Why Aneta Zarzycka AKA OffroadFitness Says Her Gladiator's Steering Finally Feels Right

The route went up to the top of Schnebly Hill, down through it, then straight into Broken Arrow — a trail known among Sedona regulars for tight, winding sections that punish anything loose in the steering. It's not a trail that flatters a worn system; if there's dead space in the wheel, switchbacks and technical climbs are where you find it.

Aneta's read on the new setup was immediate. She described the steering as noticeably more responsive, with far less dead space at center — the kind of looseness most Jeep owners stop noticing because it's been there since the factory tie rods and drag link were new. On Broken Arrow's tighter climbs and turns, that translated directly into feeling more in control, particularly on obstacles technical enough that she needed a spotter to get through clean.

Why Steering Play Shows Up Where It Does

The dead space Aneta noticed isn't random — it's the cumulative result of worn tie rod ends, loose jam nuts, and factory-tolerance steering components that were never built around 37-inch tires or trail-speed direction changes in the first place. Bigger tires mean more leverage working against every one of those connections, and on a Gladiator already pushing tire size well past factory spec, any play in the system gets amplified before it ever reaches the wheel.

This is the exact failure point Apex's 2.5 Ton ProLock steering system for the JL and JT platform is built to eliminate — tighter tolerances throughout, plus a jam-nut and keyway design that stays locked under the kind of repeated load a trail like Broken Arrow puts on it. The result is what Aneta described: less wheel input needed, more confidence on technical sections, and a system that doesn't loosen back up after one hard trail day.

A Trail-Tested Opinion, Not a Sponsored Script

What makes this worth featuring isn't that an influencer liked a product — it's that Aneta did most of the install herself, with the crew at River Outdoor backing her up rather than doing the work for her. That's a more useful proof point than a flawless shop install would be: a kit that only goes together right in a trained technician's hands isn't actually easy to live with, and this one held up the next day on a trail that punishes anything loose in the steering. Confidence on Broken Arrow isn't something you fake in front of a camera, and neither is a steering system that doesn't loosen back up after a hard trail day.

If you're feeling that same dead space in your own Jeep — that vague half-turn before anything happens — it's worth finding out which Apex steering kit fits your platform.

• Shop 2.5 Ton ProLock steering kits for Gladiator JT and Wrangler JL: https://apexchassis.com/collections/gladiator-jt

• Get notified when new kits and parts drop: https://apexchassis.com/pages/email-sign-up

• Follow Aneta Zarzycka / OffRoad Fitness: https://www.instagram.com/offroadfitness/ and https://www.youtube.com/@TheOffroadFitness