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Solutions for the freeway wander - will track bar/steering stabilizer help?

brianinca

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I'll dig out the alignment report and post it, it would be great to compare notes!

Interesting how you got 6 degrees with the Mopar LCAs. I installed mine and only got 5 and 4.7 degrees. Still ways better than it was before apparently it was at 3 degrees. This upgrade and an alignment that fixed my toe in and a steering stabilizer significantly helped improve my wonder/tracking in the highway.
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ACLdestroyer

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Reporting back on this:

My JT was shipped with tire pressure at 44psi. On the drive home from the dealer it tracked like my old 68 Chevelle with worn out tie rod ends.

At the recommendation of multiple people here (thanks all) I checked the tire pressure and dropped it to 36psi. It drives far FAR better now. I'll still plan to upgrade some steering components but I don't at all feel the need to worry about it now.

Thanks again! Love this fkn truck.
 

brianinca

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Final report. I didn't get a report with the original LCA's, they didn't charge me for a thorough evaluation and test drive.
Jeep Gladiator Solutions for the freeway wander - will track bar/steering stabilizer help? IMG_20200807_114704


Kind of curious how they tweaked the caster with fixed arms.

Interesting how you got 6 degrees with the Mopar LCAs. I installed mine and only got 5 and 4.7 degrees. Still ways better than it was before apparently it was at 3 degrees. This upgrade and an alignment that fixed my toe in and a steering stabilizer significantly helped improve my wonder/tracking in the highway.
 

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Final report. I didn't get a report with the original LCA's, they didn't charge me for a thorough evaluation and test drive.
Jeep Gladiator Solutions for the freeway wander - will track bar/steering stabilizer help? IMG_20200807_114704


Kind of curious how they tweaked the caster with fixed arms.
Here's mine. Yeah I didn't get the first alignment before they replaced the LCAs either. Damn my before Toe was way off :facepalm:

Alignment.jpg
 

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Final report. I didn't get a report with the original LCA's, they didn't charge me for a thorough evaluation and test drive.
Jeep Gladiator Solutions for the freeway wander - will track bar/steering stabilizer help? Alignment


Kind of curious how they tweaked the caster with fixed arms.
You have to change the control arm length to change caster and then you can only change both sides by the same amount. In other words, you can't have a difference of -.3 before and then 0 later. The solid axle prevents you changing caster on one side and not the other. The only way you could do that is if you could turn the tube on one side and not the other.
Camber is also set - can't be changed. On IFS, you set that by moving either the upper or lower control arm in or outward (moving one of the ball joints outward or inward) to tip the top of the wheel in or out. There is no such adjustment on these and the camber is set in stone unless somehow you could turn a ball joint like an eccentric.
 

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brianinca

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Which is why I'm curious the driver's side caster changed from 6.1. to 5.7.

You have to change the control arm length to change caster and then you can only change both sides by the same amount. In other words, you can't have a difference of -.3 before and then 0 later. The solid axle prevents you changing caster on one side and not the other. The only way you could do that is if you could turn the tube on one side and not the other.
Camber is also set - can't be changed. On IFS, you set that by moving either the upper or lower control arm in or outward (moving one of the ball joints outward or inward) to tip the top of the wheel in or out. There is no such adjustment on these and the camber is set in stone unless somehow you could turn a ball joint like an eccentric.
 

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Final report. I didn't get a report with the original LCA's, they didn't charge me for a thorough evaluation and test drive.
Jeep Gladiator Solutions for the freeway wander - will track bar/steering stabilizer help? Alignment


Kind of curious how they tweaked the caster with fixed arms.
I wouldnā€™t be too worried. With power steering and a solid axle, 6 degrees is significantly better than 3 degrees. Even if your steering box is loose, it wonā€™t be as noticeable with that much caster and the tracking will feel solid with little wandering.

Thats a great idea using the Mopar lift arms with no lift to get that extra bit of caster.
 

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"Way too much" can cause caster wobble or a vibration in the steering wheel or road harshness, shock on bumps. But i doubt you are close to that. It should increase stability and the truck wanting to return to straight after a turn. I'd not worry where yours is at
 

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Picked up my Rubi yesterday and I love it. First negative thing I've noticed is the truck likes to wander around the lane at highway speeds. Any collective experience with a track bar/steering stabilizer helping reduce this?
Give it 3 months of drive time before modifying, and see if you adapt. Muscle memory should kick in. I noticed it at first, but now (8K miles) I don't even think about it or notice it.
 

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ShadowsPapa

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If it wanders, it wanders. Getting used to it isn't a solution, especially when most do NOT wander. No, it's not a jeep thing. Too many Jeeps out there that handle fine. Of course if one wants to make excuses and simply accept it, it's their Jeep.....
 

brianinca

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The idea for using the VERY inexpensive LCA's came from a link on this forum to the LJ forum - the wonderful world of shared information! The very inexpensive LCA's came from a forum sponsor, @AllMoparParts.com which is yet another benefit of this forum. Without the help of the community, I would have been mildly dissatisfied and my sweetie would have been needlessly anxious.

If the caster was excessive enough to be an issue, Larry would have said so - and based on his questions, he realized it was a bargain solution to a widespread problem. I hope other JL/JT folks get a whisper in their ear on how to fix it.

My association with this suspension shop goes back to my grandfather, who had several pickups with Hellwig overload springs. This shop is the retail outlet for Hellwig.

Unsurprisingly, my 4x4 shop uses them for alignments for all their projects. Benefits of a physical community, as opposed to the virtual community here (both are GREAT!).

Again, Larry drove it my JTR a week after I bought it in for wandery steering,. No charge for measuring and test driving it later, he told me to live with it because it was marginal for caster, with excessive toe-in, come back in 10K miles. Everyone laughed when I said if the dealer told me that I would have called bullshit. Instead, I had the data points I needed to resolve the issue.

I don't have the sheet for my old Ranger, but after installing cut and turned I-beams, I had enough caster left to go up from a 4" lift to a 6", which I never did. Having a shop willing to work with that much of a hack job was priceless, they'll have my business forever.

I wouldnā€™t be too worried. With power steering and a solid axle, 6 degrees is significantly better than 3 degrees. Even if your steering box is loose, it wonā€™t be as noticeable with that much caster and the tracking will feel solid with little wandering.

Thats a great idea using the Mopar lift arms with no lift to get that extra bit of caster.
 

brianinca

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Not too much, just outside the self-serving factory spec. If it was an issue, I would have been informed of it. I'm also glad to not be wearing my spendy tires in a weird way due to inefficient toe-in.

I've had "plenty of caster" setups before, I don't mind a bit more effort in the steering. A truck is not a track car, as long as it's a ways off of a dragster for straight ahead I'm good.

"Way too much" can cause caster wobble or a vibration in the steering wheel or road harshness, shock on bumps. But i doubt you are close to that. It should increase stability and the truck wanting to return to straight after a turn. I'd not worry where yours is at
 

brianinca

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Exactly, my 1930's tech '93 YJ has a 4" lift but has the right shims for proper caster. I don't run the track bar in front or the swaybar in the back, it runs down the road at 75 MPH just fine. When bad steering geometry causes issues on Rubicons, Chrysler cheaped out on doing the last little thing correctly. I'm sure and certain some suspension engineers wanted it done properly, but got shot down by the FCA bean counters.

The steering box issues are a separate quality control failure caused by tolerance stacking. It would SUCK to have that problem on top of marginal steering geometry. Tolerance stacking is a thing.

You'll get AR's that just don't run due to tolerance stacking. I used to call that a flaw in AR's. It's not, I was just prejudiced until I started building them. It can be fixed with some experience and input from other folks. I dealt with tolerance stacking in a 308 Garand I screwed together, when all my 30-06 builds worked amazing. It happens, but you need to FIX it when it happens. I don't trust FCA/dealerships to do the right thing, so I depend on shops I can trust to help me fix things. I SO much appreciate this forum as a source of great information!

If it wanders, it wanders. Getting used to it isn't a solution, especially when most do NOT wander. No, it's not a jeep thing. Too many Jeeps out there that handle fine. Of course if one wants to make excuses and simply accept it, it's their Jeep.....
 

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Dropped the 42psi down to 37psi just now. Will inch it down to 35 if needed.

Ugh, hope the dead spot thing isnt there. Will go check. Any FCA address to this yet?

Thanks a lot.
Hello all,

We know this has been discussed at length on other threads on this forum. However, we wanted to follow up here to make sure everyone is aware. TSB 08-074-20 has been released and may help remedy the concerns you are discussing here. Please let us know if you need additional support when working with your dealer on this. Details for TSB are as follows:

"SUBJECT:
Improved Steering Feel

MODELS:
2018 - 2020 (JL) Jeep Wrangler
2020 (JT) Jeep Gladiator
NOTE: This bulletin applies to vehicles within the following markets/countries: North
America, APAC, LATAM and EMEA.

SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
The customer may describe one or more of the following:
ā€¢ Steering wander.
ā€¢ Vehicle has a lead/pull to the right or left.
NOTE: The lead/pull will be more noticeable in hot ambient temperatures.
ā€¢ Steering feels like it has excess play."

Julie
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