Steering! is it a deal breaker?

[Tommyd]

Mine is dead straight don’t no what you drove.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Keep in mind this is a solid front axle vehicle. So the steering and control is not going to be what you are used to, assuming you are coming from and IFS vehicle. The natural loose steering of a Jeep can be very off-putting to those new to them.

Disagree. These will steer like any other vehicle with a recirculating ball type steering gear on the streets and highways.
There is no reason for them not to. The difference is on rough roads.
On the road, it can be just as good.
My 2022 JT has tight steering and handles as good as anything else I've driven that doesn't have rack and pinion.
IF comparing to rack and pinion steering or sports cars - yeah, that's tight and often fast ratio steering.
My wife has had Grand Cherokees for years - and came from Camaros. She drives my 2022 JT and now her new Wrangler and has never once commented about steering being loose or bad (well, not since my 2020 had the original steering gear)

To the OP - my 2022 Overland doesn't wander, steering is tight, it's well behaved on the road and tracks straight and true.
I even run my tires up a bit to handle the towing and the snow plow on the front. Tire pressure shouldn't fix wander - it's covering it up. If all is good, even running 40 psi it should not wander.

Every shop I've had my two JTs in they upped the pressure to 40 psi - and no wander, no looseness. I set it down some, but due to the weight on the front of my truck, I do run a bit higher than typical on the front tires. Solid, no wander, steering is tight.

 

[TigerInFL]

coming from a full size Tundra to a 21 Mojave, yes it is going to be different.

i was going to get off the mud terrain tires and ended up going AT's. that made a small difference.

found the sweet spot for the PSI right at 34lbs. got even better after that.

if I were you I'd have someone check the front end and make sure all the bolts are at the correct torque. then I'd have my alignment checked.

from there I'd be looking at your ball joints. the ones form jeep are crap from all I've seen and read.

next I'd look at your lower and upper control arms. again the ones on your jeep are not heavy duty compared to what you'll find aftermarket.

lastly but not least, I'd be looking at both front and rear track bar. I've seen where people who replaced the rear track bar first had pretty success and it did help the front end.

lastly would be the steering stabilizer. the fox one on the Mojave is supposed to be fairly decent.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

coming from a full size Tundra to a 21 Mojave, yes it is going to be different.

i was going to get off the mud terrain tires and ended up going AT's. that made a small difference.

found the sweet spot for the PSI right at 34lbs. got even better after that.

if I were you I'd have someone check the front end and make sure all the bolts are at the correct torque. then I'd have my alignment checked.

from there I'd be looking at your ball joints. the ones form jeep are crap from all I've seen and read.

next I'd look at your lower and upper control arms. again the ones on your jeep are not heavy duty compared to what you'll find aftermarket.

lastly but not least, I'd be looking at both front and rear track bar. I've seen where people who replaced the rear track bar first had pretty success and it did help the front end.

lastly would be the steering stabilizer. the fox one on the Mojave is supposed to be fairly decent.

That's all fine if he wants to spend massive $$ on upgrades. But it's totally not necessary to make them handle and track straight and make the steering responsive. They should right from the factory.
I'd run from anything I had to swap all the parts you mentioned on - seriously? Just to make it go straight down the highway? Why?

Asking if steering is a deal breaker, not about fun stuff to do later - that's likely not needed at all depending on what his final use for the truck is.
If he's cruising around Florida, even in the sand, he'd need no upgrades at all.

My 2020 went around Colorado, Pike's Peak, etc. - tight steering.
My 2022 went to Florida and back (Sarasota and more) and tight steering. Stock parts.

 

[TigerInFL]

i was just giving him an idea where to look.

what he chooses to upgrade would be up to him.

 

[Rocksalt]

my 1998 TJ and 2016 JK never had steering issues...

 

[1550jrit]

2021 Mojave with 22k miles. I’m running 37’s with the AEV 2” lift, AEV relocation brackets, metal cloak steering bracket, and Fox 2.0 ATS steering stabilizer. The truck drives easily enough that I can drive with two fingers most of the time. Wind and 13.5 wide tires makes it wander more than anything else. It definitely doesn’t drive as nice at my previous 2015 Toyota Sequoia with 35” tires, so it was really more about adjusting my perception on what is a nice driving vehicle. Now that I’ve got 5,000 miles under my belt (bought it used with 17k), I’m super happy with how it drives and it’s really comfortable for a lifted Jeep. I also previously owned a TJ, JK, JL and it’s the best driving Jeep I’ve ever owned. It just took some time to get my Jeep legs back under me to understand that.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

We're actually talking about driving my JT back down to Florida for a week next month. It's a great driving vehicle. My wife would likely drive at least half of the trip so we can go pretty much straight through. It handles nicely.

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