Week in Off-Road: Jeep steel wheels, Bronco harness and greasing after water

Three filings in two weeks kept the safety desk busy. The one with the most direct off-road relevance is 26V-456, filed by Stellantis in mid-July, covering 2026 Wrangler JL and 2026 Gladiator JT vehicles on steel wheels. The wheel walls may be too thin, allowing them to crack or detach, with the obvious consequence for control. Dealers will inspect and replace the steel wheels and valve stems as necessary, and owner letters are expected in early September. Steel wheels are a common base-trim and trail choice, so this touches a lot of new Jeeps.

Ford's 26V-468 followed a few days later on the Bronco U725 platform, 2021 to 2026 Bronco and Bronco Raptor. The engine compartment wiring harness may become damaged and short circuit. Dealers will install sheathing over the wiring. It is a phased campaign starting with the 2026 Bronco Raptor at the end of July, then earlier Bronco Raptors, then the rest. Then 26V-489 landed at the end of the month on 2021 to 2023 F-150s on the Raptor platform, a SYNC software issue that can obstruct the rearview camera image.

None of the three is a stop-drive notice. The desk's standing advice is the same as always: put your VIN into the NHTSA recall lookup, and do it again every few months, because campaigns like 26V-468 arrive in phases and your letter may be weeks behind the filing.

Maintenance week was about what water does to a machine. The UTV file has grease all zerks at 25 hours, and the reason it gives is that water crossings wash grease out of joints that then wear quickly and quietly. The explainer paired that with the truck file's 15,000-mile differential fluid check, where the note is that water crossings can contaminate a diff without any outward sign, and with the problems entries on front differential water intrusion and axle seal leaks after wading.

Coolant and radiator screens got the second piece. The UTV interval is 25 hours, and a packed radiator screen is the most common cause of overheating on a trail machine. The problems database has two separate entries on it. The point of the piece was that in mud country the screen check is a between-rides job, not a 25-hour job, and that cabin heat soak on some platforms is worsened by a partially blocked radiator.

The upgrade desk ran the Yamaha YXZ1000R and its sequential gearbox, tying it to the problems file's entry on gear engagement issues, and covered heavy-duty axle sets for the RZR XP and Talon platforms. It also looked at the Falken Wildpeak A/T4W for the Tacoma, ZR2 and Raptor and the BFGoodrich KO3 for the Wrangler JL and 4Runner, with the usual note that the load rating and pressure for your vehicle are on the door placard and in your manual, not in our pages.

The trails desk's guides covered the Pacific Northwest, where the Oregon Dunes, Tillamook State Forest OHV trails and Walker Valley in Washington are all running. Low elevation in that region is year-round; the passes gate through winter. Oregon and Washington both run permit programs for off-highway use, so confirm requirements with the managing agency before you go.

For readers in the South, the desk repeated its summer note: heat and humidity limit riding until autumn, and Hidden Falls in Texas and the Ocala National Forest trails in Florida are better in October than July. Check the managing agency for hours and any seasonal closures.

A note for Yamaha and Can-Am owners on why there are no powersports recalls in these columns. The answer is that the desk only reports campaigns it can verify against the NHTSA or CPSC record, and at the time of writing none of the open ones in our file touch the UTV, ATV or dirt bike platforms we cover. When one does, it will lead the column. Check the CPSC recall page for your own machine in the meantime.

Upcoming: the Sand Sports Super Show is listed for mid-September in Costa Mesa. Further out, the Rebelle Rally and the Off-Road Expo are both listed for mid-October. Check the organizer before you plan travel. Next week the safety desk expects Ford's first phase of 26V-468 notifications to be in owners' hands.