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Drag link and tie rod upgrade

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Would upgrading either of these improve handling on road or is the upgrade just to make them stronger for off-roading.
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Factoid

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Stronger for off-road.

That said, if yours are faulty or loose an oem or upgrade would make a difference.
 
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But it wouldn’t make a difference in a newer Jeep. Just looking to improve steering handling feel. Could care less about the $700 if it helped. I’d care a lot about it if it did nothing for that lol
 

Walldo

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It all depends where the slop is, If its in the drag link or tie rods, then yes it will help. If the problem is loose steering gear or loose mounting bolts, then not so much.
 

j.o.y.ride

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But it wouldn’t make a difference in a newer Jeep. Just looking to improve steering handling feel. Could care less about the $700 if it helped. I’d care a lot about it if it did nothing for that lol
Steering, I love the Falcon 3.3 stabilizer. Won't improve handling in so much as body roll and what not but it greatly improved how it tracks, how it acts on the highway and it isn't pushed around by crosswinds.
 

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LostWoods

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But it wouldn’t make a difference in a newer Jeep. Just looking to improve steering handling feel. Could care less about the $700 if it helped. I’d care a lot about it if it did nothing for that lol
Important question here is are you a prior Jeep owner of many years or are you coming from somewhere else. This is an "it's a Jeep thing" that isn't sarcastic because it's just the nature of this kind of steering system and you'll never get the tight, responsive feel of a rack and pinion like literally every other vehicle. I still get caught off guard driving my wife's Mazda because it's just a normal thing for a Jeep to have some play in the steering.

You can get the steering box tightened up if the lash is out of spec but otherwise, there's no reason to replace anything that isn't a steering stabilizer unless they're worn. Even that is a subjective feel thing and while it will make the steering heavier, it's not going to tighten up the natural play in the system.
 

Geekjeep

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Nope. Have owned lots of jeeps just never had any issues like the on the gladiator. I know it’s the box but doesn’t mean the other parts won’t help. If I knew buying a new box would fix it. I’d gladly pay out of pocket for the box
 

SkyKing

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I’ve had the gearbox replaced. I just had the gearbox bolts tightened… that was a clown show.

My Jeep wanders. I’m on my third set of tires searching for a better driving vehicle and get less crap from my wife. I still have wander.

When I rotate the tie rod and drag link I hear the ball joints “clank”. My gut is telling me that doesn’t “sound” right. A friend agrees. I just researched a TeraFlex option for drag link and tie rod.

I’ve owned other Jeeps and enjoyed driving them. I don’t like driving my Gladiator. Oh yea… 2020 with 22,500 miles.

I too will gladly pay $1k to upgrade and hopefully have a better driving experience.
 

ShadowsPapa

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I’ve had the gearbox replaced. I just had the gearbox bolts tightened… that was a clown show.

My Jeep wanders. I’m on my third set of tires searching for a better driving vehicle and get less crap from my wife. I still have wander.

When I rotate the tie rod and drag link I hear the ball joints “clank”. My gut is telling me that doesn’t “sound” right. A friend agrees. I just researched a TeraFlex option for drag link and tie rod.

I’ve owned other Jeeps and enjoyed driving them. I don’t like driving my Gladiator. Oh yea… 2020 with 22,500 miles.

I too will gladly pay $1k to upgrade and hopefully have a better driving experience.
Throw parts at it - no diagnosis............

It took a second steering gear replacement to get my 2020 Overland right. The first one helped for a while (sort of better) but got progressively worse over the winter and when I took it back, no discussion, no argument, they called me and said "can we keep the truck - we need to replace the steering gear".
The second replacement did the trick.
Mine was a pleasure to drive after that - solid, steady, easy to handle and my wife drove it back to Des Moines from Colorado Springs in 2021 with zero complaints where before the steering gear she was concerned the cops would think she had been drinking.

Frankly, if it's STOCK, with stock wheels and tires not far outside of the design parameters, I'd bet even stock parts would make it right.
I had my 2020 up to 95 without issues, drove it all over the place.
My 2022 Overland is even better - really tight steering, all stock steering parts.
 

SkyKing

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I’d like to know if simply rotating the drag link and tie rod components should make noises in the ball joints. The dealership said tightening the bolts was all that’s necessary.
 

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hjdca

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Would upgrading either of these improve handling on road or is the upgrade just to make them stronger for off-roading.
At 20K miles plus with many off-road trips, I switched to the RPM 2.5 ton Aluminum tie rod and drag link. When I pulled off the stock bars, I did notice that the ball ends were much tighter on the newer parts. After installation, I also noticed a much tighter feel overall with the front end. Of course, this could have been due to the wear on the stock parts.

PS. I also added TERAFLEX FALCON NEXUS EF 2.2 FAST ADJUST STEERING STABILIZER which I like very much. I noticed a difference from the stock stabilizer right away. I run medium on the road, and soft when I am off-road.
 

SkyKing

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At 20K miles plus with many off-road trips, I switched to the RPM 2.5 ton Aluminum tie rod and drag link. When I pulled off the stock bars, I did notice that the ball ends were much tighter on the newer parts. After installation, I also noticed a much tighter feel overall with the front end. Of course, this could have been due to the wear on the stock parts.

PS. I also added TERAFLEX FALCON NEXUS EF 2.2 FAST ADJUST STEERING STABILIZER which I like very much. I noticed a difference from the stock stabilizer right away. I run medium on the road, and soft when I am off-road.
I added the same stabilizer. I like it also, haven’t tried the stiff mode for highway driving, just tested it.
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