New gladiators steering

[22EcoDs]

It drives great, i love the 7 speed manual, the part time 4wd is nice, the base radio is really good, led headlights are nice, sasquatch package is a great option. But mine was a covid build and its been a head ache. Ive had a lot of very minor issues on top of, i had to wait 5 months for them to fix my head lights turning on and off with the car off by themselves. My hard top build quality is a joke and right now its been at the dealer for 3 weeks and still has 5 weeks to go for the transmission failing. I really like it, but it hasnt been the best start with it. Im still on the fence with what i will do.

Yea that's rough. I was an opening night res and on b6g forum , black diamond for me, a ordered sport badlands for my wife. We pulled both orders after delays on her sport 6+ months and stuck with jeep. Ford did a bunch of customers dirty on the bronco roll out. 3 month turn around on my gladiator order.

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[OHJeeper]

The play was my issue, i bought the fox stabilizer when i had it and i liked the steering feel. It just was hard to relax on long drives on the highway with a dead spot. Mine was pretty bad.

The play can be made "better" but not 100%. If you tighten the set screw too much, the gears bind up when they get warm and expand. It feels GREAT for about a mile, then you realie you can't turn at the traffic light without pulling your shoulder out of socket (it's THAT bad).

So, just a little... (a smidge?) Is about all you can do - but it made a TON of difference in HWY driving for me.

 

[Stlrfan152]

Yea that's rough. I was an opening night res and on b6g forum , black diamond for me, a ordered sport badlands for my wife. We pulled both orders after delays on her sport 6+ months and stuck with jeep. Ford did a bunch of customers dirty on the bronco roll out. 3 month turn around on my gladiator order.

Yah you should see what fords doing now to current reservation holders. Glad i got mine when i did. I had a first year jlu and it had its issues, im sure ford will work out the issues at some point.

 

[Stlrfan152]

The play can be made "better" but not 100%. If you tighten the set screw too much, the gears bind up when they get warm and expand. It feels GREAT for about a mile, then you realie you can't turn at the traffic light without pulling your shoulder out of socket (it's THAT bad).

So, just a little... (a smidge?) Is about all you can do - but it made a TON of difference in HWY driving for me.

I think that was my replacement boxes issue, it was hard to steer for a day and then it loosend up a lot and was just as bad as my old box.

 

[22EcoDs]

Yah you should see what fords doing now to current reservation holders. Glad i got mine when i did. I had a first year jlu and it had its issues, im sure ford will work out the issues at some point.

I heard about some credit for wildtracks ?

 

[Stlrfan152]

I heard about some credit for wildtracks ?

You have to drop sasquatch, hardtop , lux, and wildtrax from your order. Any of those will more than likely push your order to 2024 and you lose price protection if you arent build in the 2023 model year and you keep any of those options. You get 2500 credit for dropping the options.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Good afternoon,
I sold my 2020 gladiator a little over a year ago. It had a few issues i was tired of trying to get the dealer to fix and the trade in was really good at the time. One issue was the steering being very loose. Just curious if this issue is fixed on the newer ones? I currently have a 2dr bronco im thinking of trading in. I think if i go back to the gladiator id get a rubicon this time. Seems like the supply is getting back to normal at the dealers.

2020 had some steering gear issues. Mine was fixed after the 2nd steering gear was put in.
My 2022 is tight, steers fine and true.

Yeah. They need 6+ caster.
Opinion

It's an orange thing. My 20 was fine just under 5, my 22 is just fine as it is.
Sand dune jumping requires more caster.

 

[Lunentucker]

It do.

 

[wachuko]

The steel steering gearbox helped but Jeep still likes to leave bolts and nuts undertorqued.
If you do do your diligence and check behind them you'll be OK.
If you get a Mojave go head and add correction brackets from day one.

Interesting... My 2022 Mojave steers fine, but only a little bit over 2K miles on it. All stock for now as well. I do not plan to make any major changes. Only change will be when it comes time to change the tires as I will be going with pizza cutters, Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T T255 /85 R17 121Q E1 BSW...

Let me search the site on that to learn more about what you mean by why it needs correction brackets from day one...

For now, as suggested in another thread, I will check the torque on all the components...

 

[AHenry014]

My 2020 on stock suspension and 315/70's has the steel box replacement and steers awesome. Its a solid axle, so theres getting use to how that feels over IFS, but no vagueness about it that others complain about.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Interesting... My 2022 Mojave steers fine, but only a little bit over 2K miles on it. All stock for now as well. I do not plan to make any major changes. Only change will be when it comes time to change the tires as I will be going with pizza cutters, Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T T255 /85 R17 121Q E1 BSW...

Let me search the site on that to learn more about what you mean by why it needs correction brackets from day one...

For now, as suggested in another thread, I will check the torque on all the components...

Check the control arms - you can tell by the lowers. If they are mostly parallel to the ground, not a lot of downward slope as they go from frame to axle, and if the upper control arms are parallel to the lowers, it's geometry is ok.
If it tracks fine, stays going down the road without wander (you could take it on an airport runway with no slope at all, a road with no crown and let go of the steering wheel and it prefers to go straight) then you are fine.
If when going around a curve, letting go of the wheel means it wants to take off and go straight - it's likely fine.

If it steers and handles fine - don't mess with it. If there's not a problem, no need to look for one. Any mods you make could end up introducing other issues and you end up chasing your tail.

My 2020 on stock suspension and 315/70's has the steel box replacement and steers awesome. Its a solid axle, so theres getting use to how that feels over IFS, but no vagueness about it that others complain about.

As it should be. No complaints on mine, it goes straight, it doesn't wander, it doesn't feel loose.
Stock, these should drive and handle on the highway like most other vehicles (although rack and pinion steering tends to be super-tight and really quick to respond, I hated the rack and pinion steering on the GC my wife had)

 

[Stlrfan152]

My 2020 on stock suspension and 315/70's has the steel box replacement and steers awesome. Its a solid axle, so theres getting use to how that feels over IFS, but no vagueness about it that others complain about.

You would know if you had the issue. Ive owned a few solid axle vehicles, it was definitely off. Good to hear yours drives nice.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

People forget that up until the WK platform, the Grand Cherokee was solid axle. A lot of ford trucks, among others - solid axles. Grand Cherokees were sold to wives, mothers, doctors, lawyers, bean counters, executives, pharmacists, pro golfers, you name it. If there was an inherent steering issue because it was "solid axle" - the Grand Cherokee would have died. I worked with a lady who bought a ZJ back in the 1990s - solid front axle - she called it a 4 wheel drive Cadillac. Her husband was some big business executive, they were not outdoorsy, or mechanical. I had a Cherokee at the time. I'd have heard about how bad their ZJ was if it didn't behave on on the street and highway.
But sold axle vehicles handle best when there's a low center of gravity, and the chassis isn't too far from the axle.

 

[notoriousms33]

The steel steering gearbox helped but Jeep still likes to leave bolts and nuts undertorqued.
If you do do your diligence and check behind them you'll be OK.
If you get a Mojave go head and add correction brackets from day one.

Did you go metal cloak

 

[Lunentucker]

Did you go metal cloak

Rancho brackets.
Metalcoak shaft brace.

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