Problem with steering

[78Harry56]

I drive a 2020 Gladiator. When its windy or on highway it wanders without moving the steering wheel. There is also alot of play in the steering wheel. I can move it over an inch without the truck responding. Took to dealership and was told this is normal. Anyone else with this issue and repair advice?

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[JamesJimmyD]

my 22 wanders on highway with high winds, so did my JLU, but the play you describe is not normal, 2020 had a recall on aluminum steering box, it should have been replaced with steel, i would start there and then proceed with making sure nothing is worn up front

 

[ShadowsPapa]

my 22 wanders on highway with high winds, so did my JLU, but the play you describe is not normal, 2020 had a recall on aluminum steering box, it should have been replaced with steel, i would start there and then proceed with making sure nothing is worn up front

Yeah, he absolutely needs to get that 2020 in for a wander is not normal.
High winds is not a wander - it's being shoved by wind. Wander is when there's no wind and it simply drifts left or right or both.
There should be no play, and no wander.
On a flat even level highway without road crown, you should be able to aim it straight, loosen the grip on the wheel and it should tend to keep going straight.

The steering gear issue was not a recall. There is no recall on those. It was a TSB - that says "IF the customer complains of these things, do this to fix it".
If it's not under warranty, it costs the customer.
If it is under warranty, it's done free.
So it's not a recall as a recall is always a free repair and notices are sent out to customers.
This was a TSB - technical service bulletin - sent to dealerships telling them how to fix a known issue if a customer complains.

I drive a 2020 Gladiator. When its windy or on highway it wanders without moving the steering wheel. There is also alot of play in the steering wheel. I can move it over an inch without the truck responding. Took to dealership and was told this is normal. Anyone else with this issue and repair advice?

Take the attached TSB to a dealer and talk to them - explain you do have these symptoms.

 

[DaveL]

I had dealer issues with the '19 JLU that wandered the same way. Dealer refused to honour the TSB in spite of the wording.

They did not test my jeep right. They never went over 60 kilometres per hour. It was on the smoothest roads in town. took 6 minutes from startup to shut down. Their goal? No accidents! No traffic.

They would have done a better job if they had taken 4 mechanics on a coffee run.

The fix:

@JeepCares made a huge difference referring me to FCA Jeep Canada Customer Care. The steering box was changed.

Be careful.

If you have it changed, be careful and inspect the work done before you accept it. Make sure there are no power steering fluid spills, and the reservoir is full. The software has to be upgraded too. And since mine was done, the TSB has been rewritten. They do more work now.

My JLU was dangerous before the steering gear was changed. Told them so.

The new dealer is magnificent.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I had dealer issues with the '19 JLU that wandered the same way. Dealer refused to honour the TSB in spite of the wording.

They did not test my jeep right. They never went over 60 kilometres per hour. It was on the smoothest roads in town. took 6 minutes from startup to shut down. Their goal? No accidents! No traffic.

They would have done a better job if they had taken 4 mechanics on a coffee run.

The fix:

@JeepCares made a huge difference referring me to FCA Jeep Canada Customer Care. The steering box was changed.

Be careful.

If you have it changed, be careful and inspect the work done before you accept it. Make sure there are no power steering fluid spills, and the reservoir is full. The software has to be upgraded too. And since mine was done, the TSB has been rewritten. They do more work now.

My JLU was dangerous before the steering gear was changed. Told them so.

The new dealer is magnificent.

They are told "if customer complains............... fix it this way".
They are not told to verify or test drive because FCA is admitting there's an issue and the TSB is more like "trust us, if the customer complains, just fix it".
So any shop that insists on a test drive isn't following the TSB wording.

if these match the TSB, there is no difference in the roads they take. They could get up to speed in a flat parking lot and it would misbehave. Before we even left Fort Wayne my wife said "I hope there's no cops behind us, they'll think I'm drunk" - we hadn't hit 55 yet.

And since mine was done, the TSB has been rewritten. They do more work now.

It was rewritten because shops were not actually following the already established process for replacing a steering gear. It's a given those are 1 time use pitman nuts, they are supposed to know to look at the part number and look at the Jeep to determine if it's a JL, JLU or JT.
Shops were supposed to refer to the procedure for replacing the steering gear in other documentation - they did not. Normally there's not an issue but these were being tossed on and parked and no one bothered to see if the steering wheel was still centered - in many cases it was not so Jeep had to hold their wittol hands and explain - ALIGN it, dummy!
So Jeep had to put that all in the TSB!
You don't re-use those pitman nuts and yet shops were. It's already established in the referred-to tech docs to use a new pitman nut. But where techs looking at the other tech docs? No, so Jeep had to explicitly state right in the TSB - use NEW parts.
Apparently Jeep had heard of shops sending out half-done work, and pitman arms coming loose, etc. so they had to go back to high school level and explain it all, and even color code the part numbers because the wrong steering gears were being put on the Jeeps.
TSB rev 1 they assumed that techs would know their stuff and if not, refer to the documents that already explained how to do it and to use new parts.
You'd think that these things would be a given:
Use the CORRECT part number because various Jeeps have various steering ratios
Use a new pitman nut because these have locking compound in them - they are single use nuts
Check alignment to make sure the steering wheel is centered

Frustrating as this is all pre-college level stuff.

 

[DaveL]

So first dealer was one to avoid. Their charge for an oil change was $250 Canadian. Wallet flush.
However, they were always polite.
I took in the TSB printed and highlighted. They couldn't read/didn't read it.
When I picked up the Jeep they handed me the paper work, said they weren't going to replace the steering box and asked for a signature. I took it, marked "no work was done. Jeep is not safe". The rep said, "How am I supposed to get paid" He was angry.
Looked at the dashcam video at home. They put it in the shop. It never moved. There was no sign anyone had put a wrench on the Jeep as they said they had. and the hood stayed down. That's how I knew about the 6 minute test drive.

When I talked to Jeep Canada he explained that the process is different here. I read the TSB to him. we had a nice talk and his attitude was really good. He picked the dealer. I went there. They were magnificent. In Canada (first TSB) the Service Manager has to sign off on the work being needed. That's ok. The work was really well done by the second dealer. They service our '22 Jeep now.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So first dealer was one to avoid. Their charge for an oil change was $250 Canadian. Wallet flush.
However, they were always polite.
I took in the TSB printed and highlighted. They couldn't read/didn't read it.
When I picked up the Jeep they handed me the paper work, said they weren't going to replace the steering box and asked for a signature. I took it, marked "no work was done. Jeep is not safe". The rep said, "How am I supposed to get paid" He was angry.
Looked at the dashcam video at home. They put it in the shop. It never moved. There was no sign anyone had put a wrench on the Jeep as they said they had. and the hood stayed down. That's how I knew about the 6 minute test drive.

When I talked to Jeep Canada he explained that the process is different here. I read the TSB to him. we had a nice talk and his attitude was really good. He picked the dealer. I went there. They were magnificent. In Canada (first TSB) the Service Manager has to sign off on the work being needed. That's ok. The work was really well done by the second dealer. They service our '22 Jeep now.

I am honestly, truly happy for you - especially in that the frustration level will be less moving forward and when you have even a decent dealer, your Jeep experiences will be better. Even if something breaks, how the dealer responds matters a lot.
I can accept that something is imperfect if the support is great.
But a near perfect anything isn't worth squat if support stinks.

 

[DaveL]

I worked in a Marina on the Rideau Canal two summers. Helped out/pumped gas. Busy place! I learned a lot about service there (Rideau Canal goes from Ottawa to Kingston. Construction was massive. We were near Jones Falls. There's a dam there that when it was built was one of the largest in the world. Photos are amazing.) Had great respect for Bill the mechanic.
I have great respect for good tradesmen. Spent time in a machine shop. Not many engineers have.

Problems at the dealership that didn't fix the JLU '19 started at the top. The techs were earning a wage; probably looking for a good job somewhere else.

DaveL
Toronto

 

[tysongladiator]

If you have the aluminum steering box, complain about it and see if they will change it because of the TSB. But the issue will still be present if you have the steel steering box if everything isn't torqued properly.

I did a video on my youtube channel a couple years ago where my steering box was replaced because of the TSB. It wasn't really wandering. After the replacement, it started wandering really bad. Turns out the dealer didn't torque the pitman arm nut. It's supposed to be 184 ft/lbs and it was barely finger tight. I also have another video where my four steering box bolts were not to spec. They are supposed to be 99 ft/lbs. None of mine were properly torqued and one was 36 ft/lbs. All contributing factors.

Not saying that's your issue. Especially if you still have the aluminum box. But doing something like checking all of the nuts and bolts that are suspension and steering related is worth it.

Pitman arm nut:

Steering box bolts:

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If you have the aluminum steering box, complain about it and see if they will change it because of the TSB. But the issue will still be present if you have the steel steering box if everything isn't torqued properly.

I did a video on my youtube channel a couple years ago where my steering box was replaced because of the TSB. It wasn't really wandering. After the replacement, it started wandering really bad. Turns out the dealer didn't torque the pitman arm nut. It's supposed to be 184 ft/lbs and it was barely finger tight. I also have another video where my four steering box bolts were not to spec. They are supposed to be 99 ft/lbs. None of mine were properly torqued and one was 36 ft/lbs. All contributing factors.

Not saying that's your issue. Especially if you still have the aluminum box. But doing something like checking all of the nuts and bolts that are suspension and steering related is worth it.

Pitman arm nut:

Steering box bolts:

Pay attention to this guy -^^^^^^^^^^
He's right - the first TSB for the steering gear didn't point out the obvious to techs and they used the pitman nut over again (and likely didn't follow torque specs)
They had to revise that TSB at least twice to spell things out at the 3rd grade reading level for some of them.

 

[tysongladiator]

Pay attention to this guy -^^^^^^^^^^
He's right - the first TSB for the steering gear didn't point out the obvious to techs and they used the pitman nut over again (and likely didn't follow torque specs)
They had to revise that TSB at least twice to spell things out at the 3rd grade reading level for some of them.

Yep. Exactly!!! I bought another nut and torqued it myself. The crazy thing is that I had to get new tires installed and I asked the tire shop if they could torque it while they had it in the air. After the tire install, I asked the tech if he did that. The tech says to me, "yea, I tightened it as tight as I could get it with a crescent wrench". What???!!!! Ummmm, yea! Went ahead and bought another nut and the proper socket and did it myself. Problem solved.

I went back to the service shop that changed out the steering box and told them about the pitman arm nut and got the deer in headlights from everyone. All of a sudden, no one was quite sure who did the work.

So, yes. You're correct as well. They had to revise that TSB and dummify it for some. Crazy!!!

 

[Trlr8tdd]

I have a 2020. Took it to one dealer and mentioned the wandering, he said it was my tires, I said no it did it before the tires, he then rotated them After I said I had already tried that (my rims are numbered on the inside so I can keep track of rotations). Dealer number 2, sure let me get you a steel gearbox ordered, done. Then I checked all the torques, all loose, gearbox was about 50ft lbs. the pitman arm nut was reused but remains tight. I torque stripe all the important nuts/bolts so I can see if they loosen. Tq stripe is a lacquer based thick paint in a tube.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have a 2020. Took it to one dealer and mentioned the wandering, he said it was my tires, I said no it did it before the tires, he then rotated them After I said I had already tried that (my rims are numbered on the inside so I can keep track of rotations). Dealer number 2, sure let me get you a steel gearbox ordered, done. Then I checked all the torques, all loose, gearbox was about 50ft lbs. the pitman arm nut was reused but remains tight. I torque stripe all the important nuts/bolts so I can see if they loosen. Tq stripe is a lacquer based thick paint in a tube.

I use a paint pen to mark important fasteners. Those are typically lacquer. (also handy for gauge touch-ups and interior trim touch-up and such on my cars)

The TSB includes a new pitman nut in the parts list, so anyone getting this done under any warranty should gripe that they owe them a new pitman nut. It's part of the process.
If it was mine, I'd go insist they give me one. You are owed all of the parts on that TSB.
I guess I go after some things just on principal. They'll never learn if they can keep getting by with crap. (well, some will never learn anyway)

If a pitman nut is re-used, I'd dope it with Loctite.

"yea, I tightened it as tight as I could get it with a crescent wrench".

You've got to be kidding!?!
(if all else fails, I have my 3/4" drive set)

 

[tysongladiator]

I use a paint pen to mark important fasteners. Those are typically lacquer. (also handy for gauge touch-ups and interior trim touch-up and such on my cars)

The TSB includes a new pitman nut in the parts list, so anyone getting this done under any warranty should gripe that they owe them a new pitman nut. It's part of the process.
If it was mine, I'd go insist they give me one. You are owed all of the parts on that TSB.
I guess I go after some things just on principal. They'll never learn if they can keep getting by with crap. (well, some will never learn anyway)

If a pitman nut is re-used, I'd dope it with Loctite.



You've got to be kidding!?!
(if all else fails, I have my 3/4" drive set)

No kidding! It was his exact words. A tech at a tire shop. Made me so nervous, I think I checked the torque on my wheels as well. I would have rather him said that he couldn't do it than to say that. Lol

One other thing. Funny you mention loctite. When you get a new pitman nut for the JT and JL, they come with a dry coating of loctite. Ask me how I know.

 

[Lunentucker]

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...x-cost-me-0-updated-1-7-23.57677/#post-946383

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