Squirrely Willys

[Lo Tek]

‘26 Willys ‘41, 5k miles, 3.73 gears, Firestone Destination M/T2 LT 255/75R17C tires, just completed road trip from SW Oklahoma to NE Ohio and back.

Not at all thrilled with how this vehicle drives on the highway. Noisy, rough, and jerks sideways on bumps that it requires near constant steering input to stay in lane, enough so that it feels like it’s right on the edge of going into death wobble.

I noticed before the trip that on mornings or after parking for a while it would feel rough on initial slow speed acceleration but I’ve been chalking that up to the chunky tread on the tires. I’m becoming concerned now that perhaps that’s not, or at least not the whole, story here.

My question for the group is whether you think the tires might be the only culprit here or if something else might be going on?

Note that I’ve had Dueler H/T’s and Wildpeak AT/4s on my previous JT and never experienced this kind of poor drivability. If you folks think tires might actually be the source of the problem, I’d welcome recommendations for replacement - factory size only, please, so that if it turns out later to be a mechanical issue they can’t point to the tires as an excuse to deny a warranty claim. I’d probably be happiest with some version of A/T since I’m certainly not a “serious” off-roader, and as my daily driver on road manners and driveability are more important to me.

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[WilldWilly]

New to Willys? Seems very normal to me. It is a jeep thing, so embrace it.

 

[Lo Tek]

New to Willys? Seems very normal to me. It is a jeep thing, so embrace it.

New to Willys, not new to Jeeps, Gladiators, or “Jeep Things”, but new to these tires; if it’s not them something’s wrong somewhere.

 

[WambliSka]

My first Jeep, a Rubicon, had MTs on it from the factory. Those were the last MTs I’ll ever owned. If you need them for your offroading well, you need them. But damn to me they are tough to like on pavement.
I’ve had personal great success with Falkens ATs and there are tons of basically new 33” Rubicon and Mojave take-offs out there on Facebook marketplace for great prices and your vehicle stays “factory”

 

[Lo Tek]

… tons of basically new 33” Rubicon and Mojave take-offs out there on Facebook marketplace for great prices and your vehicle stays “factory”

I’d be concerned about 285’s rubbing on the Willys without the wider axles of the Rubicon and Mojave. OTOH I wouldn’t be adverse to 245’s from a Sport or Sport S; I’d even be willing to swap if it was possible to find some close enough to make it happen.

 

[Trailtrav]

Lo Tek,

I have a 26 Willys gladiator as well. Only 1600 miles so far, but i also experience some of what you are describing. Quite a bit of side to side sway/bounce on certain bumps. I had the readylift 2.5 SST installed, with 295/75/17 Toyo RT trail on method 709 0 offset. I think it may even be worse now. I also had fhe firestone destination mt2. I wouldnt say it feels dangerous to me, but i think i am going to try some new shocks soon that people say should help. I do feel it takes 2-3 bounces for the truck to settle so i am hoping it helps. Im going to have some weight in the truck on a trip im taking today so am curious to see if that helps or makes it worse.

 

[JoeJeep74]

I had a 2 door JK Willys prior to my Gladdy , could not wait to replace MT tires it came with. On my 2021 Sport S Max Tow I replaced the Duelers with Michelin LTX when they had a killer sale. Truck drives smooth, great in Michigan snow, rarely forced to engage 4wd. Looking at new Continental that recently came out, they are $200 versus Michelin’s jump to $300.
I stayed stock size 245 to retain full towing capacity.

 

[Lo Tek]

Looking at new Continental that recently came out, they are $200 versus Michelin’s jump to $300.
I stayed stock size 245 to retain full towing capacity.

If the Connie’s are still as good as they used to be one can’t go wrong with them. I’m strongly leaning toward 245’s the more research I do.

 

[AmishMike]

As Joe said, you can’t go wrong with Michelins unless you are going off road. I have never been a fan of Fire/Bridgestone on pickups, won’t run them. My trail tires are Nitto Trail Grapplers but my daily road tire is a Yoko Geolander. They are a bit stiff because of the 10 ply rating but not bad at all! I am actually on my second set of them, (got a deal on the first set from a member).

 

[Longspur]

I’m running the G015 in 255-75-17 stock size and although not the sexiest tire out there, I have no complaints

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

A partial answer for that initial rough ride is: You’re in OH from your profile. It gets decently cool there during the night. The tires are probably flat spotting where it sits and giving you the results of that flat spotting until they warm up and round back out. Cold affects the tires and the shocks. Shocks will be a bit stiffer too until the oil gets a few cycles to warm up.

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

@Lo Tek if you're running the 37psi the door sticker says when cold...try lowering to 34psi when cold. I did this and it helped immensely with the bump steer issue and made the ride slightly smoother.

FYI make sure it's between 65*-80* for the "cold temp" as lower will make them run below 34psi when cold and above 40psi when hot. If that doesn't make sense, try this:
- If you set the "cold" psi to 34psi when ambient temps are around 65* and the temps drop below 60* the "cold" psi will fall below 34psi. And when the ambient temps go above 80* the "hot" psi will read above 40psi, I've seen 43-45psi when ambient temps are above 90* and 29-31psi when ambient temps dropped below 60* when "cold" reading.
-- This was my rule-of-thumb after doing the chalk test last year.

I have a 2021 Willys ftr. And will be swapping Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T 255/85R17 once these Firestone MTs wear down/before winter.

 

[Setec641A]

Get yourself some Bilstein's all around and a HD steering damper.

 

[Lo Tek]

A partial answer for that initial rough ride is: You’re in OH from your profile. It gets decently cool there during the night.

Actually, OK instead of OH. And I do concur on possible flat spotting, but it only takes sitting parked for an hour or so when it’s in the nineties for it to happen.

 

[Lo Tek]

Get yourself some Bilstein's all around and a HD steering damper.

Yeah, no. But thanks for the suggestion.

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