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I'm a wanderer

NH Hick

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I'm lucky enough to have the wandering and pulling to the right issue on my Sport S. Totally stock with under 1,000 miles. Took it to the dealer to look at it and I think they made it a little worse. My traction control was coming on the other day with just light wind I was getting pushed so much. Oh well, I didn't have high hopes anyway, but figured I'd give them a chance before spending money. I've had a few Jeeps and currently drive a lifted JKU, so believe I have the correct expectations about how it should drive like.

Anyway, I figured I'd fix it myself as there seems to be 3rd party solutions for this. I've been doing a lot of reading on here and other forums and seems the most common fixes are with a steering stabilizer, track bar, and track bar/sector shaft bracket.

I ordered the Fox 2.0 race series steering stabilizer a couple of weeks ago, but that is on back order. Hopefully I get get that within the next couple of weeks.

I just ordered the steer smarts sector shaft reinforcement bracket and the Yeti XD pro front track bar.

One other thing that I see mentioned a lot, but there are differing opinions, is to add the lower control arms from the Mopar 2” lift. Some people say that this alone reduced the issue and others say that it is too much camber. Seems like a pretty cheap solution if it does not add too much camber and cause further issues. I know there are a lot of front end geometry/alignment specialist on here, so hoping I can get some input on that from someone on here familiar.

I'm not planning on doing a lift in the near future, if at all. I'll be towing over 6K on a regular basis during the winter so want to get everything corrected by then and also make sure it is going to tow OK before I make any height changes. I won't be offroading too much. I have bikes and my JK for that. Mostly just class 6 roads. It is the Max Tow and I don't want to lose the towing or payload capacity. Would just like to get it to drive as well as my JK.

Anything else I should look into?

Thanks for any assistance or advice!
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Maximus Gladius

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I had the wondering thing on my 2021 Rubi. It has the steel steering box. I decided to check the torque specs on all the front and back suspension bolts and nuts and all of them EXCEPT the front brake calliper and both sets of control arms were loose. The 4 bolts holding the steering gear box to the frame were down 40lbs each just to give you an idea of how loose I’m talking. I have 10k on the odometer, my first Jeep as well. After going through it all and retorquing, it drives real nice. Didn’t cost me anything. Good luck with the upgrades
 
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NH Hick

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Thanks for the reply. I do want to get it into the garage and check the torque on everything. This is another thing that I see mentioned often. Just have to clean the garage to make some space. Will need to get that done before the parts get here anyway.
 

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Mine was wandering all over the road then I read on here that the dealers tend to over-inflated the tires. Dropped them from 46 to 36 and its night and day. I'm hoping this is your issue...
 

Maximus Gladius

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Mine was wandering all over the road then I read on here that the dealers tend to over-inflated the tires. Dropped them from 46 to 36 and its night and day. I'm hoping this is your issue...
Yes, what he said. I did the same
 

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NH Hick

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They are at 36. I did drop them to 32 and it did seem a bit better, but the TMS sensor came on. Maybe have to get a programmer to correct that and run at 32 if the other things don't resolve.

When I took it into the dealer, they rotated the tires, inflated them to 36 and did a couple of alignments. They also said they centered the axle, but I don't know how they did that with the stock track bar. Think they were just making stuff up :)
 

StingGrayJT24

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Is this a 20 or 21 model year? There’s a TSB for the 20 year model. It replaces the aluminum steering box with a steel one.
 
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NH Hick

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should have mentioned it is a 21 and has the updated steering box.
 

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Try a new Stealership, maybe you'll get better results. Sucks that you have to go through this
 
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NH Hick

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I had thought about that, or even taking it back to the dealer I bought it from. They were pretty straight that if I have issues to bring it right back.

Thing is, I don't think its worth my time and money to continue taking it back to the dealer and think that aftermarket parts will make it better and more reliable than stock anyway. Jeep life is about mods, so part of the game and spend some money to make it better.
 

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NH Hick

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I had the traction control come on again on a straight road doing about 55 with no wind. I searched the JL forum and think I may have found the issue in case anyone else has this happen to them.

My steering wheel was not centered after the dealer did the front end alignments. It was between 10:00 and 11:00. There are some sensors in the wheel that detect if the wheel in not centered, but the tires are straight, will cause it to enable traction control.

Easy enough to make the steering wheel centered to fix that.

Still would like some feedback if anyone knows if running the LCA's from the Mopar 2" lift is a good idea?

Track bar and brace get here Friday, so will have them on this weekend.
 

StingGrayJT24

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I had thought about that, or even taking it back to the dealer I bought it from. They were pretty straight that if I have issues to bring it right back.

Thing is, I don't think its worth my time and money to continue taking it back to the dealer and think that aftermarket parts will make it better and more reliable than stock anyway. Jeep life is about mods, so part of the game and spend some money to make it better.
This is true, but if there really is an issue with your rig, you should try to get it fixed. It’s brand new and from your description of the issue, this isn’t normal. Applying additional parts may only mask the underlying problem and not correct it.

I would at least take it back to the dealer you purchased it from for a second opinion. If they fix it, cool, you’ll have saved money that you can spend another mod.
 
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brianinca

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$61 I spent in June 2020 for the longer LCA's went a long way towards making the bad steering box live-able until it got replaced. I still have them on, I see no benefit to reducing caster back to the insufficient (in the opinion of my suspension shop) factory range.

The wandering you describe is NOT normal, not part of the SFA package, and should really be resolved before band aids are applied. Just my opinion.

I had the traction control come on again on a straight road doing about 55 with no wind. I searched the JL forum and think I may have found the issue in case anyone else has this happen to them.

My steering wheel was not centered after the dealer did the front end alignments. It was between 10:00 and 11:00. There are some sensors in the wheel that detect if the wheel in not centered, but the tires are straight, will cause it to enable traction control.

Easy enough to make the steering wheel centered to fix that.

Still would like some feedback if anyone knows if running the LCA's from the Mopar 2" lift is a good idea?

Track bar and brace get here Friday, so will have them on this weekend.
 
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NH Hick

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I wanted to provide an update on this in case anyone is interested.

First, I centered the steering wheel which resolved the traction control coming on.

I installed the Steersmarts sector brace\track bar reinforcement bracket and Yeti XD Pro track bar. These are high quality products and a super easy install. Unfortunately, it did not resolve the issue. There were some minor improvements, but still had the wander and pull to the Right. Running tires at 33 PSI. At least I now have an adjustable track bar and better brace if I ever go with a lift and bigger tires.

I did check the torque on everything while I was installing the Steersmarts parts and everything was in spec.

I decided to put the tires I'm running on my JKU on to see if that would change anything. I have Michelin MTS M/S take-offs from a JL Sierra. This made the greatest improvement so far. Most of the wandering and constant correction is gone and the pull to the right is minimal. Not as good as my JKU, but getting closer. It is still a bit “floatie” but I think a steering stabilizer may help with that if it ever gets off back order.

I think there is an issue with the Bridgestone's on the Gladiator. They have been re-balanced and rotated. I figure it has to come down to 4 things, especially since this does not effect everyone. Defective or incorrectly installed parts, issue with tires and/or wheels, alignment, and not having experience with Jeeps and expecting them to drive like a sports car (or a combination of all four). I have direct comparison to a 2017 JKU, have owned a TJ and driven a bunch more, so know what to expect from the drive. The alignment has been done and is good, so that eliminates 2.

So I think a tire and wheel upgrade are in order as well as the Mopar lift LCA's. I am hoping/thinking that these, along with a quality stabilizer, will resolve the issue and it will drive at least as well as my JKU, which is all I'm really looking for.
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