Had to loosen steering sector shaft adjustment

[Badunit]

From day one my Jeep has had funky steering. It was twitchy, wandered, would change direction dramatically with wind gusts, bumps, and passing trucks, had very little road feel, and had poor return to center. It took way too much concentration to drive, making long trips less than enjoyable. I have about 13K on it now and I think I finally got it working right. Loosening the factory-set adjustment on the steering gear was an important part of the fix. Here was my saga:

1. Early on I installed Mopar long control arms. This reduced the twitchiness but the other problems remained.
2. I adjusted the toe to see if that would make it more stable but neither direction made a difference. I got it realigned after this to make sure it was in spec.
3. I installed a Falcon Nexus EF 2.1 steering stabilizer. It became very stable after this but it reduced the already poor road feel and return to center. Wind gusts and passing trucks and uneven road were no longer felt. It became rock solid but I began to notice that steering on a straight stretch was more akin to bumping the wheel slightly one way or the other than actual steering. The play in the steering wheel was small but it was a very pronounced dead spot. I don't know if the play was different from before or just something I started to notice.
4. I recently decided it was acting a whole lot like a tight steering gear, like when you adjust the sector shaft too much and it starts to bind. So I loosened the factory-set adjustment by 1/8 of a turn. Huge difference. I could feel the road for the first time. The play went from being a dead spot with hard edges to more of a "spongy" feel. I don't think the play increased. If it did, not by much. Return to center was improved but still not perfect. The wandering feels like actual wander now vs what used to feel like a binding "wander".
5. Lastly, I adjusted toe to be somewhere close to zero. Zero toe is what is recommended by aftermarket for my Ram and it seems to have done the trick for my Gladiator, too. I also noticed my front tires were feathered so this ought to help that too. The wander is greatly reduced. For the first time I feel like I am driving my Gladiator vs fighting with it and I don't have to put 100% of my concentration on the road at all times. I've driven over 100 miles at various speeds up to 80mph and on both good and bad roads and on roads where you have to hang a tire off the edge when a car comes the other way and it has been terrific. Hopefully it will continue this way.

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