Need help with steering issue

[wowsa]

I am half way into a road trip and have started having an issue with steering. When steering at low speeds and this turning the wheel a lot when I get to a certain point there is an audible “knock” as well as a feel in the steering wheel. Called Jeep dealer and they have no idea other than for me to bring it in. Anyone heard of this?

 

[wowsa]

To add more to the above, it happens at about 10 degrees of steering (using the off-road pages to determine that) and happens both ways you turn the wheel. As I described before it is like a knock sound and a feeling on the steering wheel as you pass through the point of the issue.

It is most prevalent when driving around a parking lot where you do a lot of low speed turning with a lot of steering wheel back and forth. It makes the noise/feeling while passing through the point and passing back.

Visually looking under the car at the wheel area and I don’t see any obvious rubbing, touching, wear, etc.

Vehicle is a Limited with 12k miles,

 

[wowsa]

Took it to a dealer, they said they think it is something to do with the rubber boot over the tie rods which has excess air in it and makes that sound. It is safe to drive on and can be repaired by disassembling then reassembling, simple to reequalize the air pressure.

I guess that sounds plausible since I changed a bunch of elevation driving from the Midwest to Colorado which is where I first noticed it, and then again when going up the mountains in Colorado and where the noise got worse, only for it to get slightly better when I came back down to regular Colorado elevation.

I will see if it still persists when I return to the Midwest and if so will ask the dealer to fix it.

 

[wowsa]

Back at home and there is no issue. So sounds like it is related to altitude and was only perceivable at higher altitude.

 

[sdj214]

This exact issue happened with my '21 GCL SR V8 with 28K miles this past week. I drove my family from Minneapolis to Denver where I heard a knock and felt a jolt in the steering wheel when pulling into a parking spot upon arrival in Denver. It occurred only when turning the wheel at least 10 degrees, as the OP also noted, so I didn't notice it on the highway. Throughout our stay in Denver it consistently had this issue when turning the wheel left or right past 10 degrees.

We then drove to Vail and noticed the knocks/jolts happening at a greater frequency at various steering angles. It was very noticeable while navigating the tight parking ramp at our hotel. It definitely had me concerned about the safety of the steering system, especially given the terrain in which we were driving. Numerous audible knocks could be heard both inside and outside the vehicle and steering wheel jolts could be felt while turning the wheel lock to lock.

Now that we are back home, the steering system is functioning normally and no knocks/jolts can be heard or felt. That said, I would really like to figure out what is going on with the vehicle to determine if there is an issue with the steering system. I'll likely be taking it to the dealer to have it checked, but given the issue cannot be reproduced now, I'm not confident they will be of much help.

Aside from this, I've had only a few minor issues with the vehicle (infotainment glitches mostly), certainly nothing mechanical.

If anyone, including @JeepCares, has any ideas I would be grateful for your help.

 

[Jake22]

Jeep Recalls Grand Cherokees That Could Lose Steering Control - Consumer Reports

Jeep is recalling 2021-2023 Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L SUVs because a part of their steering systems could fail and cause a crash.

www.consumerreports.org

 

[sdj214]

Thanks, Jake. This was the first explanation that occurred to me as well. I looked up my VIN on nhtsa.gov and it isn’t impacted. That said, I’ll definitely remind the dealer about this when I take it in.