While driving my 2017 Jeep Rubicon off road, in the middle of an obstacle, the Steering wheel becomes frozen. With all my might I can not turn the steering wheel. I was slowly rolling back down off an obstacle, the front and rear axles were locked. As I backed up the drivers side front wheel started to get light so I was trying to steer so the jeep leveled back out, but with all my might the steering wheel would not move and before I new it the jeep was laying on its passenger side. The steering locking in this manner has happen three times in my new Rubicon and also happened in my 2003 Rubicon. I under stand the steering being hard or being erratic with the front being locked, but to not be able to move the steering wheel at all even when the tires are rolling does not seem right. Is this a factory defect or bad engineering on jeeps behave?

 

I suspect you're talking about the obstacle dictating your tires are forced a certain direction and you can't do anything about it? If that's what you're describing, it's not a jeep thing, it's an offroading thing, and it's time for some hydro assist steering.

 

I've been thinking the same thing ever since it locked up on me the first time.
It just seems to me that Jeep should be engineered to handle the steering, it makes since that it would be hard to turn, but to complete lock is a real bummer.

 

Y, in those situation, the obstacle is dictating where the tires go, and the tires or forcing the TR, DL, pitman arm, and steering box accordingly. You just don' t have the leverage or strength in the steering box/sector shaft to force things the other way, regardless of a locker being engaged or not. In a hydro set up, that ram mounted down on the TR is doing the work, and the real force is on the TR moving back and forth horizontally, rather than on the steering box.

Sorry to hear you flopped. Really puts things in perspective though when you look at the costs of a hydro set up, be that PSC or WTO's Red Neck Ram, or even a DIY.