Kawabuggy
Newbie
Hopefully this is the right place to post this. I've upgraded my steering box to 12.7 ratio-2.75 turns lock to lock with much better "road feel" or "resistance" or "high effort" depending on how you want to call it. For cheap. Here's how I did it..
I bought a used 1988 Iroc Z F-body steering box (code XH on it-but any F-body box from 82-92 will work) and simply moved those guts over to my existing TRUCK housing. Yes, the bolt pattern on the cast iron boxes are different between the cars and our trucks. It's not nearly as hard as you think it is. All the parts go in the exact same way. I bought a re-seal kit from O'Reillys Auto, and swapped everything over. However, if you attempt this, the check balls will be the hardest part. They are not forgiving and you may have to keep pulling it apart multiple times until you figure out how to get them all in. I watched several videos on Youtube before attempting this, and few, if any, actually lay out the check ball side of it very clearly. It truly is a try it a few times until it mentally clicks, then it's easy. It took me most of a Saturday to tear down both boxes, clean everything up, install the new teflon sealing rings, O-rings, and garter seals in the housing along with the snap-rings, and then get it back together, and install it. The truck steers AMAZING.. It is almost too tight as it's kind of twitchy now when going down a straight road and you move the wheel slightly to adjust course. The box before I did this upgrade was not leaking, and would have been fine had I simply adjusted it. It used to have a BUNCH of play in it though.. Like 3-4" of play before it felt like the wheel was actually doing anything. When I swapped the guts over I was certain to adjust the box at BOTH locations correctly before I installed it. A lot of people do not know that there are TWO places that must be adjusted to keep the box "tight" and remove the slop. I'm so used to having to whip the wheel those 3-4" to get the box to respond that now when I turn the wheel the slightest bit, the truck is darting in that direction. I'm sure it will take a few days of driving to get used to it. Total cost involved; Used F-body box was $65. Re-seal kit was $18.48+tax. Fluid was $26.41. And time.. I would approximate 4 hours start to finish if you have never done this before. Maybe longer if you don't have a lift, and a plethora of Snap-On, Cornwell, and Matco tools handy.
Notes for those of you who want to attempt this;
The instructions in the rebuild kit are USELESS-throw them away immediately as they were written by a 6 year old chinese child... You know the one that also built the rebuild kit
install the Worm shaft, and the adjuster plug & valve body as an assembly into the empty housing FIRST.. (after you have washed, cleaned, dried, and installed all the new seals of course). That way you can adjust your pre-load without feeling the drag of the rack piston as part of that process. You essentially get a much better feel for your bearing pre-load when you set it up without the rack piston in place. This is ONE of the TWO adjustments that will make, or break, your project.
The teflon rings have O-rings underneath them. As such it can be difficult to get the rack piston back into the housing, as well as the valve body. What I did-wrap the new seals with painters tape multiple times to give it some padding, and then put a worm clamp around the tape and compress the sealing rings into the groove. If you are rebuilding the unit-do this process FIRST so that the rings can be compressing while you are washing, painting, and installing garter seals in the housing. Same with the valve body-wrap multiple times with painters tape-compress with worm clamps and let sit. When you go to remove those clamps to put those parts in-have the housing lubed on the inside already as you need to immediately stab those pieces into the housing as soon as you remove the worm clamp. If you hesitate the rings will begin to grow again and you might not be able to get it inserted at best, or tear/cut the teflon sealing rings at worst.
The 2nd major "slop" adjustment is the pittman shaft adjustment. This can only be adjusted while the piston rack is in the CENTER of the travel. If you adjust this with the steering not in exactly the middle of the travel, you will have a very tight, or tough, or slow turning, spot in the center of travel. With steering travel in the center, tighten the adjustment nut all the way down till it stops. Then back it off 1/4 turn. Now, put some vice grips on the stub shaft so that you can turn the internals (just like the wheel would be doing) go back and forth-left to right so that you are going to either side of center travel. While you are doing that watch for the box to drag, or slow down right at center travel. If there is drag-back the adjuster nut out another 1/4 turn or however many turns it takes until the drag at center of travel is gone. Now, start turning the adjustment screw in by very small adjustments until you just start to feel drag when you are going through center travel. You want to find that sweet spot where it's just starting to drag, and you can feel the rack slow down, then back off from there 1/8 of a turn, and test again. You want to feel NO DRAG in the center of the available travel, but you also don't want there to be any slop there. Plenty of videos on youtube on how to adjust that location but you must FIRST adjust the valve body/worm gear/adjuster plug pre-load.. Otherwise if you don't adjust that first, then adjusting the pittman shaft slop is still going to leave you with a "sloppy" box that has excessive play. Keep in mind that the valve/body/worm gear/adjuster plug is also compressing an O-ring between the worm gear and the valve body. That o-ring, over time, is going to compress or thin out and that is where most of the slop comes from in these boxes. That paired with a minor wear on the gear teeth face is where the slop comes from. I'd say it is MORE important to adjust this area, over just turning in the pittman shaft adjusting nut. If your truck has excessive slop in the steering wheel start by adjusting this to see if it does not correct it. You DO NOT have to remove the box from the truck to adjust this area of the box. It can be done by simply removing the steering shaft at the box, loosening the locking ring 1/4-1/2 turn, then turning in the adjuster nut assembly. Just go REALLY slow and make very small adjustments while you have someone turning the wheel to let you know when the majority of the slop is gone. Too loose-not a problem. Too tight-BIG FREAKING PROBLEM!
I take no responsibility or liability for you/your loved ones, or any property damage should you follow any of this advice. Steering gear boxes are NOT to be taken lightly as your life, as well as the lives of your passengers, and other parties on public road ways can be negatively impacted should you goof something up. This type of work is for professionals ONLY. You have been warned.
If anybody has any questions, or comments, I'd love to hear them.
I bought a used 1988 Iroc Z F-body steering box (code XH on it-but any F-body box from 82-92 will work) and simply moved those guts over to my existing TRUCK housing. Yes, the bolt pattern on the cast iron boxes are different between the cars and our trucks. It's not nearly as hard as you think it is. All the parts go in the exact same way. I bought a re-seal kit from O'Reillys Auto, and swapped everything over. However, if you attempt this, the check balls will be the hardest part. They are not forgiving and you may have to keep pulling it apart multiple times until you figure out how to get them all in. I watched several videos on Youtube before attempting this, and few, if any, actually lay out the check ball side of it very clearly. It truly is a try it a few times until it mentally clicks, then it's easy. It took me most of a Saturday to tear down both boxes, clean everything up, install the new teflon sealing rings, O-rings, and garter seals in the housing along with the snap-rings, and then get it back together, and install it. The truck steers AMAZING.. It is almost too tight as it's kind of twitchy now when going down a straight road and you move the wheel slightly to adjust course. The box before I did this upgrade was not leaking, and would have been fine had I simply adjusted it. It used to have a BUNCH of play in it though.. Like 3-4" of play before it felt like the wheel was actually doing anything. When I swapped the guts over I was certain to adjust the box at BOTH locations correctly before I installed it. A lot of people do not know that there are TWO places that must be adjusted to keep the box "tight" and remove the slop. I'm so used to having to whip the wheel those 3-4" to get the box to respond that now when I turn the wheel the slightest bit, the truck is darting in that direction. I'm sure it will take a few days of driving to get used to it. Total cost involved; Used F-body box was $65. Re-seal kit was $18.48+tax. Fluid was $26.41. And time.. I would approximate 4 hours start to finish if you have never done this before. Maybe longer if you don't have a lift, and a plethora of Snap-On, Cornwell, and Matco tools handy.
Notes for those of you who want to attempt this;
The instructions in the rebuild kit are USELESS-throw them away immediately as they were written by a 6 year old chinese child... You know the one that also built the rebuild kit
install the Worm shaft, and the adjuster plug & valve body as an assembly into the empty housing FIRST.. (after you have washed, cleaned, dried, and installed all the new seals of course). That way you can adjust your pre-load without feeling the drag of the rack piston as part of that process. You essentially get a much better feel for your bearing pre-load when you set it up without the rack piston in place. This is ONE of the TWO adjustments that will make, or break, your project.
The teflon rings have O-rings underneath them. As such it can be difficult to get the rack piston back into the housing, as well as the valve body. What I did-wrap the new seals with painters tape multiple times to give it some padding, and then put a worm clamp around the tape and compress the sealing rings into the groove. If you are rebuilding the unit-do this process FIRST so that the rings can be compressing while you are washing, painting, and installing garter seals in the housing. Same with the valve body-wrap multiple times with painters tape-compress with worm clamps and let sit. When you go to remove those clamps to put those parts in-have the housing lubed on the inside already as you need to immediately stab those pieces into the housing as soon as you remove the worm clamp. If you hesitate the rings will begin to grow again and you might not be able to get it inserted at best, or tear/cut the teflon sealing rings at worst.
The 2nd major "slop" adjustment is the pittman shaft adjustment. This can only be adjusted while the piston rack is in the CENTER of the travel. If you adjust this with the steering not in exactly the middle of the travel, you will have a very tight, or tough, or slow turning, spot in the center of travel. With steering travel in the center, tighten the adjustment nut all the way down till it stops. Then back it off 1/4 turn. Now, put some vice grips on the stub shaft so that you can turn the internals (just like the wheel would be doing) go back and forth-left to right so that you are going to either side of center travel. While you are doing that watch for the box to drag, or slow down right at center travel. If there is drag-back the adjuster nut out another 1/4 turn or however many turns it takes until the drag at center of travel is gone. Now, start turning the adjustment screw in by very small adjustments until you just start to feel drag when you are going through center travel. You want to find that sweet spot where it's just starting to drag, and you can feel the rack slow down, then back off from there 1/8 of a turn, and test again. You want to feel NO DRAG in the center of the available travel, but you also don't want there to be any slop there. Plenty of videos on youtube on how to adjust that location but you must FIRST adjust the valve body/worm gear/adjuster plug pre-load.. Otherwise if you don't adjust that first, then adjusting the pittman shaft slop is still going to leave you with a "sloppy" box that has excessive play. Keep in mind that the valve/body/worm gear/adjuster plug is also compressing an O-ring between the worm gear and the valve body. That o-ring, over time, is going to compress or thin out and that is where most of the slop comes from in these boxes. That paired with a minor wear on the gear teeth face is where the slop comes from. I'd say it is MORE important to adjust this area, over just turning in the pittman shaft adjusting nut. If your truck has excessive slop in the steering wheel start by adjusting this to see if it does not correct it. You DO NOT have to remove the box from the truck to adjust this area of the box. It can be done by simply removing the steering shaft at the box, loosening the locking ring 1/4-1/2 turn, then turning in the adjuster nut assembly. Just go REALLY slow and make very small adjustments while you have someone turning the wheel to let you know when the majority of the slop is gone. Too loose-not a problem. Too tight-BIG FREAKING PROBLEM!
I take no responsibility or liability for you/your loved ones, or any property damage should you follow any of this advice. Steering gear boxes are NOT to be taken lightly as your life, as well as the lives of your passengers, and other parties on public road ways can be negatively impacted should you goof something up. This type of work is for professionals ONLY. You have been warned.
If anybody has any questions, or comments, I'd love to hear them.
