 miles back to the dealer I bought it from to have diagnosed. And that's if they can diagnose it and not give me any run around. I have had horrible experiences with dealership service depts. previously. Also, don't want to show up to a local Jeep dealer to have them blow me off cause I didn't buy from them.

@JeepCares any suggestions/help? Seems to be a real issue that hasn't even been slightly addressed since the JLs

Also, pretty sick of the crowd that wants to blame people for not knowing how to drive Jeeps or knowing what we bought. Glad you are not dealing with this. Have owned 3 wranglers and nothing even remotely close to this

Hi Nate,
We're sorry to learn about the steering concern you are experiencing with your new Gladiator. We do understand your hesitation with visiting your dealer. However, if you decide to do so, please send our team a private message and we would be happy to connect you with a Case Specialist to assist.
Alex
Jeep Cares

 

[lrtexasman]

Bring it to nearest dealer to be sure everything is tight on suspension. Air up to recommended pressure and drive some for tires to wear a bit. Some people are seeing an improvement after getting 1k miles on it. If no improvement after that then do another visit. I wouldn’t stress until then.

 

[WhatExit?]

This is a big concern. My 2014 JKUR was nothing like this - wandering and constant steering inputs to try and keep it on line - especially disconcerting at freeway speeds

 

[Joker4L]

So today I took at 300 mile round trip ride on Interstate 75 driving roughly between 65 and 80mph. It looks like after everything I have done so far it has made a huge difference. The JT tracks great and doesn't require anywhere near as much driver input as it did when I purchased it. There is still slop/play in the steering wheel tho. To sum up what I have done:

Tire pressure set to 32psi
Falcon Nexus EF 2.2 Set to Medium
Synergy 1.75in Wheel Spacers
Re-torqued all Front end Suspension components to Factory Specifications

I think what I will do next to hopefully help with the slop will be a new Drag Link and Tie Rod set up. If you go under your car and grab either of them you can literately wiggle it back and forth. Its concerning.

 

[Wizzard005]

guys try driving 12 hours with the bad steering problems... I will tell you hour 7 - 12 will get super hard...

 

[Joker4L]

I’ve notice it gets worse for me in the afternoon commute when there are semi trucks everywhere. Here in middle GA it can also get very windy on I75. It’s so hard to explain but it does suck to have to apply constant input. Although mine has greatly improved it’s still not where I am happy with it. Tomorrow I will be airing down to 30psi cold. I did a chalk test at 32PSI and the edges of the tires remained intact while the middle wore off which means the pressure needs to lower

 

[Tire Guy]

First report back from the dealer is they can't find anything wrong and all Gladiators drive like this. I pushed back and challenged them to actually drive it.

 

[Tire Guy]

Second report from dealer. Drove it 28 miles and they don't see a problem. No repair attempted.

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