How do I correct steering?

[WhyNotJeep]

My '22 seems a little twitchy on the freeway. Not pulling or really drifting but just not holding a line. I lowered the PSI to 33 and will test that but fear it's more than a few tire PSI issue. Suspension is all OEM and new. Around town it's perfect. At 70 on the freeway it's not. Steering wheel is centered. I got a warranty but want to go in prepared.

Sponsored

 

[gamorg02]

My '22 seems a little twitchy on the freeway. Not pulling or really drifting but just not holding a line. I lowered the PSI to 33 and will test that but fear it's more than a few tire PSI issue. Suspension is all OEM and new. Around town it's perfect. At 70 on the freeway it's not. Steering wheel is centered. I got a warranty but want to go in prepared.

That sounds similar to my new '21 as well. I'm at 35/36 PSI cold but will try 33 as well. Please update the thread with any findings!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Amazing how people see tire pressure as a fix for such things - if they are already running a pressure that's best for the health and wear of the tire.
I'd never run mine down to 33 when they are supposed to be 36. I don't want hot sidewalls and abnormal wear. Right now the wear pattern is near perfect.

 

[gamorg02]

Amazing how people see tire pressure as a fix for such things - if they are already running a pressure that's best for the health and wear of the tire.
I'd never run mine down to 33 when they are supposed to be 36. I don't want hot sidewalls and abnormal wear. Right now the wear pattern is near perfect.

I don't think it's a fix necessarily but a datapoint to talk to the dealer about. When i picked mine up it had 45 psi in all tires.

 

[WhyNotJeep]

My caster is set by the factory to 4.5 deg. I plan to make it closer to 6 deg with some adj front CAs. Pretty sure that will stabilize any steering. I guess i am getting used to it as it doesn't seem to be as bad as it was. Seemed to be worse with the factory Falcon's.

 

[Casique]

Took my 2021 JT HA for the first time to the dealer Safford of Springfield VA, and they were really good. Great experience.

Went in for the slight wander, and Jeep Wave oil and tire rotation. I brought in the attached TSB which applies to my truck based on the dates. I had the "click" but very light.

The dealer said they found the lower ball joints not torqued correctly and lose. They re-torqued both. The paper-work did not say if they performed the TSB, but after looking it looks like they did, it was all clean, bright and shiny again down there.

On the short way home, the JT wander was gone... The steering felt heavier and settled. So much so that I checked underneath when I got home to make sure they did not switch my Falcon Nexus 2.2 steering stabilizer from "medium" to "firm". They did not. I'll drive longer today to make sure its not all in my head.

 

[Lunentucker]

I found that when I set mine to 37 using the truck's TMPS they read 40 on my gauge, which is supposed to be a quality gauge. FWIW the same gauge matches our Subaru's onboard pound for pound.

 

[Lunentucker]

An simple and cheap way to check your tires for optimal inflation.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I found that when I set mine to 37 using the truck's TMPS they read 40 on my gauge, which is supposed to be a quality gauge. FWIW the same gauge matches our Subaru's onboard pound for pound.

I have a 1980 dial gauge I used on tractors - and cars. It matches the TPMS numbers on my dash exactly, pound for pound. All tires on the cluster show exactly what my gauge says. Don't find 'em that accurate all the time.
I get perfectly even wear running the pressure the tire maker's engineer told me to run.

 

[Geoarch]

So what do they say it "improves" or why is it better? Just "feels better" or stiffer?

Yeah, internet reviews usually by people who don't know suspension/steering but if it feels stiffer, it must be better even if the underlying issues are still there.
If all things are correct, you really don't even need one but try to tell the long-time REAL Jeep people anything like that. It's more macho to have a bigger steering stabilizer on your Jeep - the bigger, the stiffer, the better. It solves all issues - just ask 'em.

Was there a reason Jeep put them on to begin with?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Was there a reason Jeep put them on to begin with?

Decades ago - AMC/Jeep and others put them on - the primary purpose is to mitigate bump steer caused by hitting rocks at some speed, etc.
Here's a quote from a well-known steering/suspension guy who was crew chief of 4540 Motorsports, and owner/operator of Sweptline Products in California, an off-road customization shop
----------
On a properly designed and well maintained system, a damper's purpose is to mitigate the effects of bump steer and the sudden encounter of unexpected objects, such as hitting a rock in a trail at 50 miles per hour. On an improperly designed and/or poorly maintained system, a damper is used as a crutch to mask issues with suspension and tire errors.
-----------

 

[gamorg02]

have an appt next monday for the dealer to take a look. They seemed familiar that there are issues and a few TSBs they wanted to go through.

 

[MPMB]

----------
On an improperly designed and/or poorly maintained system, a damper is used as a crutch to mask issues with suspension and tire errors.
-----------

There we have it. But that's not saying that all suspension upgrades are improperly designed, either.

As a stabilizer is a symptom fixer, an intelligent person will then think of the flow of energy in the suspension. If the SS is covering the oscillation, where is the energy that causes oscillation going to go? Ball joints? Tie rod ends? That means premature wear on those parts.

That's why you fix the problem, not the symptom.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

But that's not saying that all suspension upgrades are improperly designed, either.

Absolutely agree. Some just toss a hodge-podge of parts at things, others at least try to keep things within certain parameters.
And this is car and truck people in general going back decades.
A good example is my neighbor who is a long-time street rod guy. Barn Find Street Rods or some similar name on his truck.
He has his own and builds for others.
He came to me and asked if any of my AMC friends might sell 10" front brakes - complete, drums, backing plates, and spindles. I was about to convert my Javelin to Kelsey Hayes heavy duty disk brakes.......... I gave him my 10" front drum setup, spindles and all. He actually calculated the correct SAI, scrub radius and other angles for his 49 Ford coup street rod and had plates made to position the spindles exactly where they needed to be to line things up and put that scrub radius where he needed.
But look at the people who change wheels blindly, taller tires, whatever, and never give a thought to the instability they are causing because they want that truck to look manly and be impressive to look at.
The scrub radius is the distance at the road surface between the tire center line and the SAI line extended downward through the steering axis. Draw a line through the center of the top ball joint down through the center of the bottom ball joint and project that down to the road surface and beyond. That line is the steering axis and the angle formed because the upper ball joint sits inboard compared to the lower is the steering axis inclination (SAI)
The point where the line hits the pavement is a pivot point around which the tire turns.
When the line through the very centerline (center of the width of the tire) and the SAI line intersect at the road surface that is 0 scrub radius. 0 scrub radius can result in squirm and other issues.
Changing the diameter of the tire lifts the vehicle and causes the scrub radius to move to the negative.
If you end up with too significant a negative scrub radius, the vehicle can be unstable and provides less feedback.
Now, isn't that interesting, and people say it's caster caster caster.......... that's only part of the equation. Tire diameter, wheels with different centerlines, it's all a system.

 

[MPMB]

Absolutely agree. Some just toss a hodge-podge of parts at things, others at least try to keep things within certain parameters.
And this is car and truck people in general going back decades.
A good example is my neighbor who is a long-time street rod guy. Barn Find Street Rods or some similar name on his truck.
He has his own and builds for others.
He came to me and asked if any of my AMC friends might sell 10" front brakes - complete, drums, backing plates, and spindles. I was about to convert my Javelin to Kelsey Hayes heavy duty disk brakes.......... I gave him my 10" front drum setup, spindles and all. He actually calculated the correct SAI, scrub radius and other angles for his 49 Ford coup street rod and had plates made to position the spindles exactly where they needed to be to line things up and put that scrub radius where he needed.
But look at the people who change wheels blindly, taller tires, whatever, and never give a thought to the instability they are causing because they want that truck to look manly and be impressive to look at.
The scrub radius is the distance at the road surface between the tire center line and the SAI line extended downward through the steering axis. Draw a line through the center of the top ball joint down through the center of the bottom ball joint and project that down to the road surface and beyond. That line is the steering axis and the angle formed because the upper ball joint sits inboard compared to the lower is the steering axis inclination (SAI)
The point where the line hits the pavement is a pivot point around which the tire turns.
When the line through the very centerline (center of the width of the tire) and the SAI line intersect at the road surface that is 0 scrub radius. 0 scrub radius can result in squirm and other issues.
Changing the diameter of the tire lifts the vehicle and causes the scrub radius to move to the negative.
If you end up with too significant a negative scrub radius, the vehicle can be unstable and provides less feedback.
Now, isn't that interesting, and people say it's caster caster caster.......... that's only part of the equation. Tire diameter, wheels with different centerlines, it's all a system.

There was a stock car chassis builder who designed 0-scrub cars and most people who drove them complained about lack of feel when driving. Easy to turn, but not to hold a true line. When one driver destroyed his car one night, it got fixed with a Port City front clip, eliminating the 0-scrub nonsense.

Too much of a "good" thing can be bad. Like caster. In racing we ran 2.5 on the left, 3 on the right. Allowed the car to naturally pull left. For Cup cars at Daytona, they're running 1-1.5 degrees (back in the 2000-2010 era). So with Jeeps running 6*, I'm like, hmm... But slow speed probably benefits the most from that amount.

Sponsored