Steering box rebuild/replace

[Mr. Belvedere II]

im sure I'm not the only driver in moparland who suffers with 8" or more of sloppy steering play in my steering box. Classic Industries sells remanufactured or rebuilt boxes for around $200 but it has been months since the vender who provides them to CI has brought any stock boxes to the table for purchase. My question is this; is it worth it to by a box from firm feel or the like, or to rebuild my own box if it is reasonably practical to do so with moderately expirienced mechanical skills, and if I do will I be disappointed from what I hear is an overly assisted steer and "detached from the road" feeling in a stock box. And will a professionally rebuilt stock box also have the same woeful steering feel typical of Mopar boxes. My problem is that I'm wearing my tires badly on the inside and blowing thru tires wayyyyy to fast and having brought it to the shop to be aligned they said it was not possible with the box in the condition it was. I gotta get aligned and get some steering that is safe and tight. What do I do???

 

[vintage chromoly]

Send it out and have it rebuilt with a more modern "feel" to it.
I sent my power box out to steer and gear in Ohio and had them put a firmer action to it.
So far, it's been fantastic with no leaks.

And yes, I'm well aware of the bad press steer and gear gets from time to time. If I was on the west coast I would have used firm feel.

 

[67 GTX]

I recently had my manual steering box rebuilt to stock form. It ran me about $350.

As for your tire wear, that may not be due to your steering box. What shape is your front suspension in?

 

[Kern Dog]

I've never had 8 inches in my hand to play with.
No, I am not accepting outside offers.
Steer & Gear is close by, relatively speaking. I think they are in Wisconsin or Missouri? Regardless...A performance rebuild comes down to 2 choices. Steer and Gear and Firm Feel in Washington state. Some feel that F/F is a better option. I went with their Stage 3 rebuildand their own Fast Ratio idler and pitman arms. These reduce the 15.7 ratio to about 12 to 1.

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

I recently had my manual steering box rebuilt to stock form. It ran me about $350.

As for your tire wear, that may not be due to your steering box. What shape is your front suspension in?

Suspension seems ok I can adjust the torsion bars up and down and the rest seems ok, I raised the nose by means of the t-bars in hopes of reducing the inside wear by decreasing the negative camber but I'm not sure if the t-bars play any part of adjusting camber one way or another. The guys at the shop said an alignment was pointless without a good box. Is that BS?

 

[vintage chromoly]

Steer n gear is in Columbus area of Ohio. You can drop off your box at the Nats and they will ship it back to you a couple weeks later.
I had them rebuild and return my original box that was original to my car.

 

[vintage chromoly]

Also, I would think the alignment shop was being honest as all the front end components will need to be in serviceable condition to get a proper alignment.

 

[steve from staten island]

I used feel firm but im sure the other guy is just as good. I used a reputable company as im suspect of rebuilt stuff from auto parts stores locally and on line. I feel the quality is not there anymore and i did not want to have to pull that box out again any time soon

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

Steer n gear is in Columbus area of Ohio. You can drop off your box at the Nats and they will ship it back to you a couple weeks later.
I had them rebuild and return my original box that was original to my car.

But how do I drive home! Lol

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

Any thoughts on T-bars helping to decrease Negative camber by lifting the cars nose up? From "/" to more "l" ?

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

I've never had 8 inches in my hand to play with.
No, I am not accepting outside offers.
Steer & Gear is close by, relatively speaking. I think they are in Wisconsin or Missouri? Regardless...A performance rebuild comes down to 2 choices. Steer and Gear and Firm Feel in Washington state. Some feel that F/F is a better option. I went with their Stage 3 rebuildand their own Fast Ratio idler and pitman arms. These reduce the 15.7 ratio to about 12 to 1.

Yeah I've heard that FF is a great option, how is stage 3 ? not to squirrelly?

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

I used feel firm but im sure the other guy is just as good. I used a reputable company as im suspect of rebuilt stuff from auto parts stores locally and on line. I feel the quality is not there anymore and i did not want to have to pull that box out again any time soon

Yes I'm sure whatever route I go I won't be looking to get that box out again forever whatever lol

I recently had my manual steering box rebuilt to stock form. It ran me about $350.

As for your tire wear, that may not be due to your steering box. What shape is your front suspension in?

isn't stock ratio like 15:1? How do feel like that handles? How is response/ road feel?

 

[vintage chromoly]

My steer and gear "firm" box feels like a modern day car or truck.
No more wishy washy feel!

 

[vintage chromoly]

Price was 325 for the rebuild / firming up and that included shipping back to me.

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

I want that..I want exactly that. I need that. I want, I want! I need, I need!

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

And just how long did that take?

 

[vintage chromoly]

Two weeks from the time I dropped it off at the Nats to when it arrived at my door.

 

[vintage chromoly]

To be fair, I completely disassembled and rebuilt my front suspension. The car drives like a dream compared to when I bought it and it only had a true 37,000 miles on the original stuff. It was just dry and crumbling

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

Well that isn't bad at all actually. I wonder if I just bought one from them if they would take my core and refund me that after I have the new one installed

 

[vintage chromoly]

They will do exactly that if you don't care if you get your original box back.
Just call them prior to the show to be sure they reserve one for you in the configuration / "feel" you want