Not sure if there's a suspension thread for the 2wd trucks so I threw it here. So I am going on the 3rd steering box I'm about to put in this truck and am pulling my hair out. When I bought it the original had so much play and the fluid was black and burnt smelling. Replaced with a cheap BBB reman from Rockauto and the play was slightly improved, but very hard to steer - little to no power steering assist. I suppose it could be my reman pump for the poor assist but I couldn't trust the stock unit as it squealed bad, had dirty fluid of course, and the shaft did not spin in true whatsoever - I'm talking the pulley was shaking back and forth like a cheap Walmart bicycle tire.
Fast forward to this week and I just rebuilt my whole front end and put in a Bluetop box - I made sure to follow the bleeding procedure they gave me in the shipping box, and got all the air bubbles out of the fluid from what I could tell. Welp, more play in the wheel than either of my previous boxes and the assist sucks! I was just a short drive from my grandmother's where I was working on it to my place but it felt so dangerously loose from the 3-4 inches of play in the wheel. I have verified it is the box - I can see the column turn the input shaft significantly each way while the pitman arm does not rotate - video attached below. If you watch closely in the video there is also side-to-side slop in the output shaft which you can see in the pitman. Once you get the steering moving past the play area it feels safe but it's almost undriveable within the couple degrees of play.
BTW - between the time periods of the BBB and Bluetop I had the motor replaced and the guy put on what looks like a stock pump from the donor motor so I trust it more than the cheap old reman I had before - and it's clearly working because there is SOME power assist, just not enough to be comfortable and not get a workout. Any ideas? Thinking about trying a Redhead next and if that doesn't solve my problem I'm going to take the loss and probably learn how to rebuild a box myself, CORRECTLY. I'm a bit disappointed because I've heard such good things about Bluetop.
Pitman Arm Video
Fast forward to this week and I just rebuilt my whole front end and put in a Bluetop box - I made sure to follow the bleeding procedure they gave me in the shipping box, and got all the air bubbles out of the fluid from what I could tell. Welp, more play in the wheel than either of my previous boxes and the assist sucks! I was just a short drive from my grandmother's where I was working on it to my place but it felt so dangerously loose from the 3-4 inches of play in the wheel. I have verified it is the box - I can see the column turn the input shaft significantly each way while the pitman arm does not rotate - video attached below. If you watch closely in the video there is also side-to-side slop in the output shaft which you can see in the pitman. Once you get the steering moving past the play area it feels safe but it's almost undriveable within the couple degrees of play.
BTW - between the time periods of the BBB and Bluetop I had the motor replaced and the guy put on what looks like a stock pump from the donor motor so I trust it more than the cheap old reman I had before - and it's clearly working because there is SOME power assist, just not enough to be comfortable and not get a workout. Any ideas? Thinking about trying a Redhead next and if that doesn't solve my problem I'm going to take the loss and probably learn how to rebuild a box myself, CORRECTLY. I'm a bit disappointed because I've heard such good things about Bluetop.
Pitman Arm Video