Any suggested mods to reduce wandering and “constant correction” on stock ’25 Rubicon?

[montechie]

• I found part of my steering problem was the rear was sprung too soft. The wishy-washy rear end was steering the vehicle on road imperfections. It was like driving a pickup with a too heavy high-centered load. Mine is a '23, I don't know if '25 is the same. Bilstein shocks helped but it needed stronger coils.

I'll second this one. Initially I added cheap airbags to the rear and it cleaned up the steering wobble a lot, totally different experience. Later on I did stiffer coils and better dampened shocks without the airbags and the steering was still true. Also improved handling under strong/emergency braking.

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[Stan H]

Tires are fine. I'm talking of up to highway speeds.

Bump steer shock and over inflation.

 

[BourbonRunner]

If im constantly making adjustments with the wheel at highway speeds that's not a stabilizer issue, it's a LCA?

 

[Mad Mac]

If im constantly making adjustments with the wheel at highway speeds that's not a stabilizer issue, it's a LCA?

With the vehicle parked
and the wheel centered
how far can the wheel be turned
left and right
without noticeable resistance?

It should only be about an inch.
If it moves easily 3 or 4 inches
from side to side
that is what is causing
drifting one way
straightening up
then drifting the other way.

Tighten the steering gear.
Doesn't cost anything.

 

[Stinggrey 21 Rubi]

Torque the steering at the aluminum knuckles.

 

[JT1]

As I understand it, it is basically a dual steering stabilizer setup, two steering stabilizers opposing each other, folded into a single stabilizer.
I would not want anything like that, but to each their own.
I would rather fix my steering issues if I have steering issues, not try to cover them up with a more complicated steering stabilizer.
I subscribe to the KISS principle.

It isn't like a dual stabilizer in the traditional sense. I have had one on mine for 3 or 4 years and have't had any issues at all.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Minor update on my end. Torquing the steering as suggested didn't correct the problem. Mine was a little more out of whack.

Local Jeep specialist pulled it in and showed me how far out of whack it was with the flat steering test. He identified it as needing a new Steer Smarts track bar, drag links, LCA and a Falcon stabilizer. It's getting installed tomorrow while I'm at work along with a 4 wheel alignment.

 

[gonemad]

I’ve paid attention to these posts, and been paying more attention to exactly what my ’25 Rubicon is doing on the road that bugs me. I’ve lowered cold tire pressures down to about 33 and paid close attention to the steering. This Jeep only has 7,000 miles on it and there seems to be very little free play in the wheel, so I don’t think that’s an issue. If I am on a straight two lane road that is well maintained with not too much crown to it, and point the Jeep straight ahead, it stays straight. If I nudge the wheel left or right just enough to get it going in either direction, that’s what it does till I correct it.

That said, there seems to be constant correction necessary in normal driving. Being new to Jeeps I assumed this was just the nature of solid front axle suspension. I was hoping to incrementally improve that, within reason, if possible.

I looked into swapping the lower control arms. The Mopar part number referenced up thread is 68322798AA, which appears to be an OE part # when I look for it on Rock Auto or at Mopar parts, so I guess I’m curious about it being allegedly 1/4” longer. Plus, the Jeep is well within warranty and I’m not ready to possibly void it over swapping more than shocks and stabilizer just yet.

The Bilstein steering stabilizer came in today so I’m going to put that on tomorrow morning just because, a) it’s paid for, and b) I’m curious to see how the Jeep responds to it, or not.

Will report back.

 

[BourbonRunner]

That said, there seems to be constant correction necessary in normal driving. Being new to Jeeps I assumed this was just the nature of solid front axle suspension. I was hoping to incrementally improve that, within reason, if possible.

I looked into swapping the lower control arms. The Mopar part number referenced up thread is 68322798AA, which appears to be an OE part # when I look for it on Rock Auto or at Mopar parts, so I guess I’m curious about it being allegedly 1/4” longer. Plus, the Jeep is well within warranty and I’m not ready to possibly void it over swapping more than shocks and stabilizer just yet.

The Bilstein steering stabilizer came in today so I’m going to put that on tomorrow morning just because, a) it’s paid for, and b) I’m curious to see how the Jeep responds to it, or not.

Will report back.

I'd think since the warranty is still valid you should get that into the shop before you install the stabilizer. Dealers (not just Jeep) love to play the modified and not covered game.

That said, typically an inch or so of back and forth on the tiller to keep it headed in the right direction isn't out of the ordinary. Mine was more of that and headed towards Death Wobble so I'm taking care of that before it tap-dances across the highway. Note the repair itemized below.
(Joe's is an AMW dealer and the best Jeep specialist in the region)

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Gotta love it when they diagnose $2k plus in parts to fix a problem with something already on the vehicle. Had a shop do that to me. $2200 in parts that $350 plus a couple hours labor could fix.

 

[gonemad]

Gotta love it when they diagnose $2k plus in parts to fix a problem with something already on the vehicle. Had a shop do that to me. $2200 in parts that $350 plus a couple hours labor could fix.

The Bilstein stabilizer is just a replacement part for the stock stabilizer, but I’ll probably swap it back to stock if I ever take it in.
This Jeep reminds me somewhat of the last three Harley touring bikes I bought new in the past five years. The factory suspension is universally recognized as abysmal. Some folks upgrade the easy parts, others go all in and spend a lot of time and money. I just want to do the inexpensive, easy bolt on stuff that makes it incrementally better.

 

[JTGuy]

Everything checked tight. 6-8 deg caster. 1 deg toe in . Fox ATS steering stabilizer .

 

[jeeper360357]

I just added a Rough Country steering stabilizer to my 2022 which made a big difference in the wandering. I wish I would have done it sooner It's just slightly stiffer than stock so it returns back to center no problem and it`s a low cost option hope this helps.

 

[gonemad]

Everything checked tight. 6-8 deg caster. 1 deg toe in . Fox ATS steering stabilizer .

What’s your assessment of the road manners?

 

[gonemad]

I installed the Bilstein steering stabilizer. The short report is it seems to have no noticeable impact on drive-ability on pavement. Maybe if the front end had a lot of miles on it, and/or wear/tear, maybe it would have, but not on this ’25 JT Rubicon with 7,000 miles.

It is a stout gas charge in that thing, but it didn’t seem to push the steering left (or right) as far as I could tell.

It was 85 degrees yesterday when I adjusted my tire pressures down further than I already had, to around 33lbs “cold”. It was 42 degrees this morning so they were all at 29lbs and I got the TPMS warning. Interestingly it only lit up the tires on the right side of the info screen. Maybe that’s normal? They were at the same pressure as the tires on the left.

I ignored it all knowing the day will warm them up, as will rolling friction in the 30 mile round trip I needed to make to the dump, and I wanted to see how the TPMS warning would behave.

I got up to 32lbs all around just driving and the warning remained. I’ll keep an eye on it today to see at what pressures the warning turns off.

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