Steering falling off? Has this been covered?

[BradS1]

Not sure this has been posted here... If I'm beating a dead horse sorry! Nothing against the brand as mistakes happen. Posting simply to say those who haven't checked, go check! The steering on these cars is always lazy so I didn't pay much attention, though now I realize it got progressively worse over time (to the point the car would drift on the highway/lurch when it hit bumps). I could have sworn I looked under my truck and everything was good. Some weeks ago there were several posts on FB about steering components falling off the car. I figured even though I know it's fine, I'll go check. It wasn't okay. The drivers side track rod jam nut was setup and torqued on the wrong side of the assembly... As in, it was torqued at the tie rod end. As a result, over time, every other nut part of the track bar worked it way off and apparently the track bar itself flipped (according to the dealer when I brought it in). I don't think this jam nut had ever been engaged as the corrosion on the threads implied it's always been like this, plus oddly that particular area looked beat up like it had been hammered on, the nut itself was impossibly seized in this position. My track bar was maybe a few threads from falling off. On the passenger side everything had torque checks drawn on (which were no longer aligned, drivers side (USA) nothing.

I cleaned all the threads, was able to break the jam nut loose with induction and a big spanner, did a little mini alignment on it in my garage/tightened everything up just to get it to the dealer... The dealer was great, took care of everything but yeah... check your stuff because you def don't want your steering going out! Its always been dealer serviced... just one of those things everyone missed I guess. Including state inspection people.. they're supposed to be check this stuff (myself included). Now with everything tight and properly dealer aligned it drives like a different truck.

Posting as this is a matter of safety, check your stuff!

thanks,

-Brad

 

[ANNML]

Falling off?!? That’s bizarre and scary wow. Interesting how you describe your steering experience bc mine is sort of the opposite of lazy — in that it’s so overly sensitive that I could barely take my attention off of it at times. It made me uncomfortable driving on the highway at times bc I felt like it required constant “micro steering”, which is the best way I can describe it.

Recently when I had it at the dealer for the door recall thing, I had them add some sort of steering stabilizer — can’t remember what it was called. But made a super noticeable difference and now I feel like I can relax on the highway instead of being nano- focused on steering. Anyway, not exactly relevant but I just mention it bc there seems to be different steering issues with Ineos all around.

 

[BradS1]

Falling off?!? That’s bizarre and scary wow. Interesting how you describe your steering experience bc mine is sort of the opposite of lazy — in that it’s so overly sensitive that I could barely take my attention off of it at times. It made me uncomfortable driving on the highway at times bc I felt like it required constant “micro steering”, which is the best way I can describe it.

Recently when I had it at the dealer for the door recall thing, I had them add some sort of steering stabilizer — can’t remember what it was called. But made a super noticeable difference and now I feel like I can relax on the highway instead of being nano- focused on steering. Anyway, not exactly relevant but I just mention it bc there seems to be different steering issues with Ineos all around.

Yeah, they probably added an upgraded stabilizer... By "lazy" that is what I mean, you're constantly having to make inputs because there is so much slack/dampening between your input and anything actually happening with the steering... as you said "micro steering." That seems fairly normal with these front ends. That being the case, for me... I ignored how bad it got. In my case the steering components were coming apart. I'm sure for 99% of people this isn't a problem but I figured worth mentioning as several people posted in a FB group about it, which prompted me to take a closer look... thank god I did!

It is super easy to check... if you look under the front of the truck you'll see the track bar spanning from wheel to wheel, it is the forward most bar... You're looking for nuts jammed up against that bar itself. So, the "jam nuts" will be inboard and seated against that bar. I'm sure you're fine though since they just added a stabilizer.

 

[MurphyMurph]

Do you have a picture of the nut the backed off and/or the whole setup?

 

[BradS1]

Do you have a picture of the nut the backed off and/or the whole setup?

I did not take photos of the other side, but the nut on the tie rod side of the jam nut was loose (pictured far right), though you cannot tell from the photo. I was able to spin it by hand. The smaller jam nut on the passenger side (not pictured) was also maybe 3-5 threads away from where it should have been on the track bar. I'm told the whole bar was upside-down. Everything on the pitman was fine.

 

[Dokatd]

My truck was delivered in roughly the same condition. I identified it pretty much immediately and took back to dealer. Also I had a front brake hose dragging hard on tire to the point that the tire had to be replaced along with the hose.