Rebuilt Steering Boxes from NAPA?

[TSmith1941]

In short,

I have an old tired 1986 GMC C3500 Dually. Rotted out, but sadly I am attached to the dear old truck and am working on the truck, rear to front.

Steering box is loose and well I love NAPA to death (They give me a deal!), but so my 2005 Chevy 2500HD has gone through two steering boxes. Soon a third will be added to this list.

The time span? Two weeks.

Are they actually worth trying or did NAPA remans go downhill? Little ridiculous when the first box had 2" of rotational play at the box and the second one has 1/2".

So, for my 86' is there a better name I should shoot for when I go to do it?

 

[mtnmankev]

I got 10 years from a NAPA rebuilt box for my 84 K-10 before I had to return it under warranty.
So far, the replacement has gone almost 3 years with no major issues.

If I am correct, there are no new hard parts available (worm gear or sector shaft) for the older Saginaw steering boxes, so the rebuilders have to use what they have available and hope they aren't worn too badly.

Chances are, if you had to keep replacing the box that much in two weeks, they were rebuilt with badly worn innards.

Did you correctly adjust the screw for the sector to remove the play and not over tighten it?
If you're not familiar with the proceedure, have wheels straight ahead, loosen the locknut and back it off a couple turns, hold the locknut with a wrench and gently tighten the screw in just until it stops, don't tighten any more.
Then, hold the screw in that position as you tighten the locknut.

I have had to adjust the rebuilt boxes a couple times, it happens, parts do wear.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Doesn'T a company sell new boxes? Manual and power steering?

 

[TubeTruck]

There are a few companies that make new steering boxes but most are for 2wd trucks. Which you can use in a 4wd you just need a different pitman arm. Borgeson and PSC come to mind.



PSC are ported for hydro assist and are more expensive

https://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/product/view/id/1570/s/gm-psc-steering-gears/category/530/

 

[mtnmankev]

It would not surprise me if the companies making the boxes new are coming out of India or China, which means (most likely) the quality is questionable and NOWHERE close to when they were originally made in the states by Saginaw, and one cannot expect to get 30+ years of service from them.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, as I would love to be able to buy top quality parts to keep my squares on the road.

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

10 or so years ago I installed a new Lares steering box in my '84 3/4 ton 4x4 6.2 diesel Suburban, and after 250,000 miles, the original was obviously worn. The new one had too much steering effort, and when I called Lares to tell them of the fact that they put the wrong shaft in, and had steering like a Trans Am, they told me I was full of it. And the steering box is still in there, and it's loose and too hard to steer.

At the same time I put the same deal steering box in my '95 3/4 ton diesel Suburban. And this one had even higher steering effort, and of course Lares said the same thing.

My ex-wife had it changed for a Red Head steering box

https://redheadsteeringgears.com/

which was four times the price, ($400 I think) and I've only driven the truck a couple of brief times. But she just gave it back to me, and it's parked in my garage waiting for her to deliver the title. But welcome to the life of divorce

The steering effort is determined by the stub shaft that protrudes from the top of the steering box, that you attach to the steering column shaft. And all you do is change that shaft, and you can have one finger light touch steering like a square body Cadillac , or heavy duty hi effort steering like a WS6 Trans Am. So simple, yet the guy at Lares just laughed me off.

And when I say "all you do is change the shaft", a complete teardown of the steering box is required, and there's videos on YouTube and how to do it if you're so inclined.

I watched a video on YouTube on how to rebuild a steering box, because the one in my broken K5 plow truck is leaking from the top shaft, and it's pretty simple. I would install the lightest effort shaft because when you're plowing, or backing up with a trailer, you want to be able to flip the wheel around with one finger. That's my preference anyways

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

I discussed the redhead steering box here, and quite a bit of other rambling babbling stuff...

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[CORVAIRWILD]

And I took these pictures yesterday, and if anybody's interested, I can describe the vehicles that are in the background

 

[idahovette]

Describe them and post more pics!!

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

Describe them and post more pics!!

I can do even better than that, I can post videos and put them on YouTube!

Does anything in particular interest you? That's a Survivor 65 Grand Prix in the back, loaded with options, and a 78 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz special edition, the very very last one of the big ones before production ceased to the downsided edition, and a V12 BMW I drove back from California a few years ago towing a Corvair from New Mexico

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[shiftpro]

Remans are hit and miss, as well as brand new parts...surprise!

 

[78C10BigTen]

I can do even better than that, I can post videos and put them on YouTube!

Does anything in particular interest you? That's a Survivor 65 Grand Prix in the back, loaded with options, and a 78 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz special edition, the very very last one of the big ones before production ceased to the downsided edition, and a V12 BMW I drove back from California a few years ago towing a Corvair from New Mexico

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The red gmt400 in that pic looks like one i had

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

That gmt400 is a mechanical injection diesel, that I need for my much nicer truck that drilled a hole in the cylinder. Long story, bad ending. Its an 86,000 mile parts truck that ran low on oil, I hope the motor is good. I also have another identical one, at my shop. Same mechanical injection, but even more rotten than that one. I had the first one running, but only for a minute, the one at my shop I just picked up, I haven't heard it run, but the guys and honest contractor, aren't they all? and I couldn't get it started because his son cut all the wiring to take the starter off.

 

[Turbo4whl]

Rock Auto lists several re-manufactured and new.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...350cid+v8,1034288,steering,steering+gear,7416

 

[CORVAIRWILD]

These are the same as I installed 10 years ago in both 2500 Subs. Hit or miss, and I don't know what number torsion bar gives you the lightest steering, if that's what you want. That would be my preference for a heavy truck used in town and or to backup a trailer. As I recall, Advance Auto matched the price from RockAuto, so instead of $160 for a reman, both were Lares, it was $86 + tax + core. It sure seems a lot of extra markup from Advance compared to RockAuto.

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